A Shakespeare Connected exhibition in collaboration with Dr Cathryn Enis and Dr Tara Hamling from The Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies, University of Birmingham.

It is widely known that the reformation in England resulted in the dismantling of a centuries-old, potent system of religious art and devotional infrastructure. Many of our parish churches still bear the scars of the iconoclasm (destruction and removal of religious icons) that occurred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Less well known, even surprising, is the fact that the faith of Shakespeare and his contemporaries was still informed and supported to a considerable extent by images and objects. The story of art and faith during Shakespeare’s lifetime includes destruction and loss but there is also abundant evidence of survival, creative adaptation and new craft production. This on-line exhibition features a selection of wonderful artefacts from the collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to highlight shifts in the nature of material tools of faith in response to the process of reform.

 

With thanks to the Museums and Universities Partnership Initiative (an Arts Council funded project).