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 3: Envisioning Status: Baroque Spain & France

As Italian artists pursued new ways of capturing the extravagance and power of the Catholic Church in the Counter Reformation, Spanish painters created a quiet, contemplative, and almost ascetic vision of conservative religiosity. However, other powers were also at play, as a destabilised monarchy sought to regain an image of power under King Philip IV, famously employing Diego Velázquez who set an entirely new standard for how a painter can secure the image and power of a nation. As the Baroque period progressed, this search for power and status brought about a new movement among French artists known as Rococo. An emerging bourgeoisie, tired of the moralising tone of religious art, sought out images which reflected their lives, replete as they were with the pursuit of leisure and love. This light, delicate, and sometimes indulgent style, however, was not without its critics, who began to see declare it ‘a feast for the senses but a famine for the soul.’

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