If you're interested in Dutch art of the seventeenth century, or in books about looking at paintings in general, then do try Laura Cumming's recent book, Thunderclap. A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death. It was published in July by Chatto & Windus and deals...
Miscellany
City by City – The Italian Renaissance at The National Gallery
I'm very happy that, on Monday 15th March, I'm going to start teaching a six-week online course for The National Gallery, called City by City - The Italian Renaissance. Across six sessions we'll be exploring Florence, Venice and Rome (before the Easter weekend) and...
Leaving North London
Today is the end of an era. After forty years of having a toe-hold in north London, this morning the removers arrived and started packing up furniture in my beautiful flat in Primrose Hill. My home is now in Chiswick, where most of my pictures, books and most...
Stories of Art at the National Gallery
I'm delighted to be back at the National Gallery this autumn, teaching the first two modules of their Stories of Art course. This six module course covers the history of art from 1250 right through to 1925 and runs from September through to June next year. I'm...
Troyes and Chaource
On our way through France this summer we have seen lovely things! We stopped for a night in Troyes, which has a medieval centre filled with colourful half-timbered houses, many standing at curious angles, and a fine selection of churches. The houses are tall and...
Pitzhanger Manor
To Ealing, on a sunny Saturday, to visit Pitzhanger Manor, the country house of Sir John Soane. Firstly, I was very surprised to find that the Manor was so close to the shops of the town centre - and consequently very shocked with myself for not having been there...
The shops and shop-windows of Venice
Hidden Places 2 – Going to Visit Tiepolo
Some of the other things I’ve always wanted to see in Venice are the Tiepolo frescoes in the Palazzo Labia. This is a large palazzo, just on the corner of the Cannaregio Canal, as it meets the Grand Canal, and next to the church of San Geremia. It was built for...
Hidden Places 1 – Into the Arsenal
On this trip to Venice I’m trying to catch up on some of the things that I’ve never managed to do in the past. For a start, I’ve never been in Venice at Easter, so the opportunity to go to a full scale Patriarchal High Mass in Saint Mark’s Basilica was something not...
Simon Winder’s ‘Lotharingia’
As I have mentioned elsewhere, I am so enjoying reading Simon Winder’s new book, Lotharingia; A Personal History of Europe’s Lost Country. As with his other books, Germania and Danubia, I find myself laughing out loud at his fascinating explorations of the world of...
My Lovely City
Yesterday morning, on my way from A to B, I went through the backstreets of Covent Garden. I didn't have much time, but the sun was shining and a chilly wind was blowing. It was bright and fresh, with a sense of bustle in the air; delivery trucks were negotiating...
Kelmscott and Great Coxwell
To the Cotswolds - on a grey and windy Saturday at the end of October, with the promise of rain and a chill in the air. The destination was Kelmscott Manor, the lovely seventeenth century house that became the home of William Morris and his family in 1871. Although...
City by City: The Italian Renaissance. A Six Week Course at the National Gallery, London
I'm very happy to be working with The National Gallery, teaching a course of six sessions on Italian cities of the Renaissance. We start tomorrow (September 19th) with a lecture on Florence, and then we'll tackle Venice, Rome, Milan, Urbino and Mantua on the...
Chenonceau – In the footsteps of Catherine de’ Medici
The Chateau of Chenonceau is one of the great sites of France - built beside, and across, the river Cher in the heart of the Loire valley. In the early 1500s the original builders began by demolishing an old castle and mill beside the river. The original castle keep...
Anglesey Abbey
On a beautiful summer's day, what better than to explore a glorious garden with sweeping avenues, intriguing woodland walks and herbaceous borders packed with every conceivable type of flowering plant. Anglesey Abbey, a few miles outside Cambridge, has all of this, as...
Edward Bawden at Dulwich Picture Gallery
This year's summer exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery is about Edward Bawden - painter, printmaker, illustrator and designer. Curated by James Russell (who was responsible for the Gallery's excellent exhibition on Eric Ravilious in 2015) it brings together...
Ravilious and Friends at Compton Verney
If you haven't already seen this fantastic exhibition of the work of Eric Ravilious and his contemporaries, then you still have a few days to catch it at Compton Verney, the beautiful mansion north of Banbury. (Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship. English...
Kettle’s Yard: The ‘Louvre’ of the Pebble
I first heard about Kettle’s Yard when I was at school, in the sixth form. An impressionable point, as I was soaking up anything about paintings and their histories with rapt attention, not quite believing that my own enthusiasm could be turned into a legitimate form...
Charmed Lives in Greece: Ghika, Craxton, Leigh Fermor
This delightful exhibition (at the British Museum until 15th July 2018) features the work of painters John Craxton and Niko Ghika, alongside the work of their friend, the traveller and writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. It provides a warm and fascinating account of their...