Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating seminar at the National Gallery focusing on Claude Lorrain’s picture “Seaport with the Embarkation of St Ursula” lead by Steven Barrett. In the first section we looked at the story of St Ursula and how Claude had chosen to depict in in this picture. We discussed whether it was necessary to know the story to appreciate the picture. We also spent a lot of time looking at wonderful photos of details of the picture and talked about Claude’s style. We spent quite a lot of time looking at the picture itself and discussing its composition and how the picture might have been commissioned. We ended back in the seminar room talking about other St Ursula pictures and how this one had come into the National Gallery collection. We also talked about the influence of Claude on other artists including Turner and Monet.

Lovely exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum of the work of Claude Lorrain. The exhibition was broken into three sections paintings, drawings and etches. I liked the fact that many of the paintings were hung in their original pairs to show the contracts he painted of sea and land, different times of day and subjects. The drawings were a revelations as they were so well finished and really illuminated the imaginary processes behind the paintings. My favourite things though had to be the Firework series of etchings which showed firework designs for the coronation of Ferdinand III as King of the Romans. These includes wonderful machines which split apart and fireworks came out. I think the London 2012 Opening Ceremony could learn a thing or two! Reviews Daily Telegraph