Dr Spike Bucklow

Senior Research Scientist and Teacher of Theory at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Lower Astrology and Silent Poetry

Abstract

This talk will focus on a rather exclusive late-sixteenth-century in-joke. As such, the cultural impact of the talk's subject was probably quite minimal. However, its existence provides evidence of a sophisticated knowledge of astrology as an everyday frame of reference available to be harnessed in play and with a reasonable expectation of recognition.

The talk considers (in the etymologically strict sense) the use of an everyday painting material in a circa 1595 portrait of John Donne. The metaphysical poet commissioned this iconic work (now at the National Portrait Gallery) from an unknown painter as a carefree young man about town. In later life, he had it in his possession as a widower and the widely respected Dean of St Paul's Cathedral. The aspect of the painting I wish to examine is a meditation on love-sickness.

Biography

Spike Bucklow trained as a chemist and worked in the film industry before moving into the conservation of Old Master paintings. He has a PhD in art history and now teaches at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge. His publications include 'The Alchemy of Paint' (2009), 'The Riddle of the Image' (2014) and 'Red; the passions of earth, blood and fire' (in press, Reaktion).