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Not strictly Tudor but I hope of interest regardless. An academic essay I wrote on the role of George Villiers’ in masques and plays at the court of King James I of England. Hope you enjoy! Villiers in c. 1800 Cranbourne Lodge (by John Gendall) in what is now Windsor Great Park, Villiers' home from 1805 to 1812
Grosvenor saw the painting while visiting the stately home with his wife and daughter “as regular punters”.
Hyde, H. Montgomery (1970), The Love That Dared not Speak its Name, Boston: Little, Brown, pp.44, 143 Lost Rubens portrait of James I's 'lover' is rediscovered in Glasgow, Nicola Slawson, the guardian.com, 24-09-2017 Rubens, a pioneer of the Flemish Baroque tradition, is considered one of the most influential painters in history and his work is worth millions.
a b Lodge, Edmund (1844). The peerage of the British empire as at present existing. Saunders and Otley. p. 123. The self-confessed Rubens anorak said: “There was this painting further up by the fireplace and it sounds rather silly to say it, but it was a bit of a eureka moment and I thought: ‘My god, that looks like a Rubens.’ This picture just seemed to shine out.”
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
a b c Crompton, Louis (2003). Homosexuality & Civilization. Boston: Belknap/Harvard University Press. pp. 381–388. ISBN 978-0-674-01197-7. Norton, Rictor (8 January 2000). "Queen James and His Courtiers". Gay History and Literature . Retrieved 23 September 2013. Hon. Henry Montagu Villiers (4 January 1813 – 9 August 1861), Bishop of Durham from 1860 to his death. Infinite sums of Money, and Mass of Land … have been heaped upon him, and how have they been employed? Upon costly Furniture, sumptuous Feasting, and magnificent Building.
This allowed for a new assessment of its attribution and the painting was authenticated as a Rubens by Ben van Beneden, the director of the Rubenshuis in Antwerp. James seems to have learnt nothing from his near escape in 1582, treating Carr as his closest advisor at the detriment of others, despite evidence of his incompetence. He was so detested that even the Queen was keen to see a new man in her husband’s bed. It took fate and Carr’s own conceited insolence to save the two kingdoms, though it would bring James to the edge of personal scandal. In The Golden Age Restored, George Villiers proved victorious in an allegoric defeat of corrupt vices by reinstating courtly justice and splendour with the brilliance of his dancing. It seems more than a coincidence that this masque was staged under the cloud of the increasingly notorious Overbury murder, a case in which elite corruption, jealousy, lust and vice had manifested itself in a brutal killing. As Robert Carr was disgraced, the star of George Villiers was on the rise, bursting onto the court scene by employing the aesthetics of his physicality. Hille writes how dancing in masques ‘linked the dynamics of sexual potency to…political power, thereby asserting the legibility of the dancing male body as an object of erotic display’. Whilst this explains how the eroticism of Villiers’ performance was accepted in the court, we can assume from the private correspondence between the king and Villiers that James enjoyed the performance as a display of eroticism, thus adding an element of homoeroticism to Villiers’ dancing. George Villiers was utilising his physical prowess by presenting himself as sexually available. Such a display of homoerotic desire endowed Villiers the power of his ‘body politic’. Willson, David Harris (1956). King James VI & I (1963ed.). London: Jonathan Cape Ltd. ISBN 0-224-60572-0.Surname Pronunciation: Vavasour to Woburn, Debrett's, archived from the original on 15 August 2011 , retrieved 9 October 2011 The new earl was still on the rise, and as far as James was concerned, their love was as viable as ever, wife or no wife. But, as well as complimenting him on his looks, the Earl of Suffolk had also noted that Somerset was: In 1625, Villiers organised an expedition against Spain with the intention of seizing the treasure fleet. Taylor, Gary (2013), "A Game at Chess: General Textual Introduction", in Taylor, Gary; Lavagnino, John (eds.), Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Textual Culture: A Companion to the Collected Works, Oxford University Press, p. 712, OCLC 922903742 The English ships were supposed to aid Richelieu in his struggle against the Huguenots (i.e. French Protestants) in exchange for French assistance against Spain.
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