YE OLD BLOG
Hamletting you know about the Elizabethan Era
ARTS
Nahaal Boluriaan
Artists lead this era, but theatre was not the only form of art. Painting became very popular as well. Elizabethans developed a new style by mixing Greek and Roman techniques with their own European methods. Queen Elizabeth inspired the artwork as she supported it. The artists used art as a form of expression, but they were forbidden from including religious or political issues.
The Elizabethan Era was most famous for creating the miniature paintings that were inspired by the Renaissance. The art usually expressed power and wealth, so the upper class was interested in these portrait-miniatures. They were small, but very detailed, and they clearly showed the elaborate dresses with the texture of the expensive fabrics, the colorful dyes, and the jewelry that only the rich could afford.
POrtrait-Miniatures:
Queen Elizabeth I
by Nicholas Hilliard
Unknown woman,
by Nicholas Hilliard
Unknown woman,
by Nicholas Hilliard
Queen Elizabeth I
by Unknown
The artists that specifically painted the royal family were the artists of the Tudor court. They were not allowed to accurately paint Queen Elizabeth because she wanted to maintain a good image. She did not want to be viewed as a weak and elderly queen. The enhanced portraits made her seem young and powerful. At the time, being an artist was not a real job, so they depended on patrons to financially support them, and the Queen also took part in this.
There were many talented artists, but Hans Holbein the Younger was one of the first and most important artists appointed by the Tudor House. He was a German artist who made life-size and miniature paintings. Later, he became Nicholas Hilliard’s instructor, who was one of the Queen’s favorite artists. He specialized in portrait-miniatures, and many of the most famous portraits of the Queen were by Hilliard. He was known for making his illustrations very realistic. He used bright and opaque colors and incorporated gold and silver paint in his artwork. Today, his artwork helps to visualize the reality of Elizabethan England. Marcus Gheeraerts was another famous artist who was known for his full length paintings of the upper class. In contrast to the miniature portraits, Gheeraerts included more of the background and his artwork did not seem like a portrait. There were many different artists, but they were all famous for painting portraits of the nobles. Of course, the lower class could not afford such luxuries, so social rank creates a difference among the people, similar to some aspects of fashion and theatre.
Life-sized painting of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein
