NEIL McGregor’s very successful book The History of the World in 100 Objects, could very well be companioned by A History of the World in 100 Battles.
Our speaker Sarah Stopford opened her lecture with reference to a crowded, colourful and triumphant picture, The Death of Major Pierson, which shows a successful vanquishing of French invaders, in Royal Square in Jersey.
With British Redcoats triumphant, British flags aloft, the corpse on its way to immortality, the sense of glorious war is palpable.
Fast forward some 150 years to Picasso’s Guernica.
There is no colourful celebration here, just destruction and terror.
This misery had been shown in the First World War pictures of Paul Nash, and would continue to be the mood felt in war paintings thereafter.
Mrs Stopford’s lecture was excellent, full of information cogently imparted.
Her images were superb, illustrating precisely the title of her talk 1780-2010 Patriotism and Protest.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday, November 11 at 2.15pm in St Francis Church, and will be about that supreme master, Michelangelo.
Do come along as a visitor, and share in this artistic feast.
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