Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ecce Ancilla Domini! (The Annunciation), 1849-50. Tate. Today’s painting is the very first thing you will see if you visit The Rossettis at Tate Britain, the exhibition I will be introducing this coming Monday, 15 May at 6.00pm. It’s the perfect choice to start this exhibition, as I will explain below, andContinue reading “195 – Behold!”
Category Archives: Bible
193 – Visionary
Paul Gauguin, Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), 1888. National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh. From Shaping Impressionism last week, I am moving on to After Impressionism, the big blockbuster of a show at the National Gallery which I will introduce this Monday, 1 May at 6.00pm, hence my discussion of Paul GauguinContinue reading “193 – Visionary”
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…”
183 – Another Epiphany
Elisabetta Sirani, Study for ‘The Baptism of Christ’, c. 1658. Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. Happy New Year! And Happy Christmas (yes, as I write, this is the Twelfth Day), and (given when I am writing) may I wish you a Happy Epiphany for tomorrow? The Wise Men will arrive and recognise Jesus as The Boy BornContinue reading “183 – Another Epiphany”
182 – The Rest of Christmas
Luisa Roldán, The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1690. The Hispanic Society of America, New York Happy Christmas! And yes, it is still Christmas – as I write it is only the fifth day of twelve, and on the Fifth Day of Christmas… but that doesn’t matter right now. As far as theContinue reading “182 – The Rest of Christmas”
181 – Candlemas comes early
Jacques Daret, The Presentation in the Temple, c. 1434-35. Petit Palais, Paris. Theoretically I should have written about this painting last week, as I talked about the theme – The Presentation in the Temple – in Monday’s talk. This coming week, Week 4 of The Childhood of Christ, I will include a lot of paintingsContinue reading “181 – Candlemas comes early”
179 – Surviving treasures
Jacques Daret, The Adoration of the Kings, c. 1434-35. Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. It’s December 1st – let the Advent Calendars be opened! I wrote one in 2020, and if you want something to read every day, and weren’t with me two years ago, I wrote about a single detail from Gossaert’s glorious AdorationContinue reading “179 – Surviving treasures”
173 – Illuminating
Eadfrith, Chi-Rho page, The Lindisfarne Gospels (Cotton MS Nero DIV, f. 29r), c. 700. British Library London. Today I’m going to look at one page of one book. It is, surely, one of the most spectacular pages of what is – according to every account you read – one of the most spectacular survivals fromContinue reading “173 – Illuminating”
168 – Michelangelo: Leaning back, looking forward
Michelangelo, Jonah, c. 1511-12. Sistine Chapel, Vatican City. I’m just about to start a new series of lectures, Almost All of Michelangelo, and we kick off this Monday 5 September with The Paintings. Unlike my previous online talks, these will be two hour sessions, and will last from 5.30-7.30pm – with a ten minute gapContinue reading “168 – Michelangelo: Leaning back, looking forward”
163 – Mary, multi-tasking
Dirk Bouts, The Virgin and Child, c. 1465. National Gallery, London. I love it when I go to an exhibition which makes me think about something in a completely new way – or for that matter, which makes me look at something differently, or even properly, for the first time. That is certainly what happenedContinue reading “163 – Mary, multi-tasking”
dr richard stemp 