Alberti – dr richard stemp

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)”

Venus reborn

Alessandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1485, The Uffizi, Florence. I want to look back to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus today as she is one of the Gods and Goddesses I will be talking about this Tuesday, 4 July (5:30-7:30pm) in the first of my three talks covering Classical Mythology in European Art. On TuesdayContinue reading “Venus reborn”

Donatello, take 2…

Donatello, The Feast of Herod, c. 1435, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. Well, I’m just off out to talk about Donatello, so I’m afraid I don’t have the time to write a new post now. Instead, I’m going to revisit a post from 6 May 2020: it was Picture of the Day 49. Re-reading it, I wasContinue reading “Donatello, take 2…”

Lent 27

At least one of the characters here looks up to our right – so they must be located to the left of the cross, under Jesus’s right hand: they are the good people, among the blessed, and the donor is somewhere in their company. We have seen at least three of them before. The manContinue reading “Lent 27”

101 – Spinning a Yarn

Diego Velázquez, ‘Las Hilanderas’, 1655-60, The Prado, Madrid. Had Picture Of The Day not ended on a Saturday, then this would have been POTD 100 – for reasons which should eventually become clear. But I couldn’t shift Scrovegni Saturday, now, could I? And had I got my skates on during the Velázquez lecture (thank you to all thoseContinue reading “101 – Spinning a Yarn”

Day 64 – Ascension

Pietro Perugino, The Ascension of Christ, 1495-98, Musée des beaux-arts, Lyon. Today is the Feast of the Ascension, forty days after Easter, when Jesus went up into Heaven – Jesus himself makes three references to it, before it has happened, in the Gospel of St John, and it is described in both the Gospel of St LukeContinue reading “Day 64 – Ascension”

Day 49 – Donatello in Lille

Donatello, The Feast of Herod, c. 1435, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. There must be something about Donatello that means that I keep coming back to him (Picture Of The Day 25 and 35) – it’s probably the simple fact that he was very good. One of the best, in fact. And this particular image – notContinue reading “Day 49 – Donatello in Lille”

Day 48 – Colour and Design

Angelica Kauffman, Colour and Design, 1778-80, Royal Academy, London. We’re back with the rainbow, again, after yesterday – but seen from a different point of view today. It is now a week since the Royal Academy officially announced that they would be cancelling their exhibition of the works of Angelica Kauffman, which, of all the shows that haveContinue reading “Day 48 – Colour and Design”

Day 37 – Noah

Paolo Uccello, Stories from the Life of Noah, c. 1447-8, Chiostro Verde, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. I mentioned, a few days back (Picture Of The Day 32) – I think it was Sunday – that I would come back to the great polymath of the Renaissance, Leon Battista Alberti. And just a couple of days beforeContinue reading “Day 37 – Noah”

Day 32 – Juno discovering Jupiter with Io

Pieter Lastman, Juno discovering Jupiter with Io, 1618, National Gallery, London. I started writing Picture Of The Day on 19 March – so I’m now beginning the second month! To celebrate I want to return to several of the themes of POTD 1: Jupiter, a great god, but a bad man; cows – Jupiter had disguisedContinue reading “Day 32 – Juno discovering Jupiter with Io”