Author: Ruth Conway

Leonardo’s Women – A Lecture by Shirley Smith

Shirley began her fascinating lecture by reminding us that this year is the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death.

He was born on April 15th 1452 in Vinci. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Florence, where the power was in the hands of Medici – a big supporter and promoter of Art. By the time he was 14 he was working in the workshop of Andrea de Verachio. At this time he lived in a house with several other young men and this led to suggestions that he was homosexual, though most of his portraits were of women.

Shirley then began to introduce us to Leonardo’s women.One of his earliest portraits was his portrait of Ginevre da Banci.

This painting shows how Leonardo was always wanting to create new approaches and in this portrait he has turned her to face the viewer, whereas up to now portraits were always in profile. On the back of this portrait he wrote ‘ She adorned her virtue with beauty.’ Another new approach was to use oil, rather than tempura, which dries slowly and therefore allows the artist to build up layer upon layer .

Leonardo made the surprising decision to move to Milan which was not a city renowned for its art. Ludovico Sforza who was Duke of Milan at the time was a warlord and Leonardo’s letter to Sforza contained drawings of military vehicles, which clearly would have pleased him.

In 1489 Leonardo painted one of his most famous portraits – ‘Lady with Ermine’.

The lady was Cecelia Gallerani – the mistress of Sforza. Her hairstyle with the knot was very Milanese in style. It is also interesting to see the position he painted her in – with her head facing one way and her body facing the other. This gives a sense of vitality to the portrait. Though at this time Leonardo was still not painting the portraits with the ladies facing forward. It was an interesting choice to paint the lady with an ermine as they were renowned for their cleanliness. The fact that he painted the hands of the ladies was also quite a new idea.. On her face there is just a hint of a smile.

‘La Belle Perroniere ‘ (1490) was another portrait in which the subjects head faced one way whilst the body faced another..

Though Leonardo is now painting the lady looking more forward towards the viewer, but he kept her virtue by painting a ledge in front of her. With this portrait Leonardo had produced the most startling painting of a woman.

In 1499 after Leonardo had been in Milan for 18 years it was seized by Louis X11 of France and Ludoviquo was captured. Leonardo went back to Florence, and in 1503 he painted his most famous portrait ‘The Mona Lisa’ .

She is simply dressed and her hair is not braided. Vassari said of the smile that Leonardo had employed jesters to keep her amused. As with all his paintings it was painted on wood not canvas. Another innovation in this portrait was that Leonardo no longer used a dark background but painted a landscape.

His painting in 1480 ‘Madonna of the Carnation’ shows the brilliant way Leonardo has used oil to give texture to the clothing. The landscape also shows perspective disappearing.

In the Vigin and Child, the Madonna points to John and has her arm on him whilst Jesus is blessing him.

In the preliminary sketches there is a real glow to Her face and the palm of Her hand is in shadow. He has produced a really revolutionary painting with no wings, no halos and no thrones.. There is an infusion of human form and nature. The painting in the Louvre is the original whilst the one in the National Gallery is quite different. It is thought that the latter has been painted by his students.

The painting of the Virgin and Child with St. Anne in 1507 shows an extension of mother/child relations as it also has Mary’s mother Ann.

Again, in this painting the upper body of St. Anne is facing one way whilst the lower body faces a different way. The Virgin’s sad expression seems to show that she knows what will happen.

Leonardo only painted 4 portraits of women but they were all hugely influential. His greatest – The Mona Lisa has been copied many times and raised the question of the role of beauty.

Historic Gardens of the Italian Lakes – lecture by Steven Desmond.

This very witty and entertaining lecture was just what we all needed in grey January.

N.B. Please note that the pictures used in this review are not the ones used by Steven in his lecture as they were from his private collection. I have found similar pictures to illustrate what he was talking to us about. 

Steven set the scene with a beautiful image of Lake Como in the early morning and explained that the climates in the two lakes he was going to talk about were not always as visitors expected. In the winter it was dry.cold and sunny; whilst the summer months could be very wet. He showed us how the light on the lake is often theatrical and mysterious as it is surrounded by mountains and therefore there is very little sun –  particularly so in the early morning.

We were then taken on a beautiful tour of the villas and gardens of Lakes Como and Magiore.

Belagio on Lake Como is home to Villa Melzi built in the early 1800s for Francesco Melzi who was Vice President of `Italy.  The villa was completed on 1810 and the gardens were created in terraces a few years later at the side of the house. They were in the English style and with an English statue even though at the time they were at war with England .

 

We then travelled to Villa del Bambinello which was built in the late 16th century. This magnificent villa is known for its picturesque gardens featuring flowers and trees which are the colours of the Italian flag: green, white and red, and it is only reached by boat.

 

 

Then on to the Villa D’Este which was built in 1580 and its gardens have been described as ‘appearing to hang in the air.’ From the gardens this path leads directly up to the villa.

 

 

The next villa – Villa Cicognaga the garden and the villa were built simultaneously to have continuity between outside and inside,

 

It is designed with a living garden (seen here on the right ) and a dead side (on the left) 

 

and the retaining wall is made from stalactites.

 

Steven then took us to Lake Maggiore and to the 17th Century Palazzo Borromeo surrounded by its magnificent terraced gardens. 

 

As you enter these gardens the baroque style in intended to knock you off your feet with the power it represents. There are statues representing the four seasons.

 

Our beautiful  journey ended at Villa San Remigio

The Villa owes its existence to two lovers determined to create their “dream garden”: the Marquis Silvio della Valle di Casanova, a Neapolitan poet and musician, and his wife, the Irish painter Sophia Browne. They were determined to renovate a ruined villa owned by Sophia’s grandfather.

Flights of steps, avenues and narrow passages,  lead to the garden of the Hours, recalling memories of happy times past, the garden of Joy, full of bright colours, the garden of Sadness, with no flowers and no water, the garden of Memories, symbolising nostalgia for the past, and the garden of Sighs, where the spirit merges with the surroundings. The garden of Scent has a lawn made of thyme and the shrubs are myrtle. The park also has many  fine statues.

The villa became a meeting point of the Arts.

Steven concluded his captivating lecture with a view of the lake at Sunset and for a while the greyness of January had been banished.

Singe Ye Yule -A Musical Portrait of a Medieval Christmas –

A lecture by Sarah Deere-Jones.

Sarah began her lecture by giving us the sad information that unfortunately there were no original medieval instruments left therefore all the instruments she had brought with her were reproductions. Throughout her captivating lecture we were enthralled by Sarah playing to us on these medieval reproductions.

She then set the scene   for us – we were in woodland area along a muddy track ; we can hear the sound of chopping wood and ahead we can see a Manor House . It was  beautiful and peaceful time so the people are getting excited on hearing lively music. The peasants would spend much of their time chopping firewood  and caring for animals. They would come in from outside for soup at mid-day and at the end of the day they would just have a chunk of bread and cheese before going to bed. So it is no wonder that the 12 days of Christmas were so special.Everyone gathered evergreens for symbolism and to decorate their homes.Mistletoe had special fertility powers, whilst holly symbolised Christianity with white flowers , red berries and everlasting leaves.

The main part of the festivities was feasting. The main meal was served at 11 because of the need for light. This was essential for peasants and the wealthier you were the later you could eat. There was particular food for each course. Generous lords of the manor would invite one or two of the peasants to join the lords and ladies at the table.

Hunting was a very popular activity in the winter. After a day’s hunting they would return to the Manor for food and entertainment. The entertainment would be mummers and disguisers. The entertainers would often be out of work agricultural workers which is why they would disguise themselves.

One of the musical entertainments would be the Hurdy Gurdy – rather like a mechanical violin. Skating and kurling were also popular activities . At one time the Thames was frozen for 14 weeks. Skates were made from animal bones. Other games included backgammon, quoits, cards and chess.

The music played at these festivities would  include town musicians playing bagpipes very early in the morning whilst heralds would play loud brass instruments!!                                 Whilst the guests were eating, quieter music would be played by minstrels who would then accompany the dancing afterwards. Much of the rustic dancing originated from pagan dancing  i.e. in a circle. Slow dances like the Pavanne were introduced by the wealthy.

The earliest medieval carols started as elements in plays and not in churches.

we were sad as this lecture closed as we could have listened for much longer especially as now we could place the music and the instruments into context. We were most grateful to Sarah for setting the scene for us to begin to celebrate our Christmas.