Gothic Art for England 1400-1547

'Gothic Art in England 1400-1547' is a belated continuation to two earlier exhibitions devot to medieval art in England: 'Romanesque Art 1066-1200' which was held at the Hayward Gallery in 1984 and 'The Age of Chivalry', which was held at the Royal Academy in 1987 The following of these exhibitions reveals a significant change in our attitude to medieval art. If 'Romanesque Art" was a sober demonstration of connoisseurship, and 'The Age of Chivalry' was a unite of well presented objects with a visual dream of the Middle Ages, then "Art for England 1400-1547' is a real different kind of exhibition. It throw backs the predominance of a historical view above such traditional art historical criteria as turn of expression and connoisseurship. The topics of the display and its chronological limits were determined by means of historians' criteria. Historians may claim continuity for the period between 1400-57 as John Watts argues in his catalogue essay, on the other hand for art historians, whose periodic combination of parts to form a whole is based on stylistic criteria, the same half-century or in the way that is at least as abundant a time of change as of continuity. in like manner it was arguably perverse to saddle this historical exhibition with an art historical title that included the word 'gothic'. No self-respecting art historian would call Torrigiano's busts, Antonio Solario's Withypoll Altarpiece, or Holbein's portraits 'gothic'.

The installation of the exhibit displayed a glamorous panorama of the splendours of the age. The visitor penetrateed through a dark room with the diadem of Margaret of York flanked by means of the four Dacre beasts. It was like coming into a theatre. colossal photographs presented suggestive views: Kings guild Chapel, Paycockes House at Coggeshall. The slickest travel agent could not have done better. Goldsmiths' works, jewellery, manuscripts were all displayed in showcases resembling store windows. One may admit in order to attract a public accustomed to the media, television and advertising, exhibitions of medieval art must be dramatised. on the other hand was it necessary to not absent a considerable number of the percepts in such a way that it was impossible to make subordinate them to detailed scrutiny? That is what happened. Many of the smaller things, and greatest in quantity of the manuscripts could really not be seen Visual theatre has its glamour, on the contrary works of arts are not [i]affiche[/i]s As an installation, this exhibition put a bad example. Curators and art historians should be upon their guard against such trumpeting showmanship.

It would be unfair to gainsay that 'Art for England' is an intelligently conceived exhibition with a whole entertainer of well chosen objects. The catalogue is learned and exquisitely organised, while most of its entries are informative. Indeed, it is sole by studying this catalogue that individual begins to grasp the 'idea' of the exhibition. in like manner the best way to discuss the facts in the show is to tread in the steps of the sequence of the catalogue.

It begins with three chapters upon royalty. Only a few of the many particulars in this section can be mentioned. There is Torrigiano's lately cleaned terracotta bust of Henry VII (Fig. 3) which may be compared to the bust of an ecclesiastic from the Metropolitan--still overpainted--and to the and zinc portrait relief of Sir Thomas Lovell attributed to the same artist. There is the exquisite statue of Henry VI from All minds at Oxford (Fig. 1), which is thus different from royal images upon the continent. There is further the gigantic foundation charter for Kings body Cambridge, with its telling iconography: the praying king and behind him the members of the sum of two units houses of parliament. One is les happy with the trophies of goldsmith's work lent through the Louvre and from Aachen. The 'Englishness' of the Reliquary, of the order of St-Esprit present the appearances spurious. In its present state, the heavily restored diadem of Margaret of York from the latter is a triumph of Victorian historicism, which has a great deal of less to do with the Middle Ages. It should not ever have been chosen as the 'logo' of the exhibition.

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The nearest sections presented the 'Arts of Combat' and 'Chivalry', and were in truth spectacular. The helm, the shield and the sword from Henry V's funeral were magnificently displayed, and with equal reason was the tournament and horse armour of Henry VIII. individual saw livery badges and collars, the Great tournament turn of Westminster and the Garter volume of William Bruges. The well-established obsession of late medieval chivalry with heraldry, orders and tournaments became overwhelmingly apparent. The statue of St George and the Dragon belonging to the Worshipful Company of

Armourer and compos of forest-land iron, leather textiles and horse-hair is an amusing piece of mixed craftsmanship. It is the kind of thing Italian commentators of the period would have denounced as goffo

The greatest in quantity original part of the exhibition assembled realitys connected with distinguished art patrons from the period: the Beauchamps and the Nevilles, Archbishop Chichele of Canterbury, the institutor of All Souls, Bishop Fox of Winchester, the originator of Corpus Christi at Oxford, and the remarkable Lady Margaret Beaufort, the foundres of Christ society Cambridge. The evocation of the Beauchamp Chapel at St Mary's, Warwick, with stained glass, statues and the magnificent effigy of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, was a pure tour de force. On the other hand, shut up examination of the effigy and its state of conversation was-alas--not possible. >From afar, Beauchamp gazeed suspiciously well preserved, and this was the kind of point in dispute the exhibition all too ofttimes neglects. Chichele's statue from All inner mans is by the same sculptor as the statue of Henry VI referr to above, and the one and the other originally adorned the gate-tower of the society These were the most beautiful statuarys in the exhibition, together with Torrigiano's busts. Among Chichele's gifts to All spirits on display were two Parisian silver-gilt wine flagons of ravishing beauty. No les splendid is the English Salt, which Bishop Fox gave to Corpus Christi (Fig. 2) The beaker given by means of Lady Margaret Beaufort to Christ's, overlayed with a design of Tudor rose is another brilliant example of the magical combination of enlightened patronage, art and effeminacy In this part of the exhibition, individual was on firm historical sod and there was an aura of the living past, smooth of real persons, their piety, their status and their character.