At last I am studying what I've always wanted. This year it is Module 1 of a Diploma in Art History at the Continuing Education Department at Oxford, and it is exactly what I hoped for. Renaissance to Baroque...
What joy that was! Assignments gave the focus I needed to concentrate on topics in depth. My first was on Renaissance qualities in art, using Masaccio as an example; the second was on Humanism and giving Mantegna's work as example; the third was on the drawings of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael and the fourth on Rembrandt. My long essay was on Palladio. All of this has been tremendously informative and stimulating. High spots were being able to examine drawings in the Print Room at the Ashmolean, as well as a bursary for a trip to Florence. The picture is the view from the terrace of the little flat we rented for a week, in the San Ambrogio district. The first and last nights in Pisa also gave great pleasure.
Good friends were made on this course, and a new way of looking at paintings which has changed my gallery visit experience for good.
Missing several weeks due to Mum's 'indisposition' was a blow, but thankfully I got back and managed the exam - badly, I fear, but at least a pass.
So, the next module will have to wait until another year, when the timetable is more appropriate. Fabulous year, and I will miss the study.
Saskia sleeping - Rembrandt
