Author Archives: drrichardstemp

203 – Crivelli’s Original Garden

Carlo Crivelli, La Madonna della Rondine, after 1490. The National Gallery, London. The National Gallery’s exhibition Paula Rego: Crivelli’s Garden, which I will be talking about this Monday, 28 August at 6pm, celebrates the painting which the late, great Portuguese-born artist created for the dining room in the Sainsbury Wing when it was opened backContinue reading “203 – Crivelli’s Original Garden”

202 – Flora, from Florence

Evelyn De Morgan, Flora, 1894. De Morgan Collection. There have been a plethora of exhibitions of the work of Evelyn De Morgan in the past few years, but I am only now in a position to dedicate an entire talk to her (on Monday 21 August at 6pm), thanks to the exhibition The Gold DrawingsContinue reading “202 – Flora, from Florence”

201 – The Presence of Absence

Gwen John, A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris, c. 1907-9. Sheffield Museums Trust. When I saw the subject of today’s post in the exhibition Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris (about which I will be talking this Monday, 14 August at 6pm), it seemed remarkably familiar to me – thereContinue reading “201 – The Presence of Absence”

200 – Ede and Rie and Kettle’s Yard

Lucie Rie, Bowl (brown and white inlaid line), 1974. Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. I first fell in love with the work of Lucie Rie when I was a student working as a volunteer at Kettle’s Yard, the inspirational home of Jim and Helen Ede, and now one of the University of Cambridge Museums – but moreContinue reading “200 – Ede and Rie and Kettle’s Yard”

Day 54 – Psyche V: ‘Reawakening’

Anthony van Dyck, Cupid and Psyche, 1639-40, Royal Collection Trust. This is another re-post, but somehow, and I really don’t know how, I managed to delete the original quite a long time ago. I was probably on a train with dodgy WiFi, and maybe even using my phone, all of which would generally result inContinue reading “Day 54 – Psyche V: ‘Reawakening’”

Re-telling the tale (Spinning a Yarn)

Diego Velázquez, ‘Las Hilanderas’, 1655-60, The Prado, Madrid. Another ‘re-post’ today, as I am currently in Glasgow researching a trip which is coming up in September for Artemisia, details of which can be found in the diary (along with everything else, of course). It looks at a painting which concerns the maltreatment of a human by aContinue reading “Re-telling the tale (Spinning a Yarn)”

199 – The One that Got Away

Hans Holbein the Younger, Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan, 1538. The National Gallery, London. The subject of today’s portrait, Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan, appears in one of the paintings in the Holburne Museum’s gem of an exhibition, Painted Love: Renaissance Marriage Portraits, which, if you’re interested, I will tell you about onContinue reading “199 – The One that Got Away”

Saint Francis, re-framed

Giovanni Bellini, St Francis in the Desert, c. 1476-78, Frick Collection, New York. The National Gallery’s exhibition, Saint Francis of Assisi, which I will talk about this Monday, 19 June at 6pm, is refreshingly beautiful. It includes a superb and eclectic choice of objects which are beautifully hung and expertly curated to tell a clear storyContinue reading “Saint Francis, re-framed”

198 – Looking beneath the surface

Johannes Vermeer, Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid, c. 1670. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. Today’s painting was my real ‘discovery’ of the Rijksmuseum’s Vermeer, a painting I hardly knew, and might not even have seen before. I think I had been to the National Gallery of Ireland twice, very briefly, before my recentContinue reading “198 – Looking beneath the surface”