The traditional Christmas tree and where did it come from is my second theme this month. It sort of begs the question what is ‘traditional’ as the origins of the tree are lost in myth. What does seem common practice is the decorating of houses and churches all over Europe with evergreen decoration during the…
December Painting of the Month (1)
December 2020. I think we are all getting pandemic weary but while we want to spread some Christmas cheer it is still a time for care and vigilance. So I thought I might post a few paintings this month looking at earlier and modern ideas of the Christmas story. Giotto is an ideal place to…
Two great stained glass windows offering different perspectives of God’s purpose
The United Kingdom has a rich collection of stained glass windows but there are two I keep returning to and am richly rewarded every time. They are both massive areas of glass and the messages they announce reveal differing purposes spanning 560 years. They are the Great East Window at York Minster and the Baptistry…
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…
White Box Art Channel 