A chronological exploration of the volatile and traumatic years of England’s Tudor dynasty (1485–1603), using the art of the era – both images and objects – as a means of investigating every facet of a period of English history that continues to exert a remarkable allure.

A unique, illustrated history of Tudor England told through its art and artefacts.

The Tudor dynasty (1485–1603) gave England five monarchs and an age of relentless power plays, scandal and transformation. Thanks to artists like Hans Holbein the Younger, we feel we have a definite idea of the characters of these famous kings and queens: the miserly Henry VII, the six-times married tyrant Henry VIII, the boy king Edward VI, the devout matriarch Mary I and the virgin queen Elizabeth I. Yet, iconic as they are, when it comes to Tudor art, portraits – and rulers – are far from the whole story.

In the sixteenth century, images and objects took on powerful new roles, as more people than ever before used them to shape their worlds. Monarchs, archbishops and courtiers commissioned artworks in a variety of media, to convey messages and create a record of themselves as office-holders and individuals. But in this period, the ‘middling sort’, professional men and women, were also gaining status, wealth and influence. They wanted to promote themselves too, and used art and a dazzling array of objects to do so.

In this unique and beautiful book, Christina Faraday uses art – paintings, sculpture, prints, tapestries, embroideries, clothes, jewels and household objects – to investigate every facet of the period. Beside dissecting familiar portraits of Tudor kings, queens and nobles, Faraday casts a forensic eye across a dynamic array of artefacts, giving the reader a vivid and detailed feel for the political, social, economic and cultural texture of sixteenth-century England.