Bringing the Renaissance to Tudor England : the role of Richard Fox and his frieze at St. Cross, Winchester

• Main Author: Riall, Nicholas John Erskine
• Published: Swansea University 2005
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.751970

This dissertation explores the introduction of the Renaissance style into the artistic patronage of early Tudor England, focussing on the activities of Richard Fox, bishop of Winchester 1501-28. Central to this enquiry is a Renaissance frieze that Fox commissioned for the church of the Hospital of St Cross in c. 1515-17. I argue that this was probably one of the earliest settings to be created in the new al`antica style, and reveal that Fox's frieze has striking affinities with a suite of stalls created for Cardinal d'Amboise for his chateau of Gaillon, in Normandy. The first part of this dissertation explores the life of Cardinal d'Amboise, and the Gaillon stalls. There follows a brief biography of Bishop Fox and his artistic patronage. In the central section, I present a full, detailed description of the frieze at St Cross and how this was arranged in its primary setting. Subsequent chapters explore aspects of the frieze: in particular the medallions and the figurines of sybils. In the final section, I show that the presence of the St Cross frieze prompted the creation of another suite of work, a set of stalls for Prior Silkstede in Winchester Cathedral. These in turn, I argue, influenced the designs in reconstructing the presbytery screens in the cathedral during the early 1520s. I show that these were probably the work of Bishop Fox's mason, who I identify as Thomas Bertie. Analysis of these screens reveals at least four other funereal monuments and two chapels, including the Draper chantry chapel in Christchurch Priory, which were built in a similar all'antica style. All these structures can be shown to have been fashioned by Thomas Bertie during the 1520s. The research for this dissertation has benefited from the advent of and improvements to digital photography which enabled me to photograph every setting in great detail, and permitted this thesis to be profusely illustrated.