Stories of art Module 1 : Sainsbury Wing 1260-1500

First session in a six week course at the National Gallery on the period covered by the Sainsbury Wing roughly 1260 to 1500.

This week the wonderfully dry course leader Richard Stemp gave us an overview of the period, looking at how diverse the period was an comparing the Siennese, Florentine and Northern countries and dropping in on other cities to show how they were similar but a variant on the main theme.

In the second half he read us a paper he’d written with a botanist on the flora and fauna in Signorelli’s “Adoration of the Shepherds” in the National Gallery. His premise was that for one of the first times these plants had not just been painted to add to the symbolism but had been shown in their natural habitats. It was super to pop up and see the picture after the talk and focus on this more unusual aspect.

I have to say that at last I am doing a course where my generic picture on my blog is spot on in period and style!

 

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