My last post of the year and what a year! Normally I would describe a piece of attributed art with an interesting history of iconography, or a serious exhibition. But for this one off post I will just use this gorgeous Art Deco illustration of ‘The New Years Eve Ball. The delightful little illustration reminds…
Category: Comment
The apprentice sculptor who became a great Renaissance mathematical painter
Landscape paintings are always my favourite when it comes to headers for my blog site. And there can be no more evocative wide paintings than the three depictions of the Battle of San Romano by Paulo Uccello. And how about the locations for these great works: The National Gallery in London, The Galleria degli Uffizi…
An epic Polish painting of the Astronomer Copernicus at the National Gallery next year
Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) is one of the greats from my youth. Understanding the solar system was well established by the time I went to school, so it was hardly pioneering science anymore. But understanding the history of how people like Copernicus and Galileo took their investigations away from the flat earth centric zealots of the…
Value or Devalue
Ed Sheehan is a truly great superstar. As a singer songwriter there is no match in recent years. So I was interested in his recent sale which raised £400,000 to support children and young people with disabilities and life-limiting illnesses. A brilliant and thoroughly worthwhile achievement. The Ed Sheehan: Made in Suffolk Legacy Auction contained…
November Painting of the Month – Remembrance
Remembrance Sunday is such an important event in our calendar. Not for its reference to war but to remember and honour human sacrifice. Even with our troubled present we are fortunate in Europe for those who paid the highest price for our freedom and Liberty. The Imperial War Museum has a wonderful collection of art…
Vermeer in Dresden in 2021
The Semper Gallery in Dresden has announced a super exhibition for 2021. Open from 19th March until 27th June, the exhibition will be displaying twelve Vermeer paintings in its recently refurbished galleries. In addition will be works by other Dutch greats such as Pieter de Hooch and Gerald Dou. Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) is one of…
Mary Quant – Dundee
Mary Quant, the iconic fashion designer, is the subject of my new header image and marks a move away from my normal views of paintings, sculpture and architecture. This area of display is moving very much into the world of art and its appreciation, and marks a new direction for me. The Sixties was a…
The Shah-Nama
The Shah-Nama is an epic poem from Persia written over a thousand years ago and was the subject of my dissertation, submitted today for the University of Warwick – Yippee. So back to other exhibitions now. The Book of Kings, the literal translation of Shah-Nama which, traces the line of Persian rulers from the beginning of…
Artlords – Afghanistan
Art galleries are still out of bounds to me at the moment so I thought a little trip into the news would be enjoyable. Not coronavirus of course, or Huawei but deeper down in the stories. I came across Artlords, which is a play on words commonly attributable to Afghanistan and Kabul; warlords or druglords….
Botticelli – Pentecost
Pentecost – it seems so strange celebrating Pentecost and the giving of the Holy Spirit with all our churches closed. Anyway we enjoyed a beautiful service filmed in our local church of St Mary Magdalene, in Adlestrop, complete with a special appearance from Buster the Adlestrop cat. It was a triumph for those who produced…
