Stories of art Module 2 : Renaissance painting 1500-1600

Last session in a six week course at the National Gallery on Renaissance painting which focused this week on stories and symbols.

The first lecture was given by the course tutor Sian Walters and looked how to read the signs and symbols in paintings of this period. We also looked at the importance of colour and shape as well. We focused on religious symbols but also looked at the use of family symbols and mythological ones.

The second lecture was by Susan Foister, the Deputy Direct or the Gallery and looked at the symbols in Holbein’s “The Ambassadors” and what they may mean. She was wonderfully non-committal as she said they could mean anything we can’t be sure. It remains and enigmatic picture but as one member of the audience pointed out they two men look like two good friends who are about to go out and enjoy life!

 

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