Cathy's Art Diary

Intriguing online lecture from the London Art History Society focusing on a specific chapel in Avignon Cathedral. Geoff Nuttall led us through this chapel and specifically the fresco outside it from around 1430. He told us about the family to whom it was dedicated and specifically about the father, Carlo Spiafame who had come to the city in 1385 from Lucca as part of a banking family, to service the papal court which was based there at the time. He talked about how the court brought Italian artists to the city but he thought the fresco was by a French artist who was influenced by them, possibly Jacques Iverny. He also speculated that they may have seen the Belles Heures de Duc du Berry as the Baptism scene is very similar and the Spiafame family had been involved in valuing his possessions on his death. He discussed the strange iconography of including donors in a scene of the Baptism of Christ and said this was the only example of that that he knew. He also pointed out that don...

Excellent online lecture from Geoff Nuttall looking in detail at the “Tres Riches Heures” of the Duc du Berry. The talk marked an exhibition at the Musee Conde in Chantilly which will only be the second time the pages have been displayed since being rediscovered in the 1850s. The manuscript was a large book of hours by the Limbourg brothers (Herman, Paul and Jean) and was left unfinished at the death of the patron in 1416. The first half of the morning looked at the Duc du Berry, focusing on his role as a patron. We looked in detail at the palaces, chapels and fortresses he built on his lands which are shown in the wonderful illustrations of the labours of the month in the manuscript. The second then looked at the work of the brothers highlighting other work done by them, a bible for Philip the Bold and a smaller book of hours for Berry. He placed them within the art of the period both in France and Italy before looking at the specific style of this work and where some of the ide...

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...

Fun two sessions of online lectures from Paula and Geoff Nuttall recreating two of their guided tours of two Italian cities and buildings. I’ve not done any other guided tour type talks by other people as I thought it would feel strange to not actually go to a place, however as I’ve so enjoyed other talks and courses by this couple I thought I’d give it a go. I enjoyed their balance of good solid art history alongside a sense of moving around a place even down to pictures of how we would have arrived and where we might be having our coffee. Week one was Lucca with Geoff. I had previously done a five week course by him on the silk merchants of the city but it was nice to concentrate on what was actually in the city. The first lecture walked us through the cathedral looking at it from a pilgrim’s perspective then moved onto San Frediano’s with he tombs of St Richard at St Zita. In the second half he looked in particular at the painters who came to the city including Filippino Lippi w...

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...