Masters in focus II: Masaccio, Ghiberti, Van Eyck and van der weyden
Lecturer: Dr Nick Gordon
Course Description
The Masters in Focus series takes you into the art and lives of past masters, helping you understand more about how to read each master’s work, exactly why they have stood the test of time and what about their work stood out among their contemporaries. Each series takes four artists from a key art historical period, and, by doing so, provides you with insight into the unique context in which they lived and worked.
In Masters in Focus II, Dr Nick Gordon takes you in to the world of early fifteenth-century Europe, a period when the visual arts were transformed in Italy and the Low Countries. But the styles and techniques that emerged in this period, from the birth of linear perspective to modern portraiture and stunning new levels of fine detail, were diverse.
Each of these four artists represents a different direction, and each of which would exert an influence on art and how we see the world that has lasted for centuries. But these artists didn’t come out of nowhere and this series turns a conventional art historical period on its head by showing you how early Renaissance art developed from Gothic traditions rather than breaking radically with them.
Course Content
Session 1: Masaccio
Session 2: Jan Van Eyck
Session 3: Lorenzo Ghiberti
Session 4: Rogier van der Weyden
Lecturer
Dr Nick Gordon is a cultural historian and artist with an encyclopedic knowledge of European and Australian art. His research on the Italian Middle Ages and Renaissance has won numerous academic scholarships and prizes (including a University of Sydney medal in History). He has extensive experience as a history and art history lecturer, and has led small group cultural tours from Australia to Italy, the Low Countries, Germany and Scandinavia for more than ten years.
Course Structure
4 x 1.5 hour sessions
Each session includes an interactive lecture and time for group discussion and analysis. .
Course Dates
Session 1: Wednesday 1 July, 10:00-11:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
Session 2: Wednesday 8 July, 10:00-11:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
Session 3: Wednesday 15 July, 10:00-11:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
Session 4: Wednesday 22 July, 10:00-11:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
Price
A$100
REquirements
This course does not require any assumed knowledge, only a willingness to learn and an interest in art.
Sessions require access to ZOOM (which is free), a device with a camera (such as a tablet or computer with a webcam), and an internet connection.