Classic – is the SECOND part of our four (4) segment course the Evolution of Art, Design & Style. It is available in video, ebook or podcast format and can be watched, read or listened to on your computer, iPad, Kindle or iPod.

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Day 15 The Tudors – In the Name of Progress – Parts 1 & 2 Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485, and during his reign ideas that were part of the intellectual life of the Renaissance in Italy would be introduced by Count Baldassare Castiglione a special ambassador to the court [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Italian adventurer, Marco Polo, perpetuated the western predilection for exotic goods in the European mind from early in the thirteenth century. He related fascinating stories about visiting a far off luxurious land called Cathay.

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Textiles are a transmitter of both wealth and status and a measure for the development of a society from its primitive or early beginnings in ancient societies. By the second half of the fourteenth century weaving textiles and producing needlework had both become a highly important aspect of England and Europe’s societies and economies.

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The idea of paradise as a reward for the Muslim faithful translated to an earthly garden being an anticipation of heaven to come. The four square garden signifies the four quarters of the universe with the four rivers of life intersecting at the garden’s centre, based on an idea far older than Islam, Christianity or even the Persian Empire.

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In the Catacomb of Priscilla at Rome are the beginnings of Christian Art. The image of three Kings represents the faithful coming before the throne of God

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When Emperor Constantine’s arch of triumph was built at Rome it was positioned to align with a statue of the sun, Apollo, which stood by the Coliseum. On March 7, 321 he declared the day of the Sun to be a Roman day of rest.

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Early church buildings developed in a style we call Romanesque that of the round arch and dome of the Roman Empire. For many its elements emphasized the incarnation, or that of God coming down to earth.

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