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 »

Week 1: The Baroque in Italy: Sacred & Profane

Discover the turmoil, tenacity, and triumphalism of the Counter Reformation in Baroque Rome in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a time of radical innovation and considerable turmoil in the history of art. Artists such as Caravaggio and Gianlorenzo Bernini navigated the strict rules placed on art by the Council of Trent to restore the church’s legitimacy after the Reformation. In this context, stunningly beautiful and spiritually stirring sculpture and architecture became as familiar, relevant, and responsive to the environment as the scandalous and often violent imagery associated with Caravaggio, whose unprecedented style caused a sensation in painting which reverberated across Europe.

1. Tues 18 March
The Baroque in Italy: Sacred & Profane

2. Tues 25 March
The Dutch Golden Age

3. Tues 1 April
Envisioning Status: Baroque Spain & France

4. Tues 8 April
The Art of the Enlightenment

5. Tues 15 April
Romanticism & the Triumph of Spirit

6. Tues 22 April
Canova in Cork: Our Collection & Artists in the 19th Century