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

LECTURERs

Dr Nick Gordon is a cultural historian and holds a PhD in history from the University of Sydney. His research into medieval and Renaissance Europe has won numerous academic awards and scholarships, including the University Medal in history from the University of Sydney, and has been published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals. Nick has over 15 years’ experience as a lecturer to university and public audiences.

COURSE STRUCTURE

4 x 1.5 hour sessions. Each session includes an interactive lecture and time for questions and discussion.