Artists despite being under the spell of the muse, were under pressure to sell their art to make a living, unless they were economically self-sufficient. To use Bätschmann’s terminology, the artist was caught between self-expression and the market.[1] However, Bätschmann looks mainly at the situation from the late eighteenth-century onwards,... Continue reading

I first came across Francis Haskell’s and Nicholas Penny’s Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Ancient Sculpture 1500-1900 when I was doing my doctorate on Poussin. NP has a reputation for being steeped in “the antique” and so I needed to familiarise myself with the canon of sculpture, the “admiranda” the group of ancient sculptures admired by antiquarians, scholars, travellers, and of course artists. For example in his painting, Gathering of the Manna, nearly every figure is based on famous classical sculptures, all of which appear in Taste and the Antique. I don’t know the exact division of labour... Continue reading

Last week, the artist’s studio was presented as an introspective space; an area where the painter contemplated himself either through the self-portrait in the studio, or the studio itself, which could be seen as a metaphor for the artist’s mind. This probably gave the impression of a solitary space, a... Continue reading

Sorry for lazy blogging. When I heard about the Tate/BP re-hang I thought it was time for a post, . Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that a large multinational conglomerate, BP, is advertised in the name of an exhibition designed to inaugurate the Tate’s makeover. In fact you have to admire the audacity of a corporation putting its name on an exhibition encompassing “500 Years of British Art,” especially as its origins are in 1909, not 1450. It’s like BP are laying claim to the traditions and cultures of British art, absorbing all the historical continuities, disruptions within one brand... Continue reading

Framing the Self When thinking about the problem of self-portraits and the artist’s studio it might help to use a concept used by Giles Waterfield in his essay on the studio- self-framing.[1] A few hundred years later than Poussin, artists in Britain began to show themselves looking at themselves through... Continue reading

The Artist’s Studio in History. This module has its origins in an exhibition on the theme of the artist’s studio held at Compton Verney in 2009. From notes made at that show, and subsequent sketches I saw the idea had the potential to be worked up into a full course.... Continue reading

Foucault writes in Surveiller et punir, “In this way the hospital building was gradually organised as an instrument of medical action: it was to allow a better observation of patients, and therefore a better calibration of their treatment; the form of the buildings, by the careful separation of the patients, was to prevent contagion; lastly, the ventilation and air that circulated around each bed was to prevent the deleterious vapours from stagnating around the patient, breaking down his humours and spreading the disease by their immediate effects”. In this instance, paintings should be regarded as patients, and visitors as the... Continue reading

CLOUD. Barocci isn’t really a cloud painter; interesting, because he’s supposed to be the natural heir to Correggio, cloud painter par excellence [see Damisch in Théorie du nuage]; or the “first baroque painter” (Mengs). Barocci’s use of cloud is understated; and when he uses it it’s reminiscent of Spanish visionary artists like Zurbaran who structured the vision not only with clouds, but architecture, e,g. Vision of Blessed Gatekeeper. Compare his “Perdona” with Zurbaran’s vision. There is a division between earth and heaven, but it’s defined by the cherubs under Christ, not clouds. Figures crowd out the clouds (Assumption, not in... Continue reading

MT “That man who paints those dreadful pictures.” FB. “You can't be more horrific than life itself.” Continue reading

“ A picture is nowadays “presented” in the midst of furniture, ornaments, hangings of the same period, a second-hand scheme of decoration…; and among these, the masterpiece at which we glance up from the table while we dine does not give us that exhilarating delight which we can expect only from it in a public gallery, which symbolizes far better by its bareness, by the absence of all irritating detail, those innermost spaces into which the artist withdrew to create it.” A current American collector. “My friends said to me “Just go to museums and SEE all the art you... Continue reading

More on painting in Florence. Focus on the mannerists and anti-mannerists, the latter represented by artists such as Santi di Tito- his Vision of Thomas Aquinas shown here. Continue reading

Been reading Edward Sackville-West’s book on Sutherland in the Penguin Modern Painter’s series (1943)- that’s Sutherland’s portrait of him, above. Studied a number of paintings: the “Small Boulder” (1940); delight of the closely observed form in nature; colour not expressive, but structural- a component of the composition rather than an additional value. Appropriate for Easter: “Christ Carrying the Cross” (1955): odd scene of Calvary set in a Mediterranean villa with dappled background of greens and blues. Figures Henry Moore-ish- steatopygous, semi-comic, thoroughly original. Wonder if the Vatican would accept this kind of religious modern art? They do have a collection... Continue reading

Defining Culture Wars. “A legacy of 1960s-70s socio-political movements, issues of identity framed in the Decade Show remained a potent aesthetic directive during the 1990s. But earlier emphasis on claiming race, ethnicity, and gender as art subjects, and on creating generally affirmative and positive images of women and non-whites, was... Continue reading

There's an important new book just come out on lesser-known French art historians, theorists of the visual who are usually under the radar. Details on Manchester University Press's web site I've got an essay on Hubert Damisch, mainly in relation to dreams in renaissance artists like Bellini and Raphael. Now I know there's a lot of hostility towards this kind of art history; but whatever you think of their style, ideas, the guff factor etc, these scholars deserve a hearing. Besides, obscurantism in art history writing is the fault of the profession, the "new" art history of the 70s- not... Continue reading

Defining Modern Art through Abstract Expressionism The term ‘Abstract Expressionism’ is something of a misnomer, as not all of the work was abstract, nor expressionist. The ‘group’ shared no common purpose (except the struggle for genius and self-expression), issued no manifestoes and embraced a multiplicity of styles and techniques. Their... Continue reading

Defining Impressionism. Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence in the 1870s and 1880s. The name of the movement is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), which... Continue reading

nice news to wake up, for a change. the 57 pictures can be viewed here. Continue reading

Referencing System. This refers to the apparatus of foot/endnotes and bibliography that is a scholarly requirement for the essays you write. Foot/End notes. Either is acceptable, but make sure that you don’t unintentionally use the notes as a substitute for a bibliography, which I’ve noticed with a few students. Also,... Continue reading

Realism. Realism is concerned with showing the unblemished aspect of nature and the world; it does not seek to idealize or represent nature as it is not. Realism was also preoccupied with showing contemporary life in the town and the country. Realism in the visual arts is a style that... Continue reading

Michael Savage who writes Grumpy Art Historian tells me he's been to Vienna. I'd like to believe him that the museum authorities read my account of a journey to the KH, Vienna last year, where I challenged the attribution of several Raphaels. Wether AHT has any influence or not on curators, I'm glad that the Holy Family and St Margaret have been updated to "Raphael and Studio", though I tend to agree with Michael that Raphael's hand doesn't seem to be present in either of these two works. Might be an idea to re-visit the literature on the Louvre St... Continue reading

Rebel, Rebel. Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment... Continue reading

Defining the Rococo. Rococo (less commonly roccoco) is a style of 18th century French art and interior design. Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings. It was largely supplanted by the... Continue reading

Definition of Baroque According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word baroque is derived from the Portuguese word "barroco", Spanish "barroco", or French "baroque", all of which refer to a "rough or imperfect pearl", though whether it entered those languages via Latin, Arabic, or some other source is uncertain. In... Continue reading

A colleague alerts me to a new publication edited by the Academic Director of Sotheby’s. It’s called Art and Authenticity, from Ashgate Press. In a climate in which connoisseurship is a dirty word, the editors of the book still see the validity of the practice, though they are wary of placing too much trust in scientific testing. “Historically, the idea of scientific verification has arisen as a reaction against the perceived excesses of the connoisseurial tradition, a tradition which has fallen from favour over the last 50 years. The idea of individual 'expert knowledge' rests uneasily in the current climate.... Continue reading

Found this interview with Roy Strong, the former Director of the V & A in the Telegraph. Sir Roy is reported as saying: “Nobody dares put on an exhibition that actually criticises government or public policy … The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has a very strong hold over them. They're obsessed by political correctness. “ Interesting to speculate what such an exhibition might look like. The V & A say: "We have to prove excellence. We're all chasing audiences and sponsors … I don't think anyone's going to get audiences or sponsors by doing an exhibition criticising government... Continue reading