Type of study: Visual arts

Join the London Literary Salon at the National Gallery in London to look at masterpieces by Piero della Francesca, Antonello da Messina, Canaletto, Turner, Monet and Degas. Sean Forester, a classically trained painter and literary discussion leader, will help you to think about form and content in paintings: how are drawing, colour, composition and brushwork used by the artist? What do you feel when looking at a particular picture and why? What ideas are visually expressed here? 

The artworks we will view are displayed in a Padlet here. As we look at paintings in the gallery we will explore Classicism, Romanticism and Impressionism. What characterises these different approaches? How do individual artists fit into these broader movements?

This afternoon study will last for three-and-a-half hours, with approximately two hours in the gallery followed by tea and cake and group discussion. Our group of no more than eight will meet at 1.00 pm at the Getty Entrance of the National Gallery and then move to the Crypt at St. Martins in the Fields for refreshment and discussion. 

JOINING DETAILS:

• Single meeting in-person study at the National Gallery, led by Sean Forester
• Thursday 18 April 2024, 1.00-4.30 pm
• The paintings we will study: Piero della Francesca Baptism of Christ; Antanello da Mesina Portrait of a Man and St. Jerome in his Study; Canaletto The Doge’s Palace and the Riva degli Schiavoni and Piazza San Marco; Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire; Monet The Thames below Westminster and Water Lilies; Degas La Coiffure.
• £60.00 (to include background notes, as well as refreshments at the Crypt Café in St Martin in the Fields)

Ancient Greek literature and art are a foundation of Western culture. Yet they feel distant from us – foreign, strange and long ago. Homer’s epics, Sophocles’ tragedies, Plato’s dialogues, the sculptures of Praxiteles: why do they remain so compelling today?

Join us at the London Literary Salon as we explore this question. In her essay On Not Knowing Greek Virginia Woolf argues that Ancient Greece resists translation, and that its language, culture, and people remain, in a sense, unknowable. Nevertheless, she shows how they contain universal experiences that speak to us with powerful force. Similarly, in Archaic Torso of Apollo the modern German poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s has a dramatic encounter with a fragment from the ancient world. 

Facilitated by Sean Forester, a classically trained painter and literary discussion leader, and Karina Jakubowicz, Virginia Woolf scholar and lecturer at Literature Cambridge, the aim of this study is to bring together literature and art, the ancient and the modern, and the men and women of the LitSalon community for fun and eclectic afternoon. It is likely to be of particular interest for those who have studied Woolf before, but no previous experience is necessary. The event will also serve as an introduction to classical studies the LitSalon will offer in the future.

Following a two-hour discussion at a convenient location on Gower Street, a short walk away from the British Museum, the Parthenon sculptures await us. After visiting the museum participants are invited to join Karina and Sean at a local pub for food, drinks and continuing conversation.

JOINING DETAILS:

• Two-hour in-person study led by Sean Forester and Karina Jakubowicz, Saturday 20 April, 1.00-3.00 pm BST, Gower Street, London WC1 (regrettably this venue is not wheelchair accessible)
• Readings Virginia Woolf’s On Not Knowing Greek and Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke
• £60.00 (please note that we will provide tea and coffee but not lunch)
• Participants are encouraged to visit the Parthenon sculptures at the British Museum following the meeting (admission is free) and invited to join Karina and Sean at Truckles of Pied Bull Yard if they would like to continue the conversation.