This essay exploring the physical utopia of Sir Thomas More is included in my most recent book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in…
View More The Utopia of Sir Thomas MoreTag: Tudor Era
I was one of those brainy girls in school who loved the subject of history, and I explore many periods as a writer still, a favorite the Tudor Era.
It has become quite surprising to me how many different angles a design and architecture writer can explore a time-frame in history. I’ve studied so many aspects of the Tudor Era and there are still so many more to explore! In the diary entry Furnishing the Pastimes of Henry VIII, for example, I can’t help but want to place interior design elements in the cavernous halls and empty corridors of castles like Hampton Court Palace. Though I know there was little in the way of refinement in what would have been a cold, drafty hulk of a building back then, it just doesn’t seem right that they remain so bare today.
I decided on a handful of pieces from Lorfords Antiques to add a bit of panache to a number of the rooms, imagining how the King, Anne Boleyn, his mistress at the time; and her purported lover Sir Thomas Wyatt would use the pieces as they played out a drama I set them on. Wyatt, Boleyn and Henry VIII are so perfect for my frivolity because their entire courtly lives were centered around the codes and conventions that make the era so fascinating from such a distance. I threw Thomas Cranmer into the charade for good measure, as he built the case for the annulment that allowed the King to marry Boleyn (and essentially ushered in the advent of the Anglican church in the process). It was a fun piece to write so I hope you’ll stop by the blog for a read!
The Architecture of Chivalry
This essay about the built legacy of Henry VIII is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book…
View More The Architecture of ChivalryThe Nature of Noble Loyalty
It’s spring in London and the flowers are bursting forth on Cheyne Walk, which skirts the edge of the River Thames until it gives way…
View More The Nature of Noble LoyaltyHeaven Shall Be Here
In the film A Little Chaos, Alan Rickman, who plays an unlikely Louis XIV, declares, “Heaven shall be here.” He’s speaking of a ballroom he…
View More Heaven Shall Be HereThe Built Legacy of Henry VIII
The 2016 Academy Awards are handed out this coming Sunday so I’m celebrating a film that showcases the built legacy of Henry VIII to delve back into…
View More The Built Legacy of Henry VIIIRenovating During the Tudor Era
Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. Looking back to the Tudor Era from this great distance, it’s easy to see how barbaric a sport jousting was.…
View More Renovating During the Tudor EraNarratives That Illuminate Design
Narratives That Illuminate Design If you believe that design-centric coffee table books contain nothing more than visual surveys of portfolios, I am out to change…
View More Narratives That Illuminate DesignOne Special Summer with Jackie O
Hegel’s caveat “history teaches us nothing” may be relevant in cultural and philosophical realities but in the design world the statement is far from succinct.…
View More One Special Summer with Jackie OFurnishing Pastimes of Henry VIII
As I mentioned in my last Improvateur article presenting a brief history of Hampton Court Palace, I launched into a furnishings fantasy when I heard…
View More Furnishing Pastimes of Henry VIIIDecorating Hampton Court Palace
The premise of this article and the next one I’ll post here on The Diary of an Improvateur (next week) began with a rather capricious question:…
View More Decorating Hampton Court Palace