Images of Rule: Art and Politics in the English Renaissance, 1485-1649

Abstract

Images of Rule offers a fascinating, authoritative, and highly readable account of the vital role the visual arts played in Great Britain during the Tudor and early Stuart monarchies. David Howarth examines the intersection of art and political power in Great Britain between the accession of the Tudors and the outbreak of civil war. The images of the Royal court constitute the raw material from which he fashions a cultural and political history of Renaissance Britain. Howarth concentrates on the public uses and political exploitation of Renaissance art, rather than its quality or the creative process behind it. He argues that the English ruling class used and manipulated works of art in order to reinforce its own power. Portraiture, architecture, the decorative arts, and spectacle all served to preserve England's political status quo.