A Story of Tudor Power and Secret Art

The King's Glass

Monarchs and makers. The tense, captivating story of the glorious windows of the King's College Chapel, Cambridge.

Fascinating... This is a splendid piece of art history. Carola Hicks writes beautifully

By concentrating her gaze upon one of the outstanding buildings of England, Carola Hicks provides a history of an entire culture

One of the great pleasures of this book is the skill with which it interweaves the political narratives of the 15th and 16th centuries with a detailed history of the art form. The windows become a dazzling kaleidoscope in which the stories of the Tudor line and the English Reformation gradually take shape

Carola Hicks, an acclaimed art historian, and witty, perceptive writer, died in 2010 just as she was finishing this book. Born in Sussex, Carola studied archaeology at Edinburgh University, and was an actress, journalist and House of Commons Researcher, before taking up an academic career. For several years she was curator of the Stained Glass Museum at Ely Cathedral, and then became a Fellow and Director of Studies in art history at Newnham College, Cambridge. Her books include Animals in Early Medieval Art, Improper Pursuits: The Scandalous Life of Lady Di Beauclerk, and two fine 'biographies' of works of art: The Bayeux Tapestry: The Life Story of a Masterpiece and Girl in a Green Gown: The History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait.

Each year more than 250,000 people visit the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge, one of Europe's best-known buildings. This book tells the untold story of the Chapel's crowning glory, its stained glass windows, and of the people who created them - the triumphant culmination of a project completed despite wars, the death of kings and violent religious conflict. 
 
The glass symbolises the power of the Tudors, and is a mirror of their souls. Planned by Henry VII and continued by Henry VIII, the windows are dynastic propaganda, simultaneously blatant and subtle. The windows show how Henry commemorated his wives in art, then airbrushed them out when they fell from favour, and how he recruited leading artists to make this England's response to the Sistine Chapel. 
 
The great 'King's Glass' also flaunts the skills of its makers, many of them innovative immigrants. It is a tale of guilds and artisans as well as of the court. It is, too, a history of England, reflecting change, conflict and modernity in the sixteenth century.

The Life Story of a Masterpiece

The Bayeux Tapestry

The story of the Bayeux Tapestry - its origins and making, but also its long and dramatic afterlife, from 1066 to Napoleon, Nazi raids and modern adverts.

Hick's enchantment with the tapestry is compelling, and her style confident and writerly

Hicks tells her fascinating tale with the deftest of touches

I was bowled over... it is a book full of page-turning vignettes

A fittingly meticulous tribute to the world's fiddliest masterpiece

Well written, well documented, quite often serious but not too grave, allergic to over -imaginative fantasy but not immune to romantic pull of those colourful worsted threads on plain linen. Carola Hicks's book weaves its own spell

A perceptive and sure-footed guide… Hicks tells her fascinating tale with deftest of touches

Hicks' enchantment with the tapestry is compelling and her style confident and writerly

Carola Hicks was an acclaimed art historian, and witty, perceptive writer. Born in Sussex, Carola studied archaeology at Edinburgh University, and was an actress, journalist and House of Commons Researcher, before taking up an academic career. For several years she was curator of the Stained Glass Museum at Ely Cathedral, and then became a Fellow and Director of Studies in art history at Newnham College, Cambridge. Her books include Animals in Early Medieval Art, Improper Pursuits: The Scandalous Life of Lady Di Beauclerk, and two fine 'biographies' of works of art: The Girl in the Green Gown: The History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait and The King's Glass: A Story of Tudor Power and Secret Art. Carola Hicks died in 2010.

The vivid scenes on the Bayeux Tapestry depict the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It is one of Europe's greatest treasures and its own story is full of drama and surprise. 
 
Who commissioned the tapestry? Was it Bishop Odo, William's ruthless half-brother? Or Harold's dynamic sister Edith, juggling for a place in the new court? Hicks shows us this world and the miracle of the tapestry's making: the stitches, dyes and strange details in the margins. For centuries it lay ignored in Bayeux cathedral until its 'discovery' in the eighteenth century. It became a symbol of power as well as art: townsfolk saved it during the French Revolution; Napoleon displayed it to promote his own conquest; the Nazis strove to make it their own; and its influence endures today. 
 
This marvellous book, packed with thrilling stories, shows how we remake history in every age and how a great work of art has a life of its own.

Carola Hicks

The History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait

WITH A FOREWORD BY GRAYSON PERRY 
 
Carola Hicks sets out to solve the mystery of one of art history’s greatest paintings, The Arnolfini Portrait 
 
The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck in 1434 hangs in the National Gallery in London and remains a mystery to this day. Is the painting of the girl in the green gown the celebration of marriage or pregnancy, a memorial to a wife who died in childbirth, a fashion statement or a status symbol? Using her acclaimed forensic skills as an art historian, Carola Hicks set out to decode the mystery of one the most enigmatic paintings in the western art. 
 
‘This book will send you back to the National Gallery with much sharper eyes’ Independent on Sunday

Carola Hicks

Girl in a Green Gown

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