Self-Fashioning and International Artistic Patronage of Merchants in Pre- and Post- Reformation London: The Merchant Taylors' 1400-1610
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: History of Art
Abstract
Medieval London became a 'site of cultural exchange' in part due to the success of its merchants and growing status as an entrepôt (Keene, 2007). Using the Merchant Taylors' Company as a case study, my research examines the art and architecture connected to London's merchant communities to address questions of international artistic exchange and changing religious attitudes. This project will investigate how far patrons' commercial lives created a vogue for international material. It will explore how artistic patronage was used to fashion corporate and individual 'international' images, and whether artistic exchange grew as overseas trading ventures impacted the city. I shall reassess how the Reformation impacted mercantile patronage of international material and artists, as the Livery Companies transitioned from guilds and religious confraternities to associations of domestic and overseas traders.
The Merchant Taylors' are an excellent example of this transition from domestic craft to international trade in the 16th century, and were instrumental in founding the Merchant Adventurers, Spanish and Muscovy Companies. The large body of corporate portraiture and surviving accounts for Lord Mayors' Shows (ten were Merchant Taylors in this period) will offer insight into how the Company celebrated their international trade as a collective. My research will explore if such objects and events consciously celebrated engagement with contemporary Eurasian trade and privateering and expressed their owner's identity as international merchants through an 'omnicultural idiom' (Dimmock, 2019; Van Kessel, 2020). Commissions by individuals will also be explored to understand expressions of identity by international traders, such as Jenyns' Flemish illuminated lectionary of 1508 (BL Royal 2 B XII and XIII), and Withypoll's Venetian triptych. These objects, used to foster an international image for their patrons, will be understood through the art historical-economic lens of 'conspicuous commissions' (Nelson & Zeckhauser, 2008; Greenblatt, 1980), and their agency in signalling, signposting and stretching.
The Merchant Taylors' pall cloth, used in public funerals, will also be examined as a way to explore the idea of 'conspicuous commission' (Nelson & Zeckhauser, 2008). Crafted c.1490, the cloth combines corporate symbols with Opus Anglicanum, Italian velvet and Flemish silk to fashion a European corporate identity. A second cloth, made in the 1530s, has similar iconography, and there are records of both cloths being used into the 17th century. These pall cloths offer potential to explore questions of international artistic exchange and corporate self-fashioning, but also how the Reformation shaped merchants' social and artistic concerns (Walsham, 2008; Branch, 2017). By studying these palls alongside PCC wills and Company Court Minutes, I will explore if and how the motivations of this group of merchant patrons was impacted by the Reformation, particularly in their attitudes to death and memorialisation.
My research will fill a gap in work on medieval and early modern English mercantile consumption and patronage of art (Barron, 2004; Sutton, 2016; Spufford. 2002), addressing the materiality of cultural exchange, as expressed in merchants' lives across the 15th and 16th centuries. It will complement recent studies of 17th and 18th century London merchants' artistic consumption (Kilburn-Toppin, Forthcoming; Levy-Peck, 2005). This research goes beyond the aims of Livery Company histories, instead contributing to the art-historical dialogue on medieval merchants and the international natures of the Medieval and Early Modern worlds. The understudied corpus of art, architecture and documentary evidence will be used as sources to develop our understanding of the international nature of Medieval and Early Modern England. My strong relationship with the Merchant Taylors' will continue to give me essential access to collections held at the Hall.
The Merchant Taylors' are an excellent example of this transition from domestic craft to international trade in the 16th century, and were instrumental in founding the Merchant Adventurers, Spanish and Muscovy Companies. The large body of corporate portraiture and surviving accounts for Lord Mayors' Shows (ten were Merchant Taylors in this period) will offer insight into how the Company celebrated their international trade as a collective. My research will explore if such objects and events consciously celebrated engagement with contemporary Eurasian trade and privateering and expressed their owner's identity as international merchants through an 'omnicultural idiom' (Dimmock, 2019; Van Kessel, 2020). Commissions by individuals will also be explored to understand expressions of identity by international traders, such as Jenyns' Flemish illuminated lectionary of 1508 (BL Royal 2 B XII and XIII), and Withypoll's Venetian triptych. These objects, used to foster an international image for their patrons, will be understood through the art historical-economic lens of 'conspicuous commissions' (Nelson & Zeckhauser, 2008; Greenblatt, 1980), and their agency in signalling, signposting and stretching.
The Merchant Taylors' pall cloth, used in public funerals, will also be examined as a way to explore the idea of 'conspicuous commission' (Nelson & Zeckhauser, 2008). Crafted c.1490, the cloth combines corporate symbols with Opus Anglicanum, Italian velvet and Flemish silk to fashion a European corporate identity. A second cloth, made in the 1530s, has similar iconography, and there are records of both cloths being used into the 17th century. These pall cloths offer potential to explore questions of international artistic exchange and corporate self-fashioning, but also how the Reformation shaped merchants' social and artistic concerns (Walsham, 2008; Branch, 2017). By studying these palls alongside PCC wills and Company Court Minutes, I will explore if and how the motivations of this group of merchant patrons was impacted by the Reformation, particularly in their attitudes to death and memorialisation.
My research will fill a gap in work on medieval and early modern English mercantile consumption and patronage of art (Barron, 2004; Sutton, 2016; Spufford. 2002), addressing the materiality of cultural exchange, as expressed in merchants' lives across the 15th and 16th centuries. It will complement recent studies of 17th and 18th century London merchants' artistic consumption (Kilburn-Toppin, Forthcoming; Levy-Peck, 2005). This research goes beyond the aims of Livery Company histories, instead contributing to the art-historical dialogue on medieval merchants and the international natures of the Medieval and Early Modern worlds. The understudied corpus of art, architecture and documentary evidence will be used as sources to develop our understanding of the international nature of Medieval and Early Modern England. My strong relationship with the Merchant Taylors' will continue to give me essential access to collections held at the Hall.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jeanne Nuechterlein (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Eleanor Wilson (Student) |