My favourite art historian/critic Waldemar Januszczak is at it again. Following on from his excellent series on the Rococo and Baroque, he now turns his attention to the Renaissance in his latest series The Renaissance Unchained. Given the mountains of material that has trawled through this period of history, you have to wonder what fresh perspective could Januszczak offer.
He challenges the accepted line put forward by the world's first art historian Giorgio Vasari that the Renaissance began in Italy and that Michelangelo was at its centre. Januszczak argues that being the first to put pen to paper on these matters meant Vasari's views "could harden quickly into art historical certainties that were passed from generation to generation. And these weighty certainties were not easy to challenge." So Januszczak makes a case for the Renaissance having its origins in Flanders and Germany.
Given that the series Rococo was not screened on either the ABC or SBS, I assume the same will apply this time around too. I am only discovering these series by checking out the BBC4 website - rather sad really.