Art History Lecture w/ Tom Richards - The Nude Pt. 1 - Pathos

An Installment in the Art History related content on The FAA Collective Patreon

Dear Patrons,

This week we are excited to present you with a new art history lecture, the first in a three-part series on The Nude with Tom Richards, Assistant Director of The Florence Academy of Art. 

In this series we will journey through drawings, prints, paintings, and sculptures that depict the nude form and delve deeply into their emotional, psychological, and energetic qualities through a study of context, technique, and composition. This week’s lecture focuses predominately on sculptures by artists such as Michelangelo, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and Donatello; as well as on paintings by Titian, Giovanni Bellini, Jusepe de Ribera and others; exploring how composition, visual language, and technique can elicit and portray intense emotion, strengthening the narrative of the artwork. 

With Tom Richards we explore these artworks, the cultural essence behind them, and discuss how and why we are able to read them and feel particular emotions based on the positioning and composition of the sculptures and paintings.

We hope you thoroughly enjoy this lecture and are looking forward to the next two in the series, The Nude Pt. 2 - Energy and The Nude Pt. 3 - Desire.

Tom Richards is Assistant Director of the Florence Academy of Art, Principal Instructor at the academy, and a working artist based in the UK and Italy. To view his work please visit:

Instagram: @tominflorence 

Website: www.tawrichards.com 

FAA Gallery: www.florenceacademyofart.com/alumni–gallery/tom–richards

If you would like to further research the works from the lecture we have selected details on artists and artworks below, in the order presented in the lecture:

• Dying Niobid, found in the Gardens of Sallust in Rome, Italy (Palazzo Massimo)
• Print of the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian based on Jacopo Palma il Giovane by Aegidius II Sadeler.
• Dying Niobid c. 450 BC. Original marble in Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Jesus Christ and the Good Thief by Tiziano Vecellio (Titian) located at the Pinacoteca Nazionale Bologna in Bologna, Italy.
• Cimabue Crucifix located in the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy.
• Rondanini Pietà in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan, Italy.
• Allegory of Prudence by Titian located in the National Gallery, London, England.
• The dead Christ tended by angels, relief by Donatello located in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.
• Pietà by Giovanni Bellini located in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy.
• Saint Sebastian by Gian Lorenzo Bernini located in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain.
• Pietà by Jusepe de Ribera located in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain
• Lamentation over the dead Christ by Anthony van Dyck located in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium.
• Maquette of Saint Sebastian by Claude Dejoux (1732–1816)
• Marsyas located in the Louvre Museum, Paris, France.
• Apollo and Marsyas by Jusepe de Ribera located in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Bruxelles, Belgium.
• Drawing of Christ on the Cross by Michelangelo located at the British Museum in London, England.
• Rebellious Slave by Michelangelo at the Louvre, Paris, France.
• Dying Slave by Michelangelo at the Louvre, Paris, France.
• Laocoön and His Sons located at the Vatican Museums, Vatican City.
• Crouching Boy by Michelangelo located at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia.
• The Deposition by Raphael located in the Borghese Galleries in Rome, Italy.
• Pietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon by Enguerrand Quarton located in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
• Pietà by Michelangelo located in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.
• Palestrina Pietà by Michelangelo located in the Accademia di Belli Arti in Florence, Italy.
• The Deposition by Michelangelo located in the The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence, Italy.
• Detail of Pietà by Titian located in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, Italy.