Self-Fashioning and International Artistic Patronage of Merchants in Pre- and Post- Reformation London: The Merchant Taylors' 1400-1610

中世纪的伦敦之所以成为“文化交流的场所”，部分原因在于其商人的成功和作为转口港的地位不断提高（基恩，2007年）。以商人泰勒斯公司为例，我的研究探讨了与伦敦商人社区有关的艺术和建筑，以解决国际艺术交流和宗教态度变化的问题。这个项目将调查顾客的商业生活在多大程度上创造了国际材料的时尚。它将探讨艺术赞助是如何被用来塑造企业和个人的“国际”形象，以及艺术交流是否随着海外贸易企业的影响而增长。我将重新评估宗教改革如何影响国际材料和艺术家的商业赞助，因为制服公司从行会和宗教团体转变为国内外贸易商的协会。商人泰勒斯是16世纪从国内工艺到国际贸易转变的一个很好的例子，并在建立商人冒险家，西班牙和莫斯科公司方面发挥了重要作用。大量的公司肖像和市长勋爵展览会的幸存账户（这一时期有十个商人泰勒斯）将提供公司如何庆祝他们的国际贸易作为一个集体的见解。我的研究将探讨这些物品和事件是否有意识地庆祝与当代欧亚贸易和私掠的接触，并通过“全文化习语”表达其所有者作为国际商人的身份（Dimmock，2019年;货车凯塞尔，2020年）。还将探讨个人佣金，以了解国际贸易商的身份表达，如1508年杰宁斯的佛兰芒照明lectionary（BL皇家2 B XII和XIII），和Withypoll的威尼斯三联画。这些对象，用来培养一个国际形象，为他们的赞助人，将理解通过艺术史经济透镜的“显着委员会”（纳尔逊和Zeckhauser，2008年;格林布拉特，1980年），以及他们在信号，路标和伸展机构。商人泰勒斯的裹尸布，用于公共葬礼，也将作为一种方式来探讨“显着佣金”的想法（纳尔逊和Zeckhauser，2008年）。这款布料制作于1490年，结合了企业象征、英国作品、意大利天鹅绒和佛兰芒丝绸，塑造了欧洲企业的形象。16世纪30年代制作的第二块布也有类似的图案，有记录表明这两块布一直使用到17世纪。这些裹尸布提供了探索国际艺术交流和企业自我塑造问题的潜力，以及宗教改革如何塑造商人的社会和艺术关注（Walsham，2008;分支，2017）。通过与PCC遗嘱和公司法庭记录一起研究这些palls，我将探索这群商人赞助人的动机是否以及如何受到宗教改革的影响，特别是他们对死亡和纪念的态度。我的研究将填补中世纪和早期现代英国商业消费和艺术赞助工作的空白（巴伦，2004;萨顿，2016; Spufford。2002年），解决了文化交流的物质性，在整个15和16世纪的商人的生活中表达。它将补充最近对17和18世纪伦敦商人艺术消费的研究（Kilburn-Toppin，即将出版; Levy-Peck，2005）。这项研究超越了Livery Company历史的目的，而是有助于中世纪商人的艺术历史对话以及中世纪和早期现代世界的国际性质。艺术，建筑和文献证据的未充分研究的语料库将被用作资源，以发展我们对中世纪和近代早期英国的国际性质的理解。我与商人泰勒斯的牢固关系将继续使我能够接触到在大厅举行的收藏品。

Medieval London became a 'site of cultural exchange' in part due to the success of its merchants and growing status as an entrepôt (Keene, 2007). Using the Merchant Taylors' Company as a case study, my research examines the art and architecture connected to London's merchant communities to address questions of international artistic exchange and changing religious attitudes. This project will investigate how far patrons' commercial lives created a vogue for international material. It will explore how artistic patronage was used to fashion corporate and individual 'international' images, and whether artistic exchange grew as overseas trading ventures impacted the city. I shall reassess how the Reformation impacted mercantile patronage of international material and artists, as the Livery Companies transitioned from guilds and religious confraternities to associations of domestic and overseas traders.The Merchant Taylors' are an excellent example of this transition from domestic craft to international trade in the 16th century, and were instrumental in founding the Merchant Adventurers, Spanish and Muscovy Companies. The large body of corporate portraiture and surviving accounts for Lord Mayors' Shows (ten were Merchant Taylors in this period) will offer insight into how the Company celebrated their international trade as a collective. My research will explore if such objects and events consciously celebrated engagement with contemporary Eurasian trade and privateering and expressed their owner's identity as international merchants through an 'omnicultural idiom' (Dimmock, 2019; Van Kessel, 2020). Commissions by individuals will also be explored to understand expressions of identity by international traders, such as Jenyns' Flemish illuminated lectionary of 1508 (BL Royal 2 B XII and XIII), and Withypoll's Venetian triptych. These objects, used to foster an international image for their patrons, will be understood through the art historical-economic lens of 'conspicuous commissions' (Nelson & Zeckhauser, 2008; Greenblatt, 1980), and their agency in signalling, signposting and stretching.The Merchant Taylors' pall cloth, used in public funerals, will also be examined as a way to explore the idea of 'conspicuous commission' (Nelson & Zeckhauser, 2008). Crafted c.1490, the cloth combines corporate symbols with Opus Anglicanum, Italian velvet and Flemish silk to fashion a European corporate identity. A second cloth, made in the 1530s, has similar iconography, and there are records of both cloths being used into the 17th century. These pall cloths offer potential to explore questions of international artistic exchange and corporate self-fashioning, but also how the Reformation shaped merchants' social and artistic concerns (Walsham, 2008; Branch, 2017). By studying these palls alongside PCC wills and Company Court Minutes, I will explore if and how the motivations of this group of merchant patrons was impacted by the Reformation, particularly in their attitudes to death and memorialisation.My research will fill a gap in work on medieval and early modern English mercantile consumption and patronage of art (Barron, 2004; Sutton, 2016; Spufford. 2002), addressing the materiality of cultural exchange, as expressed in merchants' lives across the 15th and 16th centuries. It will complement recent studies of 17th and 18th century London merchants' artistic consumption (Kilburn-Toppin, Forthcoming; Levy-Peck, 2005). This research goes beyond the aims of Livery Company histories, instead contributing to the art-historical dialogue on medieval merchants and the international natures of the Medieval and Early Modern worlds. The understudied corpus of art, architecture and documentary evidence will be used as sources to develop our understanding of the international nature of Medieval and Early Modern England. My strong relationship with the Merchant Taylors' will continue to give me essential access to collections held at the Hall.