Join
Dr Jenny Graham
in our latest Bitesize talk for a discussion on how artists model themselves on those who came before them.
The idea of ‘the artist’ as a recognisable personality, a cult figure, a genius, even, has evolved persistently since the Renaissance. Jenny will explore how living artists from different periods have modelled themselves on those that came before, on the painters of the past. These emulations were not just about the style of the so-called ‘old masters’ but about the details of their lives and character traits to be gleaned from art biographies. Beginning with the influence of Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists (1568) and continuing up to the present, Jenny will examine the key features of the ‘life-and-work’ genre, as well as its problems and limitations. Topics to be explored include the ‘studio’ painting, the rise of the artist monograph, and ‘the artist’ in poetry, the novel and film.
Dr Jenny Graham is an Associate Professor in Art History at the University of Plymouth and an expert in Renaissance studies. She is the author of Inventing Van Eyck: The Remaking of an Artist for the Modern Age (Oxford and New York, 2007) and has written and lectured widely in this field, including an essay for The Cambridge Companion to the Pre-Raphaelites. Jenny’s current research is focused on the afterlife of Vasari’s famous biographies in the 19th century, with recent publications looking at John Ruskin’s response to Vasari’s Lives, and the cult of Fra Filippo Lippi in the 19th century. Jenny is a regular speaker for the National Gallery, London.
Date: Wednesday 30 April 2025
Time: 13:00 – 13:45
Venue: The Levinsky Gallery
Ticket information: Free, booking required
Time: 13:00 – 13:45
Venue: The Levinsky Gallery
Ticket information: Free, booking required
