Cathy's Art Diary

Useful, clear online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust looking at the art collecting of Louis XIV. I don’t know much about this period beyond what I learnt watching the TV drama “Versailles” which I loved. It was all about the hair! Barbara Lasic, from the Sotheby’s Institute, took us thought the expansion of the palace concentrating on the decoration of each new set of rooms by Charles le Brun. She then outlined how the Royal Collection had developed to this point starting with pieces acquired by Francis I and took us through various collections which were left to Louis and which he acquired. I was fascinated by a section on craftsmen and designers who were encouraged by Louis.  

Fascinating online lecture from the Church Conservation Trust on a scrapbook by an 18th century woman recording her clothing from the age of 8 to 80. Dr Serena Dyer from De Montfort University and author of “Material Lives: Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the 18th Century” explained how Barbara’s mother had educated her children to keep accounts and document their lives, encouraging her daughter to start this album with her first sac dress at the age of 8. She also talked about how this reflected the growth in consumerism at the time leading to the need to keep good accounts as with this came the advent of ready credit. Barbara was a woman of independent means and never married. Most interesting to me was how Barbara pinned samples of all the material of her dresses in the book as well as recording its price, the amount used, who made it and if it was for a particular occasion. She also added small fashion engravings from pocketbooks. The album is now kept at the Victoria ...

Simplistic online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust looking at a selection of altarpieces. Janelle Diethelm took us on a rapid overview of altarpieces from 1400-1600 but in doing so painted a slightly confused picture. To start with she said she would look at Northern altarpieces rather than Italian who was fine but she then started with the Maesta from Sienna. She then described three or four examples with good illustrations. I get that the talk was only meant to be 45 minutes and this is a huge subject but, given the audience who I suspect come from a church architecture background, then a bit more about the function of altarpieces and the development of their structure rather than just looking at images and explaining some symbolism might have hung together better.

Interesting online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust looking at English monastic and mendicant churches before and after the Dissolution in the late 1530s. James Clark from the University of Exeter argued that the folk memory of ruined, abandoned churches post-Dissolution was not the general experience of many of them. Based on study of Cromwell’s Commissioners inventories and recent archaeological evidence he looked at how the churches were still being reconfigured, redecorated and commissioning new art works and furnishing right up to the date their monasteries were dissolved. He then discussed how many of the churches were reused after with some like Canterbury and Westminster Abbeys becoming cathedrals whereas some become parish churches. Some Abbeys were also reoccupied after a hiatus such as Tewkesbury and St Albans. The talk was enlivened with good illustrations and was an interesting contrast to various talks I have done recently on 16th century art on the con...

Strange but interesting online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust discussing the evolution of gravestones in Suffolk. Robert Halliday, the custodian of a Churches Conservation Trust church and author of books on Suffolk gravestones, took us through the chronology of the development of gravestones and tombs as well as the different types and the symbolism used. There were lots of things I’d never thought about such as you only get outside tombs once the churches have started to fill up with the population explosions of the 17th century. Some of the symbolism was fascinating and Halliday had some great illustrations and examples. I think my favourite stones were those that reflected the persons profession such as the lovely waggon on horse on the grave of John Catchpole in Palgrave and the various graves of seafarers with ships on. I do like poking round old graveyards however I don’t know Suffolk at all so possibly this was an off choice, but you know me, I’ll listen...

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...

Interesting online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust looking at the development of the Crucifix in English churches in the Middle Ages. John Munns of Magdalene College, Cambridge explained that until the Reformation every parish church in England had a Crucifixion scene usually on a beam or screen in front the chancel arch. There are no complete sets surviving but he discussed the few remaining fragments and compared these to other Crucifixion images to look at how they developed from 1050 to the end of the 13th century. He talked us through the move from showing a triumphant Christ often clothed as a king to a suffering Christ with legs bent and hanging from his arms in a crown of thorns. He explained how the crown of thorns image became more popular after King Louis IX brought it from Constantinople to France. He also looked at how imagery influenced devotion and visa versa. He introduced us to this beautiful fragment from All Saint’s South Cerney, found with a pair...

Fascinating online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust discussing the conservation project for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. I spent a year living in Liverpool and loved the quirkiness of the Catholic Cathedral or Paddy’s Wigwam as it is affectionately known, and was aware that it had structural issues.   Jon Wright of Purcell Architects who have done the conservation survey and work on the lantern, took us through the history of the cathedral and the different proposed designs. However most interestingly he talked about how he tackled the issue of the leaks from the lantern onto the sanctuary below. After an extensive survey of the lantern and an analysis of previous conservation work, they determined that it was caused by small capillary holes in the resin holding the glass panels together. This would have been impossible to rectify without dismantling the whole lantern plus it was decided that the resign was an integral part of the lantern as an art work rather...

Fascinating online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust tracing the location of all the tombs of English monarchs. Aidan Dodson from University of Bristol, took us though the tombs from Saxon times until George VI. He described where they were and why and their basic design. He was also full of some grizzly details from the tombs that have been reopened. It was a slightly train spotting approach to the tombs and I would have liked to know a bit more about their design, how that changed and what it represented however I was left with an urge to travel round England looking for them!

Enlightening online talk from the Churches Conservation Trust looking at images of the Annunciation in English churches. Canon Jeremy Haselock, Vice Dean of Norwich Cathedral, led us through some of the problems of depicting the Annunciation and how Medieval artists overcame these including the lack of description of the scene in the bible, the delicacy of depicting the event while still maintaining the purity of the Virgin Mary and what emotional response to give Mary.   He also talked about the cult of the House of Mary both in Loreto in France and Walsingham in Norfolk, both buildings or copies of the building in which the Annunciation was said to have taken place and both great centres of pilgrimage.   Most interesting was his description of an English iconographic phenomena, which I had not come across before, the Lily Crucifix which combines the lily of the Annunciation and a crucifix as it was said that the date of the Annunciation and the Crucifixion fell on the ...

Interesting online lecture from the Churches Conservation Trust looking at how we can see the presence of Vikings though looking at English churches. I had assumed the talk would be looking at possible Viking carving and architectural details but the speaker, Eleanor Parker, looked more at how the dedications of churches showed the Viking presence. She took us through the legends of various saints who the Viking’s favoured including St Edmund, the King of East Anglia. She talked about how, bizarrely they often championed English saints whose deaths they may have been involved in. Was this a political move? King Cnut did a similar thing with St Olaf who he had defeated in battle. S he also looked at saints and traditional for which there is no basis in fact but looking at how the stories may have come about eg St Ragnar whose ‘body’ was conveniently found when rebuilding a church although it is likely his legend was a confusion of the life of Ragnar Lothbrok. She used good illu...