Tom Chandler Jr., age 15, of Johnson City, Tenn. for his question:

WHAT IS TUDOR STYLE?

In English art, Tudor style designates the period covering the reigns of the Tudor monarchs from 1485 to 1603. It was a transitional period in which medieval forms began to give way to Renaissance ideals.

Although the decorative arts flourished during this period, as did painting, the Tudor style was expressed mainly in architecture.

Gothic forms reached their apogee at the beginning of the Tudor reign, around 1500, in chapels such as Henry VII's chapel (Westminster Abbey in London), noted for soaring arches, tracery windows and intricate fan vaults.

When religious disturbances put a halt to church building for the rest of the 16th century, palaces and country houses became the chief vehicle for the Tudor style. Hampton Court Palace, Old Somerset House and others were basically medieval structures asymmetrical brick buildings with mullioned windows and uneven roof lines with towers, battlements and chimneys overlaid with Renaissance ornamental details such as medallions and terra cotta busts.