Topics for Discussion

  1. Discuss elements of style, noting the High Renaissance qualities of the Italian portrait and the linear qualities of the English portrait.
  2. Discuss what is "Protestant" about English art. Consider the role of portraiture. What does the dress and demeanor of the sitter suggest to the viewer?
  3. How did Holbein's travels (from Augsburg, Germany to Basel, Switzerland, France and England) affect the development of his art? What contribution did Holbein make to English art?
  4. What types of images were produced as prints and why were they created?
  5. Discuss the medieval features of Tudor buildings.
  6. Note the classical elements of the Banqueting House at Whitehall in London.
  7. Discuss the use of classical forms by English architects. Compare the English classicism of Inigo Jones with the classicism of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio.
  8. Does British art suggest ways in which members of the aristocracy of the Renaissance performed and listened to music or regarded drama? Discuss examples.
  9. Compare buildings dating from the16th century in England with structures built today.
  10. Discuss the ways in which the humanism of the Renaissance informed the plays of Shakespeare.
  11. Discuss the role of the British monarchy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and during the modern period. What are the advantages and disadvantages of monarchy?