Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating online lecture from the London Art History Society looking in detail at a 14th century psalter. Michelle Brown from the British Library introduced us to his amazing work commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell which includes unique illustrations in the margins reflecting the life and issues of the time. She took us through what a psalter was and how it would have been used by a family before taking us briefly though the history of the Luttrell’s and Geoffrey’s place in the events leading to the Wars of the Roses. We then looked in detail at the illustrations, what they meant and how they reflected the family. She concluded that the work shows a world in flux in troubled times.

Excellent two week online course from ARTscapades looking at the Sienese artists of the early 14th century. Art historian Richard Stemp led us through the main four artists featured in the recent National Gallery exhibition, Duccio, Simoni Martini and Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. In each case he guided us through their work both items in the show and ones which couldn’t travel. This was particularly useful as he could include frescos which added another dimension to the work. As ever Stemp brought a knowledgeable but wry eye to the subject bringing out the humanity of the images and yet placing them in the context of their time. This was a lovely way to revisit the exhibition which I had enjoyed and it led me to going again before it closed.

Fascinating online lecture from the National Gallery on their current exhibition on 14th century Siena. One of the curators, Laura Llewelyn, guided us through the show and the four artists it features. She explained how the aim of the show was to look at a crucial moment in Western art where painting came to the fore as the major art form. I had been to see the show a few days before and loved it so this was a useful chance to fill some of the gaps I’d missed when I was there and to understand more about the objects which had been chosen and how, in many cases, multi-piece altarpieces had been reunited. Llewelyn was particularly helpful in setting the scene both in terms of history but also in explaining the non-painting pieces in the show used to show influences and give examples of the objects in the paintings and which would have been seen around them.

Exquisite exhibition at the National Gallery of art from 14th century Siena. I love this style of early art but was worried that the show might feel quite dry however it was quite the opposite. The display and storytelling made these works come to life. Although the show was built around four painters Duccio, Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers, others were brought in and there were some fabulous examples of sculpture. I loved one room which showed the pictures with examples of objects in them or that would have been used around them. Best of all was the narrative of the show and the way it highlighted the humanity of the work which to modern eyes could look archaic. I loved some of the details such as a man playing bongos and a dancing angel. They also told stories of the artists and I was touched by Lando di Pieto who put prayers he had written inside a Crucifix he made. I also liked how the show broadened out to look at how Sienese artists travelled and were used by ...

Impressive exhibition at the King’s Gallery looking at Italian Renaissance drawings from the Royal Collection. The show struck a good balance between appealing to the art history geeks like me and being more popularist by including three artists in residence and tables for you to draw at within the show. I liked the way the show was themed, focusing on the subjects of the drawings ranging from studies of bodies, though nature, religious and secular compositional studies and designs for objects. Complimenting this they discussed why and how drawings were made. I liked the small displays of artists materials throughout the show. One moan, which is a common one for me, was the way the lighting reflected off the glass, making it hard to see the detail without seeing lights or looking at yourself! Highlights were this wonderfully complex Guilo Romano tapestry design, a beautiful portrait by Fra Angelico, a study for the Raphael Vatican tapestry using figures in contemporary dress a...

Intriguing online lecture from London Art Week introducing new research on a 14th century monument near Dijon. I encountered this monumental well in another recent talk and was fascinated by it. In this discussion Alexandra Gajewski, deputy editor of The Burlington, interviewed Susie Nash, from the Courtauld, about an article she was about to have published in the magazine outlining her latest research. The well was in the grounds of a monastery near Dijon and has prophets around the base and Nash has concluded that it was topped by a Crucifix with Mary Magdalene at the feet of Christ. She has also linked the work, commissioned by Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, to the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 in which the sons of many of the French noble families were killed and his son was taken hostage. I enjoyed hearing a clear, well-argued piece of research and would love to read the article which was promised to those who attended the talk but it hasn’t materialised.

Excellent online study morning from Paula and Geoff Nuttall looking at the history and art of Naples from the 13th to 15th century. Geoff started the morning by looking at the Angevin’s who ruled the city from 1266 to 1435 guiding us through the complicated order of succession covering both the early French Angevins and the later Durazzo branch of the family from Hungary and Croatia. He outlined their building work in the city and looked in particular at the patronage of the civil servants around King Ladislav. I was delighted that he spent quite a lot of time talking about the tomb shown here for Admiral Antonio Baboccio de Piperno which I had discovered a few years ago and loved but I didn’t know a lot about it. He talked us through the imagery in some detail. Paula then took over looking at the Aragonese rulers of the city from 1442 to about 1504 focusing on Alfonso I including his work to rebuild the Castel Nuovo, his commissioned of medals from Pisanello, his interest in Nor...

Fascinating two week online course from ARTscapades looking at the development of the Gothic style in France. Jana Gajdošov from Sam Fogg Limited and the Victoria and Albert Museum lead us clearly through four lectures, the first three grouping cathedrals chronologically and stylistically and the last focusing on Notre Dame often seen as the pinnacle of the style. It would have been useful to have a glossary of terms to refer to so I had to do a lot of Googling for spellings when I typed up the notes but as the course progressed you became more familiar with the terms. I liked the way the speaker took us through church by church building up a progression of ideas. I discovered a number of cathedrals I hadn’t heard of before and now have yet another travel itinerary to add to the bucket list.

Disappointing online lecture from the National Gallery on Giotto’s St Francis frescos in the church at Assisi. Artists and art historian, Aliki Braine, guided us though the technique of fresco and the narrative of the major fresco in the upper church as a coda to the National Gallery’s current St Francis exhibition which, of course, couldn’t include the frescos. It is always wonderful to look at this cycle again and Braine had beautiful illustrations but I would have liked a bit less on the technique, which I have studied quite often, and more on the iconography of the frescos themselves, why they were so groundbreaking and how they helped to establish the fame and importance of Francis.

Fascinating study day from the London Art History Society looking at the art of the papacy in Avignon from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Alexandra Gajewski from the Burlington Magazine and a specialist on architecture of this period took us though the history of the city in this period looking at how that history influenced art and architecture. I don’t know the city at all and now want to visit. There were some wonderful slides of the papal palace, the remains of the bridge and various chapels from around the city. For a brief half an hour, I may have understood the papal schism, which I never did when studying Medieval history at university! I was fascinated to learn that Simone Martini worked and died in the city and fragments of the frescos he did for the cathedral survive in the museum. Also to see the drawing of Cardinal Jean de la Grange’s tomb which was destroyed in the French Revolution but was probably one the largest and greatest tombs of this period.

Excellent six week online course form the National Gallery looking at the history and art of the main centres in Northern Europe in the Renaissance. Jo Walton took us clearly though the period splitting the lectures geographically starting with France focusing on Paris, Dijon and the Loire, moving on to Bruges and Flanders, the court of the Holy Roman Empire, Nuremberg and Durer, London and the Hanseatic League and finishing with Antwerp. This order did take us on a rough chronology of the time as well with some overlap. In each case Walton blended the history of the area and the art it produced showing how the two often went hand in hand for example when rulers used art to promote and control their image or competed with each other to commissioned the richest and best work. She tired things together clearly so I now have a much better overview of the history of the period although I’m not sure I will ever understand the intricacies of the Hapsburgs. Despite this being a period I ...

Complicated online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust on the angel roofs in East Anglian churches. I was new to this topic and wished I had brought more knowledge of roof construction and the area to this talk but I was still fascinated and am desperate to tour the area and look at them. Sarah Cassell, an independent scholar, took us through some of her findings from her ongoing research with some beautiful illustrations. I was particularly interested in how she felt the positioning of different types of angels or angels holding different attributes might reflect the use of the space in the church below and roofs which may be trying to show the different orders of angels.

Fascinating online lecture from Churches Conservation Trust on the Giotto’s Last Judgement in the Scrovegni Chapel. Richard Stemp, took us through the iconography of the fresco and how it fits within the detailed scheme of the whole chapel. He also compared to other Italian Last Judgements. This was a talk to mark advent and Richard pointed out that this was because sermons were preached in advent to mark the Four Last Things which are death, judgement, heaven and hell. I have heard Richard talk about the chapel a few times but I always learn something new about it and love his witty eye for details. This time I realised some of the damned are entering hell by walking along the top of the door arch and there are angels at the top rolling up the earth and sky as this is the end of the world.    

Fascinating online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust looking at how love and marriage were reflected in medieval tomb monuments. Jessica Barker from the Courtauld Institute took as her starting point The Arundel Tomb in Chichester Cathedral which shows a couple holding hands. Although this is a 19th century reconstruction she felt this is how it would have originally have looked as there are many other examples of this around the country. She discussed a number of these and suggested that the hand holding was not a romantic gesture but a sign of a legal contact as often the women had bought land to what were controversial marriages. She also looked at tombs reflected ideas of marriage at the time giving two examples of brass memorials to merchants which give heavy emphasis to the children born to the marriage as a sign of a life well lived in the absence of rank and wealth. I liked the section which discussed two tombs commissioned by women, the wonderful Alice Chauce...

Fascinating online lecture from Birkbeck College looking at the symbolism of the vaults in the lower church of St Francis in Assisi. John Renner took us though the four faults over St Francis’s tomb possibly by Giotto linking their allegorical narrative with the theology of the Franciscan order at the time. He took us though the imagery in some detail and pointed out that the three vaults on the vows of the order all followed the same pictorial template. I love this sort of detailed analysis of images and wish we had had longer on them. Looking again as I write this I find myself looking at sections he didn’t describe and wondering what they mean. Oh dear, another place to add to the post lockdown list!

Stunning five week online course organised by the London Art History Society on the city of Lucca in Italy, its silk manufacturing and trading and the merchants patronage of the arts. Led by Geoff Nuttall it was wonderful to spend so much time, 10 hours in all, looking at quite a specific subject. I knew very little before the course about the silk trade in the 14th and 15th centuries and will now be spotting the cities textiles in paintings and annoying fellow gallery goers by shouting LUCCA! In the first week we looked at the origins of the trade and how the silk was made leading to week two on how the merchants set up colonies throughout Northern Europe and Italy bringing not only their textiles but also their banking skills. I’d not realised how active they were in England and want to have a walk round the city looking at the places they worshipped and operated. The later weeks were devoted to looking at specific families, both at their trading but also their commissioning o...

Glittering three week online course from Richard Stemp on the use of gold in paintings in the International Gothic and early Renaissance periods. In the first week we looked at the use of gold on early works in the National Gallery. Richard explained the different techniques   and showing us different examples of how it was used. He talked about the practical function of gold to reflect the candle light in the dark churches and led us though the iconography of a series of images. This all set us up to study two specific pictures over the next two weeks, The Wilton Diptych from 1395-99 and Carlo Crivelli’s Annunciation from nearly 100 years later in 1486. The former is a more traditional gold picture showing King Richard II with the patron saints of England kneeling before the Virgin and a troupe of angels. Richard talked us through the religious and political iconography of work. The later is mainly painted but uses gold to pick out the ray of light and the dove representing t...

Detailed and fascinating talk from the Courtauld Research Forum on how Isabella of France both used and had artistic propaganda used against her following her invasion of England in 1326. Laura Slater of the University of Cambridge, talked us thorough a rough history of Isabella, wife of Edward II, who deposed Edward in favour of his son due to his father’s reliance on favourites, firstly Piers Gaveston and later the Despensers. Both sides of the issue slandered the other with Isabella being accused of adultery with Roger Mortimer and Edward of sodomy. Its all quite complicated! Slater outlined how Isabella aligned herself in speeches and imagery with Queen Esther of the Old Testament, another complex story involving an advisor, and how she rebuilt the Greyfriars church in London as a gesture to the city that had supported her. Meanwhile her supporters spread rumours of Edward’s sodomy via sermons.  S later then took us through imagery which may point to Isabella’s adultery ...

Speculative and intriguing online lecture from Birkbeck as part of the their Murray Seminar series looking in detail at a triptych in the National Gallery by Giusto de Menoboi. I must admit its not a piece I was aware of, and I now can’t wait to get back and take a look as Laura Jacobson outlined its possible origins clearly and led us through a series of possible connections between the image and who it may have been made for, making the talk like listening to a fascinating story. I love this sort of art detective work and was very convinced by her argument. I loved her lively description of the imagery in the work and what made her think it was made for a specific reason, as a gift to a young girl starting her training in a convent. We tend to look at works like this with a Coronation of the Virgin flanked by saints and a stock image but she showed us how the choice of saints and narrative panels can point to a back story. I won’t give the game away as to who she concluded it ...

Excellent online lecture from ArtScapades on the Allegory of Good and Bad Government fresco in Siena. This is one of my favourite frescos and rooms so I was delighted to spend time listening to Richard Stemp explain the iconography of this secular work by Ambrogio Lorenzetti from 1338. I think last time I was in Siena I spent nearly two hours just sitting and looking at all the wonderful details. I had recently done a three week course with Richard on the Arena Chapel in Padua by Giotto and he drew parallels in this work with the figures of the virtues and vices there. I particularly enjoyed his detailed walk thought the Allegory of Good Government which leads for a figure of Wisdom, though images of Justice and Concord to the Common Good. He explained the iconography in this work of the different virtues and matched it later with that of the vices in Bad Government. I hadn’t realised before that the images of the city and countryside on the side walls match the geography of the...