ADFAS

Monday 4th October 2004

Venice and her Music

Janet Canetty-Clark

In 1520, the Doge of Venice contacted Adrian Willaert to travel from the Low Countries to Venice to become Maestro di Capella at St.Mark’s Basilica in “La Serenissima”. Followed by the two Gabrielis and Claudio Monteverdi, Venice soon became the musical centre of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Antonio Vivaldi triumphed in the 18th century, with the glorious music for the girls of the Pièta. Then came the horrors of 1797, and the handover of power to Napoleon. But Venice rose again from the ashes, with her attraction for creative artists like Turner and Byron, and musicians such as Verdi, Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten.

Click on the picture to visit the Venice Research Society.

Monday 8th November 2004

The Antwerp Hilton Lecture

Jørgen Wadum

Chief Conservator, Royal Cabinet of Paintings, Mauritshuis in The Hague

Vermeer: Restoration and Conservation of Paintings

The Girl with the Pearl Earring

Vermeer’s mid-career masterpiece seen in the context of technique & restoration.

Monday 6th December 2004

Angels, Cherubs and the Hosts of Heaven

- a lecture for Christmas and all the seasons

Frances Feldman

Throughout the ages artists have been fascinated by angels and represented these heavenly creatures in man’s image. The lecture focuses on their individual characteristics, their specific charges and the importance of hierarchy; all of which are placed in a social and cultural context that spans the centuries. Slides accompanying the lecture will show examples from the 12th to the present centuries.

Monday 10 January 2005

Red Vibrations 

Alexandra Drysdale

Colours are radiant energies that affect us positively and negatively, and red is the most forceful of all. It is a very flexible colour, from demonic scarlet to angelic pink, from the wisdom of crimson to the warm exuberance of orange; its range of expression is extreme. It is always active rather than passive, from the speed of a red Ferrari to the soft subtlety of a pink rose. This lecture is a fascinating analysis of the way artists over the centuries have used red in their paintings. Some artists use red for purely aesthetic reasons. For example landscape painters will often use a dab of scarlet on a figure's clothing so that the figure won't get lost amidst all the greens and browns. Other artists use red symbolically as in the many paintings of Christ where He wears red to denote His passion. But generally artists combined the aesthetic, emotional and spiritual effects of colours within one painting.

Monday 7 February 2005

How is it Made?

-A Closer Look at Silver

Dr Helen Clifford

Goldsmithing dates back to the 3rd millennia BC, and most silver is made in the same way as it was in medieval times. By understanding the basic processes of making and decorating silver you will be able to ‘unlock’ the silver you see in museums, in country houses and in your own homes. You will become familiar with the goldsmith’s workshop and tools and appreciate both the changes and the continuities in one of the oldest and most revered of our crafts. This lecture will be illustrated by slides of Medieval to Contemporary silver, concentrating on English work.

Monday 7 March 2005

Spoils of War

The Displaced Art of World War II

Rev. Donald Easton

Millions of art works were displaced during 1939-45. The Nazi state organised a massive looting operation, confiscating art works from its own museums and citizens and from its occupied territories, including parts of the Soviet Union. At the end of the war the Allies had to sort out the resulting confusion, but had no generally agreed policy. There was a desire to take restitution in kind for what had been lost, and there was unofficial looting. In the West much was eventually returned to its owners, but in the East it was only after the fall of the Iron Curtain that the problematical legacy of 1945 began to be addressed. This lecture examines the aims and methods of Nazi art-collecting, the steps towards restitution taken by the Western Allies in 1945, recent revelations concerning the reparations taken by the USSR, the present international framework, and what progress has been made towards a resolution of the chaotic legacy of the Second World War.

Monday 4 April 2005

Cities of Vesuvius

-Art and Everyday life in Ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum

Dr Neil Faulkner

We will use the evidence of town planning, architecture, sculpture, mosaic and fresco, supported by contemporary literature, to reconstruct something of the fabric of everyday life in ancient Pompeii, Herculaneum and other Vesuvian sites. The world of public affairs, business and aristocratic display (what Romans called negotium) will be viewed in contrast with the more private world of relaxation in elite town houses and villas (otium).

Monday 9 May 2005

Velasquez

Douglas Skeggs

Although not always acknowledged nowadays, this 17th century Spanish artist is one of the most influential painters in the history of art. Born in Seville in 1599, where he made his name producing penetratingly observed scenes of everyday life, he moved to Madrid where his portraiture was so successful that by the age of 24 he was the only artist permitted to paint the King of Spain. After his death, the cool elegance of his style, his ability to discover a sense of dignity and humanity in even the simplest of subjects coupled with his breathtakingly daring treatment of the paint was widely admired by generations of artists. In this lecture, Douglas Skeggs examines the legacy of this fascinating figure, exploring his life, his personality and painting techniques, and tracing the course of his influence from Whistler through Manet and John Singer Sargent to Picasso, who famously described him as "The Great Magician of Art".