Welcome back art lovers. Monday night night saw the completion of the course called 'Introduction to Western European Art History', which I teach at the Bishopsgate Institute in London's Liverpool Street. This whirlwind, and frankly very exciting, six week course is quick and immediate in the information it imparts especially if the students have particularly inquiring minds, as was the case on this particular course. The course took the students on a rollacoaster ride from Byzantine to Victorian painting; ultimately giving them the confidence and the tools of art recognition to survive and be comfortable in any art gallery in the world.
Tuesday morning saw the me, the itinerant art historian once again leave the confines of London to deliver another my lectures, this time to the Mid Kent DFAS. The Mid-Kent decorative and Fine Arts Society are a plucky, warm and welcoming society based in the village of Sutton Valance, not that I got to see it, as a travelling art historian, one gets to visit many destinations but rarely gets to see them. However, for this lecture the Mid Kent DFAS got to experience just one part the life of Leonardo da Vinci, his Portraits and Madonnas. My lecture 'Leonardo's Portraits and Madonnas revealed many hitherto unknown facts regarding the life of the great Renaissance master.
However, although we know that Leonardo was born the illegitimate son of Ser Piero da Vinci, on the 15th April in a small hilltop town called Vinci some 20 miles west of Florence surprisingly little is known about Leonardo's early life before his entry into the workshop of Andrea di Michele di Francesco Cioni a local hero of painting in the nearby town of Florence who would later be given the nickname - Andrea del Verrocchio as a direct reference to his skill as an artist; Verrocchio literally meant 'true eye'.
However, what is now known is that the famous image of an old Leonardo from the museum in Turin is not Leonardo. Indeed it has been known for decades that this image is not Leonardo, yet it has persisted to be recognised in the minds of the public as being him no doubt helped by its use on book covers and by the media. But you don't need me to find out more about the life of this giant of Renaissance art, because if you are lucky enough to live in London or you are able to travel to London, you can experience another aspect life of Leonardo for yourself in the up and coming exhibition to be held at the National Gallery -
Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan
9 November 2011 – 5 February 2012
9 November 2011 – 5 February 2012
But a word of warning, this is going to be a very busy exhibition and tickets are being restricted to keep the numbers down, so do not just turn up and expect to get in, book in advance to avoid disappointment.
I will be virtually living in this exhibition, so see you there.
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