Category Archives: Uncategorized

Jan Gossaert, An Elderly Couple, about 1520. National Gallery, London. Today’s painting is one that I have loved for years, but rarely get to speak about, so it was a great pleasure to see it in the National Gallery’s exhibition The Ugly Duchess, about which I will be talking this Monday, 17 April at 6pm.Continue reading “191 – In the driving seat”

Winslow Homer, The Army of the Potomac – A Sharp-Shooter On Picket Duty, 1862. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Today I want to look at an engraving as a way of introducing the work of a great painter: Winslow Homer. This is, of course, by way of an introduction my talk this Monday, 3Continue reading “172 – Incisive”

Tom Hunter, Woman Reading a Possession Order, 1997. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. I don’t think I’ve written about a photograph before (correct me if I’m wrong), but this one is rather beautiful, and featured in the Dulwich Picture Gallery’s exhibition Reframed: The Woman in the Window to which I will be returning this Monday,Continue reading “167 – Looking back, moving on”

Glyn Philpot, A Student with a Book, 1920. Ömer Koç Collection. Glyn Philpot is one of those artists who should never have been forgotten. There’s a long discussion in ‘The History of Art’ which asks who the last ‘Old Master’ was – but of course it’s a question which has no answer. There is alsoContinue reading “164 – Nude, with clothes…”

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1895. Private Collection. If you think I’m being rude – or insensitive – I should point out that the title of today’s post is simply a translation into English of words that Edvard Munch himself wrote on the first (or second) version of The Scream. An infrared photo of the offendingContinue reading “160 – Painted by a madman?”

Francis Bacon, Head VI, 1949. Arts Council Collection, South Bank Centre, London. There is nothing quite so exciting in 20th Century painting as getting close to the surface of a work by Francis Bacon – there was no one who handled paint as well, with such power, and with such variety, who had worked soContinue reading “148 – We’re all human”

Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of Nicolaes van Bambeeck, 1641. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. At the end of last week’s talk I said that the Royal Collection contained some of the best portraits ever painted. I’m not going to talk about them today – I will leave that until Monday, as they are included inContinue reading “146 – You’ve been framed”

Giotto, Stories from the Life of the Virgin, c. 1305, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. Yesterday was the Feast of the Birth of the Virgin, and I had meant to post then – but sadly I seem to be getting busy again. However, I thought, ‘Why not have a look back to the end of May, when I lookedContinue reading “Mary, revisited…”