San Antonio College Library

The feminine form has inspired artists for thousands of years-but have the results done justice or injustice to women? What specifically does the history of sculpture tell us about attitudes toward womanhood and ideas of feminine beauty? British art critic Waldemar Januszczak addresses those questions in this challenging, eye-opening program. After tracing the representation of women from the prehistoric Venus of Willendorf and Venus de Milo to Marc...

In this program, Alastair Sooke goes to caves, villas, and the underwater ruins of an emperor's pleasure palace to find examples of passion and regal spectacle in Roman art. Sooke explains the political significance of monuments like the Arch of Titus and statues of emperors as gods, then explores painted celebrations of eroticism. The legacy of Hadrian - his art collection at Tibur Villa, the iconic Antinous Mondragone, the rebuilt Pantheon - is...

The Courtauld's collection of Renaissance art is one of the most important in Britain and includes works by the likes of Bernado Daddi as well as an enigmatic depiction of the Crucifixion by Sandro Botticelli. The collection is also strong in northern European art of this period, and the jewel of the early Renaissance displays is the Lamentation Triptych by the Master of Flemalle. The triptych is now considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces...

This episode looks at the life and work of the 15th century Italian artist Piero della Francesca. With only 26 surviving works Piero has been seen as one of the mystery men of western art. But his calm, monumental, often enigmatic images mark an important step in the development of Renaissance art. This fascinating film reveals the man behind the myth, an artist that paved the way for likes of Leonardo and Michelangelo. In his typically enthusiastic...

German artist Albrecht Dürer established his workshop in the city of Nuremberg, laying the foundations for the northern Renaissance. Dürer's greatness lay in his ability to capture an unparalleled degree of reality in his art through woodcuts, etchings, and oil painting. Among his most accomplished works in oil the first individual figure self-portraits in the history of art. Like his Italian contemporary Leonardo, Dürer carefully studied the...

Of all the great artists, Caravaggio seems to speak most intensely to the modern world. He lived a brief and tumultuous life, mocking authority and even murdering a man; he spent four years on the run, a fugitive from justice, but he always painted, bringing religious art to life in paintings so powerful and naturalistic that some saw them as miracles in themselves. In the program Tim Marlow looks at paintings such as The Musicians- a melancholy celebration...

Mary Cassatt is one of only a handful of women artists up to the beginning of the twentieth century who have managed to forge a reputation in the male dominated story of art history. She was an American by birth but lived in France for sixty years and helped to develop the first great movement in Modern art - Impressionism. In works such as The Boating Party, Cassatt articulates her bold, vivid vision.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's enigmatic, humorous, sometimes grotesque paintings remain among the most distinctive examples of Netherlandish art. Though he had traveled to Italy, Bruegel turned his back on the popular Italianate styles of the time and developed traditional Netherlandish genres of painting. His paintings and etchings served as windows into other worlds, illustrating the mountains and rivers of far off lands. Bruegel lived through a period...

El Greco's paintings marked a radical departure from the naturalism and careful modeling of the Renaissance, and as result were ignored for close to 300 years. Domenicos Theotocopolous, dubbed by the Spaniards 'El Greco', was born in the Greek Island of Crete and was trained to paint in the Byzantine style. Throughout the course of his artistic career El Greco's style varied enormously. The result was a highly individualistic style of painting. Though...

In this program, host Griff Rhys Jones goes to India in search of exquisite, traditionally made textiles. Can he solve the mystery of an extraordinary Indian floor cloth kept in England for over 300 years? Who made it, and does the skill with which the fabric was created still exist? In the state of Gujarat, renowned throughout history for textiles, Jones goes off the beaten track to the towns and villages of the North West plains and discovers how...