Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating online lecture from the Wallace Collection looking at Maiolica ceramics. Suzanne Higgott, who had previously worked at the museum, led us though the history of Maiolica using the collection as the bones of the talk. I have been wanting to dip my toe into this world for a while and this was an excellent introduction to the subject. She started by discussing its origins and influences then looking at how it was made, talking us through the process of glazing and adding lustre. Next we worked through the main centres of production in Northern Italy and some of the more famous workshops. She showed us some beautiful examples and used them to introduce the main themes of decoration. I was interested to see how many were based on prints and how the topics reflected were the same as paintings of the time. She ended by discussing the 19th century revival which led to reproductions some of which were passed off as originals and collectors and museums vied to get the best pi...

Fascinating online lecture from the Wallace Collection looking at the drinking fountains which Sir Richard Wallace commissioned for the city of Paris. The talk marked 150 years since the first fountain was installed and brought together Suzanne Higgott from the gallery and Barbara Lambesis from the Society of the Wallace Fountains. Higgott took us through the design and the commissioning of the fountains and how they are based on French Renaissance and Neo-classical models. She outlined the symbolism on them. Lambesis then talked about how her enthusiasm for the fountains came about and the celebrations for the anniversary in Paris. She also introduced us to the Society of Wallace Fountains and I was impressed that as well as aiming to preserve and maintain the pieces it also promotes philanthropy in the same spirit and making them a symbol for global and equal rights to clean water. I must admit I hadn’t known about these fountains before booking the talk and had popped to se...

Interesting online lecture from the Wallace Collection looking at the golden age of Venetian glass as part of their "Meet the Expert" series.  Curator Suzanne Higgott talked us through the different styles of Venetian glass with wonderful illustrations from the Wallace Collection and elsewhere. She explained how the Renaissance glass makers tried to imitate natural minerals forms such as rock crystal and agate. She also talked about how the city moved the glass makers to the island of Murano to keep their recipe a secret as well as to protect the main islands from fire due to the furnaces. She mentioned glass makers who were allowed to travel to other courts and how they adapted their designs when competition came from lead crystal and potash glass.