New Electroacoustic Music inspired by Art Three of the Barber Institute’s best-loved paintings – as you’ve never heard them before! In this exciting sound installation, a collaboration with the University’s Department of Music, three postgraduate composers were commissioned to create new short electroacoustic pieces, inspired by works in the Barber collection. They chose three very different pictures … Read more
Daphne Pursued by Apollo The Metamorphosis of Daphne Florence, about 1450 Tempera on wood 47.4 x 53.1 cm The scenes illustrate a story from Metamorphoses written by the Roman poet Ovid. The poem describes a series of magical transformations. In the left panel, the god Apollo pursues the nymph Daphne who has rejected his love … Read more
The Madonna and Child Enthroned (centre); Saint John the Baptist, with the Angel of the Annunciation (left); Saint Mary Magdalene, with the Madonna Annunciate (right) Tempera on wood Venice or Rimini, late 14th century 27.2 x 40 cm The Virgin Mary, enthroned with the infant Christ, appears against a finely decorated gold ground. They are … Read more
The Crucifixion Probably Tuscany, the end of the 13th century Tempera on wood 56.5 x 32.5 cm The Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist mourn at the foot of the cross. Their anguish directs attention to the humanity of Christ and his suffering. Such small scale devotional paintings sought to deepen and inspire faith, … Read more
The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist Florence, the early 16th century Oil on wood 55.3 x 39 cm This is a copy of a fresco which Andrea del Sarto painted for an outdoor tabernacle near one of the medieval gates of Florence. The fresco was painted in 1520 and was … Read more
Portraiture Highly original and arresting angles on the theme of portraiture feature in this display of work by emerging photographic talent from Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, Birmingham City University. In the fourth of an annual selective award collaboration, students were challenged to produce their own responses to the theme that has been central … Read more
Early Acquisitions of Drawings for the Barber Collection The first works acquired for the Barber in July 1936 were drawings, their subtlety appealing to the Barber’s First Director, Thomas Bodkin, who wrote: ‘Drawings evoke rather than compel emotion; they whisper rather than call to the spectator’. Those early purchases comprised important examples by Fra Bartolommeo, … Read more
Jason Taming the Bulls of Aeetes Rome, about 1742 Oil on canvas 55.3 x 128.9 cm Jason, in the centre, miraculously tames two fire-breathing bulls in his quest for the Golden Fleece. He is watched in amazement to the left by Aeetes, the King of Colchis, and by his daughter Medea. She was Jason’s lover … Read more
A Woman Seated in a Garden Paris, about 1890 Essence on cardboard 49.4 x 31.3 cm Toulouse-Lautrec painted many studies of women posed in a garden setting in the years around 1890. The studies were made in a public park close to his studio in Montmartre and they included friends and paid models. The unknown woman … Read more
A Portrait of a Young Man Venice, 1554 Oil on canvas 121 x 93.3 cm The inscription records that this portrait was painted ‘in the year 1554 in the month of May [or March], in the 22nd year of his age’. Unfortunately, the identity of the young man has been lost. However, the three-quarter-length format, … Read more
Saint Francis of Assisi Bastia, near Assisi, early 16th century Fresco, transferred to canvas in the 19th century 153 x 70 cm Saint Francis (about 1181-1226) is shown in the habit of the religious order he formed, the Friars Minor. He displays the stigmata, the scars corresponding to the five wounds of the crucified Christ. … Read more
Saint Clare of Assisi Bastia, near Assisi, the early 16th century Fresco, transferred to canvas in the 19th century 153 x 70 cm Saint Clare (about 1194-1253) was a follower of Saint Francis and the founder of the Order of Poor Clares. Here she is shown as a young woman holding a book and a … Read more
Saint Ansanus Bastia, near Assisi, the early 16th century Fresco, trasferred to canvas in the 19th century 153 x 70 cm Ansanus (died 303) was a Sienese nobleman martyred by the Emperor Diocletian for converting to Christianity. He was the city’s earliest patron saint. He is shown holding his trachea, lungs, heart and liver, possibly … Read more
20th-Century Portrait Drawings From formal commissions to intimate sketches of friends and lovers, Defining Faces focuses on portraiture in a century that witnessed radical changes in artistic style. The exhibition – the second in a prestigious collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, London – examines the function of, and the variety of approaches to the … Read more