Tag Archives: History

Short Films: ‘The Legend of Ñaymlap’ – An Andean Origin Story Of Peru (2022)

In the Denver Art Museum’s Art of the Ancient Americas galleries, we worked with Mexico City-based animators Hola Combo to create animations to help tell the origin stories that explain the relationship between ancient American communities and the their environment. For the Andes, we chose a story that loosely relates to the works on display. “The Legend of Ñaymlap” is an ancient story from Peru’s northern coastal communities and supposedly records the origins of the Sicán or Lambayeque dynasty (about 750–1375 CE). Within this origin story, there is a moral about the relationship between the deities and the land. As the ruler turns away from the deities, rain and floods devastate the land, starving the community.

Cotswolds View: History Of Temple Guiting (4K)

Temple Guiting is a few miles away from Guiting Power, and has a wonderfully grand church with historical connections to the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar were a Holy Order that many associate with the Crusades. The village is another spectacular hidden gem, a classic English village.

Views: ‘Seeing The Samurai’ With Japanese Armour

This fascinating Japanese armour was part of the first diplomatic gift between Japan and Britain. It is over 400 years old and one of the first documented Japanese armours to have been seen on British soil.

Learn more about this amazing object in this short film. See the armour in our exhibition Japan: Courts and Culture at The Queen’s Gallery, London from 8 April 2022 – 26 February 2023.

Tudor Architecture: A History Of 16th Century English Great Houses

Country Life’s architecture editor John Goodall looks at the architecture of the Tudor home.

In April 1521, Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, was urgently summoned from his seat at Thornbury, Gloucestershire, to appear before Henry VIII. The Duke could reasonably claim by birth to be the outstanding nobleman of his generation, boasting descent from Edward III and—arguably—possessed of a better claim to the throne than the Tudors.

He played the role of a great nobleman with proud perfection, both at home and in such public events as Henry VIII’s meeting with Francis I of France on the Field of Cloth of Gold, where he jousted and appeared in costume of fabulous expense. His birth and magnificence, however, also made him vulnerable to Court intrigue.

Exploring The Cotswolds: History Of Guiting Power

Guiting Power is one of the more famous hidden gems in the Cotswolds, nestling quietly in the English countryside.

The typical Cotswolds village of Guiting Power lies on a tributory of the river Windrush, its russet-coloured houses clustered round a sloping green. The buildings are restored by a self-help housing trust, initially set up for twelve cottages in 1934.

This delightful village is a fascinating example of the unconscious harmony created by Cotswold masons over the centuries. The cottages, shops and inns are all beautifully cared for. The Farmers Arms in the village and the Hollow Bottom Inn on the road leading to Winchcombe form welcome breaks on a number of glorious walks that can be taken in this area – north-westwards to Guiting Woods, south-eastwards down the Windrush Valley to Naunton, or south-westwards to Hawling.

Interview: “Time’s Witness” Author Rosemary Hill

In the 1740s the Scots were invading England and the wearing of tartan was banned. By the 1850s, Queen Victoria had built her Gothic fantasy in Aberdeenshire and tartan was everywhere. What happened in between?

In the second episode of her series on Romantic history, Rosemary Hill talks to Colin Kidd about the myths and traditions of Scottish history created in the 19th century, and the central role of Walter Scott in forging his country’s identity.

In the first episode of a new four-part series looking at the way history was transformed in the Romantic period, Rosemary Hill is joined by Tom Stammers to consider how an argument over the ‘improvement’ of Salisbury Cathedral in 1789 launched a new attitude to the past and its artefacts. Those sentiments were echoed in revolutionary France, where antiquarians risked the guillotine to preserve the monuments of the Ancien Régime.

Art History: ‘Poussin And The Dance’ (The Getty)

“One of the hopes of this exhibition was really to try to enlist visitors’ bodily experience in their understanding of these works of art that can sometimes seem a little bit like they live entirely in our heads, a little bit intellectualized.”

Although Nicolas Poussin is widely regarded as the most influential painter of the 17th century—the father of French classicism—he is not as well-known as many of his contemporaries, such as Rembrandt, Rubens, and Caravaggio. This is due, in part, to Poussin’s austere painting style and erudite subject matter, which often came from Roman history or the Bible. As a result, his work can sometimes feel a bit cold or remote to today’s audiences.

But earlier in his career, Poussin was inspired by dance. His paintings of wild revelry, filled with dancing satyrs and nymphs, emerged as his signature genre from that time. Poussin and the Dance, organized by the Getty Museum and the National Gallery in London, is the first exhibition to explore the theme of dance in Poussin’s work. By supplementing his delightful dancing pictures with new dance films by Los Angeles–based choreographers—this unique exhibition invites viewers into the world of Poussin in a fresh, relatable way.

In this episode, Emily Beeny, curator in charge of European paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and curator of Poussin and the Dance, joins Sarah Cooper, public programs specialist at the Getty, to delve into Poussin’s process and love of dance.

The exhibition, which received generous support from the Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation and is sponsored by City National Bank, is on view at the Getty Center through May 8, 2022.

Artists: Thao Nguyen Phan – ‘My Reflections On The History Of Vietnam’ (Tate)

Step inside the studio of artist Thao Nguyen Phan and discover her mesmerising, poetic work. Through video, paintings and sculpture, Phan explores the historical and ecological issues facing her homeland Vietnam, while speaking to broader ideas around tradition, ideology, ritual and environmental change.

Her recent projects have expanded on ‘the beauty and suffering’ of the Mekong River, which runs through Tibet, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia before meeting the sea on the coast of Vietnam. Phan’s latest moving image work First Rain, Brise Soleil continues this exploration of the Mekong, proposing a new way of being that draws on indigenous knowledge and respect for the ecosystem.

You can see Phan’s artworks on display at Tate St Ives until 2 May 2022 https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate…

The Cotswolds: A History Of Brockhampton, UK

Several miles away from Winchcombe, the lovely village of Brockhampton, with country house Brockhampton Court nestles in the greenery. It’s another classic Cotswold hidden gem.

Brockhampton is a small village east of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England. It forms part of the parish of Sevenhampton. In the 2001 census the parish had 349 people living in 157 households. The source of the River Coln, a tributary of the Thames, is close to the village. 

Views: OUMI KOHOU-AN JAPANESE GARDEN (4K)

Oumi Kohouan is a temple located in the tranquility of the mountains and greenery which consoles the spirit of Enshuu Kobori (1579 – 1647), Lord of Komuro Castle, known as one of the three great tea ceremony masters. Enshuu constructed Kohouan in Daitoku Ji (temple) in Kyoto, and this temple in contrast is called Ohmi Kohouan. The garden of this temple is well noted for using the natural environment applying Karesansui (dry garden style) and Chisen Kaiyuu Shiki Teien (Japanese garden style with layout of pond, miniature mountains, bridge, etc., where visitors can walk around). The garden is designated as scenic spot by the prefectural government and is known as the best spot for autumn leaves in Kohoku (Northern part of Lake Biwa)