Why did Paul Cézanne describe Delacroix’s palette as ‘the most beautiful in France’? Professor Paul Smith explores Delacroix’s theories on colour and how his approach had a profound influence on the artists associated with the rise of modern art.

Play Delacroix's Colour.

Dr Rosie Dias has worked with staff at Compton Verney to create an exhibition displaying the history of the Shakespeare Gallery which opened in 1789 on Pall Mall. Using Shakespeare as a vehicle for the development of a national form of history painting, the print publisher John Boydell commissioned prominent painters, sculptors and printmakers of the day, including George Romney, Henry Fuseli and James Northcote, to produce works depicting scenes from all of Shakespeare's plays. The exhibition includes examples of this work, as well as a digital reconstruction of The Shakespeare Gallery as it looked in 1796.

Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology: a day seminar in celebration of the work of Dr Richard K. Morris

Richard Morris (1943- 2015) lectured at the University of Warwick in the Department of History of Art for 27 years during which time he taught countless students and demonstrated his breadth of knowledge in architectural analysis. He is best known for his work on the Middle Ages and his creation of the unique 10,000 item strong mouldings archive. This conference will celebrate the work and contribution of Richard Morris through an exploration of topics, themes and places that were of particular relevance to his core interests by his contemporaries, those whom he taught and influenced and new scholars reassessing the architecture of the late Middle Ages. It will present new research with an aim of sparking fresh debate and, in line with Richard’s own greatest passion, to enable a wide range of scholars and students to participate in active and positive exchange.

This conference has been organised by

• The British Archaeological Association
• The Ancient Monuments Society
• The Courtauld Institute of Art

Saturday 20 February 2016 - 9:45 am - 6:00 pm

Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN. 

Professor Michael Hatt has co-organised an event about the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and Britain, which will take place at the Danish Academy in Rome and the British School at Rome next week. The seminar, convened with Lene Østermark-Johansen from the University of Copenhagen and Margrethe Floryan from Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen, brings together scholars from Denmark, Britain, Italy and the United States.

Professor Michael Rosenthal will speak on 'Augustus Earle: Seeing Straight' at the Tate Britain conference Artist and Empire: New Dynamics which begins this week.

Tate Britain’s major conference marks the opening of the exhibition Artist and Empire. Scholars, curators and artists from around Britain and the world consider art created under the conditions of the British Empire, its aftermath, and its future in museum and gallery displays.

Recent PhD graduate and WATE award winner Ann Haughton has an article in the latest edition of Exchanges: the Warwick Research Journal. The article, 'Myths of Male Same-Sex Love in the Art of the Italian Renaissance', can be read online in the Exchanges journal.

Reference: Exchanges: the Warwick Research Journal, [S.l.], v. 3, n. 1, p. 65-95, sep. 2015. ISSN 2053-9665.

Congratulations to Matteo Carpiniello, Fabio Franz and Delia Moldovan on securing CADRE funding for their PhD studies.

The Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence for Postgraduate Research students (WATE PGR) give students and staff the opportunity to celebrate excellent teaching by postgraduate research students. The award recognises teachers who have motivated, inspired and engaged their students, and created a supportive learning environment.

Ann has made an exceptional impact on our students’ learning experience at first and second year level... she excels in transforming the tough and the dull in academia into the understandable and the enjoyable. As the most recent comments from first-year evaluations reveal, she inspires, encourages, and builds student confidence particularly in seminars.

The Study Abroad Team will be holding four open information sessions this term. Places are limited to 150. To find out more about the sessions and book a seat go to the Study Abroad Events Calendar.

RETHINKING ALLEGORY
The Warburg Institute
30 October 2015

Over the past several decades allegory has emerged as a prominent subject across a range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Allegory is all that traditional scholarship has said it is: a rhetorical figure, a mode of literary and artistic representation, a religious as well as secular hermeneutic practice. It is, however, much more than that: a protean cultural force which has left a deep imprint on the Western tradition, and whose full impact is only beginning to come to light. Hosted by the Warburg Institute, one of the key sites for the study of the allegorical tradition, this colloquium aims to showcase some of the most exciting research in contemporary allegory studies and further the vibrant current debate on the subject.

Keynote: Brenda Machosky (University of Hawai'i - West O'ahu). Speakers: Andreas Beyer (University of Basel), Matthias Bruhn (Humboldt University, Berlin), Jason Crawford (Union University), Anthony Ossa-Richardson (Queen Mary, University of London), Kristen Poole (University of Delaware), Michael Silk (King's College, University of London).

Organisers: Karen Lang (Warwick) and Vladimir Brljak (Cambridge).

Visit the conference web page for more information.

Members of the Department have worked with Compton Verney and the Hart Silversmith Trust to create a new exhibition: The Hart Silversmiths: A Living Tradition. The exhibition explores the work of silversmith George Henry Hart (1882-1973) and three generations of the Hart family, all of whom continue Arts and Crafts traditions. Much of the research for the exhibition was carried out by Dr. Sarah Walford and undergraduate student Pip Shergold. The exhibition is related to the research project Ashbee and After: Drawing in the Silversmiths’ Workshop, directed by Professor Michael Hatt. The exhibition closes 13th September 2015.

Closing date: 1st May 2015.