Cathy's Art Diary

Comprehensive online lecture from the National Gallery looking at the life and work of Velazquez. Jo Walton led us clearly through the subject with excellent illustrations and an emphasis on works owned by the gallery itself. She started with his early street work which I love and talked about the symbolism in it as well as emphasising the delightful still-lives he included. We then talked about how he went to Madrid and became the court painter and we looked in detail at the work he did for them. Alongside this we looked at his mythical and historic works as well, of course, looking in more detail at the Rokeby Venus and Las Meninas.

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery on the life and work of Rembrandt. Jo Walton led us though Rembrandt’s career via a selection of paintings and etchings many of them from the gallery’s own collection. She discussed how an artist’s studio would have operated in 17th century Holland and how his style changed over his lifetime. She also discussed why we see a proliferation of self-portraits from him. I would have liked a bit more about setting his work in the context of the times and a comparison to his contemporaries.

Useful online lecture from the National Gallery outlining the life and career of Piero della Francesca. Jo Walton, one of the gallery’s Stories of Art lecturers, look us clearly through the work of this 15th century artist. I know his work fairly well both from the National Gallery a trip to Arezzo and Borgo San Sepulcro a few years ago but it was good to look at the works in detail with some idea of chronological order. She also discussed how for many years Piero was better known as a mathematician rather than an artist but came back to prominence as an artist in the 19th century and then told the story of Captain Tony Clarke who saved the town of Borgo San Sepulcro from extensive bombing in the Second World War as he had read an article by Adolphus Huxley which described “The Resurrection” in the town as “the best picture”.

Excellent six week online course form the National Gallery looking at the history and art of the main centres in Northern Europe in the Renaissance. Jo Walton took us clearly though the period splitting the lectures geographically starting with France focusing on Paris, Dijon and the Loire, moving on to Bruges and Flanders, the court of the Holy Roman Empire, Nuremberg and Durer, London and the Hanseatic League and finishing with Antwerp. This order did take us on a rough chronology of the time as well with some overlap. In each case Walton blended the history of the area and the art it produced showing how the two often went hand in hand for example when rulers used art to promote and control their image or competed with each other to commissioned the richest and best work. She tired things together clearly so I now have a much better overview of the history of the period although I’m not sure I will ever understand the intricacies of the Hapsburgs. Despite this being a period I ...