As I have been working my way through the Tudor era I have been doing further research on the puzzling white band that appears in many early Tudor portraits. The result is this rather long post. I …

I love Tudor era clothing ,much of what makes costuming interesting has its origins in the 16thc Tudor court ,the corset , structural under layers, the freeing of women’s hair from under head…

As I have been working my way through the Tudor era I have been doing further research on the puzzling white band that appears in many early Tudor portraits. The result is this rather long post. I …

This extract from Sarah Bendall discusses Tudor dress and how busks shaped and reinforced gender norms in sixteenth century England.

This is a quick cheats guide to making a Tudor gown. First it will make it easier to decide what style of gown you would like ,I have included a short gallery of the more well known gowns and out…

The story of Catherine of Aragon, the true queen of Henry VIII, is a tragic one.

English Tudor drama started when the Renaissance started in Engliand. This happened during the late 15th century when Henry VII was king of England. Early English Tudor drama included ideas about humanism. Part of the reason for this was that humanists such as Erasmus came to England. They taught at Cambridge and Oxford which gave students and writers and interest in humanism and classic literature. During this time, the first English play with a complex plot was written. The play was Damon and Pythias by Richard Edwards. A play that has a complex plot has a more than just one story line with a character overcoming one or a few obstacles. If Hamlet had only a simple plot, the story would only be that Hamlet's father is killed, Hamlet is angry about this and ends up killing people, then Hamlet ends up being killed because with a poisoned sword. However, a complex plot includes truth being found out through internal logic and sometimes more than one character having a plot line. In Hamlet, Hamlet grapples with the thought of the afterlife and if he is depressed or putting on a show of depression about the murder of his father. A play with a complex plot can be thought of as at least one character dealing with botha physical journey and a psychological journey. Humanist performances were so popular that by 1546, Queen's College at Cambridge mandated the yearly perofmrance of plays. The plays were mostly in Latin, but some were in English. Religious and political controversies involving England helped to shape drama. One of these was probably Gorboduc or Ferrex and Porrex written by Thommas Sackville and Thomas Norton. The play is in five acts. In the play Gorboduc decides to divide his kingdom between hismself and his two sons, Ferrex and Porrex. Eventually all the main characters are killed. The play was a warning about not having an order of succession to the throne. It was performed for Queen Elizabeth in 1562 because at that time, the English throne did not have clear rules for succession to the throne. If you enjoy my content, please consider becoming one one of my patrons through Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheatreGeek where I will be sharing more in depth content, answering your questions, sharing which types of software I use and how to find them, and more. By becoming my patron, you allow me to create more content about theatre and more theatrical content.

Antonis Mor (Antonio Moro van Dashorst 1517-1577) - Portrait of Duchess Margaretha of Parma (1522-1586). Detail Circa 1562. Gemäldegalerie Staatliche Museen, Berlin. Additional information about Margaretha of Parma from London Constant: She was Regent of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567, and was a natural daughter of Emperor Charles V. Her mother, Margaret van Ghent, was a Fleming. She was brought up by her aunts Margaret of Austria and Maria of Hungary, who were successively regents of the Netherlands from 1507 to 1530 and from 1S30 to 1555. In 1533 she was married to Alexander de' Medici, duke of Florence, who was assassinated in 1537, after which she became the wife of Ottavio Farnese, duke of Parma, in 1542. The union proved an unhappy one. Like her aunts, who had trained her, she was a woman of masculine abilities, and Philip II., when he left the Netherlands in 1559 for Spain, acted wisely in appointing her regent. In ordinary times she would probably have proved as successful a ruler as her two predecessors in that post, but her task was very different from theirs. She had to face the rising storm of discontent against the Inquisition and Spanish despotism, and Philip left her but nominal authority. He was determined to pursue his own arbitrary course, and the issue was the revolt of the Netherlands. In 1567 Margaret resigned her post into the hands of the duke of Alva and retired to Italy. She had the satisfaction of seeing her son Alexander Farnese appointed to the office she had laid down, and to watch his successful career as governor-general of the Netherlands. She died at Ortona in 1586. Here you find a link to the website of the museum: www.smb.museum/smb/standorte/index.php?lang=de&p=2&am.... See also my list of best and worst museums in the world: www.flickr.com/photos/menesje/4059308291/ And here you find my list of best and worst museums in Holland: www.flickr.com/photos/menesje/4059604700/ Sir Antonis Mor (c. 1520 - between 1576 and 1578) was a Netherlandish portrait painter, much in demand by the courts of Europe. He has been referred to as Antoon, Anthonius, Anthonis, or Mor van Dashorst, Antonio Moro, Anthony More. Mor was born in Utrecht, Netherlands. What is known of his early life is that his artistic education commenced under Jan van Scorel. His earliest work is probably a portrait at Stockholm, dated 1538. It is said that the group of Knights of St. John, at Utrecht, supposed to have been painted about 1541, and a picture of two pilgrims at Berlin, dated 1544, together with the portrait of a woman unknown, in the Lille gallery, were probably among his earliest works, although their authenticity has not been proved. In 1547, he was received as a member of the Venerable Guild of St. Luke at Antwerp, and shortly afterwards (about 1548) he attracted the attention of Cardinal Granvelle, Bishop of Arras, who became his steady patron, and presented him to the Emperor Charles V. Of the portraits executed during the commencement of his career as Granvelle's protege, two are especially notable: of the bishop himself in the imperial gallery at Vienna, and of the Duke of Alba, which now belongs to the Hispanic Society of New York. He probably visited Italy first in 1550, for we hear of him in Rome, where he copied some works by Titian, notably the Danaë. He painted Phillip II of Spain in Brussels, then was sent by Queen Mary of Hungary to Portugal in 1552, where he painted portraits of the Royal family. After this he returned to Madrid, where he painted the portrait of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor; he was in Rome again in 1552. In 1554, around the time of Philip's ill-fated marriage to Mary I of England, Mor was sent to London where he made three versions of his portrait, much the best known likeness of the queen (Prado, Marquess of Northampton). At the end of 1554, he was back in Holland, where he painted a portrait of Prince William I of Orange (William the Silent), and other notable works. A little later he executed his own portrait, now in the Uffizi Gallery, one of his wife, now in the Prado , a portrait of a knight of St. James at Budapest, one of Alexander Farnese at Parma, the portrait of an unknown man in Verona, and a very extraordinary religious picture of the Resurrection, now at Nijmegen in a private collection. At about this time Mor married, but we know little of his wife, save that her name was Metgen, and she is supposed to have been a widow. He became a man of great means, acquired property, and was known as Moro van Dashorst when residing in Utrecht. He now refused to leave the Netherlands, despite repeated requests from Philip and other rulers. He may have been alarmed by the increasingly repressive Counter-Reformation tenor of the Spanish court.[2] Mor's Spanish pupil Alonso Sánchez Coello continued in a stiffer version of his master's style, and replaced him as Spanish court painter in 1561. His portrait of Jean Le Cocq, one of his wife, and that called Don Carlos in the gallery at Kassel, those of the Duchess de Feria (alleged), and of a widow, in the Prado, of himself in Lord Spencer's collection, and of Campana, the Brussels painter, in the Basel gallery, are of a subsequent period. Several very important works, executed towards the close his life, include: Elizabeth Queen of Spain, in the Bischoffs-heim collection (London), Jacopo da Trezzo and three other fine portraits, in the Stuers gallery (Paris), and the famous portrait of his own master, Jan van Scorel, belonging to the Society of Antiquaries (London). The last document that refers to him was one issued at Antwerp, in 1573. He probably died there shortly afterwards. Many of Mor's portraits were copied by others. Among those whose works have been confused with Mor's are Alonso Sánchez Coello, Francisco de Holanda, and Cristóvão de Morais Lopes. A large number of engravings based on his work also circulated. (Source: WikipediA Encyclopedia)

Portrait of Doña Josefa Benavides, Marquesa de Villena, c. 1692-1725, by Alonso Miguel de Tovar (1678–1758)

All My Six Posts! Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “ Ex Wives ,” “ No Way ,” “ Don’t Lose Your Head ” “Heart of Stone ” “ Haus of Holbein ” “ Get Down ” The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo ; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting R

Anniversary of the Coronation of Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace