Cathy's Art Diary

A wonderful lecture at the National Gallery to accompany the current Leonardo exhibition given my Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor at Oxford. He looked in particular at the newly attributed painting “Salvator Mundi” describing how he first saw it in the conservation studio of the National Gallery and the work that has been done to attribute it to Leonardo. It was quite magical to hear first hand about this work and to be taken through the detail of why he feels it is genuine. I can’t wait to see it in the exhibition.

Lovely exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum of the work of Claude Lorrain. The exhibition was broken into three sections paintings, drawings and etches. I liked the fact that many of the paintings were hung in their original pairs to show the contracts he painted of sea and land, different times of day and subjects. The drawings were a revelations as they were so well finished and really illuminated the imaginary processes behind the paintings. My favourite things though had to be the Firework series of etchings which showed firework designs for the coronation of Ferdinand III as King of the Romans. These includes wonderful machines which split apart and fireworks came out. I think the London 2012 Opening Ceremony could learn a thing or two! Reviews Daily Telegraph

A small exhibition at the National Theatre to show the finalists’ designs in the Linbury Prize for Stage Design. As well as pictures of the designs it also included small mock up of the sets like old Victorian children’s theatre toys and sketch books collecting ideas for the designs. I particularly liked a design for the Watermill Theatre as it’s a space I have been to and liked.

Exhibition at Somerset House of photographs of Venice. The exhibition included the work of 14 artists and looked at everyday life in the city as well as new interpretations of the city. I love some kaleidoscope style pictures which took a view of a canal plus of a palace and rotated the image 4 times by 90 degrees to form multi mirrored version of the image. There were also a set of stunning portraits which could have been faces from any era of the city.