A Virtual Visit: Netherlandish Art at the Tudor Courts

Online – Thursday, 1 December 2022
16:00 – 17:15 (CET) / 10:00 – 11:15 AM (EST)

On Thursday, 1 December 2022, together with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CODART organized an online study meeting dedicated to the exhibition The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England, which was on view at The Met from 10 October 2022 to 8 January 2023. From King Henry VII’s seizure of the throne in 1485 to the death of his granddaughter Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, England’s Tudor monarchs used art to legitimize and glorify their tumultuous reigns. The exhibition –  organized by the Met and The Cleveland Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco – traced the transformation of the arts under their rule through more than 100 objects, including iconic portraits, spectacular tapestries, manuscripts, sculpture, and armor, from both the Museum collection and international lenders. This meeting allowed CODART members who were unable to visit New York to virtually enjoy a guided tour through the exhibition with its curators.

CODARTfocus on 1 December

This CODARTfocus featured the exhibition’s co-curators, Adam Eaker (Associate Curator, European Paintings, Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Elizabeth Cleland (Curator, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art), for a discussion and virtual tour with an emphasis on the work of Netherlandish artists for the Tudor courts, ranging from portraits by artists such as Marcus Gheeraerts and Hans Ewouts to a spectacular series of tapestries woven in Brussels. Major loans from Dutch and Belgian institutions include the monumental cartoons for stained glass, depicting Mary I of England and Philip II of Spain, from the Sint-Janskerk, Gouda, and a massive bronze candelabrum once designated for the tomb of Henry VIII and now on loan from the Sint-Baafskathedraal in Ghent. During the event, the curators provided a virtual walk-through of the exhibition and discussed both the process of curatorship and the historical links between the Low Countries and Tudor England. Their presentation was followed by a discussion with questions from attendees. The session was moderated by Frederica Van Dam (Curator of Old Masters, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent).