This work provides a social and cultural setting to help the reader understand painting in England during the Tudor and early Stuart period. It examines the impact of the Reformation on picture-making, and the Protestant suspicion of images; the representation of men and women and their social roles; the private world of the miniature; royal icons as embodiments of divine power; classical themes and court ritual; the organization of the painter's workshop and the status of the artist. Paintings are seen in relation to diverse factors and artefacts such as commerce, the country house setting, heraldry, iconoclasm, printed images, maps, tapestries and funerary monuments. The book is illustrated to evoke the visual culture of this period in English history.