Trerice Manor

What: Historic house

Where: Cornwall

Who: National Trust

Trerice is an Elizabethan manor house situated in a quiet corner of Cornish countryside. The architecture is breathtakingly beautiful, especially when the stone of the building is bathed in soft sunlight. Dappled with the patina of age, this house speaks romantically of the passage of time whilst also evoking the Elizabethan past. One must remember, on seeing this house for the first time, just how strikingly modern it must once have seemed. The Dutch gables are some of the earliest surviving in this country; and the magnificent window to the Great Hall would have spoken of immense expense to contemporary visitors. Today the window rewards visitors not necessarily with a show of status, but with the charming and artistic manner in which it reflects the sunlight from outdoors and the view it offers to the beautiful gardens from indoors.

The house is a great sleeping beauty, and one whose delights speak for themselves. The interiors, whilst lovely, did feel a little muddled in their presentation. The guide book showed a picture of a beautifully furnished Great Chamber, but this is now stripped of its loans and undergoing conservation work. The interpretation showcasing the Trust's preventive conservation work provided a good substitute for visitors. However, combined with a Tudor-focused Great Hall and rooms upstairs furnished in a twentieth-century style, it did feel as though there were too many competing layers of interpretation. Perhaps slightly more coherent curation might benefit this house; but, ultimately, its intrinsic beauty is delightfully showcased and is well worth sampling.

Find out more: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/trerice/

A Very British Renaissance

What: TV documentary series
When: March - April 2014
Where: BBC Two
Presented by: Dr James Fox

In 1986, the famous art historian and curator Sir Roy Strong published a book entitled 'Henry, Prince of Wales and England's Lost Renaissance'. Almost thirty years on, the belief that England - or Britain more widely - missed out on the cultural phenomenon that enveloped continental Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has more or less been surpassed by an understanding that Britain instead experienced its own, unique, Renaissance. This understanding was beautifully showcased in this three-part series written and presented by Dr James Fox, who brought us the stylish and original 'A History of Art in Three Colours'. It also builds on the messages of excellent recent exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, such as the 2012-13 revisionist show on the aforementioned Henry, Prince of Wales - the focus on which was on his sad status as the 'Lost Prince', rather than the 'Lost Renaissance' - and the recent exhibition 'Elizabeth I and her People'. Both have brought a renewed focus and attention to this important period in British art.

In true Renaissance fashion, these three episodes focused not only on art, but also on architecture, science, philosophy, music and literature. The most successful moments were those accompanied by breathtaking visuals - such as sketches by Holbein from the Royal Collection; Thomas Tresham's astonishing Triangular Lodge; and Inigo Jones' beautiful pen-and-ink designs for Jacobean masques (though the masques were more or less dismissed as elitist, which sadly precluded a more nuanced engagement with these fantastical court theatricals.) Regardless, Fox's enthusiasm for the subject matter and brilliant storytelling technique, combined with some sophisticated arguments - particularly in the second episode, on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' - made this series unmissable for any lover of art and culture.