Courtauld Summer School days 4 & 5

Again two very good days and I'm really sorry the week is over.

On Thursday we concentrated on Roger Van de Weyden with Douglas Brine. In the morning we looked in detail at "The Descent from the Cross" which is in Madrid. I saw this at the end of last year so the experience of it was quite fresh in my mind. Fascinating to go through the iconography in detail and to think about how and why the figures fit in the space the way they do. We then focused on some of the other works in detail.

The afternoon was spent in the Print and Drawing Room at the British Museum. I hadn't realised that anyone can go along and ask to see anything that they hold there. A nice atmosphere with a mix of people studying and the staff who work in the room with their personalised desks. We had out a series of drawings linked to Roger van de Weyden. There was a particularly fine portrait of a woman but my favourite was a drawing which was probably for a wall painting of a procession. I was drawn to the beggar in the corner who had a little dog with a begging bowl in its mouth.

Friday was a trip to the National Gallery again to spend time in the Memling Room. We used the work there to discuss different types of patronage and reasons for production. We looked at Flemish influence in other countries and the lovely painting on cloth by De Bouts.

In the afternoon it was back to the Courtauld to study the Portinari Triptch which is in the Uffizi. The college have a life sized photo of the whole thing, in sections, along with a full sized infrared photo. We pushed back the tables and again discussed the iconography as well as how the under drawing differed from the final version.

All in all a really good week. A great opportunity to look at a period of art in some detail seeing some of the latest research in the field. Wish I'd booked next week off too to do follow up reading

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