Holbein

Holbein was a very popular painter, particularly with the Royals, in the Tudor period.

He was commissioned to paint a lot of the royal portraits, some of which still hang in the properties they lived in.

Faerie Queen

I found this cut out in an old book I was given as a child on the Tudors. It explains the popularity of a fictional faerie character based on Elizabeth I. I have looked for more evidence of this character but can only find that the character came about through a poem written by Edmund Spenser and that various artists incorporated the character into their paintings, all with different idea's of aesthetics.

Other opinions on the character say that this poem was based on a prophecy regarding the Saxon's ruling England, which was later adopted by the Tudors.

I may take the Faerie Queen idea forward to help fuse the organic architecture and Tudor genres.

Reflection on Narrative and Tudor Life

By placing this dramatisation in the Tudor period, an obvious character to base the Princess on would be Elizabeth I. This production could be like a ‘what if’ view on Elizabeth’s life as she famously never got married as she claimed to be married to her country. An even more obvious choice would be her half-sister Mary as she was renowned for being serious and having an attitude, which is the description of the Grimm character. This choice will have a huge effect on both the design on the production and the narrative because of the difference in religion. Mary was a catholic so her wedding ceremony, clothing and props would all be different to that of her protestant half-sister.

The image above shows a high class man and woman dressed ‘according to their stations in life’. Tudor fashion was very much based on social class and trying to dress better than your class in order to progress through the classes. There was a lot of detail and, as the text above suggests, the fashions changed very quickly as people were very keen to be wearing the next big thing to state their rank.