Cathy's Art Diary

Comprehensive online lecture from the National Gallery on Tintoretto focusing on the work he did for the scuole of Venice. Sian Walters began by explaining how scuole were confraternities based on a shared nationality, trade or religious devotion. She outlined the work Tintoretto did for various scuole before concentrating on his work at the Scuola San Rocco. She explained how he got the job in a competition but instead of drawing his submission he painted it and had a friend insert it on the ceiling of the main chamber and giving it to the scuola. How could they turn him down. She then took us though some of the images explaining how innovative the iconography and style was. She finished by talking about how the scheme was received and the recent restoration project. I’m going to Venice later this year and can’t wait to see it again.

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery on love and marriage in the Renaissance to mark Valentine’s Day. Sian Walters showed us what we can learn about courtship and marriage from Renaissance paintings. She started by looking at seduction via mythological works by Andrea Schiavone and Titian. She was clear to point out that what was presented as seduction at the time might be described as sexual assault or rape today. She then looked at allegories of love taking representations as an example of Venus and Mars and how they are based on an ancient painting of Alexander and Roxanna. She also talked about objects linked to marriage and childbirth in particular cassone or wedding chests and birth trays. She discussed how the images often held a symbolic or moral message particular directed at the women. She discussed the gallery’s story of Griselda cassone in detail taking us through the story and focusing on the wedding scenes.

Useful online lecture from the National Gallery on the life and work of 16th century Venetian artist, Veronese. Sian Walters led us through the artists career with an emphasis on work in the National Gallery and excellent illustrations. She talked about how he fell out of fashion and how when the gallery proposed buying “The Family of Darius Before Alexander” in 1857 the purchase was discussed in Parliament and he was described as “second rate”. We discussed how he differed from his contemporaries Titian and Tintoretto as well as his collaboration with the architect Palladio on the decoration of palace and villas in and around Venice. The talk emphasised the range of his work from large frescos for monastery refectories to portraits of the merchants of the city and their wives.

Excellent online lecture from the National Gallery on El Greco. Sian Walters led us clearly through the life and work of the 16th century artist El Greco. She made good use of pictures from the gallery’s own collection but did widen her examples with great illustrations. I hadn’t realised that El Greco spent time in Venice and may have spent time training with Titian. Walters was very good at pointing out where the influence of this time might be seen in his work from the use of colour to specific poses or compositions. She spent quite a bit of the time looking at the great altarpieces in Toledo and talked about how the Counter-Reformation city influenced his work and how and why he reverted to some of his original Greek Orthodox training.   I had only known the basics about El Greco before this talk and it certainly filled some of the gaps in my knowledge. I also got some good tips of how to visit Toledo and where to stay!

Useful online lecture from the National Gallery looking at art in Renaissance Venice. Sian Walters gave a good overview of the main themes in art in the city as a taster for an upcoming course either in Italian cities or one of their stories of art courses. She mainly concentrated on the emergence of secular art in the city from portraits, though great city scenes and to how art was used as propaganda. She did also touch on religious art mentioning Titian’s “Assumption of the Virgin” which I always have to go and see when I’m in the city. I love the city and have been there often so there wasn’t a lot that was new to me in the talk but I did learn that only 5% of the lagoon is deeper than 5m which is why it is so easy to defend.

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.

Excellent two part online course from the National Gallery looking at the role of families in artistic traditions and in particular the benefits for female artists. Sian Walters led two two hour sessions over two days covering early female artists through to the 18th century. On the first day we looked at why women were only really able to operate as artists if they were part of an artistic family and some examples of this from the Renaissance including Marietta Robusti, Tintoretto’s daughter, Sofonisba Auguissola, Lavinia Fontana and Catharina Van Hemessen. We then went on to discuss Artemisia Gentileschi and her father and their influence on each other. Day two we looked at some male dominated families mainly the Bellini’s and their brother in law Mantegna, concentrating on how Giovanni Bellini and   Mantegna influenced each other. We also looked at the Brueghel family and their family connections to later artists. We finished by looking at some later female artists, Judith ...

Super three-day online course from Art History in Focus on art and architecture in Vienna. Led by Sian Walters over three mornings this acted like a lovely weekend break in the city. I like Sian’s friendly welcome to these online sessions and her mix of an online lecture then opening the session up with videos for the Q&A to give you some sense of the other people involved. She used good images with clear labels. A good use of Zoom. Day one gave us a brief overview of the history of the city and then a look at the highlights of the major galleries, day two concentrated on architecture at day three the important role of portraiture in the city with a focus on Klimt and the Expressionists. Most interesting was an insight into Sian’s phd thesis which looked at the paintings of the composer Schoenberg and whether his starting and stopping painted reflected changes in his music.        

Excellent three day online course from Art History in Focus looking at the history of Flemish art via pictures in the Wallace Collection. Lead by Sian Walters via Zoom this course, of two hours each morning over three days, had a good mix of lectures and interactive sessions. She used Zoom well to give variety and her style meant you did have a sense of doing this with a group of people not just in a room on your own at your laptop. Day one we looked at the early artists, mainly Van Eyck, Van der Weyden and Memling. She admitted early on that the Wallace Collection did not have a good representation of these artists, just one Memling, but she used other pictures to tell the story in a clearway. I must admit these are some of my favourite so it was nice to take some time over them. Day two was Rubens starting by focusing on the galleries wonderful Rainbow Landscape, a section of which is shown here, then looking at his life and career and finally going through other pictures and ...