ABSTRACT
As an early sixteenth-century Tudor painter, Lambert Barnard is of immense significance to the cultural history of Sussex and England. His work, created in the environment of a regional Episcopal court for Robert Sherborn, Bishop of Chichester, was varied in subject and significant for the glimpses it allows of the nature and uses of painting away from the particular, often transitory, demands of the London court. Time has not been kind to his paintings; damp, neglect and iconoclasm has meant that all his work has undergone restoration and, in some cases, drastic over painting that has obscured much fine detail. As non-portable objects, Barnard's schemes are not singled out within this inventory, so there is no indication of the cost of his commissions or materials. Similarly, the bishop's remaining letters and papers contain no instruction to his painter; neither are there any extant contracts for Barnard's paintings.
