Queen’s House Lecture Series
The Queens of Greenwich in Art and Culture
Thursdays, 11.00-12.30, 2 February to 2 March 2017
2 February
Dr Janet Dickenson, University of Oxford
The Tudors and the Tiltyard: Greenwich and chivalric culture
9 February
Christine Riding, Royal Museums Greenwich
Anne of Denmark: Art, Architecture & Performance in the Jacobean Age
16 February
Dr Charlotte Bolland, National Portrait Gallery
From Consorts to Queens: Portraits of Power at the Tudor Court
23 February
Karen Hearn
'The Queen dressed in blue': Van Dyck's portraits of Henrietta Maria
2 March
Tabitha Barber, Tate Britain
Queen Anne: images of the last Stuart
Seminars start at 11.00 in the Queen’s House Orangery and South
Parlours. Cost per seminar: £8 adults and £6 members
To book a place contact 020 8312 6608, e-mail [email protected]
or visit rmg.co.uk/tickets
For further information on Queen’s House events & programme visit:
www.rmg.co.uk/queenshouse
Abstracts and speaker biographies
The Tudors and the Tiltyard: Greenwich and chivalric culture
The site of the royal palace at Greenwich was at the heart of court life for the Tudor
monarchs and their nobility throughout the sixteenth century. The tiltyard provided a
key site for ceremonial display as the nobility turned out to demonstrate their
prowess at arms and to emphasise their connections with the crown. After 1533, the
new tiltyard at Whitehall took over as the main site for tournaments but Greenwich
continued to be maintained as an important location for training. This lecture will
explore the significance of chivalric culture for the Tudors, from Henry VIII’s love of
warfare and martial display to the refocusing of chivalric activity during Elizabeth I’s
reign, providing a vital means through which aspirational young men could approach
the ageing Virgin Queen.
Dr Janet Dickinson specializes in the history of early modern England and
Europe, with particular interests in cultural and political history. She has published
on the politics of the Tudor court, the nobility and the early modern court in Europe.
Current projects include continuing work on the Tudor nobility and the last years of
Elizabeth I’s life as well as court history in general. She has held lectureships at a
number of universities and is currently Senior Associate Tutor with the Department
of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford, where she was named ‘Most
Acclaimed Lecturer’ by her students in 2014 and 2016.
Anne of Denmark: art, architecture and performance in the Jacobean Age
Anne of Denmark (1574–1619) was Queen consort of Scotland, England and
Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I, and the mother of the future Charles I.
One of the less familiar queens of British history today, historians have traditionally
dismissed Anne as a lightweight queen, frivolous and self-indulgent. However, recent
reappraisals acknowledge Anne’s assertive independence and her significance as a
patron of the arts. This lecture will examine Anne’s dynamic role in Jacobean court
culture, including masques, her representation by artists such as Isaac Oliver, Paul
van Somer and Daniel Mytens and, of course, her patronage of Inigo Jones and the
creation of the Queen’s House, Greenwich.
Christine Riding is Head of Arts and Curator of the Queen’s House at Royal
Museums Greenwich. She was formerly Curator of Eighteenth and Nineteenthcentury Art at Tate Britain and the lead curator of Turner & the Sea (2013) held at
the National Maritime Museum. She is the Lead Curator of the Queen’s House 2016
refurbishment project.
From Consorts to Queens: portraits of power at the Tudor Court
This lecture will discuss the changing format, style and iconography of portraits of
Tudor queens over the course of the sixteenth century. From Elizabeth of York to
Katherine Parr, the imagery of the Tudor consorts underwent a dramatic shift as
portraiture developed in England, evolving from small, portable images of modest
ambition to large-scale statements of wealth and status. These portraits were often
defined by their relationship to images of the king and thus artists and patrons faced
a new challenge when tasked with creating images of Mary I and Elizabeth I:
England's first queens regnant.
Dr Charlotte Bolland is Collections Curator 16th Century at the National Portrait
Gallery. She is responsible for the acquisition, research and interpretation of portraits
dating from the sixteenth century in the National Portrait Gallery's collection. She
manages the display of the collection in the Tudor galleries and at Montacute House
in Somerset, and alongside research into the Gallery’s collection, she is interested in
researching cross-cultural exchange in the sixteenth century. Her doctoral thesis
explored the relationship between England and Italy through the Italian material
culture that was owned by the Tudor monarchs.
'The Queen dressed in blue': Van Dyck's portraits of Henrietta Maria
Our present-day view of Charles I's queen Henrietta Maria - for whom The Queen's
House was completed – owes much to the celebrated Flemish painter Anthony van
Dyck (1599-1641). He largely created her 'brand image' for her. This lecture will
consider some of the portraits that resulted from the interaction between this sitter
and artist, and their lasting impact.
Karen Hearn FSA was the Curator of 16th & 17th Century British Art at Tate Britain
from 1992 to 2012. She is now an Honorary Professor at University College
London. In 1995, she curated the Tate exhibition Dynasties: Painting in Tudor &
Jacobean England 1530-1630, for which she received a European Woman of
Achievement Award. She also curated Van Dyck & Britain (2009) and Rubens &
Britain (2011-12) both at Tate Britain, and Cornelius Johnson: Charles I's Forgotten
Painter at the National Portrait Gallery (2015). Her research focuses on art made in
Britain between 1500 and 1710, and on British-Netherlandish cultural links during
that period. She is currently working on a large monograph on Cornelius Johnson.
Queen Anne: images of the last Stuart
Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch, is best known today as a tragic figure whose
life was dominated by multiple failed pregnancies which profoundly affected her
health. Unwieldy, short sighted and lame, we are told that, unlike her predecessors,
she failed to use images of herself to promote a vision of powerful monarchy. Based
on evidence in documentary sources, this lecture will look at portraits commissioned
by the Queen, both when she was Princess of Denmark and after she acceded to the
throne. They reveal a lively interest in portraiture, and the use of images both as
private tokens of friendship and as symbols of monarchy on an international stage.
Tabitha Barber is Curator of British Art 1550-1750 at Tate Britain and is
responsible for acquisitions, display and research for this period at the gallery. Most
recently she was the curator of Art under Attack: Histories of British Iconoclasm
(2013), which looked at Reformation destruction and its lasting impact. She is a
particular specialist on Mary Beale, one of England’s first professional women artists,
and art of the later Stuart and early Hanoverian periods. She is currently working on
an exhibition, English Baroque 1660-1714, due at Tate Britain in 2020.