|
Shakespeare's Monarchs English Art Through History, 1377-1485 |
| ||
|
In the last decade of the 16th century, Shakespeare wrote two cycles of plays about England's history. The first, Henry VI parts 1-3 and Richard III (written between 1590 and 1593), covered 1422-1485 and included the end of the Hundred Years' War, the Wars of the Roses, the fall of the Lancastrian dynasty, and the entire Yorkist reign. The second, Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 & 2 and Henry V (written between 1595 and 1599), traced the story from the deposition of the last 14th century king through Henry V's victories in France. These "history" plays, along with several others probably only partially written by Shakespeare (Henry VIII, Edward III and King John), comprise about a third of the poet's entire creative output.
As the popular interpretation of nearly 100 years of history, these eight plays have left their mark on our understanding of the late medieval period and the personalities and motivations of its major figures. No history of the period can avoid referencing the plays, if only to refute their version of events, and sometimes even the modern historian, after reviewing all accounts written by 15th century contemporaries and the subsequent chroniclers, concludes that Shakespeare said it best. It was not my project to compare the plays to the history they purport to dramatize; Shakespeare's adherence to and deviation from both his sources and historical events has been thoroughly studied and documented elsewhere. It was my project, rather, to explore these plays in the context of material history, using objects and buildings contemporary to the period as a window through which to view both historical events and the stories they inspired. The objects chosen for this exhibit provide a context in which to discuss the social history of the 15th century as well as the dramatic project of Shakespeare's texts. I do not retell the stories nor do I summarize the plays; rather, I use the methods of art history to, I hope, provide a new context to explore both. The exhibit was conceived from the start for the web, gathering together images already online and placing them in a new context. For the most part, I have linked to existing images without alteration, all of which download from their original sources and are labeled with their creators or copyright owners. Clicking on an image will display its larger version in a new window directly from its source, while the image's label will open a new window that displays it in its original context. This project is the culmination of an independent study completed for the M.A. in Art History at the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN). My semester's reading is listed below. Sources read specifically for and about each object on the following pages are referenced beneath the objects themselves. The Plays
Other Sources
Cherry, John. Medieval Decorative Art. London: British Museum Press, 1991. Branagh, Kenneth. Henry V (movie). 1989. Keen, Maurice. England in the Later Middle Ages, 2nd edition. London: Routledge, 2003. Kermode, Frank. The Age of Shakespeare. New York: Modern Library, 2004. Marks, Richard and Paul Williamson, eds. Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547. London: Victoria & Albert Publications, 2003. Norwich, John Julius. Shakespeare's Kings: The Great Plays and the History of England in the Middle Ages: 1337-1485. New York: Scribner, 1999. Pollard, A. J. Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Rubin, Miri. The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages. London: Penguin, 2006. Saccio, Peter. Shakespeare's English Kings: History, Chronicle and Drama. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977. Saul, Nigel. Richard II. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. Websites
Locations of exhibit objects
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
