Politics, Transgression, and Representation at the Court of Charles II

by Edited by Julia Marciari Alexander and Catharine MacLeod; With essays by Tim Har

• ISBN13: 9780300116564
• ISBN10: 030011656X
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2008-02-28
• Publisher: YC British Art

Summary

The return of Charles II to the English throne after eleven years of Interregnum heralded the beginning of a new era in which the court was characterized by the licentious behavior of the new king. Edited by the authors of the critically acclaimedPainted Ladies: Women at the Court of Charles II(2002), this book brings together ten distinguished scholars of history, literature, music, theatre, and art to explore the political and cultural implications of the court's transgressive new character. With particular reference to the perception and representation of women, it offers a varied examination of topics including popular prints and broadsheets; court masque; poetry and painted portraits; and the operation of women in the political sphere.

Author Biography

Catharine MacLeod is Seventeenth-Century Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Julia Marciari Alexander is Associate Director for Exhibitions and Publications at the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.

Table of Contents

Introduction
"Thy Longing Country's Darling and Desire": Aesthetics, Sex, and Politics in the England of Charles II	p. 1
"There Is None That Loves Him but Drunk Whores and Whoremongers": Popular Criticisms of the Restoration Court	p. 35
Love Pleasant, Love Unfortunate: Women in Seventeenth-Century Popular Prints	p. 61
The "Windsor Beauties" and the Beauties Series in Restoration England	p. 81
Sites of Instruction: Andrew Marvell and the Tropes of Restoration Portraiture	p. 123
"Subdued by a Famous Roman Dame": Picturing Foreignness, Notoriety, and Prerogative in the Portraits of Hortense Mancini, Duchess Mazarin	p. 141
The Female Politician in the Late Stuart Age	p. 177
The Apotheosis of Absolutism and the Interrupted Masque: Theater, Music, and Monarchy in Restoration England	p. 193
Celebrity Erotics: Pepys, Performance, and Painted Ladies	p. 233
Notes on Contributors	p. 253
Photography Credits	p. 255
Index	p. 257
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