The Tudors by Charlotte Bolland
The Tudors by Charlotte Bolland – Passion, Power and Politics – is the book published alongside the special exhibition with the same name held at Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. I loved the exhibition, it was very well presented and lovely to see all those important paintings under one roof.
The book is equally good, structured on themes rather than a chronological timeline, which was great. The book is available to buy online, so it is well worth getting if you like reading about the Tudors. The themes I mentioned are court culture, religion, queenship, conflict, empire, piracy and trade, and translation. I like that there were details about the trumpeter John Blanke, who is depicted on the scroll of the 1511 Tournament. He was a black Tudor and more details were given both about him and about others at the court, including people of Muslim faith. In the exhibition there were a few more portraits of black people, which just shows that the Tudor court was a more diverse place than we are thinking of today.
The Tudors by Charlotte Bolland
Details about the picture: collage with highlights from the exhibition
My rating: 5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: National Portrait Gallery, London
Year it was published: 2022
Format: Hardcover
Genre(s): History
Pages: 167
About the author: Charlotte Bolland is editor and contributors are Cassander Smith, Catherine MacLeod, Kate O’Donoghue, Susan Doran, Gillian Kenny, Frederick Smith, Monserrat Marcos, Michael Ohajuru.
Website & Social Media Links: –
I seem to remember seeing some sort of film adaptation once that made a point of highlighting the “Black Tudors”. It’s a fascinating topic!
Kelly recently posted…Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac
I agree, black Tudors is a fascinating topic. I read a book a few years ago: https://www.coffeeandbooks.co.uk/black-tudors-by-miranda-kaufmann/ and I enjoyed it very much.