From canvas to canon: Six texts that shaped art history
- Past - Tuesday, 10 March 2026
- Tuesday, 17 March 2026
- Tuesday, 24 March 2026
- Tuesday, 31 March 2026
- Tuesday, 7 April 2026
- Tuesday, 14 April 2026
Enrol
| Standard: | £90 |
| Concessions: | £85.50 |
Please book a ticket to access the event. You will receive an E-ticket with instructions on how to access your online events, films and resources via your National Gallery account.
Please note, only one ticket can be booked per account.
Concessions are for full-time students, jobseekers, and disabled adults.
About
How did art history get written?
Join Dr Amy Mechowski in this six-week online course exploring the ground-breaking books and essays that rewrote the rules of art.
Each week spotlights a single text, from Giorgio Vasari’s ‘Lives of the Artists’ (1550/1568), which laid the foundations of art history, to John Berger’s ‘Ways of Seeing’ (1972), a radical rethink of how power, politics and society shape what we see.
Along the way we’ll also consider Charles Baudelaire on modern life, Ernst Gombrich on the canon of art, Walter Benjamin on reproduction and technology, and Linda Nochlin’s feminist challenge to art history’s assumptions.
Featuring insights from guest academics and contemporary artists, the course explores why these ideas still matter – and how they continue to influence the way we look at art today.
No reading required – just come along, watch, listen and discover the ideas that changed art history.
'The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects' (1550/1568)
In this first session, we will examine the importance of Vasari’s work as a formative text of art history – shaping how artists, artistic progress and the idea of genius have been understood since the Renaissance. After the break, Dr Jenny Graham will take a deeper dive into Vasari's invention of 'The Artist', a blueprint that is still with us today.
'The Painter of Modern Life' (1863)
This week, we will consider the significance of Charles Baudelaire’s essay, ‘The Painter of Modern Life’ (1863), in defining modernity and rethinking the role of the artist as an observer and interpreter of contemporary urban experience. After the break, contemporary artist Emma Cousin will address how these ideas – exploring the psychology of living in a modern world and feelings of connection and disconnection through a sense of self and emotional bonds – resonate with her artistic practice.
‘The Story of Art’ (1950)
In the third week, we will begin by exploring the significance of Ernst Gombrich’s book 'The Story of Art' (1950) in shaping popular and academic understandings of art history and its grand narrative. After the break, we will hear from contemporary artist Maria Gimeno as she speaks about her internationally acclaimed performance that honours the memory of women artists by placing them back into the most famous of all art history textbooks.
‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ (1935)
This week we will examine how Walter Benjamin’s essay ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ has had an impact on how we understand art, painting, technology and the modern experience of image and image making. Contemporary artist Clare Strand, whose work interrogates questions of circulation, transmission and distribution, production and reproduction, will address how much Benjamin anticipated and how much he could not have foreseen.
'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' (1971)
In this session, we will consider the transformative impact of Linda Nochlin’s 'Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?' (1971), a revolutionary text which formed the foundation of feminist art history, institutional critique, and the ways artistic value and 'greatness' are constructed. After the break, contemporary artist Patricia Cronin will reflect on how this essay has informed her own artistic practice, as she powerfully addresses women’s presence and absence, visibility and invisibility in her work.
‘Ways of Seeing’ (1972)
In the final week, we will delve into the significance of John Berger’s 'Ways of Seeing' and its enduring influence on how we interpret visual culture, representation and the power of images in society. After the break, Joshua Sperling, author of Berger’s definitive biography, will bring the man behind these groundbreaking ideas vividly to life, offering fresh insight and stories that illuminate both his work and his world.
Your tutor
Dr Amy Mechowski is a freelance art historian, lecturer and curator, specialising in issues of sexuality and gender in 19th‐century art and material culture. Among her most recent publications is a chapter in ‘Sculpture, Sexuality and History’, exploring the display and reception of 19th‐century sculptures of the female nude in the V&A (Palgrave, 2019). Previously working as a Curator at the V&A and then as Head of the V&A Academy, she now leads courses for Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
Watch again
Can't make Tuesday afternoons but don't want to miss out? No problem, you can watch again.
Each session is recorded and made available to you for the duration of the course, up until 2 weeks after the final session.
A video of the week's lecture will be uploaded and available for you to watch via your National Gallery account on Thursday afternoons, in time for the weekend
Format
Each session lasts for 2 hours and includes a lecture delivered by the course lecturer followed by a short break and further discussion.
Time will be allowed for questions and discussion via Q&A.
Handouts will be available via your National Gallery account on Monday mornings.
Optional homework is provided to help you prepare for the following week's session.
Booking information
This is an online ticketed course hosted on Zoom. Please book a ticket to access the course. Only one ticket can be booked per account.
You will be emailed an E-ticket with instructions on how to access the course via your National Gallery account. All course information including your Zoom link, weekly handouts and recordings will be available here.
Your link will be valid for the duration of the course.
Booking after the course has started
You are welcome to join the module at any point during its six-week run. You will gain access to all the recordings until two weeks after the final session.