- Special Exhibition
The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England
The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall
Featured Art
About The Exhibition
During the volatile Tudor dynasty, England was a thriving home for the arts. An international community of artists and merchants, many of them religious refugees, navigated the high-stakes demands of royal patrons, including England’s first two reigning queens. Against the backdrop of shifting political relationships with mainland Europe, Tudor artistic patronage legitimized, promoted, and stabilized a series of tumultuous reigns, from Henry VII’s seizure of the throne in 1485 to the death of his granddaughter Elizabeth I in 1603. The Tudor courts were truly cosmopolitan, boasting the work of Florentine sculptors; German painters; Flemish weavers; and Europe’s best armorers, goldsmiths, and printers, while also contributing to the emergence of a distinctly English style. This exhibition traces the transformation of the arts in Tudor England through more than 80 objects—including iconic portraits, spectacular tapestries, manuscripts, sculpture, and armor—from both the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection and international lenders.
A catalogue accompanies the exhibition.
Docent-Led Exhibition Tours
Daily exhibition tours at 11:15 a.m. are sold out. We are offering additional tours at 3:15 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, April 5 through April 28; ticket required.
The exhibition is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF). It is on view at the Met from October 10, 2022, to January 8, 2023, and at FAMSF from June 24, 2023, to September 24, 2023.
Sponsors
The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England is made possible with support from Viia R. Beechler, Carl M. Jenks, Patty and Rodger Kowall, and Robert and TuYa Shwab.
This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder and by the late Roy L. Williams. Major annual support is provided by the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous supporter, the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm, Gary and Katy Brahler, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Chapman Jr., Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Carl T. Jagatich, Cathy Lincoln, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. and Margaret F. Lipscomb, Bill and Joyce Litzler, Carl and Lu Anne Morrison, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Michael and Cindy Resch, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, Margaret and Loyal Wilson, and Claudia C. Woods and David A. Osage.