Tudor Mystery: A Master Painter Revealed

Master of the Countess of Warwick, A Group of Four Children Making Music, ca. 1570, private collection. Photo courtesy of the Weiss Gallery

Tudor Mystery: A Master Painter Revealed is the world’s first exhibition devoted to an important, talented and largely forgotten painter known as the Master of the Countess of Warwick. Inspired by the portrait of Thomas Knyvett in our British Portraits collection, this show aims to take us on an art historical journey to discover the signature style of this painter and speculate on his real identity. It invites us to learn about the production of art in Tudor Britain, the ways in which art historians use evidence to determine authorship and cast our own vote.

The exhibition features loans from public and private collections from across the UK and Ireland, many of which are rarely seen in public. These include Hans Eworth’s dazzling pair of portraits of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk (Private Collection) and Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk (Private Collection, on loan to English Heritage) and the portrait of Anne Russell, Countess of Warwick (c. 1569, Woburn Abbey) from which our painter gets his name. The loan of several important miniatures by Nicholas Hilliard will further demonstrate the links between large-scale portraits and miniatures at this time, helping to tell the story of this talented painter’s abilities and the pivotal role that he played in the development of portraiture in Britain.

The exhibition is presented in partnership with Philip Mould & Company.