The Private Life of a Masterpiece (2001)
Private Life of a Masterpiece is a BBC arts documentary series that tells the stories behind great works of art reaching from the Renaissance to modern art. David by Michelangelo, The Scream by Edvard Munch, The Third of May 1808 by Francisco Goya, The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn, Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso, The Annunciation by Jan van Eyck, ... The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer. For behind the beautiful canvases and sculptures are tales of political revolution, wartime escapes, massive ego clashes, social scandal, financial wrangling and shocking violence. The series reveals the full and fascinating stories behind famous works of art, not just how they came to be created, but also how they influenced others and came to have a life of their own in the modern world.
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Episode 1 - Caravaggio: The Taking Of Christ
Release Date: 2009-04-11 -
Episode 2 - Sandro Botticelli: The Mystic Nativity
Release Date: 2009-12-25Botticelli's Mystic Nativity is a painting that lovers of mystery fiction should love: a Renaissance masterpiece crammed with cryptic symbols disguising a dangerous message. But it is much more besides. Painted in 1500 by one of the most famous artists of all time, it is a supremely beautiful vision of maternal love, earthly harmony, and heavenly ecstasy. But the painting also has a dark side. It was inspired by the preaching of Savonarola, the puritanical friar who held Florence in his grip in the 1490s. He purged the city of non-Christian art, destroying it on the notorious Bonfire of the Vanities. But he himself met a violent, fiery end, and Botticelli had to carefully hide the Mystic Nativity's dangerous meaning. Only a recent chance discovery by a scholar fully unlocked the painting's message. The painting was the first Botticelli work to arrive in Britain, brought here in 1799 by a wealthy young owner of slave plantations. It would have cost him just a few pounds at a time when Botticelli's name was all but forgotten. But before long, the painting would be on display to an audience of millions at the world's biggest ever art exhibition held in industrial Manchester.