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The Masque Of Beauty
''The Masque of Beauty'' was a courtly masque written by Ben Jonson, and performed in London's Whitehall Palace on 10 January 1608. It inaugurated the refurbished banquesting hall of the palace (the predecessor of Inigo Jones' building). It was a sequel to the preceding '' Masque of Blackness'', which had been performed three years earlier, on 6 January 1605. In ''The Masque of Beauty'', the "daughters of Niger" of the earlier piece were shown cleansed of the black pigment they had worn on the prior occasion. The show Like its earlier companion piece, ''The Masque of Beauty'' was performed by Queen Anne and ladies of her court, and witnessed by King James. The number of court ladies included was increased from the twelve in ''Blackness'' to sixteen. In addition to Queen Anne, the participants were the Countesses of Arundel, Bedford, Derby, and Montgomery, and the Ladies Chichester, Walsingham, Windsor, Anne Clifford, Elizabeth Girrard, Elizabeth Guilford, Elizabeth Hatton, Ma ...
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Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque involved music, dancing, singing and acting, within an elaborate stage design, in which the architectural framing and costumes might be designed by a renowned architect, to present a deferential allegory flattering to the patron. Professional actors and musicians were hired for the speaking and singing parts. Masquers who did not speak or sing were often courtiers: the English queen Anne of Denmark frequently danced with her ladies in masques between 1603 and 1611, and Henry VIII and Charles I of England performed in the masques at their courts. In the tradition of masque, Louis XIV of France danced in ballets at Versailles with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Development The masque tradition developed from the elaborate pageants and cou ...
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Arbella Stuart
Lady Arbella Stuart (also Arabella, or Stewart; 1575 – 25 September 1615) was an English noblewoman who was considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. During the reign of King James VI and I (her first cousin), she married William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, another claimant to the English throne, in secret. King James imprisoned William Seymour and placed her under house arrest. When she and her husband tried to escape England, she was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London, where she died at age 39. Descent She was the only child of Charles Stuart, 1st Earl of Lennox (of the third creation), by his marriage to Elizabeth Cavendish. She was a grandchild of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (of the second creation) and Lady Margaret Douglas, the daughter and heiress of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and of Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England and widow of King James IV of Scotland. Arbella was therefore a great-great-g ...
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Edmund Kerchever Chambers
Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers, (16 March 1866 – 21 January 1954), usually known as E. K. Chambers, was an English literary critic and Shakespearean scholar. His four-volume work on ''The Elizabethan Stage'', published in 1923, remains a standard resource. Life Chambers was born in West Ilsley, Berkshire. His father was a curate there and his mother the daughter of a Victorian theologian. He was educated at Marlborough College, before matriculating at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He won a number of prizes, including the chancellor's prize in English for an essay on literary forgery in 1891. He took a job with the national education department, and married Eleanor Bowman in 1893. In the newly created Board of Education, Chambers worked principally to oversee adult and continuing education. He rose to be second secretary, but the work for which he is remembered took place outside the office, at least before he retired from the Board in 1926. He was the first president of ...
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1616 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1616. Events *January 1 – King James I of England attends the masque ''The Golden Age Restored'', a satire by Ben Jonson on a fallen court favorite, the Earl of Somerset. The King asks for a repeat performance on January 4. *February 1 – King James I of England grants Ben Jonson an annual pension of 100 marks, making him ''de facto'' poet laureate. *March 5 – Nicolaus Copernicus' ''De revolutionibus orbium coelestium'' (1543) is placed on the ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' by the Roman Catholic Church. *March 19 – Sir Walter Ralegh, English explorer of the New World, is released from the Tower of London, where he was imprisoned for treason and has been composing ''The Historie of the World'', in order to conduct a second (ill-fated) expedition in search of El Dorado in South America. *April 22 (Gregorian calendar) – Miguel de Cervantes dies (three days after completing ''Los Trabajos de Pers ...
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Thomas Thorpe
Thomas Thorpe ( 1569 – 1625) was an English publisher, most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. His publication of the sonnets has long been controversial. Nineteenth-century critics thought that he might have published the poems without Shakespeare's consent; Sidney Lee called him "predatory and irresponsible." Conversely, modern scholars Wells and Taylor assert their verdict that "Thorpe was a reputable publisher, and there is nothing intrinsically irregular about his publication." Life The son of an innkeeper in Barnet, Middlesex, Thorpe worked as an apprentice to Richard Watkins for nine years in a small shop. In 1594 Thorpe obtained his publishing rights, but was still without his printing rights. His first book published was '' The First Book of Lucan'', Marlowe's translation of the ''Pharsalia,'' the copyright of which he received from Edward Blount, who would come to be a close friend of Thorpe's. He t ...
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Stationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England. The Register itself allowed publishers to document their right to produce a particular printed work, and constituted an early form of copyright law. The company's charter gave it the right to seize illicit editions and bar the publication of unlicensed books. For the study of English literature of the later sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries—for the Elizabethan era, the Jacobean era, the Caroline era, and especially for English Renaissance theatre—the Stationers' Register is an crucial and essential resource: it provides factual information and hard data that is available nowhere else. Together with the records of the Master of the Revels (which relate to dramatic perform ...
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Christopher Shawe
Christopher Shawe or Shaw (died 1618) was an English embroiderer and textile artist who worked on masque costume for Anne of Denmark. He was a member of the Worshipful Company of Broderers. Career In September 1589, Shawe married Isobel Buttes, originally from Streatham, at St Benet's, Paul's Wharf, the church used by the College of Arms. Shawe worked on masque costume in December 1603 for the female dancers in ''The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses'', and presumably other masques of the season. Some of the costume was recycled from the wardrobe of Elizabeth I. He also worked on other "parcels" (orders) of embroidery for Anne of Denmark supplied to Audrey Walsingham. "Master Shawe" was paid £106-7s for work on costumes for ''The Masque of Beauty'' in January 1608. He worked on costumes for the masque ''Tethys' Festival'' in 1610 and his bill detailing his work survives. He embroidered cobweb silver lawn with veins of silver and sea green silk, sewed motifs with silver and gold oes, ...
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John Chamberlain (letter Writer)
John Chamberlain (1553–1628) was the author of a series of letters written in England from 1597 to 1626, notable for their historical value and their literary qualities. In the view of historian Wallace Notestein, Chamberlain's letters "constitute the first considerable body of letters in English history and literature that the modern reader can easily follow". They are an essential source for scholars who study the period. Life Chamberlain's father Richard was a successful ironmonger, also Sheriff of London and twice Master of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, who left his son enough money to live on for the rest of his life without needing to earn a living. His mother, Anne, was the daughter of Robert Downe, an ironmonger and alderman. Though unambitious for himself, Chamberlain used his network of friends in high places to assist the career of Dudley Carleton, who rose from a minor position in the diplomatic service to become Secretary of State shortly after Chamber ...
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Horatio Brown
Horatio Robert Forbes Brown (16 February 1854 – 19 August 1926) was a Scottish historian who specialized in the history of Venice and Italy. Born in Nice, he grew up in Midlothian, Scotland, was educated in England at Clifton College and Oxford, and spent most of his life in Venice, publishing several books about the city. He also wrote for the ''Cambridge Modern History'', was the biographer of John Addington Symonds, and was a poet and alpinist. Early life Born at Nice (then part of the kingdom of Sardinia) on 16 February 1854, Brown was the son of Hugh Horatio Brown, an advocate, of New Hall House, Carlops, who was a Deputy Lieutenant for Midlothian, and of Gulielmina Forbes, the sixth daughter of Colonel Ranaldson MacDonnell of Glengarry and Clanranald (1773–1828). The marriage was in 1853, and his mother was a good deal younger than his father, who died on 17 October 1866, at the age of 66. Brown's maternal grandfather, Ranaldson MacDonnell, of Invergarry Castle o ...
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Stage Machinery
Stage machinery, also known as stage mechanics, comprises the mechanical devices used to create special effects in theatrical productions. See also * Scenic design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ... References Scenic design {{stagecraft-stub ...
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Zorzi Giustinian
Zorzi Giustinian was an ambassador of the Republic of Venice serving in London from 1606 to 1608 and Vienna in 1618. London Giustinian arrived in London on 5 January 1606, met by the outgoing ambassador Nicolò Molin and Lewes Lewknor, the master of ceremonies. They had an audience with King James on 25 January, "escorted by almost all the Italians resident in London". John Pory described the event and the ambassadors' black gowns, lined with black fox fur. In February, he was asked to congratulate King James on his escape from the Gunpowder plot, the details of which had been explained to the Doge in Venice by the English ambassador Henry Wotton. Anne of Denmark showed an eager interest in the struggles between the Venetian Republic and the Papacy, but Giustinian was reluctant to discuss the issues. Giustinian was apprehensive of new legal measures in the aftermath of the plot, which seemed to be "great preparations for the annihilation of the Catholic religion". In March King ...
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Republic Of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, links=no), was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic in parts of present-day Italy (mainly Northern Italy, northeastern Italy) that existed for 1100 years from AD 697 until AD 1797. Centered on the Venetian Lagoon, lagoon communities of the prosperous city of Venice, it incorporated numerous Stato da Màr, overseas possessions in modern Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Greece, Albania and Cyprus. The republic grew into a Economic history of Venice, trading power during the Middle Ages and strengthened this position during the Renaissance. Citizens spoke the still-surviving Venetian language, although publishing in (Florentine) Italian became the norm during the Renaissance. In its early years, it prospered on the salt ...
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