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The Story of Tudor Art
A History of Tudor England Through its Art and Objects
The Story of Tudor Art
A History of Tudor England Through its Art and Objects
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Description
Bloomsbury presents The Story of Tudor Art by Christina J. Faraday, read by Ffion Aynsley.
A unique history of Tudor England told through its art and artefacts.
The Tudor dynasty (1485–1603) gave England five monarchs and an age of relentless power plays, scandal, and transformation. Thanks to artists like Hans Holbein the Younger, we feel we have a definite idea of the characters of these famous kings and queens: the miserly Henry VII, the six-times married tyrant Henry VIII, the boy king Edward VI, the devout matriarch Mary I and the virgin queen Elizabeth I. Yet, iconic as they are, when it comes to Tudor art, portraits – and rulers – are far from the whole story.
In the sixteenth century, images and objects took on powerful new roles, as more people than ever before used them to shape their worlds. Monarchs, archbishops and courtiers continued to commission artworks in a variety of media, to convey messages and create a record of themselves as office-holders and individuals. But in this period, the 'middling sort', professional men and women, were also gaining status, wealth and influence. They wanted to promote themselves too, and used art and a dazzling array of objects to do so.
In this unique, Christina Faraday uses art – paintings, sculpture, prints, tapestries, embroideries, clothes, jewels and household objects – to investigate every facet of the period. Beside dissecting familiar portraits of Tudor kings, queens and nobles, Faraday casts a forensic eye across a dynamic array of artefacts, giving the reader a vivid and detailed feel for the political, social, economic and cultural texture of sixteenth-century England.
Product details
| Published | 25 Sep 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Audiobook |
| Duration | 11 hours and 6 minutes |
| ISBN | 9781035907809 |
| Imprint | Apollo |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Exquisitely designed and richly illustrated ... Reading it is like looking at the period through a kaleidoscope: vibrant and colourful, always changing, often puzzling, and never, ever dull.
Tracy Borman, BBC History
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Faraday proves to be a wonderful storyteller, with a gift for vividly evoking the past and its objects … The Story of Tudor Art provides an excellent introduction to the visual and material culture of Tudor England … Engaging.
Elizabeth Goldring, Literary Review
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[A] lively, comprehensive and much-needed survey of Tudor material culture.
Katherine Harvey, The Times
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Faraday is a compelling and capable guide, with a nuanced understanding of the intellectual and spiritual world of the Tudors, cycling through a thrilling set of objects with deftness and delight ... An ambitious new appraisal of Tudor art that leads the curious through many of its key objects, arriving at a new narrative that is more capacious and better balanced than previous surveys of the period.
Edward Town, Apollo
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Ravishingly produced
Laura Freeman, The Times BOOKS OF THE YEAR
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Revealing and beautifully illustrated.
Michael Prodger, Country Life


















