This Lecture will be held on Tuesday 13th November 2012 at 11.00a.m. at The Queen's Hall, Narberth .

Brothers of the Brush - Artist Monks in 15th Century Florence

This Lecture examines the unusual phenomenon of the artist monks or “frate dipintore” in Renaissance Florence – men who lived, on the one hand, an austere and cloistered existence and yet rose to become some of the most successful and highly respected artists of their time. Fra Filippo Lippi, Lorenzo Monaco and Fra Angelico were well-known not only as painters of devotional works for their own orders but also as highly active and successful figures outside their monasteries. How were they able to lead these demanding and no doubt attractive double-lives, and did their religious duties help or hinder their artistic activities? We discuss these questions with reference in particular to works on display in the National Gallery, London.   

 

Lecturer: Siân Walters

Siân Walters is an art historian and lectures for the National Gallery, Surrey University and NADFAS. Her specialist areas are 15th and 16th century Italian painting, Spanish Art and Architecture, and the relationship between Dance and Art (she is an honorary advisor to the Nonesuch Historical Dance Society). She has given a number of lectures on this subject for the National Gallery, including events in conjunction with the Gallery’s recent 'Renaissance Siena' and 'Sacred made Real' exhibitions. Siân runs her own company, Art History in Focus which organises regular lectures, study days and art holidays abroad and was recently nominated in the Daily Telegraph 'World’s Best Guide' Award. Last year Siân was invited to give the prestigious annual T Rowland Hughes Lecture at the University of Wales, which in recent years has been given by leading figures in the art world such as Neil Macgregor, Sir Roy Strong and Sir Kyffin Williams. Siân studied at Cambridge University where she was awarded a choral exhibition and a 1st for her dissertation on the paintings of Arnold Schoenberg. She has lived in France and Italy where she worked for the eminent Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon and for the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice.