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Tudor Time Machines: Clocks and Watches in English Portraits c.1530-c.1630

cam.issuedOnline2018-10-15
cam.orpheus.successThu Jan 30 10:53:54 GMT 2020 - The item has an open VoR version.
dc.contributor.authorFaraday, CJ
dc.contributor.orcidFaraday, Christina [0000-0002-4803-5734]
dc.date.accessioned2018-11-26T11:40:16Z
dc.date.available2018-11-26T11:40:16Z
dc.date.issued2019-04
dc.description.abstractThe clock was the most technologically advanced instrument of the Early Modern period. It seeped into contemporary imagination, becoming a symbol through which the world could be organised and understood. An abundance of English and Scottish portraits c.1530-c.1630 feature clocks and watches, but no previous studies have explored their meanings. Brief references to clocks as memento mori symbols overlook the rich place clockwork held in the period’s literary and imaginative culture. Tudor and Early Stuart literature abounds with clock metaphors, and this essay attempts a reconstruction of the ‘clockwork imaginary’ of the Early Modern patron classes, building from a systematic analysis of over 2,200 English texts and 22 ‘clock portraits’. These sources show that the timepiece incorporated but often went beyond vanitas symbolism, signifying wealth, virtuous commercial activity, religious devotion and self-control. Although present in Catholic and Protestant texts and portraits alike, the clock arguably has greater significance for proponents of ‘salvation by faith alone’; the one-way directional system, showing interior workings on the exterior, chimed with godly concerns to ‘know thyself’ and confirm one’s membership of the Elect. More broadly, the essay is a case study for a holistic approach to signification in Early Modern visual art.
dc.description.sponsorshipGeorge Daniels Educational Trust
dc.identifier.doi10.17863/CAM.33297
dc.identifier.eissn1477-4658
dc.identifier.issn0269-1213
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285972
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherWiley-Blackwell
dc.publisher.urlhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rest.12517
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject4705 Literary Studies
dc.subject36 Creative Arts and Writing
dc.subject43 History, Heritage and Archaeology
dc.subject47 Language, Communication and Culture
dc.subject4303 Historical Studies
dc.subject3601 Art History, Theory and Criticism
dc.titleTudor Time Machines: Clocks and Watches in English Portraits c.1530-c.1630
dc.typeArticle
dcterms.dateAccepted2018-06-25
prism.publicationNameRenaissance Studies
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2018-06-25
rioxxterms.licenseref.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Review
rioxxterms.versionVoR
rioxxterms.versionofrecord10.1111/rest.12517

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