I saw these two photographs uncannily juxtaposed - the frescoes of paradise from Padua Baptistery and a telescope view of the heavens. Was the medieval notion so wide of the mark, actually?
I was involved in a lovely event this weekend, showing paintings and cards at an open house at Piccott's End near Hemel Hempstead. It's an extraordinary half-timbered building which boasts a very rare survival, a wall full of frescoed pre-Reformation religious paintings. They were defaced at some time, then concealed for five hundred years until 1953 when the new owner took a look behind the wall paper. The building will be open to the public again at Easter, when Simon Schama will be giving a lecture there - he has included the paintings in his new series 'Face of Britain' starting soon on BBC2. Read more about the house and paintings here: http://www.piccottsendpaintings.uk/
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The view from my deskCurrent work, places and events, art travel, and interesting snippets about Christian icons, medieval art, manuscript illumination, egg tempera,, gilding, technique and materials. Categories
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January 2024
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