The new series on Renaissance ainting, written and resented by Matthew Collings, begins with an artistic investigation into one of the most radiant and beautiful images in all of art history, The Madonna of the Meadow, ainted in 1505 by Ra hael Renaissance art has become art of the 21st-century heritage industry but when Ra hael was alive, it was a startling new form of visual ex ression, and Ra hael's vibrant 'realism' was striking and fresh. It became the model for western art for the next 400 years, right u until the birth of Modernism. As much as it was a cultural 'rebirth', the Renaissance was also a revolution in ideas about reality. Matthew Collings sets out to remind us of how radical Renaissance aintings were when they were made, as well as o ening our eyes to what is still truly great about them. In this rogramme he deconstructs The Madonna of the Meadow with the hel of the very latest high-resolution digital technology, which allows him to ex lore the inner secrets of Ra hael's ainterly effects with a clarity and at a level of detail never before seen on television. As Matthew says, it is a journey 'to the other side of an illusion', revealing how Ra hael created the alluring images that were so a ealing to his wealthy Renaissance clients - including the Po e - and which entranced artists for centuries after his death. Matthew ex lains the secret to Ra hael's vibrant colour harmonies, which the artist gras ed intuitively, long before the advent of colour 'theory'; and Ra hael also knew how to ex loit colour effects to create the im ression of extraordinary de th in his aintings.
