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This article follows a young Thomas Wyatt (ca. 1503-42)--the Henrician poet and courtier--on his journeys to France and especially to Italy in 1526-27. It finds him at the greatest courts of Europe at a climacteric in European affairs, during which, by default, he had a part to play. It discovers the dramatic circumstances of his kidnap, ransom, and release. The article conjectures upon the ways in which Wyatt's Italian journey was formative for his political and poetic career, and upon the brilliance with which he transmuted the events of a life lived so intensely, so restlessly, into art., Travelling down the Thames at New Year 1527, Thomas Wyatt met Sir John Russell (ca. 1485-1555). Asking where Russell was going, and hearing that he had been sent by Henry [...]

The Universities of the Italian Renaissance. By PAUL GRENDLER. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2002. xx+592 pp. $52.95. ISBN 0-8018-6631-6. Given that histories of individual universities can sometimes [...]

Although Italian artistic influence never supplanted England's longstanding and ongoing artistic relations with France and the Netherlands, in the era of Henry VIII (ruled 1509–1547) it became a significant element within it, partly for political reasons. In recent years, research on this subject has been active, revealing many connections between visual developments in England and Italy in a wide range of contexts. This article explores recent work on these complex intersections from the beginnings of the Tudor period to the early 1540s. Four key themes are discussed: Italian influences mediated through France and the Netherlands; the impact of the circulation of images in the era of print technology; Italian artists who worked in England; and the role of merchants. Through this survey, the article explains how standard work has been challenged and redirected on areas such as classicism; the importance of particular materials, objects, motifs, and techniques; the status of Italian artists who worked in England; and the sophistication of their English patrons. The article ends by noting how recent work on Italian merchants as mediators of Italian art and artists in England is aligning this area with the broader recent interest in the economics of art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]