Dynasties

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic reference for Tudor and Jacobean art
Review: This book is an exhibition catalogue for a display of Tudor and Jacobean portraits held in 1995 at the Tate Gallery in London, and if you love portraits from this period the book is an essential reference. Its hard to beat this book for sheer volume and breath of the type of Tudor portraits illustrated. The book is divided into the following sections:-

1. Holbein and his predecessors
2. Edward VI, Mary I and Continental Art
3. Eworth and his contemporaries
4. Elizabeth 1
5. Elizabethan painters and patrons
6. The private image
7. The turn of the 16th century
8. The New Netherlanders

Virtually all the pictures are illustrated in colour with a listing giving biographical information about the sitter and the artist where it is known. The back section of the book also includes a very interesting technical breakdown of methods used by the artists Bettes, Hilliard and Ketel in their works. If you have any interest in the art of this period this is a book you should seriously consider tracking down.