Artwork of the Month talks are held regularly at the Gallery and speakers are encouraged to submit articles or notes based on their talks for publication here. Most of the talks listed below, however, were produced in the days of the Covid pandemic when in-person talks were not possible.
Portrait by Parmigianino
The Portrait of a Young Man with a Book by Parmigianino is our Artwork of the Month for May 2021. The painting is a treasure of the Gallery's collection and a significant example of the work of this great artist. It is also a personal favourite of Anne Hall, a...
Portrait of Charlotte Fitzroy
Artwork of the Month for April 2021 is one of the highlights of the Gallery collection, the portrait, by Sir Peter Lely, of Charlotte Fitzroy, the illegitimate daughter of King Charles II. The child is shown accompanied by an unidentified page boy. The painting was...
Stafford Pottery Plaque
Artwork of the Month for March 2021 is an earthenware plaque which is on display in the Wall of Pots at York Art Gallery. Sammi Scott, a PHD student at the University of York, explores how this unassuming tile relates to a complex history of copies, forgeries,...
Wentworth Woodhouse Centaurs
Peter Brown, formerly Director of Fairfax House, York, writes about two beautiful sculptures in the Gallery's collection, the Wentworth Woodhouse Centaurs. Almost certainly the work of Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, they were acquired by the Marquis of Rockingham in 1761 and...
Gulliver and the Houyhnhnms
This month's chosen artwork is 'Gulliver reprimanded and silenced by his master when describing the horrors of war' by Sawrey Gilpin (1733-1807) The Friends’ Secretary Benjamin Hilliam, describes how the artist's interest in animal welfare and anthropomorphism is...
Kimono by Philip Wilson Steer
This month's chosen artwork is The Kimono (1894) by Philip Wilson Steer. Helena Cox, who is Curator at Beverley Art Gallery and currently completing a Doctorate at the University of York, discusses this small masterpiece, setting it in the context of Japonism, the...
Portrait of a young man, 1556
November's Artwork of the Month has been chosen by Jeanne Nuechterlein, Reader in History of Art at the University of York, and member of the FYAG committee. This intriguing portrait of a young man, painted in 1556, featured in the exhibition ‘Making a Masterpiece:...
Portrait of Henry Baines, Botanist of York
The portrait of Henry Baines, the botanist and creator of York's Museum Gardens, was painted in 1874 by the Yorkshire artist Thomas Banks (1828-1896). Its recent conservation has been fully funded by the Friends of York Art Gallery. Peter Hogarth, a member of the...
Alfred Wolmark by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
The bust of Alfred Wolmark by Henri Gaudier-Brzeskaby attracts the attention of visitors to the Burton Gallery at York Art Gallery, but who was he, and why was he sculpted by Gaudier-Brzeskaby? Dorothy Nott investigates the background to this exceptionally striking...
Artwork of the Month – August 2020
Liverpool Docks at Night by John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893). Charles Martindale discusses this important new acquisition by the Gallery. Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893), Liverpool Docks at Night, 1870s, oil on canvas. York Museums Trust