01 Mar 2011
A round of cheers for Michael Fried, please!
I have just finished reading Michael Fried’s The Moment of Caravaggio published last year. What a book! A compilation of his A.W. Mellon lectures at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC he applies to Caravaggio the same kind of th
15 Feb 2011
Recent Reading
If anyone noticed the reduced activity on the site over the past ten days, forgive me. I was on a beach where, in between downpours, I got the chance to catch up on some reading. Three books in particular are worth recommending:
John Sp
09 Dec 2010
Exit the King
Anyone wondering why artists represent themselves as kings – why Fouquet painted himself in 1450 as Charles VII or Ingres as Napoleon or even Lucian Freud as Queen Elizabeth II - might like to read Eugène Ionesco&rsqu
23 Nov 2010
Art and Eckhart
“Knowledge of Meister Eckhart’s work is indispensable to the understanding of medieval art, even though he has been almost totally neglected by those who like to call themselves ‘historians of art.’”
So wro
10 Nov 2010
Gauguin’s Method
I was reading about Gauguin today and his own explanation of The Vision after the Sermon: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel. It struck me that if I was trying to explain this image I would say the same: that the figures in the foreground represent
21 Oct 2010
Inner Tradition Reading List
Here, as promised, is a highly subjective Introductory Reading List for those who would like to learn more about The Inner Tradition, that strain of thought common to mystics in all religions that believes divinity is inside us, not out. It is i
19 Oct 2010
Wisdom in the Chilean Dark
Everyone has their own memorable moment in the story of the Chilean miners. Mine came after the first few of the buried men arrived on the surface. One declared in translation: “Underground, I was with God and the Devil. They fought each o
28 Aug 2010
Meaning in Architecture
The theory presented on this website, that there is meaning in visual art hidden from view but plainly apparent to a creative mind, is paralleled in architecture by the little-known idea that buildings can have meaning too. Today we are so convi
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