Myth vs Nature : Lecture by Leslie Primo

Myth vs Nature will explore the Low Country painters' responses to developments in the latter part of the Italian Renaissance, also known as the High Renaissance. The session will begin with the unveiling of the Sistine Chapel frescoes, a pivotal moment in art that would eventually be characterised as 'Mannerism'. This style pushed representations of the human form beyond the anatomical precision of earlier Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci into unfamiliar and ultimately uncharted territory. These ideas soon evolved into idealised visions of nature and paradise rich in texture, detail, myth and abundance. The lecture will examine the reasons behind the proliferation of such images and their significance to contemporary viewers and patrons.

Artists explored:

• Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 – 1564)

• Pieter Aertsen (c.1508 –1575)

• Joachim Beuckelaer (probably about 1535 – 1575)

• Joachim Wtewael (1566 – 1638)

• Abraham Bloemaert (1566 -1651)

• Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625)

• Roelant Savery (1576-78 – 1639)

• Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640)

• Jacob Jordaens (1593 –1678)

• Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601 - 1678 possibly)

• Aelbert Cuyp (1620 -1691)

• Paulus Potter (1625–1654)

Biography

Leslie Primo is an independent art historian author and broadcaster, graduating from Birkbeck, University College, London with an MA in Renaissance studies. He lectured at the National Gallery, London for 18 years, he has recently appeared on the BBC speaking in Turner: The Secret Sketchbooks (Aired on BBC2, 19-11-25, currently BBC iPlayer). He has also appeared on the BBC speaking in Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty, and on The Life of Michelangelo, and presented Turner: Light and Landscape also on the BBC.

He was a contributor to the Oxford Companion Guide to Black British History, an art history consultant for the Getty publication, Balthazar: A Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance Art, and was published by the Royal Academy Magazine for the Entangled Pasts exhibition, 2023-2024. Leslie’s book, The Foreign Invention of British Art, is published by Thames & Hudson in 2025.

Additional Information 

Booking is required due to limited capacity. 

The Brown Collection is fully accessible. Please let us know if you have specific requirements when booking. 

Light refreshments will be served. Doors will open from 6 pm. 

Any queries, please email: laurie@glenn-brown.co.uk