h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The BBC has run a number of programmes about art, which have made me realise how little I know about the subject. I have two problems: I can't get out of the house on my own and I don't have any money. So going out to an art gallery and/or buying some books aren't options.

Does anybody know any good websites where I can learn something about art? I don't mean from a practical viewpoint. I can't draw or paint to save my life, and I don't think that's going to change any time soon. What I want to learn about is artists and their works, how they did what they did and why it was significant/special. I guess I'm after an online art appreciation course. What I don't want is what I call "The Emperor's New Clothes" attitude - "This is a great work and only an idiot would say that it isn't." I've tried bbc.co.uk/art - it didn't help.

How about http://arthistory.about.com/ - is that the sort of thing you're looking for?

That's an interesting question!

If you look at The Louvre website at
www.louvre.fr/
choose the English version, follow the link for Activities, Thematic Trails, and search for any Thematic Trail on Painting, there's one on Italian Renaissance Painting which looks very good--it's designed to be printed out to guide you around the gallery, but following it using the images on the site seems to work very well.

Is that the kind of thing you'd be interested in?

Azara

Read "Girl with a Pearl Earring". I'm sure you can get it from the library. It is a valuable insight into the way a painter of the Flemish school thought.

Although it does have the disclaimer that any resemblance to any persons living or dead blah blah blah which is a bit odd...

I think the legal people put those disclaimers in without reading the book. I've a book by a 19th century Irish author which has an author's note to say that only one person in the book is based on a real life character, and then another note by the legal people to say that nobody in the book is based on a real person.

You might like to look at Mike Harden's "Artchive" (an awful name suggestive of a giant onion) which is at http://www.artchive.com. He has copies of a lot of the more well-known art works and some commentary on them.

Traveller in Time calculating zero
"The legal people suggest the autor is(was?) not based on a real life person ? "

Interesting comment, TiT, because there were in fact two authors, and they published it using pseudonyms.

Gnomon, I can't get to a library to borrow that book, and I have more than enough books I haven't read yet without getting another. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

The 'Theory and Criticism' pages of the Artchive site look interesting. I had a quick look at the page for Titian's "Noli Me Tangere", and it described what Titian was doing in clear terms that didn't sound at all pretentious, the way art descriptions often can. The ArtHistory site has loads of links under Art Appreciation and looks well worth a delve.

The Louvre website uses Flash on its entry page (maybe it needed cleaning ), and takes ages to load. I haven't had the patience to wait for it to finish, so maybe some other time for that one.

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody. Any more out there?

Try a google on 'art history' or something similar

Hi Cheerful
Try these...
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
http://www.boschuniverse.org/
the first is general art and art history.the second is a personal favourite about H.B.(not the pencil)

I saw about six Bosch pictures in the Doge's Palace in Venice on Tuesday. They are very disturbing.

they are indeed,and so well done

try reading art books in your local library.
thats totally free.

or see if you can get the mobile library to deliver.
(sorry i didnt see the section where you said u were unable get out alone until after i had posted.) i am sure they will if you ask them.

Hi. Here's some obvious links that you've probably already checked out but if not they're well worth a look:

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

http://www.wallacecollection.org/

http://www.tate.org.uk/