Fashion in Painting

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery introducing a new book for the gallery on how to read clothing in paintings.

The author, Jacqui Ansell, talked us through the development process of the book explaining how, to fit the series of books, it had to have six chapters with rich illustrations. She told us how she knew the artists she wanted to include and how she wanted to theme the work rather than writing chronologically.

She wanted to include social history and practical knowledge with descriptions of the paintings and clothes. She told us how she used paired images where possible, a full picture of the painting and a detail.

She then led us through some of the images she had chosen but I found the talk got a bit fragmented at this point as she was trying to cover too much in a short time.

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