Cathy's Art Diary

Clever online course from the National Gallery in Lent to look at paintings of the Easter story. The course was led by Carlo Corsato and each week he discussed a few paintings from the Renaissance in detail looking at why   and how it was painted   then analysing the composition and symbolism. We covered Mantegna and Bellini’s versions of “The Agony in the Garden” Perugino’s “Mond Crucifixion” and Caravaggio’s early “Supper at Emmaus”.   In the second half of each session he had invited guest speakers who brought a different viewpoint to the topic. We began with artist and educator, Joanna Conybeare, looking at how Northern artists approached the subject focusing on Gerrit van Honthorst’s “Christ Before the High Priest” and how he used light and dark to tell the story and add drama. Week two was Siobhan Jolley talked about the role of Christ’s female followers in Crucifixion scenes as witnesses to trauma an artists and the New Testament have portrayed them and why....

Fascinating online conversation from the National Gallery discussing the recent restoration of Piero della Francesca’s “Nativity”. Carlo Corsato from the gallery’s education department interviewed Jill Dunkerton from the conservation department who had been working on the project since early 2020. She took us though earlier restorations and the thinking behind the current one. She explained how a mm of the panel had been lost after panels had been rejoined in the past which had distorted the face of an angel and their lute. This had been filled and the missing paint retouched which had rectified the angel’s squint. She also took us through how, in cleaning the stable, she discovered a patch of light on the wall which is coming through the hole in the roof which one shepherd points to. Talking of the shepherds she also discussed how these were not unfinished as previous thought but just worn. The decision was taken to retouch their faces based on the underdrawing and pounce marks...

Fascinating online lecture from the National Gallery outlining the latest scientific research on Leonardo’s “Virgin of the Rocks”. The format of the event was an interview with Marta Melchiorre of the gallery’s scientific department by Carlo Corsato from the learning department, leading her though some of the newest scientific techniques to analyses painting in a non-invasive way and what they have shown us about this painting. I’m not sure I understood all the science but I was intrigued by the results. Most fascinating were new ways of mapping the chemicals in pigments across a painting and, in this case, a zinc map showed up the underdrawing more clearly as the drawing material contained the chemical. This showed more of a very different composition under the one we see now which had been partly discovered in 2004. Melchoirre discussed how this drawing of the virgin looking down at the child supported by an angel closely follows a drawing in the Metropolitan Museum which also...

Fascinating online lecture from the National Gallery talking us through the design of Raphael’s Mond Crucifixion of 1502-3.  Carlo Carsato started by asking if we though the picture was boring as it appears uncomplicated and slightly minimal. He then took us through a series of other paintings which may be quoted in it and asked us again. Having made us look at the work and think he then took us through where it was made for and how it would have looked in situ. He examined how the proportions of the space would have influenced the composition then talked us through the various elements. Finally he looked at how the elements were put together and how they were designed to draw our eye around the work and how that would have aided the spiritual contemplation of it. It was a really thoughtful look at the picture, described simply and clearly.

Intriguing online lecture from the National Gallery comparing Rubens’ and Van Dyck’s images of Samson and Delilah. Carlo Casato talked us through both pictures, the Rubens from the National Gallery and the Van Dyck from Vienna. He talked us through the Bible story in some detail. He explained that the Rubens picture was painted for Nicolaas II Rockox and how it is shown in a painting of his house from around 1630 so we know how it was hung. He also talked us through the references to classical sculptures that Rubens had seen in Rome. He then compared the two works explaining how Rubens depicted the moment when Samson’s hair is cut whereas Van Dyck picks the moment after this when Samson’s strength has gone and how this is shown in the pictures.

Fun online talk from the National Gallery looking at predella panels in the gallery from three altarpieces. Marc Woodhead and Carlo Corsato did an excellent double act talking us through what a predella was, the base of an altarpiece which was usually decorated with small scenes to illuminate lives of the saints or stories told in the main section of the work. They started by looking at Carlo Crivelli’s Madonna of the Swallow from 1490-92. The National Gallery has the whole altarpiece, including it’s frame, so it was a good way to show us how the predella worked. They took us through two panels in particular, the St George and the St Jerome, to show us how they told a whole story in a small picture. They even told us a story about St Jerome’s lion and a donkey that I’d never heard before! They then moved on to two pictures where the gallery only has panel from the predella and not the full work using them to show how altarpieces have been broken up over the years. They looked at...

Fun online discussion from the National Gallery examining whether Giorgione’s Il Tramonto (The Sunset) should be considered a fake or a true image by the artist. The discussion was around whether so much had been added or repaired that this had now become an image which had not been imagined and devised by Giorgione. Two of the educators from the gallery, Marc Woodhead and Carolo Carsato, took opposing views to make for an interesting half an hour   with one speaking from the heart and the other analysing the science and evidence. They had great slides of the damage and how it was repaired in the 1930s when many of the stranger elements of the picture such as St George and a rather add dragon were added to hide missing areas of paint.   They talked about how the composition might have looked and at how the picture links stylistically to other by the artists. In the end   they both agreed that 88% of a Giorgione is still quite a lot and worth having!