In a major collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is displaying 150 unique objects — many never seen outside England — for the “Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits from Holbein to Warhol” exhibition. The groundbreaking show will be on view on the second floor of the Caroline Wiess Law Building through January 27, 2019.
Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, director of the NPG, says that visitors to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston exhibit will have the “opportunity to encounter some of history’s most fascinating personalities as well as many of the most accomplished portraits produced in the last 500 years.”
“Tudors to Windsors,” showcasing tiaras, crowns, beads, gems, jewelry, paintings, sculptures, and photographs, covers four British royal dynasties spanning five centuries: the Tudors (1485–1603), the Stuarts (1603–1714), the Hanoverians (1714–1901), and the present-day House of Windsor.
Incredible portraits of the British royalty from old masters like Hans Holbein the Younger and Sir Joshua Reynolds to more recent talented artists like Andy Warhol and Annie Leibovitz are also on view.
Some of the highlights of the MFA Houston’s ongoing show are an ornate breastplate that belonged to King Henry VIII, a ballgown worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, and “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey,” a stunning oil painting created by Paul Delaroche in his effort to imagine the beheading of the so-called “Nine Day Queen.”
Info
“Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits from Holbein to Warhol”
Through January 27, 2019
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Caroline Wiess Law Building
1001 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX 77005
Tel.: 713 639 7300
Tickets: Free to $23