Research
TUDOR LIVELINESS
Vivid Art in Post-Reformation England
Paul Mellon Centre & Yale University Press
Spring 2023
In Tudor and Jacobean England, visual art was often termed "lively'. This word described all kinds of visual and material culture - from portraits to funeral monuments, book illustrations to tapestry. To a modern viewer, this claim seems perplexing: what did 'liveliness' mean in a culture with seemingly little appreciation for naturalism? And in a period supposedly characterised by fear of idolatry, how could 'liveliness' have been a good thing?
In this wide-ranging and innovative book, Christina Faraday excavates a uniquely Tudor model of vividness: one grounded in rhetorical techniques for creating powerful mental images for audiences. Faraday re-enlivens the vivid visual and material culture of Tudor and Jacobean England, recovering its original power to move, impress and delight.
CLOCKS AND WATCHES
IN BRITISH PORTRAITS
c.1530-c.1630
What's the point of a painted clock?
This research explored the symbolism of clocks and watches in Tudor portraits. I discovered that clocks didn’t just remind viewers of the onslaught of time and the approach of death, but had a complex range of secret meanings which said a lot about the people who owned them. I revealed the clock’s hidden symbolism, which included personal qualities such as reliability, patience and self-control, but also religious ideas about the workings of the soul, expressing different ideas about faith and salvation.
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Image: Cornelis Visscher the Elder, Jacques Wittewronghele, 1574. Rothamstead Research, Harpenden.