Sister Wendy's Story of Painting

- Season 1

(1996)

Sister Wendy considers the roots of Western painting, from prehistoric cave dwellers to Pompeii and Iona.

Sister Wendy Beckett takes a closer look at art in the Middle Ages. Featuring works by Giotto, Duccio, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Simone Martini, Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden and Hieronymus Bosch.

Sister Wendy Beckett visits Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance, where she explains why she thinks the Mona Lisa is smiling. Then she moves on to Rome, where she explores the Sistine Chapel.

Sister Wendy Beckett looks at the Renaissance in Venice and Northern Europe, taking in works by Bellini, Titian, Giorgione, Veronese, Durer, Holbein and Bruegel along the way.

Sister Wendy Beckett looks at how, in the Baroque period, the Catholic Church used art and artists to fight back against the Reformation of Rome.

Sister Wendy Beckett explores the golden ages of painting in 17th century Spain, France and the Netherlands. She journeys from Rembrandt's Amsterdam through the Spanish court and the works of Velazquez to the ruins of ancient Rome.

Sister Wendy Beckett studies English painting at the time of the Industrial Revolution, looks at art during the French Revolution, and visits Spain for the romantic genius of Goya.

Sister Wendy Beckett tells the story of the Impressionists and their followers, visiting Monet's garden at Giverny and the field where Van Gogh shot himself.

Sister Wendy Beckett visits Paris and the south of France as she traces the beginnings of modern art from Cezanne to Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, Dali and Klee.

Sister Wendy Beckett focuses on the art world that developed in America after the Second World War, looking at works by Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Lucian Freud.