All Episodes

During the long years of the Dark Ages, the flickering flame of art was kept alive principally by the church. While all around was dark, the great masters of Medieval art such as Giotto and Van Eyck worked within the confines of the religious world and laid the seeds for the Renaissance which was to follow. This episode features the work of Masaccio, Uccello, Van Ecyk, Giotto and Botticelli.

The Renaissance is the remarkable story of the age in which the techniques and inspirations which had been lost since the classical era were rediscovered and reintroduced into the world of art. This episode features the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Holbein and Michaelangelo.

Once the world of art had rediscovered the power to create great works, the new possibilities were taken and expanded by the Dutch masters in the North and by the likes of Valasquez and Caravaggio in the South. New limits of realism and expression were found. Featuring the work of Valasquez, Caravaggio, Frans Hals, Rembrandt and Rubens, this entertaining and educational program also includes commentary and analysis by noted art historians of the Baroque and Neoclassical periods.

Following the development of non-secular art in the seventeenth century, the world of art in the eighteenth century assumed a more decorative role with a greater emphasis on pastoral themes. A strong classical influence also emerged which can be traced in the work of Titian and Rubens. This episode features the work of Watteau, Boucher, Hogarth, Gainsborough and Reynolds, exploring such masterpieces as the Rake’s Progress and the Death of Marat.

As the strict classical disciplines of the eighteenth century began to fade, two very different movements came to prominence, from Constable and Turner influenced by nature, to the stirring works of Goya and Géricault. This episode explores the genius of works such as The Third of May and The Haywain. Romanticism has had a profound impact on the history of western art, and its effects are analyzed by leading art historians who add to our understanding of one of the most popular periods in art.

Never was a world so completely turned upside down as with the arrival of the Impressionist School. Cezanne, Seurat and Manet all produced inspirational and, at the time, even controversial works which completely revolutionized thinking in the world of art. These brave new visions were the inspiration for all that was to follow. This episode also features the work of Van Gogh and Degas, and explores such masterpieces as The Sunflowers, La Grande Jette and The Dancing Class.