Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online course from the London Art History Society looking at how the artists of Naples developed a Baroque style in the 17th century. Giulia Martina Weston, an associate lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art, led us through the topic with six well planned lectures. Day one focused on the effect of Caravaggio having worked in the city and how artists either adopted or rejected this style. We then looked at Luca Giordano and his work in the city as well as in Florence, Rome and Venice. Day two concentrated on architecture in particular the work on Cosimo Fanzago. The first lecture focused on the Certosa de San Martino talking us through its design and decoration in detail. The second lecture then broadened out to look at his work for the religious orders and his secular commissions. The final day looked at Mattia Preti and Salvator Rosa, artists from Naples who worked further afield. We ended by looking at the art market examining how much different artists were p...

Excellent online course from the London Art History Society looking in depth at the life and work of Nicolas Poussin. Over five weeks and ten lectures Giulia Martina Weston led us thought the themes in Poussin’s work, placing him within the context of his time. The 17th century isn’t a period in art I know very well so as well as learning about the artist I also got a good overview of the art market in Italy and France at the time. I was fascinated by hearing that critics at the time talked about Poussin as the anti-Caravaggio and the New Raphael. I must admit in the Caravaggio v Raphael argument I’m with the former so I felt that explained why I don’t feel drawn to Poussin. Despite not being a fan of Poussin I feel I will now get a lot more from looking at his work as I now understand his philosophy from his Neo-stoicism, his vision of art as poetry and how he used biblical and mythical texts, his repletion of images like the variations in music and use of the antique. We als...