Cromwell’s prayer book

in

via artnet:

Curators at Hever Castle were conducting research ahead of an exhibition comparing Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn when they realized Cromwell owned a version of the same Christian prayer book as Henry VIII’s two wives. The link? A portrait of the political giant by Hans Holbein the Younger.

In the portrait, which dates from 1532–33 and is part of the Frick Collection in New York, an austere-faced Cromwell gazes pensively away from the viewer. The painting celebrates Cromwell’s appointment as Master of the Jewel House (hence the prominence of the book’s jewel) and the tools of his statecraft rest on the table before him: a legal document, a quill, scissors, and his Book of Hours, printed in 1527.

The Hever Castle curators took their hunch to Trinity College and experts now believe its identification makes it the sole remaining object from any 16th-century portrait surviving today.


two and a half seasons

in

41ºF, clear: welcome, Fall. Finally / at last / at long last / until it isn't, which might be tomorrow, given that it's Ohio and there are two and a half seasons, Summer, Winter, and Not-Summer/Not-Winter.

While I feel somewhat dirty including the two in the same breath, it does make for a useful (if only for me) contrast in the act of lamenting the passing of distant people: Whereas QEII's passing was more of a historical fascination – there will be another queen – not in my lifetime, probably/certainly, but there will be another – and an answer to "what happens when" – the news of Hilary Mantel's is a brutal punch because we won't be getting more Hilary Mantel books. One of the best writers who ever lived: If you haven't read the Cromwell series, read it NOW. So, so good.

Totally off the subject and profoundly unrelated to one another but a.) ABBOTT ELEMENTARY is every bit the delight its not-inconsiderable accolades suggest and then some and b.) I managed to get the trash out on time yay victory etc etc.