Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the artist. The sculptors who created the statues of ancient Greece were treated with disdain by their contemporaries, who saw the menial task of chipping images out of stone as a low form drudgery. Writing in the 1st century AD the Roman writer Seneca looked at their work and said: "One venerates the divine images, one may pray and sacrifice to them, yet one despises the sculptors who made them". Since antiquity artists have attempted to throw off the slur of manual labour and present themselves as gifted intellectuals on a higher level than mere artisans or craftsmen. By the Romantic period Wordsworth claimed that poets were 'endowed with a greater knowledge of human nature and a more comprehensive soul than are supposed to be common in mankind'. How did the artist become a special kind of human being? What role did aristocratic patronage of the arts play in changing the status of the artist? And how have we constructed the image of the artist? With Emma Barker, Lecturer in Art History, The Open University; Thomas Healy, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Birkbeck University of London; Tim Blanning, Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thanks for downloading the In Our Time Podcast. |
| 0:39.0 | For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co. UK forward slash radio for. I hope you enjoy |
| 0:46.5 | the program. Hello the sculptors who created the statues of ancient Greece were treated |
| 0:51.2 | with disdain by some of their contemporaries who saw the menial |
| 0:54.3 | task of chipping images out of stone as a low form of drudgery. |
| 0:58.8 | Writing in the first century AD, the Roman writer Seneca looked at their work and said, one venerates the divine images, one may pray and sacrifice to them, |
| 1:06.2 | yet one despises the sculptors who made them. |
| 1:08.8 | On the other hand, the Romans revered Virgil. |
| 1:12.0 | Since antiquity some artists have attempted to throw off the sluer as they saw it of manual labor |
| 1:17.0 | and present themselves as gifted intellectuals on a higher level than mere artisans or craftsmen. |
| 1:22.0 | Michelangelo said, I was never the kind of level and mere artisans or craftsman. |
| 1:22.8 | Michelangelo said, I was never the kind of painter or sculptor who kept a shop. |
| 1:27.3 | Mozart famously bridled at his lowly status in the house of his patron. |
| 1:31.3 | He ate with the footman. But by the romantic period |
| 1:34.0 | words were claimed that poets were endowed with a greater knowledge of |
| 1:37.5 | human nature and a more comprehensive soul than are supposed to be common in |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -8404 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.