This Day of Special Interest will bring together a combined overview of Dutch Golden Age art and Flemish art, looking at the history and growth of these particular strands of European art and examine the changing face of these multifarious forms of art from the late 14th century, through to 16th century Renaissance art.
Special Interest Days are always well attended. Tickets £35 for three lectures, coffee and a convivial lunch with wine.
Please note that advanced booking is required. There is a limit to the number of participants (the last Special Interest Day was sold out) so book early to avoid disappointment.
Face to face booking will be available at the January, February and March meetings.
For further information you can call Hilary Arnold on 01483 427183 or email her at hr9arnold@gmail .com
The Plan for the Day : the Special Interest
Day comprises three lectures.
Registration 10.15 for 10.30
The First Lecture : 10.30 - 11.30
Mannerism vs Nature
Mannerism vs Nature will be an exploration of the Low Country painters’ reaction to developments in the latter part of the Italian Renaissance also known as the High Renaissance.
Coffee : 11.30 -12.00
The Second Lecture : 12.00 - 1.00
The Dutch Masters of Light: From Utrecht to Rome
In this lecture we will look at the Dutch masters of light from their origins in the Dutch town of Utrecht to their travels abroad to Italy in particular Rome. We will look at their obsession with Italianate landscapes, and their particular attraction to light effects and the work of Caravaggio (1571 – 1610). This will also lead the lecture into the many other non-Dutch artists that picked up on this fascination both in France and in England.
Lunch : 1.00 - 2.00
The Third Lecture : 2.00 - 3.00
Tulip Fever – Flower Painting and Landscapes in the Dutch Republic
This lecture will look at the obsession the Dutch had in their love of nature, which in many ways emulated the Italian Renaissance artists similar fascination. However, this lecture will not only look at this aspect but also look at how this merged into a dominance in landscape painting mirroring the Low Countries unique terrain, which in turn would produce two distinctive types of landscape – Dutch and Flemish.
Leslie Primo is an art historian, author and broadcaster graduating from Birkbeck University College with an MA in Renaissance Studies. He specialises in early Medieval Art and Architecture, Italian Renaissance art, German art in the age of the Reformation, Medici and Patronage, and mythology in the work of Peter Paul Rubens. Leslie lectured at the National Gallery for 18 years, and has appeared on the BBC speaking in Renaissance : The Blood and the Beauty, and on the Life of Michelangelo, and also presented Turner: Light and Landscape. He was a contributor to the Oxford Companion Guide to Black British History, an art history consultant for the Getty publication Balthazar: A Black African King in Medieval Renaissance Art and was published by the Royal Academy Magazine for the Entangled Pasts exhibition 2023-2024. Leslie's book The Foreign Invention of British Art was published by Thames and Hudson in 2025.
Face to face booking with Hilary at the January, February and March 2026 meetings.
. Enquiries to Hilary Arnold on 01483 427183 or email her at hr9arnold@gmail.com