Art in England fills a void in the scholarship of both English and medieval art by offering the first single volume overview of artistic movements in Medieval and Early Renaissance England. Grounded in history and using the chronology of the reign of monarchs as a structure, it is contextual and comprehensive, revealing unobserved threads of continuity, patterns of intention and unique qualities that run through English art of the medieval millennium. By placing the English movement in a European context, this book brings to light many ingenious innovations that focused studies tend not to recognize and offers a fresh look at the movement as a whole. The media studied include architecture and related sculpture, both ecclesiastical and secular; tomb monuments; murals, panel paintings, altarpieces, and portraits; manuscript illuminations; textiles; and art by English artists and by foreign artists commissioned by English patrons.

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Missionaries, monks, and marauders: Pre-conquest England … the Heptarchy–Edward the Confessor, c. 600–1066
  • The heritage of Roman Britain: 43 BC–410 AD
  • Early Anglo-Saxon England c. 450–830
  • The book as art: Hiberno-Saxon manuscript illumination
  • Hiberno-Saxon sculpture
  • Migration of Hiberno-Saxon designs
  • England under the late Saxon kings
  • The Anglo-Saxon legacy
• Chapter 2. Propaganda and power, innovation and influence: Norman art and architecture before and after the Conquest… Edward the Confessor and the Norman kings, 1042–1154
  • Pre-conquest Romanesque architecture: the origins of the style
  • Post-Conquest ecclesiastical Romanesque architecture in stone
  • Architectural ingenuity in the parish church
  • Monastic contributions to the development of the Romanesque style
  • Romanesque architectural sculpture
  • Romanesque painting: religious manuscript illumination
  • Romanesque painting: secular books
  • Romanesque painting: murals
  • Interior church furnishings and decorative arts
  • Royal castles and halls
  • The Norman legacy
• Chapter 3. Variations on an imported theme: Early English Gothic under the Angevins and the Plantagenets. Henry II–Henry III, 1154–1272
  • Plantagenet ascendancy: the character of the monarchs
  • Origins of Gothic stone architecture and vaulting
  • Early Gothic architecture in northern England: the Cistercian connection
  • Early Gothic architecture in the south of England: the French connection
  • Stained glass windows
  • The ecclesiastical patronage of Henry III and French influence
  • Royal castles and fortifications
  • Early Gothic architecture in London
  • Timber frame construction
  • Vernacular architecture in timber frame
  • Manuscript illumination: 1154–1272
  • Early Gothic painting: murals and altarpieces
  • Early Gothic decorative arts
  • Summary of Early Gothic art in England
• Chapter 4. Distinctively and decidedly English: the Decorated Gothic style under the Plantagenets. Edward I and Edward II, 1272–1327
  • Late Plantagenets: the character of the monarchs
  • Decorated Gothic architecture: the Geometric phase (c. 1250–1290)
  • Decorated Gothic architecture: the Curvilinear phase (c. 1290–1350)
  • Innovative Cathedral towers and spires
  • Stained glass windows
  • Sculptural embellishments
  • Church furnishings of carved wood
  • Royal works
  • Defensive works
  • Fortified manor houses and timber frame construction
  • Evolution of timber frame and hammerbeam construction in non-domestic buildings
  • English sculpture: tombs and effigies in England
  • Painting at Westminster
  • Manuscript illumination
  • Textiles: opus anglicanum
  • Summary of Decorated Gothic art in England
• Chapter 5. Particularly, peculiarly, and perpetually English: the Perpendicular Gothic style and Wars of the Roses. The last Plantagenet, the Lancasters, and the Yorks, 1327–1485
  • The catastrophic fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: the character of the monarchs
  • Origins of Perpendicular Gothic architecture
  • The Perpendicular style in London and royal circles
  • Ecclesiastical Perpendicular
  • Perpendicular style in parish churches
  • Remarkable works in timber: noble houses and great halls
  • Remarkable works in timber: ecclesiastical and royal great halls
  • Fortifications and engineering works in the Perpendicular style
  • Institutional architecture: universities
  • Perpendicular Gothic sculpture
  • Cadaver tombs
  • Painting in England: later Gothic books
  • Panel painting: the International Gothic style
  • Mural painting in England
  • Magnificence in tapestry
• Chapter 6. The art and architecture of magnificence: the Tudor ascendancy. Henry VII, 1485–1509
  • The character of the monarch: Henry VII and the victory at Bosworth Field
  • Early Tudor architecture
  • Early Tudor ecclesiastical residences in London
  • Early Tudor ecclesiastical residences outside London
  • Vernacular architecture: black and white Tudor buildings
  • Architecture of the nobility following the Wars of the Roses: prodigy houses
  • Monastic architecture in the early Tudor period
  • Royal patronage of institutional architecture
  • Sculpture in early Tudor England
  • Painting in early Tudor England: manuscripts and the royal library
  • Panel painting in early Tudor England
  • English portraits
  • Portrait sculpture
  • Royal tombs
  • Textiles: tapestries as a display of magnificence
  • Textiles: opus anglicanum as a display of magnificence
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 7. Image making and image breaking: Art under the Tudor monarchs. Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I, 1509–1558
  • The character of the monarch: Henry VIII
  • Patronage of the Cardinal Lord Chancellor
  • Royal architectural projects before the fall of Wolsey
  • Sculpture in the early reign of Henry VIII: a brief encounter with the Italianate
  • Ecclesiastical tomb designs: the perpetuation of the Perpendicular Gothic
  • Royal architectural projects following the fall of Wolsey
  • The Dissolution of the Monasteries: a turning point in Tudor domestic architecture
  • Architectural magnificence of the court: Tudor prodigy houses
  • Civic and institutional architecture
  • Magnificence in tapestry
  • Tudor painting: religious paintings in early sixteenth-century England
  • Secular painting in sixteenth-century England
  • Portraits
  • Illuminated manuscripts, documents, and books
  • The private audience: portraits in miniature during the reign of Henry VIII
  • Henry VIII’s progeny: Edward and Mary, 1547–1558
  • Portraits under Edward and Mary
  • Architecture under Mary and Edward
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 8. Gloriana and her court: the art and architecture of Elizabeth I, 1558–1603
  • Architecture under Elizabeth: the prodigy house
  • The emergence of the architect: Robert Smythson
  • William Cecil, Lord Burghley: pater patriae and his patronage
  • Late Elizabethan prodigy houses
  • Public buildings in the age of Elizabeth
  • Secular architecture and theaters
  • Elizabethan painting: the portrait
  • Images of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth I
  • Conclusion
• Bibliography