The story of Tudor art might seem familiar: from Holbein’s vision of Henry VIII to the arcane symbolism of Elizabeth I’s portraits. In recent years, however, this traditional view has been broadened, revealing portraits and other artworks commissioned by the middling sort, a proliferation of narrative imagery in domestic decoration, and the widespread use of textiles, luxury imports and printed media to convey messages about religion, status and identity.

In this talk, Christina Faraday discusses the major developments presented in her new book The Story of Tudor Art, the first book ever to consider artistic developments across the whole of the sixteenth century in England. The talk will highlight some of the key recent discoveries in the field, giving the often-overlooked reigns of Henry VII, Edward VI and Mary I their artistic due. It will also explore the way that our view of the period’s artistic achievements changes when fine art and so-called ‘decorative’ arts are considered together, as well as showing that works made by court artists and by regional craftsmen were often taking part in the same cultural conversations.

Dr Christina Faraday FSA FRHistS is a historian of art and ideas, specializing in the Tudor period. She is an Affiliated Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Cambridge, a Trustee of the Walpole Society for British art history, and a former Fellow of Gonville and Caius College. She is the host of British Art Matters Podcast and a BBC New Generation Thinker since 2019, appearing regularly in popular media including BBC Radio and Apollo Magazine. She is author of Tudor Liveliness: Vivid Art in Post-Reformation England (2023) and The Story of Tudor Art (2025).

This lecture was sponsored and hosted by the Society of Antiquaries of London in its apartments at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. The Society recorded the proceedings and, with permission of the speaker(s), made them available online here, and on its website at www.sal.org.uk. All rights reserved.