Evening with John Blanke

TheImage of the Black in London Galleries (IBLG)highlights the black presence to be found in the national art collections in London. NOW ON LINE.There is a black presence in many of the works in the nation’s collections in London. That presence takes many different forms; blacks are depicted as musicians, as kings, as slaves, as servants, as saints and sometime just as people and even as artist in their own right. The Black Presence is most cases is explicit though not immediately and sometimes the presence has to teased out, IBLG seeks to make that Black presence better known.

Image of the Black in London Galleries

<H2>Imagine the black Tudor trumpeter</H2>
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John Blanke, the black trumpeter to the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, is considered to be the first person of African descent in Britain for whom we have both an image and a written record. His image appears twice in the 1511 Westminster Tournament Roll currently in the College of Arms collection. He is noted in the court's accounts of the day as having being paid wages, other records have him successfully petitioning Henry VIII for a wage increase and receiving a gift from the king.
This event explores and commemorates the life of John Blanke and showcases how the archival records have influenced the work of the project's musicians, artists, poets, rappers and historians.
The John Blanke Project is a work in progress which celebrates the life of John Blanke through a variety of media and art forms – writing, drawing, poetry, and music.
 
Image: (Detail) Stephen B. Whatley, Tribute to John Blanke, (2015), Charcoal on paper, A4

College of Arms

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Evening with John Blanke

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Evening with John Blanke

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