Today in 1584 Lucas De Heere died. De Heere was a Flemish portrait painter, poet, and writer who was a leading artist of the Tudor court after fleeing the Netherlands during the Dutch Revolt against Philip II of Spain. Philip was suppressing Protestantism in the Netherlands, and it led to a war – one that Queen Elizabeth helped fund. He fled to England and became an elder in the Dutch stranger church of Austin Friars. In 1576 when peace was declared, he returned home, but had to leave again in 1584 when the Spanish Hapsburg forces were back.
He was very popular during his career and became immensely rich. His portrait of Katheryn of Berain is held by the National Museum Cardiff. He painted a head of Philip II from the life in 1553, as a letter of Cardinal Granvelle documents.
In England he trained other young Netherlanders: John de Critz, probably Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, and possibly as well the English Robert Peake the Elder.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Tudor Portraits and Propaganda
The paintings and life of Lucas de Heere
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Tudorcon 2022 Collection
Tudorcon 2022 Tshirt
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.