What are Study Days?
Starting at 10:00am and finishing at 3:00pm, Study Days provide three one-hour lectures, linked to a chosen theme. Coffee is served between the morning sessions, and a two-course lunch before the afternoon session. Study Days are held in Oxford at Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, OX1 2JA, the home of the Oxford University Department of Continuing Education. The lecture theatre has up-to-date audio/visual equipment, including a hearing loop, and there is lift access.
The next Study Day
We are very pleased to announce that our next Study Day will be held on Wednesday 24th September and will be titled Caravaggio and his contemporaries.
The speaker will be Chantal Brotherton-Radcliffe. Chantal has an MA in History of Art from Edinburgh, and a PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years’ experience as a lecturer, she has taught at Sotheby’s Institute of Art on the MA in Fine and Decorative Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies and institutions in London, including the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an understanding of the making and the physical painting of art to her lectures and study sessions. She gave the very well-received TASO lecture Sumptuous Veronese in October 2024.
Lecture 1. Caravaggio: a rebel with a cause. Caravaggio – one of the best-known names of today. A man of proverbial rebelliousness, painting in a style which he knew would drop a bomb on the world he grew up in. He painted with startling immediacy, rejecting his peers’ obsession with highly artificial designs and stale quotations from earlier works of art. But he was also fortunate to be painting at a time when the Church wanted to harness the power of his art to enforce its message. This lecture considers the unlikely alliance of artist and patrons, considering why the establishment was prepared to accept him, outrageous lifestyle and all, and at the same time examining why his art is so powerful for us today.
Lecture 2. “Caravaggio is not the only artist”: a study of his contemporaries and their varied responses to his revolutionary art. What misfortune to be born at the same time as a dazzling personality like Michelangelo or Caravaggio. Perhaps we should pay more attention to the artists contemporary with, and learning from, such overpowering characters? This lecture repositions Caravaggio’s achievements in the period immediately following his brilliant but short career. Turning over the page of art history, it presents the splendid achievements of many artists such as the Gentileschi – father and daughter – the Spaniards Ribera and Velasquez, the Dutch Honthorst, the French artist de la Tour, and ultimately connects him to Rembrandt. It also asks, “What happened next?”- how was it that Caravaggio’s style came to lose its hold and that fashion in art began to change?
Lecture 3. Caravaggio and Not Caravaggio: how to tell the difference. How do dealers, auctioneers and museum staff determine whether a piece is by one painter or another? What are the key clues to look for when deciding who painted the picture? Artists before the 18th century usually worked with a number of assistants around them, who were trained to reproduce the style of the master as closely as possible. Although Caravaggio worked aggressively alone, his style was imitated by a large number of painters both during and after his life. How can we distinguish between master and copyists? In this lecture, we consider clues, weigh up their relative usefulness, and learn some of the tricks of the connoisseur. The lecture ends with a chance to try out your skills, identifying Caravaggio’s own hand from other painters in “Spot the Artist”.
Timetable
09:30-09:50 registration
10:00-11:00 lecture 1
11:00-11:30 break for coffee/tea and biscuits
11:30-12:30 lecture 2
12:30-14:00 break for lunch
14:00-15:00 lecture 3
Cost
£48 per person. This includes the three lectures, tea/coffee and biscuits in the common room and a two-course buffet lunch (vegetarian and other options available) in the dining room.
Buying a ticket
More information will be available in an email at the end of July to members. Ticket sales will open at 10:00am on Tuesday 5th August.
TASO is using TicketSource for the booking process. The tickets will be sold on a first-come first-served basis and paid for by card at the time of purchase. You will not need to print them at home as the organisers will have a list of participants. If you try and buy after all the tickets have been sold, you will be able to add your name at no charge to a waiting list via the TicketSource website. Booking will open at 10:00am on Tuesday 5th August and close at 10.00am on Monday 8th September.
Cancelling
You can cancel by sending an email to tasoxford@gmail.com. Make sure you put Study Day in the subject line of the email. You will not receive a refund, but we will put you in touch with the next person on the waiting list (if there is one). You can then make your own arrangements. TicketSource provides its own insurance against cancellation if you choose to pay extra for it, but you are recommended to read the small print carefully.
Previous Study Days
To read about our previous study days click here
How do I contact the organisers?
If you would like any more general information about Study Days, please contact our organisers – Sue Hine, Bridget Watkins and Ann Bevan – at tasoxford@gmail.com. Make sure you put Study Day in the subject line of the email.
Wyvern Area Study Days
We are part of The Arts Society Wyvern Area and our members, and those on the waiting list, are welcome to take part in Wyvern area events. Further details click here