Following the development of non-secular art in the seventeenth century, the world of art in the eighteenth century assumed a more decorative role with a greater emphasis on pastoral themes. This episode features the work of Watteau, Boucher, Hogarth, Gainsborough and Reynolds.

Following the development of non-secular art in the seventeenth century, the world of art in the eighteenth century assumed a more decorative role with a greater emphasis on pastoral themes. This episode features the work of Watteau, Boucher, Hogarth, Gainsborough and Reynolds.

The Renaissance is the remarkable story of the age in which the techniques and inspirations which had been lost since the classical era were rediscovered and reintroduced into the world of art. This episode features the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Holbein and Michaelangelo.

The Renaissance is the remarkable story of the age in which the techniques and inspirations which had been lost since the classical era were rediscovered and reintroduced into the world of art. This episode features the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Holbein and Michaelangelo.

Series in which Waldemar Januszczak re-examines Rococo art and argues that the Rococo was actually the age in which the modern world was born.

Series in which Waldemar Januszczak re-examines Rococo art and argues that the Rococo was actually the age in which the modern world was born.

What are a few references among friends? But for Cal and his circle, it’s hardly a few. They barely conduct a single conversation that doesn’t revolve around architecture, literature, theology, history. Each set of ideas leads seamlessly into the next, until the flow they form is endless, there are always more footnotes, theoretical perspectives, cantos, translations to cite, so many ways of keeping everyday life at bay. When Cal, Evelyn, Chris et al. exchange all this absurdly specific knowledge, they do so with such earnest relentlessness that it’s hard to suppress a smile, although melancholy is never far away. Cal is frequently by himself, turning pages in silence in shadowy rooms, while Evelyn paces the streets of Philadelphia when she can’t sleep, at night, alone. Even when the group gets together, they often remain apart in the frame with no wider shot to connect them, one face holds forth, another stays silent, are they even in the same place at all? Evelyn wishes it were possible to speak more directly, but perhaps that’s the defining feature of the period, not the classical one, this one. You speak, you listen, there’s nothing in between.

What are a few references among friends? But for Cal and his circle, it’s hardly a few. They barely conduct a single conversation that doesn’t revolve around architecture, literature, theology, history. Each set of ideas leads seamlessly into the next, until the flow they form is endless, there are always more footnotes, theoretical perspectives, cantos, translations to cite, so many ways of keeping everyday life at bay. When Cal, Evelyn, Chris et al. exchange all this absurdly specific knowledge, they do so with such earnest relentlessness that it’s hard to suppress a smile, although melancholy is never far away. Cal is frequently by himself, turning pages in silence in shadowy rooms, while Evelyn paces the streets of Philadelphia when she can’t sleep, at night, alone. Even when the group gets together, they often remain apart in the frame with no wider shot to connect them, one face holds forth, another stays silent, are they even in the same place at all? Evelyn wishes it were possible to speak more directly, but perhaps that’s the defining feature of the period, not the classical one, this one. You speak, you listen, there’s nothing in between.

Never was a world so completely turned upside down as with the arrival of the Impressionist School. Cezanne, Seurat and Manet all produced inspirational and at the time even controversial works which completely revolutionized thinking in the world of art.

Never was a world so completely turned upside down as with the arrival of the Impressionist School. Cezanne, Seurat and Manet all produced inspirational and at the time even controversial works which completely revolutionized thinking in the world of art.