Sir Nathaniel Bacon, Cookmaid with Still Life of Vegetables and Fruit c.1620–5. Tate.
Start the journey through 500 years of British art with artworks from 1540–1650
This room displays some of the oldest artworks in the Tate collection. They were produced in the last years of the reign of Henry VIII, through the time of Elizabeth I, up to Charles I, who was executed after the English Civil War in 1649. Most of them are portraits, painted for aristocratic and wealthy people. Portraits express the character and social status of their subject. Clothing and objects are used to indicate power, wealth, intelligence or other desirable qualities.