Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery reflecting on their Wright of Derby exhibition. Matthew Morgan thought about what he had been struck by from the exhibition and from course he had taught, a couple of which I had done. I’m not sure he brought anything new in this talk but it was good to take a moment and think about what it had highlighted about the period and Wright’s art. I got most from the Q&A session where I learnt that Wright probably met Hogarth and how prints of pictures in the annual Royal Academy shows weren’t for sale at the show but could be bought from printers in St James who quickly produced copies which were circulated throughout the country.

Excellent three week online course from the National Gallery on the art of Wright of Derby to compliment their exhibition on him. Matthew Morgan started in the first week by outlining the artists life and work and giving an overview of how the art market was changing at this time and how artists were reflecting the new ideas of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. He also brought in Lucy Bamford from Derby Museums Trust to discuss why Wright was known as Wright of Derby and to examine his relationship with the city. Morgan spent the next two weeks examining two aspects of Wrights work, how he reflects the rational and how he engaged the emotions. He started with the rational   discussing ideas at the time about the benefits of looking and observation and Rousseau’s ideas around learning by doing and by demonstration. He discussed the circles Wright moved in, including the Lunar Society, and whether we can consider him an Enlightenment artist. Having examined the ...

Well thought out online lecture from the National Gallery examining how and why science became entertainment in the 18th century. Matthew Morgan laid out a clear argument about how science was developing in this era and how people responded to this particularly in the circles of Wright of Derby. He looked at Rousseau’s ideas about education who advocated for learning by display rather than reading. He told us about various scientific experiments which were conducted in private houses or public spaces. I’m sure I’d have booked for a lecture at the giant Orrey at the Theatre Royal in the Haymarket. As usual with Morgan’s talks there was a good Q&A session at the end covering the difference between curiosity and learning, a comparison between the 18th century displays and Brian Cox’s podcasts and the role of women as they frequently appear in Wright’s paintings of scientific displays.

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery discussing their German collection and how it has been displayed in the new rehang. Matthew Morgan interviewed the curator of German paintings, Christine Seidel. They were quick to point of that for most of the period covered by the gallery Germany did not exist as a single country but as a series of city states ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. They also noted that the gallery has the best collection of work from the area outside a German speaking region. They talked about how there is only one room dedicated to German art and that is in the Sainsbury wing covering 1500-1600 and includes Cranach and Altdorfer. Seidel looked in particular at the latter’s altarpiece “Christ Taking Leave of His Mother”. They discussed why the gallery’s work by Durer appear in the Venetian room of the Sainsbury Wing and talked about his trips to Venice and the effect they had on his art and that of the local artists. They moved into the main gal...

Thoughtful online lecture from the National Gallery discussing the role of politics in art. To accompany the exhibition at the gallery Matthew Morgan blended a discussion on whether Millet’s paintings of rural life had a political meaning, as many critics said at the time, with looking at whether in general art can or should be political. It was interesting to see Millet compared to contemporary artists. He outlined the politics of 19th century France clearly pointing out where Millet’s art may reflect this even if Millet himself denied this. He also discussed whether the meaning was religious rather than political. As ever with Morgan’s quite open lectures, raising questions to think about rather than answers, lead to good questions from the audience which broadened the subject eve further.

Enlightening online discussion from the National Gallery around Nicola Moorby’s book on Turner and Constable. Matthew Morgan interviewed the author examining her argument that the two landscape artists were not the rivals they have been made out to be. She argues that there were very different characters who would not have been friends but that the perceived competition between them actually encouraged them to become better artists. She chose a series of pairs of paintings to compare the two artists and to examine their different approaches. There was a lively Q&A session at the end covering their relative fame at the time, their approach to the slave trade and why Constable did full scale sketches for his 6ft paintings.

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery looking at Hogarth’s “The Inspection” from his “Marriage-a-al-Mode” series. Matthew Morgan, art historian and innovator, placed the painting within the artist’s career and talked about how he wanted to paint contemporary moral subjects. He emphasised how the works didn’t preach but set out what would happen if you made the wrong choices. This painting looks at venereal disease both the consequences of it and the medicines available at the time. Morgan told us how the doctor in the image was probably based on a famous doctor of the time and talked us through some of the cures. In the Q&A he tried to broaden this out to look at modern medicine and how medicine can both help and enable taking Ozempic as an example. It was an interesting idea but sadly most of the listeners preferred to ask about the details in the painting as we would have done in a more conventional talk.

Excellent online lecture from the National Gallery looking at the rivalry of the landscape artists Turner and Constable. Matthew Morgan, who had been the director of Turner’s House clearly outlined the difference between the artists both in their art works and characters. He looked sat each in turn discussing their lives and influences. He then went on to compare and contrast their work taking moments when they painted the same subject such as Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral and the Chain Pier in Brighton. he described how Constable created a sense of calm but Turner looked to heightened emotions. He ended by look at the famous Royal Academy show where they were showing side by side and Turner added a red buoy to a seascape on varnishing day. There were insightful Q&A sessions and I suspect more than one of the audience had recently done the National Gallery course on the artist out of doors which I had also done. This talk made an interesting postscript to the course. ...

Fun online discussion from the National Gallery about the Sharp family who are depicted in a painting by Zoffany from 1779-81. I hadn’t attended one of these book club format events before but it was good fun and lead to a lively discussion between Hestor Grant, author of a book of the same title as the talk, and Matthew Morgan, art historian. Grant outlined the lives of the family and why they appear on a barge on the Thames playing instruments. The answer to the latter being because that’s what they actually did that.   I loved the painting but hadn’t realised before that one of the brothers is Granville Sharp who I had learnt about in school as one of the early slavery abolitionists in Britain.   What a fascinating character but matched by his siblings who were all philanthropists in different ways. The book has been added to be ‘to be read’ list!  

Excellent online lecture from the National Gallery on the life and career of William Hogarth. In the first half of this two hour talk Matthew Morgan, the director of The Turner’s House Museum, took us though the life of this 18th century artist with an emphasis on his portraits, etching series and paintings. He discussed some of the themes in his work such as establishing a British identity and social concerns. In the second half he went through the Marriage a la Mode series of paintings in the National Gallery in detail outlining the details, the symbolism and the moral message behind them. I thought I knew these works well but he pointed out things I had never noticed before such as the fact that the paintings on the wall add another layer of meaning. I will look at them differently in the future.  

Fun online talk from the National Gallery to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Matthew Morgan looked at a picture that was acquired by the gallery in each decade of the Queen’s reign emphasising that she didn’t influence their acquisition and they don’t reflect her taste but is was just a fun way of looking at some of the collection. He covered works from 1570 until 1910 and actually looking at this list you can see how tastes have changed from collecting the obvious available works to choosing works which fill gaps in the collection. He talked us though each picture saying a bit about why it was painted and looking at some of the details. He told us stories about the acquisition in a few cases and I’d have liked to know a bit more about how they were acquired. I thought you might be interested to see the list. Obviously, these weren’t the only works acquired just a selection. 1950s Mr and Mrs William Hallett (The Morning Walk) by Thomas Gainsborough 1795 acquired in 1954 ...

Comprehensive online course from the National Gallery looked at the concept of the Sublime. This four-week course was led by Matthew Morgan, Director of Turner’s House and covered the philosophy of the Sublime and how that is seen through 18th century landscape and contemporary art. I always forget that the meaning of Sublime has changed over the years and originally is about the beauty that comes from something which induces fear and awe. This was a wide-ranging subject and Morgan cleverly used Caspar-David Friedrich’s “Wander above the Sea of Fog” from 1818, shown here, as a punctuation point in most of the lectures as well as the current Kehinde Wiley exhibition which includes a contemporary response to that work. We compared the earlier period when that sense of awe came with a sense of God and the spiritual to contemporary art where we still see the Sublime but science has replaced the divine as the source of awe. We also talked about how the Sublime can be used to consider...