artfirstprimo Back on the Road with the Wilton Diptych

The day after my visit to the Leonardo I was back on the road again, back to my old itinerant ways. I found myself, yet again, on a train platform as usual. This time in Grantham, Lincolnshire; I was returning from giving a lecture to the curiously named Holland & Kesteven DFAS, a lively and intelligent fine art society.  The lecture I gave to Holland & Kesteven was the story of the mysterious painting, by artist unknown, called the Wilton Diptych.  Though much is known about the Wilton Diptych, such as the identities of those in the painting, there is still much that is unknown.  Such as when precisely was the Wilton Diptych painted, who painted it and how did it end up in Wilton House from whence it was bought by the National Gallery.

Because of the mysterious origins of the Wilton Diptych it has since its acquisition by the National Gallery gone under this title. The Diptych part of the title indicates that it's a two panel painting and Wilton part of course relates to its known origin of Wilton House.

However, as the train now speeds along (late) and the night closes in I have to leave the Wilton Diptych behind.  It's time to think about my next assignment today, it's time to return to the life of Michelangelo in part 3 of his life. I return to the City Lit, Covent Garden immediately upon leaving this train at Kings Cross to teach part seven of Masters of the Renaissance. Until the next time...

artfirstprimo experiencing Leonardo da Vinci at the Court of Milan

On the morning of 9th November I made my way to a private early morning view of the event the year if not of the decade.  The event was, as you've probably guessed by now, Leonardo at the Court of Milan, the exhibition opening later on today at the National Gallery here in London.  Indeed at 09:00 that very morning, yours truly artfirstprimo was one of the few to enter the exhibition before the crowds were let in at 10:00

As I walked around this unprecedented exhibition, which marks a once in a lifetime opportunity to see so many of Leonardo's works in one place I was aware that this is indeed an historic occasion, and on this occasion that curator of this exhibition is on hand to take myself and the rest of the National Gallery staff around the exhibition giving us his own commentary on the life of Leonardo and the paintings in the exhibition.

As so Luke Syson the curator of the Leonardo exhibition completed giving his talk to this private audience of which felt like it consisted of almost the entire staff of the National Gallery.  So it was now it is time to look around and see the work of the Master myself.

Among the highlights of this exhibition of Leonardo's time at the Sforza Court of Milan is the Louvre version of the Madonna of the Rocks. This is truly of the real scoops for the National Gallery, getting the Louvre to part with this masterpiece.  It hangs facing the National Gallery's own version; Luke Syson, curator of the exhibition says that this is possibly the first and the last time these two great masterpieces will hang together.  Also here to view is the Madonna Litta, previously thought, until very recently, to be by a pupil of Leonardo's Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, indeed The Madonna Litta, c.1481-97, was also thought to be collaboration between Leonardo and said pupil. However, in this exhibition it has been re-attributed to being solely by the hand of Leonardo.  And as if this revelation isn't enough, the Leonardo exhibition also has the newly attributed Christ as Salvator Mundi painting on display in London also for the first time; it too was miss-attributed as being by a follower of Leonardo’s pupil Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio at which time it was valued at £48.00, its value has subsequently increased somewhat.

After three hours in the National Gallery’s lower exhibition rooms of the Sainsbury Wing being mesmerised by this exhibition I emerged into the daylight and was greeted by an enormous queue stretching out of the door of the National Gallery, along Jubilee Walk and around to the back of the building, little did I know at this time that this would be the shape of things to come for the duration of this historic exhibition. Everywhere one turns in this exhibition there is a delight for the eye that verges on overwhelming the visual senses, but if one is to be overwhelmed there can be no better reason.

artfirstprimo at the National Gallery

Welcome back art lovers. I hope those of you able to attend my 11:30 tour of the National Gallery on Friday morning 4th November enjoyed it.  If you missed it or just want a reminded of which pictures we looked at so you can visit them again with a friend, here's a reminder list of those paintings:

We started with the small but perfectly formed Jan van Eyck (active 1422-died 1441) painting - The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434.  This exquisite painting in oil by the Netherlandish master has many mysterious conundrums contained within its fastidiously detailed composition.  van Eyck was not only famous in the Netherlands and of course Bruges, where he painted this image, but he was also famous in Italy; where he was once hailed as the inventor of oil painting.  Italian artist had been egg-white for centuries as a binding agent for paint pigments, while Netherlandish artists such as van Eyck had not only perfected the use of oil, but taken it to a degree of sophistication that has arguably never been surpassed.

The next painting on my 11:30 tour was by the brothers Antonio (about1432-1498) and Piero (about 1441-before 1496) del Pollaiuolo.  The Pollaiuolo painting, a large-scale single panel altarpiece was called, The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, completed in 1475.  The Pollaiuolo altarpiece is one of the most securely documented paintings in the National Gallery and a superb demonstration of Renaissance manipulation of mathematical perspective, it was also painted in the very year of Michelangelo's birth.

Also on the 11:30 tour was a painting by Claude Lorrain (1604/5?-1682) called, Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, 1648.  Claude's ability to create realistic light effects in his paintings and his ability to infuse previously anodyne landscape and seascape subjects with mythological subjects helped to popularise such subjects and bring him a host of admires who were inspired by his works longs after his death, including John Constable who was a life-long admired who famously strove throughout his life to reproduce light in his paintings as Claude had done in his.

The 11:30 tour then moved on to Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) The Judgement of Paris, probably painted between 1632-5.  Rubens was obsessed with this subject from Greek mythology, The Judgement of Paris, and painted eight times throughout his life from 1600 to 1640; for reasons unknown apart from his last version painted just before he died.

The 11:30 tour finally ended with Paul Gauguin's (1848-1903) Faa Iheihe, 1898,a late painting from his last years in Tahiti. Gauguin's now legendary time in the South Pacific was recently the subject of a major retrospective at Tate Modern in London.  This one of Gauguin's last paintings like many of his Tahitian paintings attempt to capture as Gauguin says "A long lost barbarian luxury".  However, while his wife Mette Sophie Gadd was back in her native Denmark with their five children, Gauguin wrote to his fellow painters in Paris boasting "I'm sowing my seed everywhere".

If you missed my subsequent 14:30 tour it or just want a reminded of which pictures we looked at so you can visit them again with a friend, here's a reminder list:

My 14:30 tour of the National Gallery began with a painting by Dieric Bouts (1400?-1475) called 'The Entombment, prob 1450's.  A rare image being the only entombment subject by this artist in existence, and also painted on the rare support of linen.  This was followed by two paintings of the same subject, one by Giovanni Bellini (active about 1459, died 1516) The Agony in the Garden, about 1465 and another by Andrea Mantegna (about 1430/1-1506) also called The Agony in the Garden, about 1460.  These images hang next to each other in the National Gallery, Sainsbury wing, not only because they are of the same subject, but also because Mantegna married Bellini's sister.

The NG 14:30 tour then went on to look at Jean-Honore Fragonard's (1732-1806) Psyche showing her Sisters her Gifts from Cupid, 1753.  The story in this picture comes from the pen of the Roman author Lucius Apuleius; c. 125 – c. 180.  This painting was followed by the hugely theatrical painting by Paul Delaroche (1795-1856) called The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1833, depicting an event that had taken place two centuries earlier, and dramatised by Delaroche in such a way as taking certain artistic liberties with this historical event, which saw the 16 year old Lady Jane Grey rule England for just nine days before being beheaded on the 12th February 1554. 

The 14:30 tour finally ended with that Finish occasional Impressionist Akeseli Gallen-Kallela (1865-1931) with his painting called Lake Kaitele, 1905, the only painting by a Finnish artist in the National Gallery's Permanent Collection. Not only was this picture painted some time after Impressionism had officially ended back in 1886, nut it also feature a subject matter no French Impressionist painted would ever tackle - a scene inspired by Finnish folk lore.

Just half an hour after these tours I also gave a free ten minute talk at 16:00 in room eight of the National Gallery on Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, commonly referred to as Il Parmigianino - 1503-1540.  This High Renaissance painting of a Madonna and Child with a young John the Baptist squeezed into the edge of the composition is actually on loan from a private collection rather than forming part of the National Gallery's Permanent Collection.  Parmigianino was born in Parma hence the name, and painted in the same period as Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo, indeed he was mostly influenced by Michelangelo's late style of painting, retrospectively referred to as 'Mannerism'.

But for now I m signing out until my next report from the world art, hope to see you all there.

artfirstprimo at Kew and Beyond

Welcome back art aficionado's. Today I went out and about in city of cultural delights that is London. I took an underground train for a change heading west for the splendid Kew Gardens to witness the delights of Autumnal colours as only Kew can display; which can be best witnessed from the wonderful tree-top walkway; whose rust coloured iron supports almost blend imperceptibly with the autumn colours around it them. And speaking of stunning architecture I also experienced the simple sweeping curved elegance of the Sackler crossing the beautiful bridge designed by John Pawson. 

However, today's excursion does not of course mean I have left the painted facsimile world of art behind, because later on at 18:00 I continued my teaching at City Lit, Covent Garden with part seven of Masters of the Renaissance which was part two of Michelangelo's life in a lesson called: 'Survival and Competition'. Looking at the Master's rivalry with other artists and the paucity of his surviving work in the medium of drawing especially in comparison to Leonardo. Why are there approximately 600 surviving drawings by Michelangelo compared to approximately 6,000 surviving drawings by Leonardo; given that Michelangelo (89 when he died) lived so much longer than Leonardo (67 when he died)?  This is just one of the topics we discussed in the classroom while we looked some Michelangelo's greatest drawings.

But now just a brief reminder that I, artfirstprimo, will be conducting two free National Gallery tours tomorrow at 11:30 and 14:30. All are welcome, and as usual I will not be revealing my choice of paintings I will be looking at until we alight on them in the rooms of the Gallery; indeed I myself will not make up my mind what I will be looking at until I arrive at the Gallery tomorrow. But if you fancy knowing which artist I will be looking at and fancy something shorter than my 60 minute tours you could attend my free National Gallery 10 minute talk at 16:00, which will be on Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, usually referred to as Il Parmigianino - 1503-1540.

See you there at this talk which will be in room 8.