Renaissance art at the National Gallery

Course Dates: 30/04/25 - 11/06/25
Time: 15:00 - 17:00
Location: Off Site
Tutors: 
Emma Rose Barber
This course explores the Making, the Locating and the Viewing of Renaissance paintings in the collection of the National Gallery. This course takes place at the National Gallery.
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Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00

Renaissance art at the National Gallery
  • Course Code: VB903
  • Dates: 30/04/25 - 11/06/25
  • Time: 15:00 - 17:00
  • Taught: Wed, Daytime
  • Duration: 6 sessions (over 7 weeks)
  • Location: Off Site
  • Tutor: Emma Rose Barber

Course Code: VB903

Wed, day, 30 Apr - 11 Jun '25

Duration: 6 sessions (over 7 weeks)

Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Centre for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.

What is the course about?

Renaissance visual culture was rich, intellectual, playful, political and was affected by many things such as style, taste, location and audience for the works of art. The fourteenth century onwards produced a variety of painting techniques and methods and artistic approaches. The making and method of a work of art could express changes and circumstances in artistic taste and expression. The appearance of a painting could also be governed by practical matters such as size and scale demanded, the location of the work and its type and the place where it was made (for example the type of setting and space: a chapel in a church; the type of art: an altarpiece, a predella panel, a bed-head or indeed by the town or city in which it was made. A patron's artistic choices and their cultural, social and intellectual interests will also have a bearing on the final appearance of the work.

This course will explore individual paintings in the collection of the National Gallery and consider how they reflect these varied factors to do with making, locating and viewing and the tastes and habits of the time.

Please note: the National Gallery is currently undergoing refurbishment of major spaces. This means some Renaissance artworks you may already be familiar with, may not be available for viewing.

What will we cover?

-A general overview of the Renaissance across Europe

-Painting methods and visual techniques in Renaissance paintings

-Concepts of artistic tradition, innovation and individuality

-Considerations around the original location and commission of the work/s

-Commissioning circumstances and requirements.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

-Describe some of the main features of Renaissance art

-Learn to distinguish different techniques and methods of the paintings

-Recognise key artistic methods associated with the era (for example, one-point linear perspective)

-Discuss the work of at least two Renaissance artists covered in the course.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This course is suitable for all levels.

You should be able to follow simple written and verbal instructions, demonstrations, hand-outs and health and safety information, and will be invited to take part in group discussion.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

The course will be taught with a mixture of guided gallery visits, group discussion and short group activities. Handouts will be provided by your tutor to support your learning on the course.

Museum/gallery-based courses take place during public access hours. Tutors are not able to control sound levels or behaviours of visitors outside of the course group. Unless you are a wheelchair user, and have confirmed access details with us (as levels of access can vary between galleries), you will need to be able to walk between exhibits and stand for some time while looking at them (you may bring your own portable stool if you have one, but we cannot guarantee access to any gallery stools.) If you feel you may be impacted by these environmental variations, please inform the department on humanities@citylit.ac.uk before the course begins, to discuss reasonable accommodations we can make to assist your learning in the museum space.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

You might wish to buy a notebook. You might wish to buy some of the books on any reading list given out in class.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

Art and imagination: from the Enlightenment to the Victorian age

Art and Identity: from the High Renaissance to the Reformation.

Emma Rose Barber

Emma Rose Barber is an art historian who has been teaching adults for over 25 years. She specialises in the visual culture of the Middle Ages and the Italian and Northern Renaissance. She has also taught classes on British art and has designed many different courses such as Last Suppers in Florence and Bosch, Breughel and the Surrealists. She has also given lectures on Women and Art. She used to run the history of art department at the British Institute in Florence and works for many institutions such as the Open University, Morley College and the department of continuing education at the University of Oxford. Her book – 111 Churches that you Shouldn’t Miss in London - is coming out in the autumn of 2020. She has spent the last five years with a Mini A-Z looking for churches to write about, many of which can be found on her blog – https://theitinerantchurchgoer.wordpress.com/. She is also writing a Cultural History of Wayfaring and writes articles for Selvedge Magazine.

Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.