Art and Colour - Day 2 via Zoom with recording. Renaissance Colour: Innovation, Theory and Practice

Please select this event if you would like to book Day 2 of the 2026 Jean Bolton Memorial Study course presented by The Arts Society Hampshire and Isle of Wight Area online only via Zoom.

The course is entitled Colour in Art and is as follows:

Colour has a profound impact on our perceptions, attention, experiences and emotions making it a powerful element in life and in the arts. This series of lectures seeks to explore the role and impact of colour in different periods of history and geographical locations as well as identifying the sources, composition and development of artistic materials. We will also explore the symbolism, meaning and spiritual significance of colour. Examples will demonstrate the power of colour to attract and focus attention, express and impact emotion, intensify experience, and communicate non-verbally. The series will also explore the varying status and importance of colour verses drawing and line and variations including: vibrant v. muted, oil pigments v. egg tempera, watercolour and fresco and the development of materials over the historical periods. In some sessions attention will also be given to the particular role of Venice as a supplier of pigments and source of important developments. Links between the concept of colour in visual, musical and auditory art forms will be made in some sessions. The 5 study days will cover the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods in Western European Art together with the Nineteenth century in Western and Eastern European Art.

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Friday 6th November 2026

Dr Paula Nuttall - Renaissance Colour: Innovation, Theory and Practice

What distinguishes Renaissance colour from that of the Middle Ages? Although pigments were mostly the same as in the earlier period, the expectations of painting, and its colouristic potential, changed significantly between 1400 and 1600. Responding to the new emphasis on the ‘imitation of nature’ i.e. the lifelike representation of light, form and space, artists such as Van Eyck and Piero della Francesca explored new ways of employing and applying colour, aided by technical developments, notably oil painting. Concomitantly, the evolution of art theory prompted new approaches to colour, beginning with Alberti in 1430s Florence, through to Leonardo’s almost colourless tonal unity (sfumato) and its polar opposite, the ‘unnatural’ colour of Mannerist painters such as Pontormo; and the highly consequential sixteenth-century Italian debate on the merits of ‘colour’ versus ‘drawing’, exemplified by the paintings of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian.

We shall also consider Renaissance colour in a wider context, including the relationship between pigments and trade, and Venice’s special status as a hub. How did people experience colour in the everyday, for instance in churches, in a period that saw a shift from lavish late Gothic polychromy to colouristic restraint? How was colour used to make social distinctions through dress? How did painters use colour in composition? How do pigments react and change over time, affecting how we see Renaissance paintings today?

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Fees

Tickets are £15 per household for this day. The recording of the day will be available for 7 days after the live event.

Again this year we are offering a reduced total fee of £70 (a saving of £5 overall) when you select all 5 days as a bundle. If you are interested in this option please return to the Ticket Tailor box office and select the second option.

The day will run from 10.30am - 3.30pm.

The course is open to anyone - you do not have to be a member of The Arts Society to attend. Feel free to pass the details of any of our events on to others you think may be interested.

All proceeds from this event go to support art projects in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Area,

For more details of our events please go to https://theartssocietyhantsiowarea.org.uk/Special/Special.aspx

Once you have purchased your ticket you will receive confirmation by return, including the Zoom link to this day. The organiser will send a reminder with further relevant information on the Monday before each event.