European Art: Byzantine through 1950
The Anatomy of a Painting New
Rachel Sawan White, Art and Design Faculty, Orchard House School
Join us as we explore elements of art and design through famous pieces of art across the ages. While dissecting works by artists including Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Van Gogh, we will discover the fundamentals that have made them endure through history.
Bringing Back Bouguereau New
Allison Frew, Fine Arts Research Assistant, VMFA Library
In the 19th-century, the French painter William Bouguereau, renowned for his extremely realistic depictions of mythological scenes and peasant girls, was considered one of the greatest artists alive. With hundreds of American patrons, Bouguereau’s work can be found throughout museums in the U.S. Until recently, however, Bouguereau’s name fell out of favor after his death in 1905 due to the rise of abstract art. Deeply religious, incredibly knowledgeable, and vehemently patriotic, Bouguereau’s personality and character shines through his paintings, illustrating a beautiful story of one of France’s greatest artistic masters.
Captains, Philosophers, Merchants, and Kings: Picturing the 17th Century New
Twyla Kitts, Literary and Teacher Programs Educator, VMFA
This illustrated talk investigates the dramatic changes in the 17th century technology and philosophy that set the stage for the modern world. Works of art including portraits, prints, sculptures, and textiles from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, illustrate the shifts in international alliances, economic competition, and world view that are characteristic to this traditional age.
Climbing the Walls: Building Chartres Cathedral (1150-1260)
Dr. Mary Prevo, Art Historian, Professor of Fine Arts and Western Culture, Hampden-Sydney College
One hour’s drive southwest of Paris, Chartres Cathedral stands as a magnificently complete example of Gothic architecture, sculpture, and stained glass. But what looks like a unified design is really the result of several extended building campaigns that lasted for years and required the work of many skilled craft persons. Every level of the huge building is accessible through passageways in the thickness of the buttresses. This talk is richly illustrated by the speaker’s images of Chartres Cathedral.
This program has been organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and is funded, in part, by the Jean Stafford Camp Memorial Fund.
First Impressions: A Brief History of Early Illustrated Texts New
Nick Curotto, Technical Services Librarian, VMFA Library
During the mid 15th century the invention of printing and movable type changed the distribution of the visual medium. In this talk, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Librarian Nick Curotto covers the processes and technology of early printing and assembling of texts with a focus on the incorporation of print illustrations. The techniques of relief and intaglio printing will be discussed highlighting the artists, artisans and printers who were imperative in the progression of technologies during the hand-press period of the 15th – 18th centuries.
Fresco Painting in the Renaissance
Dr. Donald Schrader, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Mary Washington University
Decorating walls with paintings made on fresh plaster is a grimy, laborious practice, which in the Middle Ages was thought to be the most mechanical and craftsman-like task of the painter. Beginning in the 14th century, however, higher artistic standards began to reveal just how splendid a chamber transformed by fresco painting could be. By the end of the 15th century, the fresco painter was hailed as the most ambitious and able artist of all. In this lecture we learn the techniques — good and bad — that mural painters used. See how truly great painters, such as Botticelli and Ghirlandaio in the 15th century and Michelangelo and Raphael in the 16th century, triumphed as fresco artists above all others.
Icons: Windows into the Divine
Dr. Donald Schrader, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Mary Washington University
Modern viewers often see the icon — a type of religious image still in use in the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches — as a charming and somewhat primitive type of painting. Nothing could be further from the truth. The icon, from its earliest inception, is a highly intellectual and consciously spiritualized image. The beliefs with which icons are infused are so powerful that they have led to their being outlawed for a time in the 8th and 9th centuries, but their meanings are so profound that their use has survived even the most concerted attempts to stifle them. In this lecture, Dr. Schrader introduces the theology behind the icon, briefly recounts the history of icons in the West, and explains the meanings behind some of the most important individual types of religious image.
Keeping Up Appearances: Art and Culture in the Edwardian Period New
Elizabeth Cruickshanks, Fellowship Program Coordinator, VMFA
Experience the culture, art, and fashion of this sumptuous era as you take a journey on both sides of the Atlantic – from the castles and manors of landed lords in England to the estates and mansions of wealthy tycoons in America – to see how the “other half” lived.
Myths, Saints, Symbols: The Use of Attributes in Art
Barbara Rothermel, Director, Daura Gallery, Lynchburg College
Image, conceived and given form, is the essence of visual art. Consequently, the body of images, their formation, transmission, and transformation in and from one culture to another, and their intrinsic meaning constitutes a fundamental aspect of research in the history of art. This lecture traces the transition of symbols and attributes from Classical Antiquity through the Early Christian era when it was the task of the church to redeem the world and all humankind. The church did not hesitate to borrow from every available source in its effort to convert and redeem; the sign and symbol, particularly those most common in the realm of human experience, were given a Christian and spiritual meaning. The lecture continues with the full flowering of symbolism in the northern Renaissance and Baroque eras.
The Grand Tour: “Spring Break” for the 18th Century Man New
Elizabeth Cruickshanks, Fellowship Program Coordinator, VMFA
For most young men, the Grand Tour, a hallmark coming of age trip through France and Italy, was a folly, but for others it was a completely different experience. With the ever-popular Neoclassical movement continuing to take hold in Europe, artists like Benjamin West saw the Grand Tour as an opportunity for inspiration. Take a grand tour through the art and culture of this era and see how the classical past came alive again in 18th century Britain and France.
The New 19th Century New
Dr. Mitchell Merling, Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art, VMFA
This lecture will present the past seven years of acquisitions of 19th century academic and salon paintings years intended to complement the Impressionist paintings in the collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon.