Cathy's Art Diary

Delightful lecture at the National Gallery in the Supporters' House on how music was depicted and what it meant in the Netherlands in the 17th century. This was the third lecture and all of them have been excellent but this was made more magical by the addition of the lute player Andrew Maginley who joined the course leader, Belle Smith, and brought insights into the history of music at the time pointing out things like the fact music started to be printed in Venice in around 1510 meaning it could be more easily disseminated. He also told us how this was a period of experimentation with instruments. Smith led us through a series of images from the period and it was magical to watch Maginley play the lute in front of this work by Jan Miense Molenar. We dissected this and other works from the collection to look at what instruments were being played and what they meant. It was a nice touch to add a still life from the period which included a violin, a flute and music. Smith poi...

Beautiful lecture at the National Gallery looking at how music was depicted in art in the Renaissance focusing on the role of the courts. I had enjoyed the first part of this series of talks so was pleased I could make the second and have how now booked the third. Belle Smith started with this painting by Lorenzo Costa from the gallery's collection and talked us though the instruments shown and the fact the subjects are singing. I know the picture well but had never thought about how the outer figures are tapping along to the music on the table. The lecturer for the next talk was in the audience and as a lute player he brought fascinating insight into the how the instrument is being played here, with figures rather than a quill plectrum, and how that was a new development at the time. The talk diverted a bit with the self-portraits of Lavina Fontana and Sofonisba Anguissolo who are both shown playing a spinet emphasising their ladylike status and intellect but his led to a dis...

Magical lecture at in the Supporters’ House at the National Gallery looking at how music is depicted in paintings of the 13th to 15th centuries. Belle Smith talked us though a selection of paintings from the gallery, describing the instruments which are shown and playing examples of the sound they would have made. She also looked at how music changed in this period moving from plainsong to polyphonic works. She discussed how the music shown in the works reflected theological ideas not necessarily the music would have been heard in the services in which the paintings would have been seen. In particular paintings of the Coronation of the Virgin which show ideas of divine harmony. It was lovely follow the talk by going up to the first floor of the Sainsbury Wing to look at the works which had been discussed. This was the first of a series of talks on music and art and I hope to get some of the rest.

Clever online lecture from the National Gallery looking at two paintings in their collection by Renoir. Belle Smith looked at “The Skiff” from 1875 and “Umbrellas” from 1881-6 on first site to compare how Renoir treated sunshine and rain. A nice idea for early summer. However she then expanded this out to compare his early Impressionist and later style as he turned more towards classicism. She talked about the new innovations in metal paint tubes, flat topped brushes and new pigments which allowed the Impressionists to work in their characteristic quick style. She also talked about how they looked to new subjects to record the contemporary world.  

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery discussing how to look at colour in pictures and what it might be telling us. Taking pictures from the galleries collection Belle Smith looked at what colour in a painting and how it is used might be telling us about what the artist is trying to tell us. In many of the works colour is indicating status or wealth from showing the Virgin Mary in expensive ultramarine or red, to the role of an intense black in the 17th century. She used a wide range of images. I was interested in the idea that the variety and rhythm of colour use in Jacopo de Cione’s “Coronation of the Virgin” from around 1370 could be referring to the visual depiction of divine harmony. I’ll think about that next time I look at the work. I found using two pictures to talk about indigo and slavery a bit of an odd side issue in this talk. As she had said this talk wasn’t about pigments but use of colour. Neither of these pictures seemed to use blue to imply indigo...

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery looking at two sets of paintings by Renoir and Vuillard that were painted for decorative schemes. Belle Smith started talking about “The Dancing Girls” By Renoir from 1909. She explained how the two pictures were commissioned by Maurice Gagnat for his Paris apartment. She talked about who the models were and one of their memories of it in later life. She discussed how the works fitted into his oeuvre and how the displayed Orientalism. Smith then looked at “Terrasse at Vasouy” by Vuillard, again two pictures painted in 1901 and reworked in the 1930s. She talked about how they were commissioned as one picture by Jean Schopfer and included people from the literary circle around Thadee and Misia Natanson. She discussed how they were painted in distemper, basically glue with pigment in it and how this gave a more matt effect. She then looked at why the picture was split in the 1930s and how Vuillard reworked it.

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery on animals and symbolism in Dutch 17th century art. Belle Smith led us through various paintings in the gallery’s collection looking at their symbolism. Although it was billed as being about animals it broadened out into symbolism in general. It was well done in a video presentation with a Q&A after but I’ve gone over this ground quite a lot recently and I didn’t learn much that was new to me. It was nice to visit some old favourites such as this picture by Jan Miense Molenaer along with “Boy and a Girl with an Eel and a Cat” by his wife, Judith Leyster. Both had hidden agendas on peace and war.

Interesting but disjointed online lecture from the National Gallery using early pictures and late 19th century works to look at gardens in art. Belle Smith led us through images of the Virgin in a garden from some of the earlier works in the National Gallery explaining their symbolism and the links to the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament. She introduced me to some images I didn’t know and I’d never realised before that the turf bench the Virgin often sits on was a real thing which a box was covered in turf and planted with flowers as a garden seat. In the second part she looked at Monet’s garden at Giverny and the role it played in his art. She told us how he acquired and developed the garden and took us through a selection of the works made there. I had not realised before that part of his turning to garden painting in later life was to move away from more French nationalistic images such as haystacks and cathedrals following the Dreyfus Affair. Both parts of this talk were...

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery on the life and work of the female Impressionist, Berthe Morisot. Belle Smith took us through the story of Morisot’s life illustrating it with her paintings. She told us how Edward Manet became her friend and how she married his brother Eugene. We went through the artists who helped her and mentored her and the early influence on her work. I would like to have heard a bit more about Morisot’s later life and career and who bought her work. The talk concentrated on more on how she started as an artist and became established but I guess time was quite limited.