The Stuart Image: English Portraiture 1603 to 1649

Sir Roy Strong provides a fresh and insightful perspective on portrait painting in Stuart England, focusing on the sitters as well as the artists. He challenges the traditional approach of examining the artists, particularly van Dyck, and offers a view based on portraits and their sitters, highlighting the dramatic change in attitudes from the Elizabethan era to the Catholic Baroque of European art. Portraits, as permanent records of how a sitter wished to be seen by posterity, reveal a new mythology for the Stuart dynasty and an aesthetic revolution that shifted from ambiguity to one defined by the Renaissance's new optics. The title, "The Stuart Image," emphasizes that what we see is the image and not the reality.

Format: Hardback
Length: 160 pages
Publication date: 07 March 2023
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Sir Roy Strong, a renowned expert in the field of portrait painting during Stuart England, delves into the intricate relationship between sitters and artists in his captivating book. With a lifetime of dedication to the subject, Strong offers a fresh and engaging perspective on the era, challenging the traditional approach that focuses solely on the artists, particularly van Dyck. Instead, he presents a holistic view that emphasizes the portraits and their sitters, particularly the remarkable shift in attitudes that occurred from the still medieval aesthetic of the Elizabethan age to the ambiguous and Catholic Baroque of European art. Portraits, as permanent records of how a sitter wished to be seen by posterity and in their own time, reveal a profound self-fashioning process that shaped the new mythology of the Stuart dynasty and the burgeoning aristocracy.

While the court masques of the Stuarts were fleeting spectacles, the portraits endure, providing a tangible link to the past. Through them, we can trace a new iconography for the dynasty and witness an aesthetic revolution that moved away from the Elizabethan world of ambiguity and hieroglyphs towards a more spatial and Renaissance-inspired aesthetic. The title "The Stuart Image" serves as a reminder that what we see in these portraits is not just a representation of individuals but a reflection of the times they lived in.

Strong's book is a valuable contribution to the study of portrait painting and offers a deeper understanding of the social, cultural, and artistic dynamics of Stuart England. It sheds light on the complex interplay between sitters, artists, and the broader period, providing a fresh perspective that challenges the existing narratives and sheds new light on the rich tapestry of the era.

Weight: 656g
Dimension: 178 x 248 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781783277209