Portraiture
Artisans and Artists during the Renaissance Golden Age
During the rebirth of humanism in Italy from the 4th to the 14th centuries patrons began recognizing that artisans, who had always worked under the direction of guilds or the church, were not only skilled technicians but also thinkers, discoverers and inventors. They sought to acquire the works of these ‘artists’ and use their talents to advance their own social agenda. So nothing has changed really.
Antique & Art Dealers Association Show at Sydney in Spring
The Australian Antique & Art Dealers Association (AA&ADA) Show is on at Royal Randwick Racecourse at Sydney from the 7 – 11th September. It is the leading industry body representing antique and art dealers in Australia today. Their Code of Practice is surety that your investment in the past is also an investment in your future.
CLASSIC Artists & Artisans, Days 13 & 14 French Renaissance
François 1 dazzled Europe with the sophistication of his court and Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci [1452-1519], former festaivolo at the court of Milan became his ‘Master of the Entertainments’. Following his son Henry II’s untimely death devastating religious wars ensued until Henry IV [1553-1610], the Great, restored France to peace, strong monarchy and stable [...]
CLASSIC Artists & Artisans Day 19 The Dream Team & Stuarts
Day 19 - The Dream Team Part 3 Louis XIV set about renovating his father’s hunting lodge at Versailles seconding the talents of Foucquet’s ‘dream team’ to create a building project that ultimately influenced the evolution of all the arts in the western world. Louis Le Vau was succeeded on his death at Versailles by [...]
CLASSIC Artists & Artisans Day 20 Great Treasure Houses
Day 20 – England and its Great Treasure Houses King James II threw the Great Seal of England into the Thames and fled England when Dutch Protestant rulers William and Mary of Orange claimed the throne of England. Around 1688 some of the grandest architectural gestures in England occur, including Chatsworth, a country palace wholly [...]
CLASSIC Artists & Artisans Day 17 Dutch Simplicity, Sobriety & Sensuality
Day 17 – Dutch Simplicity, Sobriety and Sensuality – Parts 1 & 2 The northern and southern Netherlands [today's Holland and Belgium] was united under Spanish rule until 1579 when a sense of national pride influenced the nature of art including still life. Collectively the works of such as Rembrandt, Rubens and their contemporaries reflect [...]
CLASSIC Artists & Artisans Day 18 The Dream Team
Day 18 – The Dream Team – Parts 1 & 2 In seventeenth century France Paris was becoming a sophisticated city when the Superintendent of the King’s Finances Nicolas Foucquet, conceived and completed the quintessential French country Chateau Vaux le Vicomte designed by his ‘dream team’ architect Louis Le Vau, designer Charles Le Brun and [...]
CLASSIC Artists & Artisans Day 16 The Tudors & The Stuarts
Charles 1 by Anthony Van Dyck Day 16 The Tudors – In the Name of Progress Part 3 Henry VIII’s son Edward succeeded him as a minor but died before his majortity and the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey lost her head to Bloody Mary, who lasted only five years. When his daughter Elizabeth 1 came [...]
Classic: Artists & Artisans Complete Course
Join us for CLASSIC, the SECOND part of our four (4) segment course of study The Evolution of Art, Design & Style CLASSIC: ARTIST & ARTISANS Renaissance to Restoration This part of the course (Days 11 – 20) covers the periods from the rebirth of humanism in Italy during the fourteenth century to the restoration [...]
CLASSIC Artists & Artisans, Days 11 & 12 Italian Renaissance
Days 11 & 12 – Italian Renaissance – Four Parts The rediscovery of ancient texts in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Europe changed perceptions and a new group of accomplished architects and artisans who collectively ushered in a new era in art, design and style. Central to that development was the emergence of the [...]
Giuseppe Castiglione – At the Court of the Chinese Emperors
It was during the Yuan dynasty (c1260-1368) that knowledge of ancient Cathay (China) first filtered through to the west. Mongolian leader Kublai Khan gained the title Great Khan, by defeating his brothers and embracing Chinese culture. In 1260 Kublai Khan (1215-1294) set about rebuilding the city of Peking as his winter capital, governing along Chinese [...]
The Impressionists – A Painterly Pleasant French Revolution
The art of the Impressionists became popular because people from all walks of life, nationalities and cultures understood that its message was all about celebrating life
Romantics and Revolutionaries, Red the colour of Passion
The era of romantics and revolutionaries is also about the continuing themes from ancient Greece and Rome for that of liberty, religion and justice. It must have been wonderful to be there when, on June 19th 1764 the remarkable child prodigy from Austria 8 year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a concert in London playing his own compositions on the harpsichord and organ.
Tartan, Plaid, Kilts, Clans and Customs – Scotland the Brave
Today members of the various clans of Scotland, scattered all over the world, communicate with each other, meet together, learn from and help each other, search for their identity and, from time to time, gather together to celebrate being part of a wider family – one with a proud and dramatic history.
Colour Considerations – Tradition, Legend, Myth and Magic
All cultures on earth have particular perceptions of and about colour, which in its evolution has come to symbolize many things collectively and individually. It also has many variants so we could say it is neither black or white and has many shades of grey in between. In that respect one could say colour is a metaphor for life.
A Hidden Jewel – The Nicholson Museum Sydney University
The Nicholson Museum at Sydney University is the second largest teaching collection of ancient artifacts in the world, certainly the biggest such collection in Australia. It is a stunning array and humbling in that there are so many objects from many ancient civilisations we will recognise and connect with, despite them having been created thousands of years ago.
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