Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted Access (SIA Only)
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Fine and Decorative Art and Design
Abstract
This dissertation explores how early seventeenth-century portrait miniatures, and costume and stage design for court masques played a critical role in constructing and communicating a new vision of monarchy under the Stuarts. It examines the transition from the aesthetics of the Elizabethan court to the Stuart era. Through an analysis of Isaac Oliver, Inigo Jones and at times Nicholas Hilliard, this study investigates the use of miniature portraiture and masques as a reflection of shifting attitudes toward identity and sovereign power. Both court masques and miniatures are shown to serve rhetorical functions, serving as strategic tools of persuasion, designed to engage elite audiences and reinforce royal ideology.
The dissertation argues that the visual language of these forms reflects and shapes the cultural and political climate of early Stuart England, positioning the monarchy within a broader European Renaissance context. Chapter one establishes the foundational aesthetic and ideological shifts that define the period, setting the stage for subsequent discussions in chapters two and three of gender roles, cultural ideals, and the interplay between performance and power in the court(s) of James I, his wife Anna of Denmark and his heir at the time, Prince Henry of Wales.
Recommended Citation
Buchanan, Emily, "Setting the Jacobean Stage: Masques and Miniatures in the Visual Culture of Prince Henry and Queen Anna of Denmark" (2026). MA in Fine and Decorative Art and Design Dissertations. 15.
https://digitalcommons.sia.edu/ma_fine_ad/15