2 Audley Square
Mayfair, London W1K
UK
Founded in 1994, THE COURSE offers art history lectures, opera and literature courses, guided museum visits and London walks.
This course will examine the changing face of the portrait from the 6th century to the present. It will look at how and why its meaning and function have mutated and why artists are still drawn to this medium despite the advent of photography. It will also explore whether a portrait has to convey an accurate likeness and how artists went about trying to convey “character”.
THE PASSAGE OF TIME: Portraiture in Life & Death From the Middle Ages to the Modern Age
The final lecture will look at one of the oldest and most enduring preoccupations of the artist – mortality and legacy. Starting with the Medieval through to the Renaissance and Rembrandt’s obsession with his own image, we will finally come to the Impressionists and the modern day. Looking at works by Ofili, Hirst and Quinn, the parallels between artists’ practice and their preoccupation with mortality will be explored.