A longer look: Gossaert's 'Adoration of the Kings'

Excellent morning at the National Gallery looking in detail at the lovely nativity scene by Gossaert “Adoration of the Kings”.

The lecturer Aliki Braine, took the innovative approach to begin with of giving us a print of the picture and making us fold it up to help us look at the symmetry of the work. We then looked at the detail of it and the iconography.

She then took us through the technique used taking Messys St Luke as an example of how an artist worked. She showed us a Van de Goes with a similar composition but cut down. We also looked at the Durer print which featured the dog in the foreground. We also talked about what is known about Gossaert the man.

We spent some time at the picture sharing our thoughts and observations. Aliki also talked us through some of the other contemporary pictures in the room to show us the diverse nature of art at the time. I’d not realised that an Adam and Eve in the same room with a very sculptural look was also by Gossaert. The two pictures seem to come from different worlds. We talked about different patrons and also about how 50% of church art from this area at this time was destroyed in the iconoclasm of 1566 so we have a skewed view of the period. Was it just the best which was saved or is it more random than that!

Back at the seminar room we put the picture in its historic context and talked about changing ideas at the time and thoughts about the difference between seeing and looking. She took the example of two versions of St Luke by Gossaert, in one the saint looks at the Virgin and paints what he sees in the other the implication is that he is imagining her.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my...
Read more

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B...
Read more

The Renaissance Nude

Image
Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the nude in Renaissance art. The show was gently themed but mainly let the pictures speak for themselves. It began by looking at the subjects, both religious and secular, which include nude figures then examined techniques and models used in these works, finishing by looking at more personal pictures. This is a period I’ve studied a lot so there were a lot of old friends and it was quite fun predicting what might appear. There were a few surprises too such as the rather surprising drawing of the Ecstatic Christ. I liked the fact the show included lots of different art forms not just paintings including sculpture, etchings, drawings and illuminated manuscripts. There were some fascinating hangs to draw comparisons particularly two sets of pictures by Giovanni Bellini and Hand Memling from almost exactly the same date. These were shown back to back in a display cabinet down the middle of one room. My favourite work was ...
Read more