Tudor Era - Tumblr Posts

Disneyifies your anne of cleaves and runs away really fast.

Side note. I didn't use any patter brushes I had to invidualy draw every bead and circle.

JEREMY NORTHAN and JAMES FRAIN as THOMAS MORE and THOMAS CROMWELL

THE TUDORS (2007-2010) | 2x05 "His Majesty's Pleasure"

"And now, his monarch's sweating face thrust into his, he remembers something his father told him: if you burn your hand, Tom, raise your hands and cross your wrists before you, and hold them so till you get to the water or the salve: I don't know how it works, but it confuses the pain, and then if you utter a prayer at the same time, you might get off not too bad. He raises his palms. He crosses his wrists. Back you go, Henry. As confused by the gesture — as if almost relieved to be stopped—the king face away and so relieving him, Cromwell, of that bloodshot stare, of the indecent closeness of the popping blue whites of the king's eyes. He says, softly, 'God preserve you, Majesty. And now, will you excuse me?' (Mantel, H. 2012. Bring up the Bodies. 276-277)

MARK RYLANCE and DAMIAN LEWIS as THOMAS CROMWELL and KING HENRY VIII in WOLF HALL (2015-) | 1x05 "Crows"

anne in her girly activities 💅🏼🎀

Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn in The Tudors — 1x07 'Message to the Emperor'

Thomas Cromwell and Richard Rich in The Tudors— S03E01 'Civil Unrest'

The Tudors — S1.E2 'Simple Henry'

Henry’s eyes are on his portrait of himself, massive, on the wall of the chamber. His [Cromwell] own eyes consult the image of his master. ‘What should I want with the Emperor, were he emperor of all the world? Your Majesty is the only prince. The mirror and the light of other kings.’

The Mirror and The Light by Hilary Mantel

PERIOD DRAMA APPRECIATION WEEK 2022 

↳ Day 3 - Favorite Costumes: The Tudor Lady’s Wardrobe

[insp.]

Visiting the Tower of London gave me loads of inspiration to draw dear Crumb 💖🪶

Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn for my Six Wives of Henry VIII project. These portraits have taken a lot of research to get them to look as accurate as I can get them without access to a lot of academic texts in America. Both portraits are based on contemporary, or near-contemporary copies of lost originals, especially in the case of Anne.

For Catherine’s portrait, I intended to illustrate a younger queen about a decade before Henry started looking into annulling their marriage. For Anne, I wanted to portray her life as a courtier and musician, since she excelled at both. Her instrument is called a rebec, which was kind of like a premodern violin.

This project is part of a broader theoretical series into archeologic illustration. I’ve uploaded the process of painting Catherine over on tiktok with a bit of history of her life. Anne’s vid to come soon!

Next two of Henry VIII's wives: Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves!

Putting a little explanation for these designs under the break:

Both of these women were painted by Hans Holbien, and their portraits by that artist played a pretty vital role in how I wanted to depict these women. For Jane, I decided to stick as close as I could, because I think Jane gets the most artistic interpretation than any of the other wives. She's a blank slate to a lot of directors in Tudor adaptations. This is brought on by the very scant records we have of what she was really like in life. We do know she loved quail while she was pregnant, and encouraged Henry to treat his daughter Mary better, which ultimately ended in her being welcomed back at court. Her family has kept samples of her embroidery through history, so it's fun to imagine her working on something in between breaks for her portrait.

For Anne, I went the complete opposite. Her Holbien portrait is extremely famous, but I feel like it creates the misconception that Anne never changed during the rest of her life in England. The portrait also has been used to cast doubts on her appearance (and whether or not her looks are exagerrated). In reality, Anne was dressed in typical English court digs when she arrived in England, and was noted to be very pretty. It wasn't until after Henry cast doubts on her appearrance, and even her chastity, in order to get out of the marriage as quickly as possible. I wanted to give these back to her, as white symbolised purity and chastity in this period. Anne lived a good life as Henry's sister, and outlived all the other of Henry's wives. She was known for being kind to her staff, and loving to pair cards with a good drink.

Yes I drew every English monarch from William the conqueror to Vicky…I had fun trying to figure what they’d look like, and using rly rubbish stylised medieval portraits lol but a lot of creative liberties. Notice: Henry Vs wound from being shot in the face and Edward Is famous droopy eyelid :)

Last two of Henry VIII's wives, two more K/Catherines! I'm all finished with this project!

Katherine Howard was Henry's fifth and youngest wife, and second to die by execcution at her husband's hand. She was cousin to Anne Boleyn, and like her, rose to the king's favor as a lady in waiting to Anne of Cleves. Her age at the time of their marriage being speculated to be between 15 to 21-- her husband was 49. The crimes levied against her at her arrest were primarily to do with two alleged affairs that the king was not aware of at the time of the union. History has not been kind to this young woman. Thankfully there has been recent retreadings of her story, and more scruitiny has been called upon to the older men who claimed to have loved her. She reportedly loved to dance, which is why I painted her mid-step. I also wanted to show off some Tudor era garments, so the lift of her dress is greatly exagerrated.

Katherine Parr was Henry's final wife. At the time of their marriage she had already been widowed twice, and was in service to Mary as a lady in waiting. Katherine was a staunch Protestant, perhaps even more so than Anne Boleyn, as she fervently supported the Reformation, and even spoke to Henry about finishing this work (at this point Henry himself lived as a quasi-Catholic, and was comfortable in the state of limbo he left his realm in by not defining Anglicanism further), which famously almost cost her her head. Katherine is actually quite notable for being the first named female author published in England, and she has three works credited to her. After Henry passed, Katherine made a swift marriage to her one-time lover, Thomas Seymour, which caused a great deal of scandal and pain to her step-children. She died after giving birth to a daughter only about a year after Henry. The dress she is wearing is based on a Tudor portrait by an unknown artist. It seems to be depicting the queen in a more relaxed attire than formal court attire, but, I have to say, I wish I had chosen a different outfit. Since making this design there has been a brilliant discovery of another portrait of Katherine, and if I ever will return to Katherine, I'd like to base her on that one. The portrait I referenced in this picture is dated to the late sixteenth century, but Katherine died in 1548, so I can't help but wonder if the dress is innaccurate. Curiously, there is also speculation that she had originally been painted wearing a French Hood for the piece, which was painted over later-- but it's only a theory.

Blicking Hall, Norfolk. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:DeFacto