Room 2

Making Tudor Portraits

We can gain insights into how Tudor artists worked by combining historical research with scientific analysis. Examination of surviving paintings reveals the materials and techniques that artists used, while records of 16th-century society provide glimpses of their lives. Many of the most successful Tudor artists trained and worked in London, drawn to the city in search of wealthy clients or to escape religious persecution in continental Europe. They were often generalists, equally capable of designing jewels or lavish entertainments as creating portraits and painted interiors. From the mid-16th century, artists were increasingly commissioned to produce stand-alone portraits in oil paint. Some used canvas or linen supports, but most portraits were painted on wooden panels.