Arden Studies in Early Modern Material Culture – serie

Were Renaissance women merely passive and voiceless subjects in the cultures of portraiture through which they were represented? Did they have the opportunity to challenge the prevailing visual tropes that reproduced gender stereotypes? Did they create iconographical programmes for their own social and political ends? This collection of interdisciplinary essays examines the representation of women at the intersection between portraiture, literature, drama, heritage and material culture in Renaissance Britain. It explores how power, politics and patronage manifested across text, cultural inscription and ‘portraiture’ – defined in its broadest sense as a cultural artefact expressive of the female image and identity. Contributors cover (self-)portraits, miniatures, engravings, sculptures, embroideries, murals, emblems, illuminated manuscripts, jewellery, coins, curated collections, theatrical props, calligraphy and other decorative and architectural features. Bringing together art historians, curators, heritage specialists and scholars of early modern history and literature, this volume situates women as the active subjects and creators of ‘cultures of portraiture’. It reveals how female power was negotiated through the royal icon; how women used patronage, pedagogy and encryption to forge female networks and navigate the dangerous worlds of religious and courtly factionalism; and how art, drama and literature reflected anxieties around women’s creative agency. It demonstrates that these practices were not purely localised, but that women’s portraiture connected England – conceptually, materially and ideologically – to Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain, Rome, the Netherlands, Africa, Persia and the Islamic world; that women employed an ‘activist intermediality’ to re-define their ‘portraits’ as tools for public identity-building, political commentary, social disruption and cross-national dialogue.

Were Renaissance women merely passive and voiceless subjects in the cultures of portraiture through which they were represented? Did they have the opportunity to challenge the prevailing visual tropes that reproduced gender stereotypes? Did they create iconographical programmes for their own social and political ends? This collection of interdisciplinary essays examines the representation of women at the intersection between portraiture, literature, drama, heritage and material culture in Renaissance Britain. It explores how power, politics and patronage manifested across text, cultural inscription and 'portraiture' defined in its broadest sense as a cultural artefact expressive of the female image and identity. Contributors cover (self-)portraits, miniatures, engravings, sculptures, embroideries, murals, emblems, illuminated manuscripts, jewellery, coins, curated collections, theatrical props, calligraphy and other decorative and architectural features. Bringing together art historians, curators, heritage specialists and scholars of early modern history and literature, this volume situates women as the active subjects and creators of 'cultures of portraiture'. It reveals how female power was negotiated through the royal icon; how women used patronage, pedagogy and encryption to forge female networks and navigate the dangerous worlds of religious and courtly factionalism; and how art, drama and literature reflected anxieties around women's creative agency. It demonstrates that these practices were not purely localised, but that women's portraiture connected England conceptually, materially and ideologically to Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain, Rome, the Netherlands, Africa, Persia and the Islamic world; that women employed an 'activist intermediality' to re-define their 'portraits' as tools for public identity-building, political commentary, social disruption and cross-national dialogue.

Were Renaissance women merely passive and voiceless subjects in the cultures of portraiture through which they were represented? Did they have the opportunity to challenge the prevailing visual tropes that reproduced gender stereotypes? Did they create iconographical programmes for their own social and political ends? This collection of interdisciplinary essays examines the representation of women at the intersection between portraiture, literature, drama, heritage and material culture in Renaissance Britain. It explores how power, politics and patronage manifested across text, cultural inscription and 'portraiture' defined in its broadest sense as a cultural artefact expressive of the female image and identity. Contributors cover (self-)portraits, miniatures, engravings, sculptures, embroideries, murals, emblems, illuminated manuscripts, jewellery, coins, curated collections, theatrical props, calligraphy and other decorative and architectural features. Bringing together art historians, curators, heritage specialists and scholars of early modern history and literature, this volume situates women as the active subjects and creators of 'cultures of portraiture'. It reveals how female power was negotiated through the royal icon; how women used patronage, pedagogy and encryption to forge female networks and navigate the dangerous worlds of religious and courtly factionalism; and how art, drama and literature reflected anxieties around women's creative agency. It demonstrates that these practices were not purely localised, but that women's portraiture connected England conceptually, materially and ideologically to Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain, Rome, the Netherlands, Africa, Persia and the Islamic world; that women employed an 'activist intermediality' to re-define their 'portraits' as tools for public identity-building, political commentary, social disruption and cross-national dialogue.

The recent discovery of two Latin books that once belonged to the Quiney family of Stratford-upon-Avon expands our understanding of Shakespeare’s grammar school education and of the social, material, and learned networks that operated in his hometown. One of these books, the Apophthegmata of Erasmus, belonged to Shakespeare’s friend and neighbour, Richard Quiney, while the other, a commentary on Aristotelian logic, was owned by a different Richard Quiney, who was Shakespeare’s grandson.Building from a simple account of these findings, Book Culture in Shakespeare’s Stratford: The Quiney Connections sheds new light on the use of Latin in the market town that produced the world’s most famous playwright. The story it tells weaves together analysis of letters, sermons, wills, public monuments and other printed books owned by local residents. Complementing these cultural explorations, biographical studies of Quiney family members and influential clergymen and teachers in Stratford evoke the impact of this learned culture on the lived experience of individual people. This study breaks new ground in our understanding of the rich educational environment that would enliven the plays and poems of William Shakespeare.

The recent discovery of two Latin books that once belonged to the Quiney family of Stratford-upon-Avon expands our understanding of Shakespeare's grammar school education and of the social, material, and learned networks that operated in his hometown. One of these books, the Apophthegmata of Erasmus, belonged to Shakespeare's friend and neighbour, Richard Quiney, while the other, a commentary on Aristotelian logic, was owned by a different Richard Quiney, who was Shakespeare's grandson.Building from a simple account of these findings, Book Culture in Shakespeare's Stratford: The Quiney Connections sheds new light on the use of Latin in the market town that produced the world's most famous playwright. The story it tells weaves together analysis of letters, sermons, wills, public monuments and other printed books owned by local residents. Complementing these cultural explorations, biographical studies of Quiney family members and influential clergymen and teachers in Stratford evoke the impact of this learned culture on the lived experience of individual people. This study breaks new ground in our understanding of the rich educational environment that would enliven the plays and poems of William Shakespeare.