Portinari: The Tale of a Triptych

Excellent morning workshop from Paula Nuttall on the Portinari altarpiece now in the Uffizi Gallery.

I have always loved this work since coming across it in the Uffizi a number of years ago holding its own with the Botticellis. I was stunned by the clarity and detail in this 15th century piece.

Nuttall spent the first half of the workshop telling us about Tommaso Portinari and his life in Bruges working for the Medici bank. She talked about his relationship with the Burgundian court and other art works which he commissioned. She set the scene well and gave a good overview of a fascinating man and his time in the city.

After the break she led us through the iconography of this Nativity scene with shepherds and talked about why it was so ground-breaking when it arrived in Florence. She looked at the details of the picture using clear, sharp slides. She finally looked at its influence sharing other paintings which picked up on the unusual subject for the city of Florence and the new idea of adding donor figures to altarpieces.

The morning was a lovely chance to focus on one picture from the background to its commission to the finer details of the work.