Let's Talk the Tudors!
Anyone who knows me will tell you, I am a fanatic when it comes to Henry VIII and Tudor history. So when I saw the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England, I knew I had to do anything to get to NYC to go see it. I booked my train tickets the day the Met published the exhibition checklist. There were paintings on that list that I never dreamt I would see, and will talk about more later in this post.
Emma and the Tudors
I spent the better part of two years working on my undergraduate thesis. This book, Henry VIII The King and His Court by Alison Weir, became my bible. I saw this book cover so often, but never thought I would make it to Madrid to see it. Luckily, it came to New York before i could get to Spain.
The Metropolitain Museum of Art is notoriously one of the most popular museums in the world. With that in mind, it gets crowded very quickly. Whenever I go to the museum, I make sure to get to the building at least 15 minutes early. I used my AAM membership for entry, and then hustled straight to The Tudors exhibition.
The design of the exhibition was fantastic! The galleries are very wide open and have clean sight lines and easy to navigate paths. The smaller portraits were displayed on the grey platforms seen above. The neutral color allowed you to focus on the amazing details of these small paintings. The galleries were semi-chronological in the beginning, introducing you to the main cast of characters of the Tudor Dynasty. Among the portraits were other decoratve arts including books, tapestries and armor.
The Tudor dynasty covers so much history, and drama, that I was very prepared for long and clunky labels. I was so pleasantly surprised to find short, clear and enjoyable to read labels instead. In addition to my visit in the morning, I returned in the evening with my young cousin, and neither of us had any issues with the labels. The catalog that accompanies the labels (it is absolutely gorgeous) is where you will find the bulk of the text. This is my preferred model for museum text. Give the visitors enough to understand what you are looking at, but then provide a place to get more information.
I finally got to see images I had been staring at for year, in person. I don’t often get emotional in museums, but it was amazing to see. The exhibition runs until January 8, 2023, so if you are a fan of the Tudors, get yourself to NYC!
See below for some bonus images! Tap for more information.
