Angelica Kauffman, Invention, 1778-80. Royal Academy of Arts, London. Rather brilliantly, Tate Britain’s encyclopedic survey of Women Artists in Britain, 1520-1920, opens with Angelica Kauffman’s Invention. It was one of the four Elements of Art which she was commissioned to paint for Somerset House, where they were installed in the ceiling of the Royal Academy’sContinue reading “225 – Necessity is the Mother of Inventiom”
Author Archives: drrichardstemp
Revisiting Velázquez and Juan de Pareja
Diego Velázquez, Juan de Pareja, 1650, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The more I think about the Walker Art Gallery’s display National Treasures: Velázquez in Liverpool the more I am impressed. In terms of the way it is curated, it is undoubtedly one of the best exhibitions I have seen this year. I am currently puttingContinue reading “Revisiting Velázquez and Juan de Pareja”
Still not ‘ladylike’…
Day 16 – Giulia Lama, Saturn devouring his Child, c. 1720-23, Private Collection (Sold at Christie’s, 2011). Greetings from Venice! I’m here In Search of Giulia Lama, researching for my eponymous talk this Monday 10 June at 6pm. What better opportunity to revisit one of my early posts from lockdown 1: it dates from 3 April 2020Continue reading “Still not ‘ladylike’…”
224 – Two sides of the same…
Michelangelo, Tityus, 1532. Royal Collection Trust/HM King Charles III. RCIN 912771 r. & v. The phrase is, of course, ‘two sides of the same coin’, but today I’m looking at a piece of paper. However, ‘two sides of the same piece of paper’ isn’t a figure of speech… The sheet in question is included inContinue reading “224 – Two sides of the same…”
223 – FLY
Yoko Ono, FLY, 1996. Richmond, Virginia. As I post this I’m on my way home, having talked to a group of Tate sponsors – a well-established firm of lawyers – about the exhibition Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind. I will repeat this talk for a potentially more discerning group (you) this Monday 27 JuneContinue reading “223 – FLY”
A Second Storm
Gabriele Münter, Portrait of Anna Roslund, 1917. New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester. I’m looking forward to talking about the Expressionists exhibition at Tate Modern this Monday, 20 May at 6pm, but as I’m currently in Delft with Artemisia I’m going to re-post something I wrote for Making Modernism, the Royal Academy’s 2022 exhibitionContinue reading “A Second Storm”
222 – Potentially singing
Carel Fabritius, The Goldfinch, 1654. Mauritshuis, The Hague. Some paintings are so simple they seem obvious, while others simply defy explanation. I feel certain that today’s painting falls somewhere between the two: a painting of a bird that has somehow become an international celebrity, with an expression as inscrutable as the Mona Lisa, or, closerContinue reading “222 – Potentially singing”
221 – Caravaggio: the witness witnessed
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, David with the Head of Goliath, 1606-07 or 1609-10. Galleria Borghese, Rome. I was very lucky to be able to get into the National Gallery before opening time last week, and had the unequalled opportunity to see The Last Caravaggio on my own. In terms of the National Gallery’s ‘small andContinue reading “221 – Caravaggio: the witness witnessed”
220 – At the end of the day
Frederic Leighton, The Garden of the Hesperides, c.1892. Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. After some delay I will be very happy to talk about Frederic Leighton and Flaming June at last – this Monday, 22 April at 6pm. This is a superb opportunity to focus on a painting which is widely recognised as theContinue reading “220 – At the end of the day”
Transfigured (and Repeated)
Apse Mosaic, c. 549. Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna. This coming Monday, 8 April, at 6pm, I will be Revealing Ravenna – or at least, talking about the remarkable mosaics, putting them in their historical and religious context, and explaining why the best Byzantine art is in Italy, rather than Istanbul. The following week I willContinue reading “Transfigured (and Repeated)”
dr richard stemp 