DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56731#0086
37-41. ARTISTIC CONTACTS WITH ITALY IN THE REIGNS
OF HENRY VIII AND ELIZABETH
37. HENRY VIII AND HIS COURT AS PATRONS OF ITALIAN ARTISTS
In the fifteenth century the Italian Renaissance reached England and was propagated by
a circle of Oxford scholars. Linacre and Grocyn had both visited Italy, and it was from them
that Thomas More learned Greek at Oxford. Henry VIII entered upon his reign with the promise
of becoming a great Renaissance prince, patron of learning and the arts. Greek lectureships were
founded at Oxford; the humanist spirit seemed to be established at court; Wyatt and Surrey were
experimenting with the Petrarcan sonnet; the learned circle of More, Colet, Erasmus and their
friends enjoyed the royal favour. The Italian influence in the humanities was not paralleled by
a similar development in the arts. The King, it is true, assembled a collection of modern pictures
in Whitehall and tempted a number of Italian artists into his service. He also encouraged his
favourites, men like Henry, Lord Marney, builder of Layer Marney Tower (see 3 and d)’, Sir
Richard Weston, builder of Sutton Place; Lord Sandys, builder of the Vyne; and, above all,
Cardinal Wolsey, the generous patron of the new learning, to follow his example and employ
Italian artisans. But their influence remained confined within the immediate circle of the Court,
while the late Gothic style continued all over the country without a break. The foreigners were
used for the setting up of tombs (see /), but otherwise they were restricted to decorative details
(see d), and building was left to Englishmen. Nonsuch, the King’s luxurious new country house,
was a late Gothic fantasy richly adorned with Renaissance detail. As a result we find mediaeval
structures on which classical scrolls, candelabra, vases, shells, putti and dolphins were substituted
for the late Gothic decorative motifs. In this first phase of the English Renaissance, classical motifs
are strangely grafted on to the indigenous art.
1. Pietro Torrigiani (1472-1528). Bronze effigy of Henry VII from his tomb in Westminster
Abbey, 1512-18.
Under the dazzling late Gothic fan-work tracery of the Chapel built by Henry VII stands his
tomb, a monument of pure Florentine Renaissance. Torrigiani was the most important of the
Italian artists employed by Henry VIII. The new ideal of the Renaissance prince shines in the
intellectual and humane character of the head.
2. Detail of the Wooden Screen in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, 1532-6.
This is the largest Italian work of the period. The arms and initials of Henry VIII and Anne
Boleyn on the screen fix the date between 1532 and 1536. The forms and decorative details of the
whole are North Italian and the quality of the craftsmanship proves that it was executed by some
of the Italian artisans whom Henry VIII attracted to his Court. But even in such an apparently
Italian work certain details have an English late Gothic flavour. For instance, the pendants
hanging down from the entablature are familiar from late perpendicular vaults and although their
decoration is classical, the idea of such hangings does not fit into the classical repertory. Italianized
English craftsmen—perhaps Richard Rydge who carved the similar pendants of the Great Hall
at Hampton Court—may therefore have had some share in the design and execution of the screen.
3 and a. Layer Marney Tower, Essex, built by Henry, Lord Marney in about 1525.
There is still a suggestion of military architecture about the setting, but Italian craftsmen
were employed on conspicuous ornamental details such as the parapet (see a), where floriated
dolphins appear in place of Gothic ornament.
b. Giovanni da Maiano, Terra-cotta Roundel with Bust of Caesar. George II Gateway, Hampton
Court. 1521.
Giovanni da Maiano was a Tuscan sculptor who is known to have worked for the King and
Cardinal Wolsey in Hampton Court, Greenwich, and Windsor between 1521 and 1536. In 1521
Giovanni asked Cardinal Wolsey for payment for the medallions with heads of Roman emperors
in Hampton Court. These are the only certain works which survive from the hand of an Italian
sculptor who did much in his time to make Italian art popular in England. The style and technique
of the roundels show that Giovanni had studied in the workshop of the Robbia family at Florence,
while the idea of decorating Hampton Court with the heads of Roman emperors was probably
due to the antiquarian interests of his patron.
Fig. 3 and a by permission of Country Life.
OF HENRY VIII AND ELIZABETH
37. HENRY VIII AND HIS COURT AS PATRONS OF ITALIAN ARTISTS
In the fifteenth century the Italian Renaissance reached England and was propagated by
a circle of Oxford scholars. Linacre and Grocyn had both visited Italy, and it was from them
that Thomas More learned Greek at Oxford. Henry VIII entered upon his reign with the promise
of becoming a great Renaissance prince, patron of learning and the arts. Greek lectureships were
founded at Oxford; the humanist spirit seemed to be established at court; Wyatt and Surrey were
experimenting with the Petrarcan sonnet; the learned circle of More, Colet, Erasmus and their
friends enjoyed the royal favour. The Italian influence in the humanities was not paralleled by
a similar development in the arts. The King, it is true, assembled a collection of modern pictures
in Whitehall and tempted a number of Italian artists into his service. He also encouraged his
favourites, men like Henry, Lord Marney, builder of Layer Marney Tower (see 3 and d)’, Sir
Richard Weston, builder of Sutton Place; Lord Sandys, builder of the Vyne; and, above all,
Cardinal Wolsey, the generous patron of the new learning, to follow his example and employ
Italian artisans. But their influence remained confined within the immediate circle of the Court,
while the late Gothic style continued all over the country without a break. The foreigners were
used for the setting up of tombs (see /), but otherwise they were restricted to decorative details
(see d), and building was left to Englishmen. Nonsuch, the King’s luxurious new country house,
was a late Gothic fantasy richly adorned with Renaissance detail. As a result we find mediaeval
structures on which classical scrolls, candelabra, vases, shells, putti and dolphins were substituted
for the late Gothic decorative motifs. In this first phase of the English Renaissance, classical motifs
are strangely grafted on to the indigenous art.
1. Pietro Torrigiani (1472-1528). Bronze effigy of Henry VII from his tomb in Westminster
Abbey, 1512-18.
Under the dazzling late Gothic fan-work tracery of the Chapel built by Henry VII stands his
tomb, a monument of pure Florentine Renaissance. Torrigiani was the most important of the
Italian artists employed by Henry VIII. The new ideal of the Renaissance prince shines in the
intellectual and humane character of the head.
2. Detail of the Wooden Screen in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, 1532-6.
This is the largest Italian work of the period. The arms and initials of Henry VIII and Anne
Boleyn on the screen fix the date between 1532 and 1536. The forms and decorative details of the
whole are North Italian and the quality of the craftsmanship proves that it was executed by some
of the Italian artisans whom Henry VIII attracted to his Court. But even in such an apparently
Italian work certain details have an English late Gothic flavour. For instance, the pendants
hanging down from the entablature are familiar from late perpendicular vaults and although their
decoration is classical, the idea of such hangings does not fit into the classical repertory. Italianized
English craftsmen—perhaps Richard Rydge who carved the similar pendants of the Great Hall
at Hampton Court—may therefore have had some share in the design and execution of the screen.
3 and a. Layer Marney Tower, Essex, built by Henry, Lord Marney in about 1525.
There is still a suggestion of military architecture about the setting, but Italian craftsmen
were employed on conspicuous ornamental details such as the parapet (see a), where floriated
dolphins appear in place of Gothic ornament.
b. Giovanni da Maiano, Terra-cotta Roundel with Bust of Caesar. George II Gateway, Hampton
Court. 1521.
Giovanni da Maiano was a Tuscan sculptor who is known to have worked for the King and
Cardinal Wolsey in Hampton Court, Greenwich, and Windsor between 1521 and 1536. In 1521
Giovanni asked Cardinal Wolsey for payment for the medallions with heads of Roman emperors
in Hampton Court. These are the only certain works which survive from the hand of an Italian
sculptor who did much in his time to make Italian art popular in England. The style and technique
of the roundels show that Giovanni had studied in the workshop of the Robbia family at Florence,
while the idea of decorating Hampton Court with the heads of Roman emperors was probably
due to the antiquarian interests of his patron.
Fig. 3 and a by permission of Country Life.