Symbols and stories: introducing saints in art

On this course you will explore what saints are, why they are represented in art and what meaning this brings to the work. You will learn how to recognise important saints and consider their roles and functions in Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque paintings, sculptures and mosaics. You will discover the attributes that identify them, their associated legends, the stories of their martyrdoms and the symbolically enriched visual narratives representing their lives and deaths in art.
We will look at some well-known saints such as St George, St John the Baptist and St Mary Magdalene, and some more unusual ones such as St Erasmus, St Margaret of Antioch and St Serapion. We will also consider key subjects in art that include saints, such as the Betrothal of the Virgin, the Visitation, the Depositon and the Lamentation. Artists and sculptors we will look at will include Giovanni Bellini, Bernini, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Donatello, Dürer, Jan van Eyck, Giotto, Grünewald, Georges de La Tour, Masaccio, Memling, Murillo, Piero della Francesca, Poussin, Raphael, Rubens, Tintoretto, Titian, Uccello, Velázquez, Rogier van der Weyden and Zurbarán. On the last afternoon of the course we will visit the National Gallery to consolidate what we have learned in front of actual artworks.