Italy
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Raphael and La Fornarina
Rome, from the Vatican. Raffaelle, Accompanied by La Fornarina, Preparing his Pictures for the Decoration of the Loggia by J. M. W. Turner, exhibited 1820, oil on canvas (Tate Britain, N00503) For the three hundredth anniversary of Raphael’s death, which occurred on Good Friday in 1520 (supposedly the artist’s thirty-seventh birthday), J. M. W. Turner read more
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A Venetian Palazzo in Boston: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
A museum created out of the pursuit of pleasure and left behind for public enjoyment and education. Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Museum in Boston is a really unique and wonderful place which arguably, almost a century since she died, Isabella still exerts a certain control over. When she left the museum behind, along with an endowment read more
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Michelangelo and Sebastiano: A Renaissance Friendship
The general perception of Michelangelo is of a highly introspective, tortured and cantankerous genius who worked independently to produce some of the most famous works in Western Art. So it may seem slightly incongruous that the National Gallery’s latest exhibition, Michelangelo & Sebastiano, is actually a celebration of the friendship Michelangelo forged with the Venetian read more
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How to Reimagine Botticelli
Botticelli is an artist whose reputation has been in flux ever since his work became eclipsed by High Renaissance masters, with this exhibition, the biggest of Botticelli in Britain since 1930, aiming to show how his work has permeated popular culture. read more
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An Allegory of Love and Time? Bronzino, Venus and Cupid
So as it is nearly Valentine’s Day, and I haven’t posted anything in a while, I thought I’d post something about a painting I really love – which just so happens to be about love itself. It is also in my favourite place of all time, the National Gallery, which possibly contributes to why I read more
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Caravaggio and the God of Wine
Where does Caravaggio – the original cultural figure who was mad, bad and dangerous to know – fit into the Baroque? read more
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The Piazza Navona and the Four Corners of the World
The best place to go for Bernini in Rome is the Piazza Navona, where you’ll find his beautiful Fountain of the Four Rivers, a sculpture of travertine and marble commissioned by Pope Innocent X. read more
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“You are made for Rome and Rome is made for you” – The Genius of Gianlorenzo Bernini
Bernini is often associated with the magnificence of Baroque Rome – and so he should be. Pope Urban VIII is said to have told him “You are made for Rome and Rome is made for you”. read more
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La Dolce Vita, A Perfect Roman Holiday
Just like I wrote practically a mini love letter to Paris, I could also write one to Rome. These European cities are so beautiful, and it is helped completely by the way they are enshrined in literature, film and other forms of popular culture. read more
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Michelangelo in Rome
Rome wasn’t built in a day, so the saying goes. The classical sits beside the modern, the Renaissance holds hands with the ancients; and who better to explore from the Renaissance than Michelangelo. read more
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Dr. Lizzie Rogers 