Masters of the Everyday, a new exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. For the purposes of this review, I will only be focusing on the 17th-century exhibition, although there is another which is being presented at the same time, High Spirits: The Comic Art of Thomas Rowlandson, comprising works from one of the wittiest and most popular caricaturists of… Read on
OK! I’ve had one too many messages from people who are confusing these terms, so I thought it’s time to clear these things up! It’s easy to get confused as each of these words begins with Jacob, but they are very, very different things. So, it’s Seventeenth Century Lady to the rescue! JACOBEAN: Of, or pertaining to, the… Read on
I met today’s guest blogger on Twitter as we both love the 17th-century. I have asked Eileen if she would write a post about a topic from that era that she has long been fascinated by – and she graciously accepted. She has such great insight into Charles I’s time, that I’m very happy to have her contribute… Read on
James I of England, VI of Scotland, died on the 27th of March, 1625. He ruled over what is commonly referred to as the Jacobean era, which witnessed a continuance in the flourishing of art and theatre with the likes of William Shakespeare. Sir Walter Raleigh was executed under James I, and the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605 occurred during the… Read on
During the Seventeenth Century the Villiers were one of the most socially ambitious families in England. The following are some of the most notorious of the lot… George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham Ah, the first of the ambitious Villiers. Pretty-boy George was so incredibly beautiful that he immediately came to the attention of King James I. Now,… Read on
Willem Hendrik, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, and King of England, was born on this day the 14th of November, 1650. It had been a dark week for the House of Orange. William II, aged only twenty-four, had died of smallpox on the sixth of November. His widow, the nineteen-year-old Mary Stuart, Princess of Orange,… Read on
Mary Stuart, Princess Royal, daughter of King Charles I & Henrietta Maria, was born on this day 4 November, 1631. Mary was married (at the very young age of 10) to Prince William II of the House of Orange, who was fifteen, and already fast becoming a dissolute young man. Though her nightgown was sewn shut as a precaution against William’s… Read on