In celebration of the wonderful new exhibition at the National Gallery ‘Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350’, Nick Ross presented works featured in the exhibition to explore this ‘golden age’ of Sienese painting. Nick Ross is the Director of Art History Abroad, an organisation known for its immersive art history courses, and author of highly regarded books on Florence, Canaletto and Joan Miro.
Review by Damaris Albaran, Trustee and Committee member of Friends of PSAD
It was a privilege to hear Nick Ross, Director of Art History Abroad, provide our summer lecture on Saturday. He was an engaging speaker who conveyed his own fascination with his subject, the religious paintings of Siena. Helped by beautiful illustrations, he answered questions such as, a) Why isn’t Sienese religious painting boring? b) Why do major galleries have so much of it? And c) Why was Siena so important? The answers are a) that it was the earliest painting to depict the Virgin and Child in charming detail as human and feeling, unlike the icons that preceded it and this changed Western art forever; b) the custom of placing religious images in the tombs of relatives fell out of favour in the 19th century with the result that the art market was flooded with these paintings and the National Gallery bought a lot of them; and c) Siena was an important stopping place for pilgrims travelling from Avignon to Rome in the 14th century. Nick showed works by the major Sienese painters, Duccio, Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers and urged those of us who have not yet done so to visit the exhibition at the National Gallery before it ended on 22 June.
Photos by Vicki Garthwaite and Cheryl Younson, Friends of PSAD
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