By Molly Malsom

Published: Saturday, 08 January 2022 at 12:00 am


To kick-start the new year, Bath’s Holburne Museum has announced a brand new exhibition in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. The exhibition, titled ‘The Tudors: Passion, Power & Politics’, will showcase 25 portraits depicting influential figures of the Tudor era, notably the five monarchs: Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

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Henry VIII, Hans Holbein the Younger, circa 1537 © Victoria Art Gallery, Bath and North East Somerset Council

The collection includes portraits of many other famous figures such as Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Thomas Cranmer, William Cecil and Thomas Cromwell, who proved to be significant names during the Tudors’ reign. Visitors will also have the opportunity to view a famous portrait of Jane Seymour after Hans Holbein the Younger, as well as a rather unusual work of Sir Henry Unton, notorious for being painted after his death.

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Mary, Queen of Scots after Nicholas Hilliard, inscribed 1578 © National Portrait Gallery, London

The exhibition will take visitors down a path of history, documenting key moments of the tumultuous Tudor period and the family’s rise to power through art of the era. Furthermore, it will be the first time some of these portraits have been displayed outside of London.

‘This is an unmissable opportunity to get up-close and personal with a selection of stunning portraits of some of the most influential characters of the Tudor era, and learn about the lights and shadows of their personal lives as well as their connections at home and abroad,’ says Holburne Curator Monserrat Pis Marcos.