Cathy's Art Diary

Fun and informative online lecture by Stella Grace Lyons looking at the role of the nude in Victorian art.  This was the first of Stella’s online lectures I had done, and I was impressed by the quality of it. It was delivered via Zoom which worked well. She had good slides and I loved the fact that they were all labelled which helped when taking notes. She started by talking about William Etty who specialised in nudes in the early Victorian period, an artist I know well as he was based in York where I studies and the gallery there has lots of work by him. He was heavily criticised the time as he painted realistic very human figures. Later in the century the fashion was for nudes in classical settings with pale skin, so they looked like statues. They tended be blemish free and perfect. These were seen as more acceptable. There were some great illustrations of work by Lord Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema. She also looked at the genres of fairy pictures and paintings of femme ...

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery looking at pendant pictures by Claude Joseph Vernet in their collection.   Francesa Whitlum-Cooper, Myojin Nada Associate Curator for Painting 1600-1800, took us through Vernet’s career and introduced us to the two pictures from 1773, A Landscape at Sunset with Fishermen Returning with their Catch and A Shipwreck in Stormy Seas. She described the detail in them and their place in that career. S he also explained how they had been saved for the nation in 2003 but why it took till last year for them to be displayed in the gallery. An interesting story of how the export licence scheme can work and the agreements that came be come to.

Fascinating series of online videos from the Courtauld Gallery looking at the hidden detail in some of the most famous works in their collection. Each episode reveals elements in the artwork that may not be immediately obvious to the viewer – smudges of paint, fingernail marks and hidden details that can only be viewed close-up or under a microscope. Episode 1 : Still Life with Plaster Cupid by Cezanne Coralie Malissard discusses the role an onion plays in the bottom left of this picture. Infrared analysis shows that Cezanne reworked this feature and Malissard sees is as a way of blurring the bridge between the ‘real’ space of the table with the fruit on it and the illusionary space of the picture of fruit   propped up behind. Episode 2: TheDream by Michelangelo Buonarroti Ketty Gottardo (Martin Halusa Curator of Drawings) focuses on a detail from this drawing of two hands holding a bag or pouch and what that may mean for the overall meaning of the picture. Episode 3: On ...

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery discussing the Renaissance in the North of Europe. Ed Dickenson lead us through the examples of Northern Renaissance art in the gallery putting it into context in comparison to Italy, He explained the role of painting in oil in this and some of the philosophical differences. It was a lovely chance to ‘walk’ round some of my favourite images in the galley, many of which I had revisited on my recent return.   

Enlightening online discussion from the Wallace Collection looking at their current exhibition of work by Indian artists working for the East India Company. I loved this show which has now been extended to 30 September so it was fascinating to hear the curator, the author William Darlymple, talk about the show with the director of the collection, Xavier Bray. It was like eavesdropping on a conversation as they told us how the idea for the show came from Darlymple showing Bray some of the images on his phone over coffee and also what it was like showing David Attenborough around the show which includes some amazing natural history pictures. They also talked us through some of the pictures in the order   they are seen in the show offering insights into the work of the artists and the people who commissioned the work plus drawing some parallels with Western art. It’s the first talk I’ve watched which has been photo bombed by a parrot!

More of this enjoyable series of short videos from the Metropolitan Museum filmed during lockdown highlighting recent exhibitions and specific works of art. These are emailed to members and patrons once a week, so I hope it is OK to share the links. Most take the form of a talk from the curator’s home with a powerpoint presentation. A number of the curators have picked works which are particularly poignant at this time. Episode 13 :American Wing Period Rooms Moira Gallagher, Research Associate, shares a behind-the-scenes look at the American Wing's collection of period rooms and a new online resource that shares the rich stories behind these immersive, curated interiors. Episode 14 : A Temple Singer from Ancient Thebes Janice Kamrin examines the 2,500 year-old burial equipment of Ankhshepenwepet, a Singer in the Temple of the god Amun exploring the symbolism of her coffin, along with the other objects found in her tomb, including a mummified gazelle.   Episode 15 : Aquama...

Charming exhibition at the vineyard Domaine Saint Hilaire by watercolourist Nicholas Poullis. These were lovely pictures of the Languedoc area including the vineyard itself shown here. I loved the pictures of views across towns often from a rooftop or high vantage point. There were also some lovely black and white pictures of fishing boats. Closes 29 August 2020