Cathy's Art Diary

Enjoyable online lecture from ARTscapades with Simon Jenkin’s introducing his book on European cathedrals.   The talk was a lovely travelog through a journey Jenkins had taken around the continent to view cathedrals with fabulous illustrations. Through this he also took us loosely through the chronology of ecclesiastical architecture. He also looked at how these buildings developed via pilgrimage and crusades. I liked the fact he came up to date with the quirky Sagrada Família in Barcelona. He introduced me to lots of buildings I didn’t know and made me what to tour Europe too. I particularly loved his illustrations of sculptures on West Fronts.  

Delightful talk at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival looking at British Cathedrals and illuminated manuscripts. Simon Jenkins talked about his recent book on cathedrals taking us on a rough chronological trip through their architecture with wonderful photographs. His lack of believe sat oddly with his love of the buildings. To me the life of a cathedral is so moulded by the worship that has gone on there over the centuries that, whether you are Christian or not, that must be part of its soul. When asked what he would do with the buildings his answer was somewhat vague and seemed to imply a glorified community centre. Christopher de Hamel talked about his book about discovering illuminated manuscripts. His talk was wonderfully quirky and fun with random pictures of dogs thrown in between the wonderful ones of illuminations, so he won me over easily! His love of the subject came across and he was full of fascination detective stories.