Cathy's Art Diary

Excellent exhibition at the British Museum looking at the life and times of the Roman emperor Nero. This show was visually stunning but also told the story clearly and carefully explaining the myths and reality of his reign. There were some wonderful objects mainly set out well to allow social distancing although I’m afraid showing coins doesn’t really work at the moment. There was a bit of queuing to start with but people spread out after the first section. You were greeted by this statue of the young Nero and this was followed by a lovely line up of his ancestors and a good explanation of how he came to power. I am sure I was not the only person of my age relating the statues to the actors in “I, Claudius”. There was a good section on his conquests including Britain with a moving slave chain found in a bog in Wales. I particularly liked a section on his love of theatre with some lovely frescos of actors and theatres which sat with displays on gladiatorial fights including some...

Interesting exhibition at the Barber Institute of Fine Art in Birmingham looking at the last Roman emperor, Justinian, via the coinage of the time.   The show included reproductions of the lovely mosaics of Justinian and his wife Theodora from Ravenna as well as maps of Europe before and after his reign. He became an Orthodox saint as he oversaw the 5th Ecumenical Council in 533 which laid down church law and founded the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The coinage was shown with good enlargements of them and a commentary of their iconography.   I was fascinated by the story of the Nika Riots in 532 when chariot racing factions, the blue and greens, who combined sport and hooliganism, joined forces against the emperor. Do societies really change?   Closes on 19 April 2019

Super exhibition at King’s College at Somerset House looking at how contemporary artists respond to the classical tradition. I did the show the wrong way round but it worked! It’s better to start with the Bush House section (go in through the back) which has some stunning works by contemporary artists which take their inspiration from classical art. Sacha Sasko’s “The Good Watchman” which was a classical head with an empty block where the eyes should be. It really plays with your mind as you can see the road behind through this apparently solid head. My favourite piece in the show was Edward Allington’s “Victory Boxed”, 99 small blue and white Winged Victories arranged in the pattern of the Greek flag. There was a video installation in this section which I didn’t have enough time to engage with. It consisted of three upright video screens showing an artist sitting on a chair talking how they use the classical world as a resource for the present. You sit on a chair opposite...

Fabulous ten week course at the Victoria and Albert Museum on classicism looking both at its roots in the ancient world and how later generations used and developed it. I have been meaning to do a V&A course for ages but, as they are quite long, I don’t get a chance as usually one holiday or another breaks into them. However this Autumn I was grounded after Italy in the summer so I took the opportunity to do this and it was great! While in Rome I’d become fascinated by the ancients remains there and what different artists would have seen at various periods of art history so this was just the course I was looking for. We had some excellent speakers. I’d heard David Bellingham before at the National Gallery and he is a very engaging speaker. I was impressed by the range of dates he could talk about doing talks on Roman emperors and how they showed their power, how Renaissance artists used classical sculpture, a detailed look at Botticelli’s Venus and Mars and then reappe...

Remarkably emotional exhibition at the British Museum looking at everyday life in Pompeii and Herculaneum when the volcano struck. The exhibition was beautifully laid out taking you through a Roman home from the street through to the kitchens using exhibits from the towns to show how people lived. It was like going round a Roman Ideal Home Exhibition!   You came away with ideas for things you could do in your own house. I loved the section which took you through the different decorative styles and was struck by the personal nature of many of the objects which were versions of things we use now. Whatever age you live in the human emotions and drivers are the same! I loved items which gave a direct link to a household such as the fish sauce producer who had proudly had a mosaic made of his product with his name on for his atrium. Also the fact that the remains of the dog from the start came from the same house as the “beware of the dog” type mosaic from a doorway. W...

Slightly disjointed exhibition at the British Museum tracing the horse from its earliest origins to the race horses of today. Each bit of the exhibition was very good but I wasn’t sure the bits fitted together.  I would have preferred three exhibitions the horse in the classical world, the horse in Islam and the growth of the modern race horse.  I liked the last section best on race horses in particular the work of Blunts who were the first English people to collect Arabian horse and started a stud in England. I loved the illustrations of  their travels. I was also fascinated to see the development from UK race horse from just three foundation stud horses. A friend had described this to me a while ago at Goodwood races so it was nice to find out more and relive happy memories.

Lovely exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum looking at artefacts from the royal burial tombs and the palace of Aegae, the ancient capital of Macedon. It focused on the Temenid kings including Philip II and Alexander the Great and included new finds from recent excavations. I must admit in the first room I was feeling a bit despondent as it seemed to be full of rusty spears and just one gold crown however as you moved into the other rooms you realised this was just the early pieces. The second rooms was full of the most wonderful jewellery with the end display showing the complete jewellery from 5 women’s tombs displayed on Perspex bodies to show where the items would have been worn. This was stunning and really brought the pieces to life. The last room looked at life at court in particular the role of the banquet and included wonderful sets of eating vessels. This was a period and civilisation I knew nothing about but will now look out for following this eye opening exhibition. Reviews ...

Another brilliant week at the Courtauld Summer School . This year I look the course called “Nike to Angel” with Dr Cecil Hennessy which looked at how early Christian iconography evolved from classical themes plus how the iconography developed. Cecil was a wonderfully clear, logical lecturer and really encouraged ideas and participation. There was a series of ten lectures giving an overview of the topic then looking at different artistic mediums from the period such as ivories, mosaics and metalwork. We had some really good sessions in the museums going to the V&A and the British Museum twice. The second session at the British Museum was brilliant as it was a handling session. We thought we’d see second rank pieces but when we arrived the curator had out pieces we’d looked at on the previous visit. We handled (in gloves) a wonderful apotheosis ivory with textured elephants, the wonderful casket from a treasure hoard, a fantastic smooth vessel with a perfectly fitting lid and most m...

Lecture on the recent redisplay of the painting from the tomb chapel of Nebamun at the British Museum given by the project leader of the redisplay Richard Parkinson. This was a fascinating lecture as it not only looked at where the paintings came from and their history but also how they have recently been conserved and what decisions were taken in re-exhibiting them. I had popped to see the new gallery before the lecture and would never have guessed that the paintings are supported on steel mounts with a mask over the top to make it look as if they are still on a wall. Very clever! Review of the gallery Times

Excellent lecture given by Irving Finkel, one of the curators of the Babylon Exhibition at the British Museum focusing on the period of the Jewish exile in Babylon. This was an amazingly detailed talk and yet delivered in a light hearted manner which carried you along. It looked in particular at where archaeology or texts supported the bible stories of this period. A sign it was good was that I covered 6 sides of notes and questions went on for about half an hour even though the lecture had overrun.

A super exhibition at the British Museum looking at the life and work of the emperor Hadrian. It made good use of the Round Reading Room again taking you on a journey through his life. There were many stunning artefacts but best of all were the statues and busts which fitting well into what I’ve been learning this week on the High Renaissance summer school at the Courtauld. The section on Hadrian’s villa was fascinating and I can really feel another trip to Rome coming on. The gallery on Antonius was interesting. He really was a very pretty boy! Reviews Times Daily Telegraph Independent Evening Standard