On the Arts

Last Judgments
Last judgments were a theme of many painters before Michelangelo 1536-1541 did his fresco in the Sistine Chapel. After he finished very few artists tried it. A tour of works by Michelangelo, Signorelli, Giotto, and Vasari.

Parma Cathedral
In Parma, Italy, the home of Verdi and Parma ham, is an eye popping golden yellow fresco in the cathedral.

Stratford 2008
Julian Porter’s diary of the 2008 season at Stratford: “A quick dust over of our cultural omelette.”

Stratford 2005
Julian Porter’s review of the 2005 season at Stratford.

Caravaggio (1571-1610)
Born Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio is one of the foremost Baroque artists, arguably the finest painter of his time, certainly a painter who communicates with the modern viewer.

The Taking of Christ
This colourful Caravaggio of Judas kissing Jesus has been restored to vibrancy at Dublin’s National Gallery.

Summer Reading
Julian Porter reviews the books on his summer reading list.

Paolo Veronese (1528–1588)
Veronese’s Christ in the House of Levi caused consternation and the painting was prosecuted in the time of the Inquisition.

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
In 1877 London, England was dominated in social circles by two electric gentlemen — Oscar Wilde and James McNeill Whistler, born in America, trained in Paris Bohemian art life and a spitting image of Mark Twain.

The Frick Collection
One of the stately rooms in this mansion on 82nd and 5th contains the greatest clutch of Renaissance European Art in all of America.

Spain
On the Spanish civil war and Picasso’s Guernica.

Francisco Goya (1746-1828)
Goya and The Shootings of May 3rd, 1808 at the Prado in Madrid.

Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
Works by Diego Velàzquez, Caravaggio, Titian, El Greco, Rogier van der Weyden, Andrea Mantegna, Anthony Van Dyck, Hieronymous Bosch andPeter Paul Rubens.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Works by Caravaggio, Pieter de Hooch, Paul Cézanne, Emile Nolde, John Singer Sargent, Titian, Ducio di Buoninsegna, Lucas Cranach and Robert Campin.