|  Gothic
- Art for England 1400-1547
Dateline: 2nd July 2003
Buy the associated books from Amazon:
Gothic Art for England 1400 1547 from
Amazon.co.uk
or from Amazon.com
Medieval and Renaissance Stained Glass in the Victoria
and Albert Museum from Amazon.co.uk
or from Amazon.com
At the V&A,
from 9 October 2003-18 January 2004,
The Victoria and Albert Museum hold its major autumn exhibition,
Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547, showing for the first time
the glory of late medieval art from the reign of Henry IV to
the reign of Henry VIII. The exhibition is the successor to
the acclaimed Age of Chivalry (1200-1400) at the Royal Academy
in 1987/88.
The V&A Gothic exhibition covers the period brought to life
by Shakespeare’s great history plays such as Henry V and
Richard III, a period that evokes Agincourt, war with France,
the Wars of the Roses and a time of English insularity. The
exhibition will show, by contrast, how against this backdrop,
the huge wealth and extensive patronage of monarchs, aristocrats,
the Church and merchants made the late medieval years one of
the richest periods for the arts in England. Far from being
insular, wealthy patrons were international and cosmopolitan,
commissioning pieces from great artists both in England and
abroad, chiefly the Netherlands and France.
Fires, war, and the Reformation
have destroyed much of the art of the period making the surviving
art and artefacts extremely rare. The exhibition brings together
a superb collection of surviving treasures with more than
300 objects including tapestries, manuscripts, sculptures,
paintings, armour, jewellery, gold and silver chalices and
reliquaries, plate, altarpieces, tomb effigies and stained
glass.
Highlights of the exhibition
include:
- the funerary helmet, shield
and sword of Henry V
- the crown of Margaret of
York (sister of Edward IV), which has been in Germany for
500 years
- the gold Reliquary of the
Order of St.-Esprit owned by the wife of Henry IV and lent
by the Louvre
- a monumental stained-glass
window from St. Mary’s, Fairford
- an elaborate silver-gilt
beaker made for Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII
- an early edition of Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales printed by William Caxton in 1483
Richard Marks, curator, said:
“The exhibition evokes a period brilliantly depicted
in Shakespeare’s great history plays, which was not
just a time of war and conflict. The late medieval years were
a time of conspicuous artistic consumption when unprecedented
numbers of English men and women bought, commissioned and
built on a lavish scale. It was one of the richest periods
for the arts in England. The increasing wealth of patrons,
both aristocrats and merchants, made rich by textiles and
the wool trade, encouraged an outpouring of investment and
new commissions of art from throughout England and the Continent,
chiefly from the Netherlands and France. They were cosmopolitan,
commissioning the best artists from abroad as well as in England.”
The exhibition is organised
thematically. The main themes are: Royalty; War, Chivalry
and Spectacle; Patrons; Urban Life; the Household; Church
and People; Death and Commemoration. As well as exhibiting
the treasures of the elite, the exhibition will include domestic
objects that will give visitors a view of daily life. The
finest tapestries, ceramics, books and domestic stained glass
will be juxtaposed with simpler objects used by ordinary people.
The displays will bring to
life leading personalities and patrons of the time such as
the Beauchamps, the Nevilles and Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother
of Henry VII.
The exhibition will explore
art and artefacts from the magnificent Gothic cathedrals and
the great wealth of Church leaders such as Archbishop Chichele
and Bishop Fox of Winchester. However, it will also focus
on the great number of parish churches built during this period
and embellished through the wealth of rich patrons. Objects
will include screens, altarpieces, missals, books of hours,
stained-glass windows, plate, tomb effigies, a bell, carvings,
alabaster sculptures, choir books and the cope of Cardinal
Morton. The architectural heritage of the period, which surrounds
us today, will be evoked by films and photographs - buildings
such as King’s College, Cambridge, Hampton Court and
Westminster Abbey; castles such as Herstmonceaux, buried deep
in the English countryside; and timbered buildings in towns
such as Lavenham, Suffolk.
Richard Marks said: “The
exhibition challenges the perception that the Gothic style
ended when the Tudor dynasty triumphed at the Battle of Bosworth
in 1485 and the ‘early modern’ era began. It will
show that, although forms derived from the Italian and Northern
Renaissance began to appear, the Gothic style remained the
prevailing artistic style in England until the middle of the
16th century.”
The objects will come to the
exhibition from a wide range of institutions in England, Europe
and the United States. They include parish churches, cathedrals,
Oxford and Cambridge colleges, schools, livery companies,
town councils and stately homes as well as private owners
and international museums – anywhere where art and artefacts
from this long ago period have survived.
The book Gothic:
Art for England 1400-1547 edited by Richard Marks and
Paul Williamson will be published by V&A Publications
on 7 October 2003 to accompany the opening of the exhibition.
Also published on 7 October
2003, Medieval and Renaissance Stained Glass in the Victoria
and Albert Museum by Paul Williamson (£30.00 hardback).
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