Stories of art Module 1 : Sainsbury Wing 1260-1500

Last 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 course leader Richard Stemp looked at the books which influence the art of the time starting refreshingly with the Bible. He talked us through various pictures and how they reflect their Bible stories. He then did the same with some saints lived from the Gold Legend for example looking at why the dragon in Uccello’s St George is on a lead.

We then turned to two secular works of fiction, Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Decameron and looked in particular at the story of Griselda from a Cassonne.

Finally we looked at two art theory works Cennini’s Craftsman’s Handbook which take you through the craft of painting in detail and Alberti’s Della Picturra which looks at the aesthetics of painting and talks about how to compose a picture.

This was a really good end to an excellent course. I’ve not done modules 1,2 and 3 so roll on the summer when I can catch up with 4!

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