Cathy's Art Diary

Comprehensive online course from Paula Nuttall on the life and work of the 15th century artist, Botticelli. As ever Nuttall delivered a clear narrative with great illustrations and good analysis of the art works. She began in the first week with a run through of Botticelli’s life from his early training as a goldsmith, through his work on the Sistine Chapel and his great works on his return to Florence. She discussed the context of the times he lived in and how he adapted to the political and religious turmoil.   Week two we concentrated on the famous mythological works looking at who they were painted for and where. We spent some time how groundbreaking they were and what texts they might be based on. She emphasized the artists design skills and intelligence as a visualiser of poetry. The final week moved to the religious works taking us through the artists major altarpieces for Florence and his role in popularising devotional pictures of the Virgin and Chid. We spent some t...

Fun seasonal online lecture from Art History in Focus looking at Botticelli’s Mystic Nativity. I usually like to go and look at The Mystic Nativity in the National Gallery in the run up to Christmas and was missing the chance to do that this year, so this was a welcome opportunity to spend time with it online instead and to learn a but more about it. Sian Walters took us though the history of the picture and its symbolism to the time it was painted, 1500. She talk us about how it fitted with the teachings of Savonarola, the charismatic preacher in Florence shortly before this, and how it was quite a radical picture, even if it is quite old fashioned in style. She also talked briefly about other angels in art and about the pictures later history from disappearing for centuries to its re-emergence in the mid-19th century. A fun and festive morning.

Interesting exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the work and legacy of Botticelli. I liked the approach of starting with contemporary works although it did need you to have a good knowledge of the work of the artist. I loved the video by Bill Viola called “Going Forth by Day” which referenced a cassonne. It was a long format with people walking through a wood entering at one end of the screen and exiting at the other. A very calming work. I also loved the Dolce and Gabbana suit and dress using a print based on the Birth of Venus. There was a good room looking at the influence of Botticelli on the Pre-Raphaelites including a Burne-Jones picture which had been owned by Yves Saint Laurent. I liked the fact that there were gaps in the display in this room which let you glimpse the works in the final section which were the real Botticelli’s. It was a good idea to keep the real works to the end as they upstage everything that went before. It’s a shame th...

Excellent workshop at the National Gallery looking in detail at Botticelli’s Venus and Mars led by David Bellingham. We began by looking at Venus’s in art to this point, thinking about the role of the ancient statues in setting models for painted Venus’s. We also looked at other works by Botticelli with Venus’s in them. We then went to look at the picture in the gallery. We thought about its unusual shape and what it might have been used for. We also talked about the fact it’s not dated and how we can place it stylistically. We then talked about which sections used ancient models and which were contemporary. Back in the lecture room we looked at the layers of meaning in the paintings. Most fascinating was the idea that it shows a well-known contemporary couple Simonetta Vespuci and Juliano de Medici, friend and brother of Lorenzo de Medici. We also talked about how it may refer to another picture referred to in ancient texts o Alexander the Great and his wife Roxanna. ...

Delightful exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery featuring works from the Hamilton Collection bought in 1882 by the Berlin Museum. At the centre of the show are the drawings by Botticelli to illustrate Dante’s Divine Comedy. I have seen these before in a Royal Academy show a number of years ago and they make up a wonderful 15th century comic strip. I love the detail in them and yet they are so delicate. I must admit hell and purgatory are much more fun than heaven. I think my favourite were one groups of sinner whose punishment seemed to be to jump down a man hole with their feet on fire, this lend to a wonderful groups of naked lower torsos with little flames coming out of their feet. I just love the fact these are drawn by Botticelli’s won hand for Lorenzo di Pierofrancesco de Medici and you can even see the pencil drawing under the ink and that changes he made during the thinking process. The drawings were show with manuscripts from the same period often open on page...

Super morning workshop at the National Gallery looking in detail at Botticelli’s Mystic Nativity. The course leader, Karly Allen, began by looking at the iconography of Nativity scenes to this point and discussing how this picture fits into Botticelli’s later career when his style simplified. We then spent time with the picture itself in the gallery looking at the detail in it and discussing the colours and iconography. After coffee we talked about how the picture sat in its time and place, 1500 Florence, and how it may have been influenced by the preaching of Savonarola and the writings of Dante. Finally we looked at the history of the picture in the National Gallery collection. All in all a nice Christmas themed workshop to put you in the mood for the festivities.