Art Historian Dr Matthew Whyte offers a new lecture series, which takes the audience on an art-filled journey through the often beautiful, sometimes scandalous, and always fascinating moments in the development of Western civilisation. See series info »

4. The Early Renaissance: A New Art

What happens when devout Christianity meets the revival of pagan antiquity, and when the virtues of modesty and spirituality clash with the desire for wealth and status? In the immediate wake of the Black Death, Europe, particularly Italy, witnessed the answer to this question. The Renaissance is known today as a period of unprecedented intellectual, scientific, and artistic advancement. However, it was also a period rife with tensions and contradictions: Christian and pagan, rich and poor, piety and self-aggrandisement, artistic freedom and patronal control. We explore these tensions and innovations through the complex and beautiful art of Donatello, Masaccio, Botticelli, and more, examining their radical depiction of the human form, their reinvention of illusionistic space, and their marriage of Classical form with Christian faith. We also witness the rise of banking families like the infamous Medici, who used art to disguise their fierce ambition behind a curtain of piety.

1. Tues 17 Sept
The Ideal Body in Ancient Greece & Rome

2. Tues 24 Sept
Christian Triumph in Late Antiquity

3. Tues 1 Oct
Medieval Europe: A ‘Dark’ Age?

4. Tues 8 Oct
The Early Renaissance: A New Art

5. Tues 15 Oct
Real or Vision? The Northern Renaissance

6. Tues 22 Oct
The High Renaissance & the ‘Genius Artist’