What Is a Painting?
Episodes
29 episodes
Episode 1 - A Three Dimensional Object
What is the physical structure of a painting, and how does that relate to how a painting looks in person? A look at Rembrandt's Aristotle Looking at a Bust of Homer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Episode 2 - A Mystery Novel
What clues about a painting's materials and history can you find just by looking? A look at Botticelli's Birth of Venus in the Uffizi Galleries, Florence.
Episode 3 - A Surface with Paint on It
How have modern painters explored what a painting can be? A look at the work of Frank Stella.
Episode 4 - A Vision of Eternity
How did European painters and patrons before about 1400 understand what paintings were and how did that affect how they were made? A look at Early Italian images of the Madonna and Child.
Episode 5 - Memories of the Forest
How does a tree become a support for a painting, and how does the memory of its life in the forest affect that support? A look at Early Italian panels.
Episode 6 - Sinew and Stone
Episode 6 - How did painters turn natural materials from animal and mineral sources into the perfect preparation for their panel paintings? A look at Early Italian gesso grounds.
Episode 7 - Half-Solidified Sunlight
How were the gold backgrounds of Early Italian paintings created, and how have they changed over time?
Episode 8 - Egg and Bright Earth
What are the components of the paint used by Early Italian painters, how did they use it, and how has it changed over the centuries?
Episode 9 - An Imitation of Luxury
How did Early Italian painters combine gold and paint to imitate luxury textiles?
Episode 10 - New Again
How do modern and contemporary paintings reflect some of the physical aspects of Early Italian paintings? Some thoughts about engaged frames and the use of gold leaf.
Episode 11 - A Survivor of the Flood, Part 1
What's the story of the Cimabue Crucifix at Santa Croce, Florence? From the thirteenth century until 1966.
Episode 12 - A Survivor of the Flood, Part 2
What's the story of the Cimabue Crucifix at Santa Croce, Florence? From 1966 until now.
Episode 13 - A Dark Mirror
How do Early Netherlandish paintings differ from Early Italian paintings - in how they look, what they mean, and what they are?
Episode 14 - More Memories of the Forest
Why are the oak panels of Early Netherlandish paintings good supports, and what can they tell us?
Episode 15 - An Elaborated Sketch
How were the underdrawings of Early Netherlandish paintings made and how can we see them?
Episode 16 - Translucent Color
How does the use of different media affect the look of paint?
Episode 17 - A Changing Landscape
How did Early Netherlandish painters use different materials to create different kinds of landscapes, and how have those paintings changed over time?
Episode 18 - A Complex Whole: The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 1
What is the Ghent Altarpiece, how was it created, and what changes did it undergo in the first 125 years of its existence?
Episode 19 - The Sum of Many Parts: The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 2
What happened to the Ghent Altarpiece between 1566 and 1934?
Episode 20 - A Missing Piece: The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 3
Where is the Just Judges panel of the Ghent Altarpiece?
Episode 21 - A Copy of a Copy: The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 4
What's the story of the painting of the Just Judges panel now on display in Ghent?
Episode 22 - A Little Cloth
What is the canvas of a canvas painting, and why and how was it used?
Episode 23 - Glue and Blues
How does paint made from animal glue and different blue pigments work, look, and age?