Introduction

 

The Battle of Bosworth (August 22, 1485)

After having made disappear his nephew the young king Edward V and the latter's brother under mysterious circumstances; after killing dead his main opponents, Richard of Gloucester claimed, for him, the throne and was crowned King of England on July 6, 1483 under the name of Richard III. For more than 20 years, the nobility has been exhausted in the fratricidal war between the royal families of York and Lancaster. Exiled to Brittany, Henri Tudor, Earl of Richmond, taking advantage of the blood ties that linked his family to former king Edward III, took advantage of the disorder that prevailed then in his country to rally supporters and go to challenge Richard. Their armies clashed at Bosworth (Leicesters.). Despite reportedly a heroic attack, Gloucester was killed during the engagement. The same evening, Henry VII was proclaimed king putting an end to the War of the Two Roses and the Plantagenet dynasty, inaugurating that of the Tudors.

Illustration - "The Battle of Bosworth" by Phippe James de Loutherbourg (1804)

Following the tragic legacy of former King Henry VI and the awful episode of the War of the Two Roses, Henry VII Tudor gave absolute priority bringing peace in his country and restoring in Europe the place it lost. The king especially devoted himself to the implementation of a strong cultural policy intended to compensate for the delay run up in this field for nearly a century. As far as plastic arts were concerned, the failure was clear. A few architectural works could certainly be deceptive but unlike these true talent pools that were the Italian peninsula, the states of Burgundy, the Netherlands, the Kingdom of France or even Germany, England did not then have a single praiseworthy painter. The country was afflicted by such an artistic penury that it was even necessary to cross the Channel to have his portrait painted. Aware that it was impossible to invent an English School from scratch on the model, for example, of the Florentine or Venetian Schools, Henry VII found it more comfortable to bring in foreign artists.

The foundation at Sheen Palace of the Old Royal Library thus allowed the creation of a school mainly consisting of Flemish illustrators. In 1492, the illuminator Quentin Poulet, originally from Lille, was called by King Henry VII to head his library. He had entered in 1477 as an apprentice to the Confraternity of St John the Evangelist in Bruges where he had been trained in the art of miniature painting. As the king's librarian, he would embellish the new institution with numerous French manuscripts and printed works. It is possible that he brought in painters of manuscripts from Jean Miélot's workshop (Abbeville 1420 - 1472) to assist him. During his lifetime, canon of the collegiate church of St Pierre in Lille, Miélot was still an essential reference. Writer, translator and illuminator, he had also been the private secretary of the Dukes of Burgundy Philippe III The Good and Charles I The Bold, then of John of Luxembourg.

In 1496 they were two Flemish illuminators in the exclusive service of the royal library. Their work competed with the best production of the Bruges and Ghent workshops. They even claimed that the quality of the manuscripts produced at the Tudor Court was superior to that of the King of France.

Generous payments to artists by the King of England were certainly not unrelated to the coming of many manuscript painters. However, it was not likewise with other disciplines such as easel painting. Potential sponsors were scarce.

Exhausted, the English nobility was still healing her wounds after seeing her people tear each other apart during the fratricidal war which had opposed the York and Lancaster families. Divided equally between supporters of one or the other of the rival clans, the Church was unable to do well and faced a degraded financial situation. Unlike other European courts and the clergy who displayed their power by embellishing palaces and churches with sculptures, frescoes and huge paintings by a host of talented artists, England was a poor relation. And attracting the best of them there was still a dream.