CMA's 'The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England' explores a century-plus of lavish creations

Feb. 24—It was a consequential 118 years.

Emerging after England's War of the Roses, the Tudor dynasty — lasting from 1485 to 1603 — saw only three generations rule the country. And yet it was a time of major transition, England evolving from, as the Cleveland Museum of Art puts it, "an impoverished backwater to a major European power operating on a global stage."

It also was a time of great creation, as evidenced by a massive new exhibition at CMA, "The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England." After a couple of museum member preview days, the ticketed exhibition — said to be the first in the United States to trace the transformation of arts in Tudor England — is open to the public Feb. 26 through May 15 in CMA's Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall.

Organized by CMA and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it already has run, the show presents myriads works, both very large and quite small and representing a wide range of art forms.

"What's really special about this exhibition is the variety of types of objects," says Cory Korkow, CMA curator of European paintings and sculpture, 1500 — 1800, during an opportunity for the media to see it on Feb. 24. "It's rare to have an exhibition where you have books, stained glass, armor, objects of porcelain, furniture, tapestry — and I think it helps give a better sense of the period and just what the Tudors were all about."

Entering the first gallery, the visitor encounters sizable bronze works by Benedetto da Rovezzano, the two components of "Angels Bearing Candlesticks" bookending his massive "Candelabrum." Originally intended for a never-completed tomb, the works are reunited for the first time in 400 years for this exhibition, according to the accompanying placard.

These large bronze works by Benedetto da Rovezzano greet visitors to the new Cleveland Museum of Art exhibition "The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England." (Mark Meszoros ??

Just beyond it is a glass-encased attention-getter that also can be viewed from the opposite room, "Henry VII Cope," a glorious work embroidered with silk and gilded silver metal-wrapped threads. It is stated nearby that the cope and a huge, detail-rich oil painting facing it, "The Field of the Cloth of Gold," "were featured in of the most legendary displays of wealth, artistry, and power during the 1500s."

You soon will arrive at the first of two impressive suits of armor, this one cleverly titled "Field Armor, Probably Made for King Henry VIII."

This armor is believed to have been made for English monarch Henry VIII. (Mark Meszoros ??

Speaking of the monarch whose reign lasted nearly 40 years, not far away from the armor — in the same gallery, bearing a placard establishing the theme "Inventing a Dynasty" — resides a large, colorful portrait of him, flanked by others depicting three of the four rulers to follow him, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

There is much more for the visitor to discover in the subsequent themed galleries, "Splendor and Gift Giving," "Public and Private Faces," "Languages of Ornament" and "Allegories and Icons."

"For viewers who saw the exhibition at The Met, it looks very different in Cleveland," Korkow says.

That's in part because some of the pieces are different, with the inclusion of a work from CMA's permanent collection among the additions here.

"But also, the (Met's incarnation) was in a very large, grand space, (and) they used a different color palette," she says. "Working with our amazing (exhibition) designer Jim Engelmann, who was the head designer for this project, we just felt that it should look different in Cleveland. And we had, instead of a larger space, a series of more intimate rooms and chose a rich color palette to accentuate the drama.

"And I think it makes the lighting very powerful," she adds.

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Given both the size and delicacy of the works, it shouldn't come as a surprise that implementing the design wasn't all in a day's work.

"The installation took three and a half weeks, and we have the most incredible team," Korkow says.

She says a piece titled "The 'Sea Dog' Table" is composed of 17 pieces, but the time it required wasn't allocated the way you might guess.

"We spent a day with the courier who brought the table over — condition checking, making sure everything wasn't damaged in transit. And then it only took probably 15 or 20 minutes to actually assemble the table because these objects were meant to be portable."

That wasn't the case with the aforementioned bronze works, with some components weighing as much as 100 pounds and the team needing to work slowly and methodically.

A CMA news release describes the international collection of artists and merchants who created these works — many of them religious refugees — as having to navigate "the high-stakes demands" of the royals.

"Against the backdrop of shifting political relationships with mainland Europe," the release states, "Tudor artistic patronage legitimized, promoted and helped stabilize a series of tumultuous reigns, from Henry VII's seizure of the throne in 1485 to the death of his granddaughter Elizabeth I in 1603."

Adds Korkow, "About a third of the works in the exhibition have the Tudor rose on them, which is a good example of how successful they were at branding."

The show originally was intended to debut in 2020, and you can imagine why it was delayed. In the meantime, a third entity, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, was brought on as a collaborator. "Tudors" is set to show in San Fran following its Cleveland run.

The release states that CMA expects "Tudors" to book quickly and recommends reserving tickets through its online platform.

"This is a fun exhibition to work on because people have connections to the Tudors, whether it's through architecture or they've watched 'Wolf Hall' or they've read historical novels," Korkow says. "People can enter into the drama when they see the exhibition."

'The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England'

Where: Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd.

When: Feb. 26 through May 15

Tickets: $15, adults; $12, seniors, students and children 6 to 17; free, members and children 5 and under.

Info: ClevelandArt.org or 216-421-7350.