Sunday, November 25, 2012

Donatello's Feast of Herod

I pursue my efforts to give myself, even at this late stage, a semblance of an art education thanks to the  wonderful Khan Academy. I am very fond of this little lecture on The Feast of Herod for two reasons, neither of them connected with the intrinsic merit of the bronze panel on which I would hesitate to pronounce.

Firstly, and most frivolously, the subject is a particularly gruesome one, reminiscent of another artist of about the same period, Damien Hirst.

Secondly, there is an absolutely glorious moment right at the very end of the lecturette which epitomises the sense of joy and commitment that the two speakers, Beth Harris and Steven Zucker, bring to the whole series. How lucky and blessed are they who possess a consuming and passionate interest in life, and who possess the gift of conveying and sharing this interest.

http://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-history/art-history-1400-1500-renaissance-in-italy-and-the-north/v/donatello--feast-of-herod-1423-27

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