Turning Heads: Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer - A Curator's Introduction

Joanne Drum: Hello there. You're very welcome. My name is Joanne Drum. And I work in the Education Department of the National Gallery of Ireland. And I'm delighted to welcome you all today for the introductory talk on our latest exhibition Turning Heads. Lizzie Marx will be joining us in just a couple of minutes, I'd like to just go through a bit of housekeeping if I may beforehand. So firstly, I just want to clarify that this is a webinar. So that means we can't see you and we can't hear you. I

t's lunchtime. So you may be having your lunch or having a cup of tea or whatever. Don't worry, it won't be disturbing us. If anyone arrives late into a webinar or leaves early. That's also fine. We don't we don't see that happen and it doesn't disturb anybody. So I will pop up at the end of this session and relay any questions that you have to Lizzie. So what you can do to ask questions is you'll notice there's a question and answer box in the bottom of your screen. If you tap on that you can t

ype in a question or a comment. And I can relay that to Lizzie. If it's anything sort of technical that I can answer during, during my during Lizzie's talk I can, I can absolutely do that as well. And if I could ask you to not put anything in our chat box, I'd appreciate that, simply because if you put something in the chat box, it pops up on the screen and can be quite distracting for a speaker. So I will disappear for the next few minutes as Lizzie presents the exhibition to us. And I will pop

up at the end. Lizzie if you'd like to turn on your camera. And your microphone. You're so welcome. We're delighted you're joining us today. Hi. Lizzie Marx: Hello, I hope you can hear me. Joanne Drum: Yes, it sounds great. But I will jump in if there's any technical issues. I'll disappear now, thank you. Lizzie Marx: All right, here we are. So thank you so much Joanne for hosting today's lunchtime lecture and to Leah Mury for interpreting for us. And thank you all for for tuning in today. And

welcome everyone to Turning Heads, Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer. We opened this past Saturday and it will be on show until the 26th of May. I'd like to begin by focusing on a beautiful artwork that kick started the concept of this exhibition. It shows a head study by one of the most important Flemish artists of the 17th century, Peter Paul Rubens. It's a feat of painting. Rubens deftly models the contours of the sitter's head by casting light on the man's brow and plunging the area above his ea

r into deep shadow. He also details the veins on the man's forehead, and the flushed flesh of his cheeks. This painting initially served a role in Rubens' studio for students to study and copy. However, it was then dispatched to the art market, and it's believed that the shirt and chain were added to complete the composition and satisfy consumers' tastes. This beautiful head study arrived at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2016. When we received the painting as a heritage gift from Denis and

Catherine O'Brien. This wonderful new arrival in the gallery also caught the eye of Dr. Nico van Hout, Head of Collection Research at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. At the time, he was completing an important catalogue that documented all of the study heads produced by Rubens. And what ensued were discussions to put together an exhibition that could show the works by Rubens and the artists of the Low Countries and contextualise a painting as exquisite as this. The exhibition turning h

eads was created to explore a particular genre in art known as the Tronie, which is an intriguing painting of the head. The Tronie took the art market by storm in the Low Countries in 17th century owing to the enduring fascination that artists had with studying and portraying people. It turns out that the National Gallery of Ireland is very strong in this subject matter. We have as many as nine works from our collection that speak well to the themes covered. This is the second venue of the exhib

ition in collaboration with the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, curated by Dr. Nico van Hout and Dr. Koen Bulckens. It coincides with the opening of their museum following their decade-long closure for an extensive renovation. In our exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland, we have 78 beautiful artworks by some of the most important exponents of the Tronie in the 16th and 17th centuries. As the paintings continue to enchant us to this day, this exhibition encapsulates why the 17th ce

ntury was the golden age of art in the low countries. The exhibition boasts works by Rubens and from his associates and students, including works by Jacob Jordaens and Antony Van Dyck. There are paintings and prints by Rembrandt van Rijn, and further works from his circle, including Jan Lievens, Willem Drost and Jan van Staveren. And of course, we also display a beautiful Vermeer. The works have travelled from far and wide to be with us from public institutions and private collections in North A

merica and Europe, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Getty in LA, the Prado in Madrid, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Louvre in Paris, among many others. Through the generosity of these lenders, it's been possible to display an exhibition that shows us what an extraordinary genre the Tronie is. In this lunchtime lecture, I'd like to take you through the exhibition Turning Heads, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Vermeer and some of the highlights shared by me and my co-curator

, Dr. Brendan Rooney. Through the exhibition's introduction and four themes, will see the diversity of people that tronies and study heads immortalised. They range from infancy to old age, and from a broad spectrum of social backgrounds. And they are all painted with a vividness and confidence by the artists that it feels as if we are encountering them in the flesh. This exhibition is set up in such a way that we're able to do what we do best - people watch, and through the exceptionally vivid q

ualities that the artworks hold. It allows us to have a profound encounter with people who existed as far back as 500 years ago. I'd like to introduce our exhibition by defining what exactly a Tronie is. Now the Tronie is an old Dutch term for a particular picture type that depicts a face. And unlike a portrait, the identity or status of the sitter in a Tronie is unimportant. Instead, lighting, expression and more profound human qualities become the focus. an archetypal tronie can be seen in thi

s painting by an unknown artist working in the circle of Rembrandt van Rijn, and it's one of the treasures of the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin, and the painting that welcomes all visitors to the exhibition. This deeply introspective Tronie is a feat of technical brilliance. We do not know who the sitter is, and the artist never intended us to know who they are, as this is one of the key elements of what the Tronie is about. Because when we put aside the identity of the sitter, other fascinating elem

ents in this painting come to the fore. For instance, look at the sheen of the gorget's metal, which contrasts with the man's shrouded at face. This is described by the application of lead white paint. The light on the golden helmet is is captured differently, with yellow paint applied with heavy impasto, following the hammered patterns and then receding into embers of yellow to reflect the surrounding gloom. It is extraordinary to see how an artist is able to achieve such effects that cover the

spectrum of light by only using oil paint. The genre of the Tronie allows for an artist to express these sorts of impressive light effects. When the status and identity of a sitter is put to one side, it's possible to look at the more psychological elements of this man and get closer to the human qualities that all of us share. The tronie was a genre that was in circulation in the booming art market in the Netherlands and Flanders in the 17th century, when the consumption of art was at an excep

tionally high point. By way of briefly offering some context; in the Catholic lands of Flanders in the early decades of the 17th century, the altarpieces of grand cathedrals such as the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, were in need of furnishing with altarpieces that could match the scale of such grand interiors. And these multi-figured compositions were complex and demanded extensive training by the artist. It was an understanding of the characters and the roles they played in the compositions

that were crucial to achieving these large-scale works. And so depicting people and the expressions they made was an integral part of an artist's training. In the Netherlands, the middle classes expanded in the 17th century through commercial endeavours. And this was partially thanks to the exchanging of goods overseas such as sugar and tobacco, which was then traded with the European market, and the wealth that this brought allowed for a merchant class to enjoy all of the trappings that a high

er rung of society could offer. And this included paintings, the genre of the tronie was established at a time when depictions of daily life known as genre scenes grew in popularity in the Low Countries. Tronies also recorded daily life by portraying the heads of people of diverse ages, social backgrounds and genders. Artists too were partial to the Tronie genre, as it was recorded in the inventories of Vermeer and Rembrandt that they both were in possession of tronies by their fellow artists. A

nd a painting that best sets the scene for the taste for tronies around this period can be seen in this work, which is from our own collection by Rembrandt. The painting shows a gloomy interior, probably a tavern, with music and drinking taking place. The scene appears to be tense, and Rembrandt makes us hold our breaths for what might next happen. But it's what's happening on the back wall that is of interest to us today. Because it sheds light on the places in which tronies are wants displayed

. In this instance two tronies can be seen on the wall and the tronie on the right depicts a man in profile in contemporary headwear. The tronie on the left features a man wearing a plumed turban, which is similar to another painting in our exhibition, painted by Jan Lievens of a man who's dressed in clothing that alludes to the Ottoman Empire. This detail might be quite familiar to visitors of the National Gallery of Ireland, but there is also something perhaps less familiar hidden beneath the

surface of the painting. Some 40 years ago, an X-radiograph was taken off this painting, X-rays have the ability to reveal some of what lies beneath the topmost layer of a painting. And in this instance, when turned 90 degrees clockwise, beneath the painting surface, it revealed a bust of a man, probably a tronie. The right eye and lips of the figure can be seen as well as his shoulder. Rembrandt presumably painted this tronie and then reused the panel for the composition that we see today. Ther

e are at least nine other works by Rembrandt, which feature tronies beneath the paintings upper layer. This painting not only shows us how tronies were once displayed, it also shows us the role of tronies. They could function as finished pieces. But if an artist tired of their tronie, they could simply paint over the panel and develop a new composition. We also get better acquainted with tronies by seeing how they distinguish themselves from portraits. Cornelius de Vos painted this portrait a ye

ar after he was elected the Dean of The Guild of St. Luke, which was the artists guild in Antwerp. The sitter, Abraham Grapheus had been the steward of the guild of St. Luke since the mid-1580s, which meant that he had as long as a four decades amount of service working at the Guild, and we can learn about Grapheus' position in the guild by the inclusion of particular objects, we see gild plates and gold vessels. The painting of Grapheus follows the conventions of portraiture, which as we shall

see, contrasts with how he was represented in head studies. When we look at this painting by another member of The Guild, Jacob Jordaens, we can see the difference. This is the same sitter Abraham Grapheus. But look how differently he appears. For a start, he's being shown twice from two different angles, and this was in order to understand the three-dimensionality of his head. This is not a portrait of Grapheus, but a study head. These expressive works played crucial roles in the artists' works

hop. They were used to train younger artists and to plan larger compositions such as history paintings, and some of the most accomplished head studies, however, entered the art market as trainees. Abraham Grapheus seems to have served as a model for its members including Jakob Jordaens, and I can just imagine that Jordaens once collared Grapheus when he had an idle moment and asked him to pose for him. And in contrast to the formal portrait of Grapheus by Cornelis de Vos this work is rid of the

pretences of portraiture. What remains is a portrayal of his rugged appearance and a candid exploration of his humanity. Grapheus' physiognomy then lent himself for more ambitious compositions. And we can see that in another study head by Jordaens, it was then transposed into a mythological painting from the Prado's collection. And here he is depicted among agricultural workers who offer their bounty to Ceres, the goddess of the Earth. This brings us on to the next section of the exhibition, whe

re we explore the role of the study head in the artist's studio. And here we see some beautiful works, which show the expressive mark-making and a freer handling the artists adopted in order to capture the essence of their subjects. Studying people from life was an integral part of an artist training, and the most masterfully painted head studies were used as examples to teach students and could themselves be copied. They could also be a point of departure in constructing complex compositions, a

s we can see here. In Rubens' sheet from the British Museum, we see how these conglomerations of heads viewed from varying angles were essential elements of the artist's studio practice. The sheet resembles pages from model books, in which objects and details in varying iterations were grouped together for reference. They served as inspiration for developing compositions or for members of the studio to learn and practice from. In this part of the exhibition, we also get some insight into how it

might have felt to model in the artists studio. Artists would sometimes sketch for hours at a time, the faces of people who posed for them, and this work of a young boy is drawn in chalk to illustrate the contrast in light and shadow. For the artist, he must have been in deep concentration when capturing the boy's likeness. But in the stillness of what may have been a prolonged sitting, the boy has been lulled into rest. Like Abraham Grapheus, who we saw earlier, the sitters for head studies may

have belonged to the artists' networks of friends and associates. They may have also been members of their households. With very few exceptions, their identities are now lost. However, this woman is recorded as being Rubens's laundress. In the head study, he accounts for the way in which age transforms the skin, and the eyes and lips take on a new appearance, life is injected into her through the rosy cheeks and the watery rims of her eyes.cThis section shows just how important it was to unders

tand the physiognomy as part of a fundamental artistic training. And by looking at these works, we see the diversity of people that artists encountered. But to all of them, they gave the same amount of care and attention. The application of paint in head studies has an expressive quality that parallels painting techniques that we see today. And this section might be particularly inspiring for art practitioners. Because of how relatable the approach to painting is, even when the works come from c

enturies ago. I spoke with the artist Cian McLoughlin about this painting. As a painter of tronies for a number of years now, Cian is very familiar with the artistic precedence. He observed the way in which Rubens's painting is so distinct from a portrait. Take for instance, how the shadow of the woman's nose is cast down onto her lips. This isn't the most flattering of distribution of light on the face, and Cian observed that if an artist approached this as a portrait, they would use artistic l

icence and soften the shadow. However, this painting by Rubens is a study head. The exercise here is to record everything that the artists can see. And only by looking and observing to this extent, can the artists progress. You can read more about Cian's impressions in the exhibition's publication, which you can actually see behind me just here. And there are essays that speak to the themes of the show, including a piece written by me on costume and tronies. And there are also pieces by authors

from other disciplines, including two psychologists a milliner, a photographer and an actor who share their perspectives on tronie and copies are of course available in the Gallery gift shop. And what's more, you can hear about Cian's perspective on other works in this exhibition, as Cian and I will be holding an in-conversation in the National Gallery's lecture theatre on Sunday, the 14th of April at 330. And if you follow the Gallery's announcements, we will share more information about that s

oon. Now in the early decades of the 17th century, study heads were taken beyond the artists' studio and flooded the art market. And in this section of the exhibition, we turn our attentions to the Netherlands and in particular the city of Leiden in the late 1620s and early 1630s where Rembrandt and his friend and rival Jan Lievens conspired to create numerous tronie decked in fantastical outfits. And the costume tronie, adorned with iridescent silks and sparkling jewels brought flourishes of co

lour. These two paintings by the artists are wonderful examples of how these elderly men with their wigs and beards are dressed up in unusual outfits. We know that Rembrandt and his circle kept in their studios, a dressing up box with various materials and accessories for inspiration. Rembrandt's biographer Arnold Houbracken commented that he could also spend a day or two setting up a turban to his satisfaction. But the number of variations of costumes in their compositions suggests that the tex

tiles were just a point of departure, after which the artist's fantasy took over in completing the paintings. While the tronies' costumes eluded to different times, and regions, they were on placeable and when they could not be associated with a precise time or location, these tronies suggested a world beyond the confines of the ordinary rooms in which they were displayed. And it made the stories of these characters all the more alluring. This pair of pendant tronies depicting men of African des

cent is by a contemporary of Jan Lievens, active enlightened in the same period. The artists Jan van Staveren, is credited as producing a number of finely painted tronies in eclectic outfits. And in this pairing, one of the men wears a turban, and the other a European-style feathered beret. the costume of the turbaned tronie alluded to the Ottoman Empire. The territory had open to European visitors and traders, which prompted the development of an appetite for tronies dressed in clothing inspire

d by the region. So popular were these works that they develop their own sub genre, the Turkish Troine, which was actually a generic name for a tronie in non-european costume. While van Staveren was looking towards Europe and the East for inspiration with regard to costume, neither of the figures can be identified with specific cultures. Instead, they reflect the artist's interest in inventing characters. These two characters appear to have been inspired by people who were living in the Netherla

nds in this period, and indeed, Dutch trading exploits took business beyond the shores of Europe, and it eventually attracted some people of colour to settle in the Netherlands. However, we know very little of their background from these pendants. Their characters are entirely an invention of the artist. The outfits worn by other tronies, however, are better placed to inform on the sitters and their social backgrounds. In Rembrandt's Study of a Woman, she wears an immaculate white bonnet that pa

rtially covers her hair. It's particularly striking to see how the ends of her metallic headband press into the recesses below her cheekbones. This was known as an "Oorijzer" in Dutch, which literally translates as "ear iron". It would have held her bonnet in place, and this woman was likely a maid that Rembrandt knew. Michael Sweerts who was a very accomplished Flemish artist paints a girl of a similar social status. Her choice of dress suggests that she is a maid. Sweerts had an ability to dep

ict people with a great deal of realism. The girl has looked away, but her eyes may dart back at us at any moment. Given her social status and her young age, it seems unlikely that she would have been able to afford a portrait of herself. However, what I find poignant about this, about this painting is that it can be regarded as the closest thing to portraits of labourers in the low countries who may otherwise had no way to be immortalised. And although the girl remains anonymous, the sensitive

handling of the paint that Sweerts uses, portrays her in a dignified light. So this section of the exhibition illustrates how costumes and tronies brought interesting colours, textures, and a diversity of characters to the paintings. And they also presented artists with an opportunity to look at the people in society who were not typically represented. It's gratifying to know that the artists who painted so much of the world around them also applied themselves to deeply observe the people who wo

rk for them, and capture their essence too. In the next section of the exhibition, we explore a group of tronies who show the extent of the emotions that they were able to achieve through a marvellous spectrum of expressions. We see disgust, glee, and surprise among them. They were all recorded by artists. In the 17th century, the face became the means by which emotions were expressed. This was in response to a prevailing idea that the inner world of a person could be seen through the face alone

. and it granted the face even more significance as it was effectively the window to the soul. This idea is nicely expressed through the two fools who are dressed in jester's attire. Both of the characters are portrayed unsympathetically. In the print on the right, the fool has protruding veins in his forehead and pronounced sprouting hairs from a mole on his cheek. The jester on the left has this furrowed brow and squirming lips, and in the spirit of exaggeration, there is a rogue scattering of

pimples on the tip of his nose and chin. Included in a full repertoire were gurning expressions, which would have been seen on stage as well as in print. It transformed the face into the most extreme compositions. And so by pulling a ridiculous face, they express the foolishness that they embodied. When a facial expression was particularly powerful, it had the ability to determine the response of the viewer. For instance, a depiction of a smiling face could provoke a laugh, while a scowl could

prompt shame or fear in the beholder. Artworks that were able to touch the viewer in this way were regarded as the most accomplished. Take this boy and his ridiculous facial expression. It remains as familiar now as it was in 17th-Century Flanders. Wearing a modest hat fitted with a handy dagger, and sitting with a beer, we can see that the boy's coarse behaviour complements the immediate surroundings of a tavern. The consumers of Brouwer's painting would certainly have been used to a finer sett

ing than the one that we see here. And so to see this boy in the painting challenged its audience to respond, should they turn away in embarrassment, or laugh at the boldness or return the gesture by pulling an even more outrageous face. This is what makes expressive Tronies so interesting. They provoke us to have a reaction. Holding expressions such as these ones we have seen so far, was really no simple task. Earlier I spoke about a study of a young boy who had posed for so long that he had dr

ifted off to sleep. To be an artist model was demanding. And this was especially apparent when they had to express emotions by holding a particular expression. And if it was too taxing, an artist relied on their own face for such studies. The Antwerp artist Joos van Craesbeeck here certainly rises to the challenge by producing perhaps one of the most extreme of expressions in the exhibition. In this work from the Louvre, he is demonstrating how to expel smoke from his mouth, when smoking tobacco

with clay pipes was a very popular pastime. We can be almost certain that this was a Self-Portrait of the artist too, and he shamelessly presents himself with unkempt, unwieldy hair and nursing a bottle of wine or spirits, also not really ideal for any artist who might want to keep their reputation intact. However, viewers would have been impressed by the skill it took to paint something as shocking as this. For other artists practising various expressions came early on, especially when they we

re a part of an artistic family such as Moses ter Borch from Zwolle, which is an hour away from the east of Amsterdam. Gerard ter Borch and for Gesina ter Borch were his siblings, and they were also talented artists in their own right. This playful study suggests that for them, art was as much a pastime as a profession in the household. This painting from the Rijksmuseum counts as one of the smallest works in the exhibition, measuring only nine by eight centimetres. It's a depiction of Ter Borch

when he appears to be an adolescent around 15 or 16. And the low perspective from which his head is angled indicates that he was observing himself in a possibly convex mirror propped up in front of him. He seems to be amused by his own reflection, and perhaps also the changes that he's experiencing in adolescence. What makes the little and light hearted work so poignant is that in a matter of years after this painting was made ter Borch died at war in 1667, at the age of 22, but to remember his

apparent joy for painting, and learning through expressions is a delightful work to remember him by. This section of the exhibition illustrates the remarkable spread of expressions that artists were interested in at this period. They show how the expressive Tronie was an inadvertent self portrait that allowed for a very playful side of the artist to come to the fore. When an artist observed their own state of mind, they learned how to become more adept at depicting emotions, which would have sh

arpened their abilities to better paint the stories they wanted to show. And the expressions in these trainees were highly contagious. When you visit the exhibition, this section will compel your face to light up. A giggle will provoke you to giggle with a painting, and a painting of a yawning person will make you want to stifle a yawn. It never fails to amaze me that these are people painted centuries ago, and yet they elicit precisely the same reaction today. We're now entering the final secti

on of the exhibition that explores the subject of light and shadow. Artists were able to express a wide spectrum of light through oil paint, it gives the illusion that the paintings themselves radiated light, and yet it was the knowledge of distributing lighter and darker colours that achieved it. The fascination with light was echoed in natural philosophy and mathematics studies in optics, the science of sight, made major advances in the understanding of light and colour. It came to be expresse

d in certain artworks too, as we, as we'll see with the work of Johannes Vermeer. In the last part of the exhibition, we bring together some of the most outstanding tronies that were produced by the greatest artists of the day. Although they were painted centuries ago, the figures who populated these pictures seem to come to life before our very eyes. We saw a painting by the Flemish artists Michael Sweerts earlier, which depicted a young maid. And here we see two further works by the artist, wh

ich represent two other individuals who come from different walks of life. Sweerts travelled a great deal working in Brussels, Rome, Amsterdam and Syria, Persia and finally India. His tronies were produced in Brussels or Amsterdam between 1655 and 1661. He was apparently aware of how adept he was at painting them when he shared his experience is expertise in this particular genre in a drawing manual. It consisted of 12 etchings of head studies published in Brussels in 1656. However, the finest e

xamples of his tronies are in oil paintings. In this strikingly naturalistic depiction from the Getty, we encounter a middle-aged worker, perhaps a maid spirits adds a watery reflection to the rims of her eyes to bring her to life. No matter how hard I've looked at this painting, I cannot unravel the secrets of this technique, and how he's able to use paint in such a vivid manner. We also encounter here another work by Sweerts showing a young boy eating a snack with his lips parted and his lower

cheek bulging slightly from the morsel of food in his mouth. He looks back with a searching gaze typical of children. Have we caught him in the act of eating something he shouldn't? This study of a little boy might have once been destined for a series representing the five senses, in this case taste, but Sweerts painted this character so finely and sensitively that he can be considered a study in his own right. jan Lievens also painted a youngster who's so exquisitely depicted. She's beloved at

the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where she normally resides. Earlier we saw how Lievens decked his tronies in costumes that eluded to different times and places. However, this painting is comparatively limited on accessories and headpieces. The attention does not seem to be on the girl's facial expressions, and instead, it seems to be the cascade of her hair that interests the artist. Light falls dramatically on the gloomy surrounds and hits her hair. When you see the work in person, it's pos

sible to pick up on how Lievens masterfully guides his paintbrush to emulate the full flow and translucence of the young girls blonde hair. There's also an element of magic in the exhibition with this beautiful work by Godfried Schalcken, who was active in the Netherlands towards the end of the 17th century. Art theorists wrote about how important it was to learn how to paint using different light sources such as candle light, daylight, and a mixture of the two. The illumination in this painting

, however, cannot have come from either, its source appears to be from another world entirely, emitting as a delicately soft glow from the boys profile. The ethereal light suggests that the boy is apparently awestruck by an otherworldly presence beyond the picture plane. The room concludes with Vermeer's tronie. One of the most well known tronies is Girl with a Pearl Earring at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and she's dressed in a turban with an oversized pearl earring, reminiscent of the costume

tronies that we saw earlier. There are not one but two pearls decking this girl, who is Vermeer's smallest recorded work and it comes from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. She is portrayed in an exotic way through her bright red feathered hat. It alludes to scarlet birds that would have never been spotted in the city of Delft, where Vermeer lived and worked. The depiction of light and light effects reached its peak in Vermeer's paintings. It seems that he studied with a camera obsc

ura, which was a darkened box into which an image was projected through a hole. And the assistance of this device can be seen in the uprights of the chair, on which the carved lion on the left is in sharp focus, while the one on the right dissolves into abstract highlights. Vermeer also shows his mastery of light by handling the girl's by highlighting the girl's pair of teardrop earrings with tiny dashes of white. Look closely and there is a pinprick of pink which reflects the moisture on the le

ft edge of her lip. And best of all, a glint in her eye with a similar highlight is painted in subtly radical green. We see here how tronies become a means by which artists can demonstrate their extraordinary ability to capture the nuances of light and shadow with little to no narrative, the tronie was a painting in which the artist skills were particularly apparent, and the genre became a plane on which the artists could play with the differing tones and gradations that their subjects reflected

. Through their expert handling of paint artists strove to represent the vitality of humanity. These were just a small section of the many exquisite tronies currently on display at the National Gallery. The exhibition shows the way in which artists observes every inch of a person's head, the texture of their hair and skin and the density of it. By making small adjustments to the angle of the head, the artists were presented with a new form to depict. The study heads were works that were not inte

nded to leave the studio, as they helped train new generations of artists to refine their practice and improve on their art through their masters guidance. However, these works were so beguiling that they caught the eyes of visiting patrons, and it was not long before they found their way onto the market. The depictions of heads seem to enchant consumers and designate tronies as a genre in its own right. We've seen how artists delved into their dressing-up boxes to diversify their heads, decking

them with varying head pieces and accessories to refer to different times and places that sparked the art market's curiosity. While the characters might have brought a sense of intrigue, they could never be anchored to a particular geographical region or period. It reflected the ways in which the artists were constantly inventing and generating new configurations of costumes and new characters fresh out of their imagination. In addition to their fantasy they could, they also had to rely on thei

r physiognomy to achieve some of the greatest tronies. With their models fatigued by sitting for them, artists turned to their own faces to explore its morphology at its most extreme. Artists took their profession very seriously. But some of the tronies take us behind the scenes where we get to see their humour, the delight they took in painting, and the wonderful experimental approaches they adopted. We've seen artists pulling weird faces, and contort them into expressions that we still use now

adays. The sensitivity that artists had for light meant that they could excel in rendering skin and hair in lights that range from bright daylight to the gloomy recesses of an interior, they were able to achieve it to such a high degree that it was as if blood was running through the veins of these characters rather than oil paint. Artists goaded their viewers to have a powerful encounter with the tronies, and this is a sensation that has lingered to this very day. When I reflect on the tronies

in the exhibition, my prevailing sense is just how brilliant artists work in capturing the people they knew. If you have the chance to see the exhibition in person, you will be struck by how extraordinarily relatable these works are still today. I wonder whether the artists knew that their work would have an impact on their viewers as much as half a millennium after they painted them. Turning Heads shows how accessible art is and proves that we can connect with the past through a common humanity

. This exhibition is an invitation to look at people in as earnest a way as artists did, to relish every wrinkle and each wisp of hair, and ultimately, to see the beauty of people in all their rugged truth. I hope you can all come to the Gallery, and take the time to be with these fascinating characters and get to know them to the point that they become old friends. It's only a matter of time before they turn their heads and talk back. Thanks very much. Joanne Drum: just spotlight myself so I'm

the same size as you. There we go. Thank you so much. That was a wonderful introduction to the exhibition. I know that many of the people who have attended today are planning a visit to the exhibition. And this is this is the perfect setup for them, because you've talked us through each room. But really, it's quite a remarkable show. It's a very, very human show. As you've said, in my visit the other day, I found it quite amusing to sort of come up with likenesses of people we know now. Or, you

know, people who are well known, I certainly thought there was a lady who volunteers at the Gallery who looks quite like one of the the subjects of the artworks in the exhibition, which is just so human. And as you say, as much as half a millennium later, it really makes us feel connected with these artworks. So thank you so much for that you've done an incredible job in curating it. We're also very fortunate to have a new lighting system since before the Lavery show, and that is really special.

Lizzie Marx: It makes all the difference. Really. Joanne Drum: Yes, it really does. So just to repeat anyone, if you have questions, please pop them in the question and answer box, I've got comments, and just saying, Thank you so much for an excellent talk. Thank you for your inspiring insights into the tronies that can't wait to visit the exhibition, which is lovely. As I say, this is a great way for people to plan their visit. And now somebody else is asking for more online talks, we will hav

e more events associated with this exhibition. And I made a note to go through the you've already mentioned, you're going to be in conversation with Cian McLoughlin, on the 14th of April, that will actually be in the Gallery Lecture Theatre. So we're looking forward to that. Cian is also doing a drawing the head weekend painting course. So anyone who wants to get get their hands in and do something practical, that will be on the 11th and 12th. of May. And there's information about that on our we

bsite. For online, we have a Ciorcal Comhra, which is a conversation circle. In Irish, that's going to be happening on the 21st of March, with my colleague Caomhan Mac Con Iomaire. You're going to be doing a talk and tea, Lizzy a more kind of informal talk about curating this exhibition that's going to be on the 26th of March. Lizzie Marx: Yeah, well, the exhibition space as well. So it'll be, it'd be really, I mean, nothing compares to seeing the works in person. So we'll be we'll be doing that

going through the space itself. Joanne Drum: That will be very good and represents very good value. In fact, for anyone who is not a friend, because of course, we know friends get into the exhibition for free. But this is a five euro ticket for that event on the 26th of March. So get on it if you haven't already booked. And we're going to be showing a film screening on the 31st of March in association with the Friends of the Gallery that's a film called Rembrandt, which was actually made in 193

6. So that should be an interesting historical thing on so many levels. So I'm really looking forward to that. And finally, Lizzie Well, of course, we have a programme of tours as well, which you can find out about our website about on our website. But you'll also be appearing as a guest speaker on our European Masters of the Baroque spring online art appreciation course. So we're looking forward to welcoming you to that. That course starts on the 19th of March with Dr. Audrey Nicholls and infor

mation and tickets are available online for that. So again, as I say, lots of comments coming in. Just thank you for this wonderful capital letters programme and making it available online. And wonderful talk, wonderful talk. I'm seeing if there's any questions for you here. Denise is asking you started with the distinction between the Tronie and portraiture as a distinction between realism and artificiality. Yet, the use of costume seems to blur this distinction. What are your thoughts on that?

Lizzie Marx: It's interesting to pick up on this idea of realism and artificiality. I think that that's, maybe I wasn't quite aiming for that. But the a portrait is a really helpful way to compare to what a tronie is, and is not. Tronies can be, can bring in that sort of sense of the fantastical because of because of the role of costumes. Some of the costumes, though, we saw with were contemporary outfits worn by maids. So that is really giving an insight into someone who existed in that time a

nd is closer to a portrait. Of course, there are grey areas, I don't think artists themselves intended to make really clear distinctions on which each of their genres were, we have these genres to really help us to sort of categorise how art how art functioned, but I mean, artists had free rein on in depicting anything that they liked. And we see that as well because of, you know, the portraits and self portraits of artists that double up as tronies. So then that means that, you know, on the one

hand, you could regard it as a portrait. On the other you could regard it as a tronie, so it's a bit more complicated but for the, for the interests of the exhibition. It's really to make that that clarification, and when you do see the portraiture, the one portrait really that we have in the exhibition that one of Grapheus, and you see all of the other head studies and tronies in the exhibition, you really notice just how very different starkly different they are, and what different sorts of q

ualities and ideas come to the fore. As I said, the sort of the psychological and human elements of a person is really beautiful exhibition, really shown by a tronie. Whereas there's more sort of superficial, you could say, and themes relating to status come more to the fore when we're looking at a portrait. I hope that coveres some of the question. Joanne Drum: Well, thank you so much for that. And Adrienne is asking, would you suggest the tronies in the Netherlands were often used as studies f

or major works where tronies in Holland became a genre in themselves. Yeah, I think, perhaps for me, you might explain the difference between Holland and the Netherlands as well. Lizzie Marx: Yeah, so the Low Countries is divided up into the Netherlands or it can also be known part of the region that's known as Holland, or the Dutch Republic. And, and then there's southern Netherlands would be Flanders, which is today's Belgium, and I think I think that's precisely it. In this, we have the secti

on on studying heads, and that really looks at the Flemish workshop practice, and how these study heads are being used, then for grander compositions in the costume section of the exhibition. And subsequent sections actually, really look at what happens when the tronies really come to be a complete genre in its own right and hit the market. So the first section is really looking at the studio and the precedents to that. And then we go into looking at how works like costume tronies, and really ex

pressive faces, then gets circulated and are consumed by members of the public who want to decorate their homes with these really interesting striking works. Joanne Drum: Great. Okay, thank you so much. And is asking, if we'll have any of the lectures that I mentioned available on Zoom. And the course, the course is going to be on Zoom exclusively online. And it's recorded and made available for two weeks afterwards, so that you can catch up. And I know that most people who do our courses, about

two thirds of them, in fact, do it on catch up. And, and our Irish conversation circle will be online as well. And most of the rest of what we're doing is going to be in person. We try and we try and make sure that there's a balance between everything there so that people who can come in, they get to do that, but also that we have enough online for people as well. And this video, of course, will be made available on our YouTube page for the duration of the exhibition. So hopefully that will hel

p future people decide to plan their visit to the Gallery. Denise is just thanking you there for the clarification that you made on her comment. And and I know that we have people who are watching from all over the place Paul has got in touch to say he joined later because he's watching from Canada. So he'll be watching the, he'll be watching the video as well. By doing these things online is that we're reaching people all over. Lizzie Marx: I'd love to hear if anyone else is coming from, tuning

in, not from Ireland, it would be wonderful to hear from you as well. Joanne Drum: Yes, please. Lizzie Marx: Thanks for tuning in. That's really exciting. Joanne Drum: Absolutely. Anne is saying she'd love to have a lecture on how the development of the stock exchange in Antwerp led to art becoming a commodity and how that influenced what artists did. And she's watching from Italy. That's great. Lizzie Marx: Goodness me! On it. That would be wonderful to do. Joanne Drum: Right. Put it in your b

ack pocket for now, Lizzie, and we'll revisit that at some point. That'd be great. We got another one from Winnipeg. Christine is coming from Winnipeg in Canada, which is great. Thank you so much. It's great to hear this. And another one from New Jersey, Alex coming in from Tenafly, New Jersey. So that is great to know that we're reaching people all over the place. And we will leave it there, because it's kind of a lunchtime slot. So Lizzie, thank you so much, once again, for not just creating a

n absolutely stunning exhibition, but for giving us your introductory talk today. We really appreciate it. Lizzie Marx: Really my pleasure. And thank you all for tuning in. And please leave the exhibition if you're able. Joanne Drum: Yes, please do. Thank you, Leah, for your interpretation. And to my colleague Kate Drinane, who was working away in the background earlier, just want to share my thanks to her on my colleague Caomhan who helped with some slight technical difficulties that we had at

the beginning. Thank you so much, everyone for joining us and have a lovely rest of your day. Take care. Bye bye