During the Tudor Age the South West was famed for the innovation
and endeavor of its people. Devon sea dogs Drake, Raleigh and
Hawkins sailed to 'World's End' in their pursuit of treasure and
glory, Exeter's Nicholas Hilliard produced exquisite miniature
portraits of courtiers while fellow Exonian Thomas Bodley
re-founded Oxford University's library, later named the Bodleian in
his honor. These men lived during the religious turmoil and
political intrigue of Elizabeth I's reign- a time of opportunity
for the merchants and traders of Devon. Many grew rich on the
fruits of overseas trade and expressed their new status through
fashionable houses, fine furnishings, decoration and valuable
personal possessions. The demand for goods was met by a network of
local craft workers: plasterers, masons, carpenters, lace-makers
and goldsmiths. Aspects of their lives are revealed in this book,
published to accompany the fascinating exhibition at the Royal
Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, which will draw together paintings,
artifacts and documents from galleries, museums and record offices
to tell the story of the South West and its people set against the
backdrop of one of the most,evocative periods in British history.
It was during the Elizabethan 'Golden Age' that West Country men
became famous for their innovation and endeavour. Devon 'sea dogs'
Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and John Hawkins sailed to 'World's
End' in pursuit of treasure, glory and new dominions for the queen.
Exeter's Nicholas Hilliard produced exquisite miniature portraits
of courtiers, while fellow Exonian Thomas Bodley re-founded Oxford
University's library, later named the Bodleian in his honour. These
men achieved their fame and fortune in an age of religious turmoil
and political intrigue, but it was also a time of opportunity -
especially for the merchants of Devon. Many grew rich on the fruits
of overseas trade and expressed their new wealth and status through
fashionable houses, fine furnishings and valuable personal
possessions. The demand for luxury goods for the new elite in
society was met by a network of local craft workers. A recent Royal
Albert Memorial Museum research project funded by The Paul Mellon
Centre for Studies in British Art has combed the archives of record
offices in search of information on their lives and products.
Accompanying an exhibition at RAAM, this book places original
manuscripts alongside the work of local goldsmiths, carpenters and
masons to tell their tales. Of particular note are the silver
communion cups: often fashioned from melted down pre-Reformation
chalices, by leading Exeter goldsmiths such as Richard Hilliard
(Nicholas's father) and John Jones. The prosperity of South West
merchants at this period fostered a sense of civic pride that was
expressed through the foundation of hospitals, schools and
almshouses, as well as improvements to waterways, such as the
building of Exeter canal. By embracing the spirit of the
Renaissance, it also became an age of scholarship and curiosity.
Antiquaries such as Richard Carew, John Hooker and John Norden
compiled the first regional histories and mapped the cities and
monuments of the South West. And this sense of curiosity spread
across the oceans. As evidenced by Drake's circumnavigation of the
globe in 1577-80, represented in the exhibition by the exuberant
Drake Cup, and Raleigh's 'Virginia' plantation project on the east
coast of America. West Country to World's End features some of
Cornishman John White's watercolour views of indigenous Algonquians
and their settlements in the New World - rare visual traces of an
extraordinary encounter between two cultures. The leading South
West Tudors played out their roles against the backdrop of national
and international politics. Many took prominent parts in repulsing
the Spanish Armadas that threatened England's security from 1588:
the book publishes a rarely seen large-scale oil painting of
Elizabeth and the Spanish Armada that captures the drama of the
battle. It also explores the art of the Tudor court from the impact
of Holbein - shown through stunning examples from the Royal
Collection - through to the jewel-like miniatures by Nicholas
Hilliard. The Exeter man's contribution to the visual arts is
celebrated in the city of his birth with portraits including Walter
Raleigh, Lord Howard of Effingham and James I. Essays by leading
scholars in the field of South West arts and the Tudor period
edited by Professor Sam Smiles. Susan Flavin discusses developments
in the decorative arts of the 16th century based on archival
research, Sam Smiles writes on education and learning, Stephanie
Pratt on exploration and Karen Hearn on Nicholas Hilliard.
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