THE ENGLISH HERITAGE PODCAST
Every object has a story to tell.
But how can one mystery item lead us on a journey through history, people and places?
In the English Heritage podcast, comedian and writer Amy Matthews brings you entertaining tales from unexpected places. Each week, we begin with a mystery item and with the help of English Heritage experts and special guests, Amy explores what our past can tell us about our present and perhaps our future.
Vermeer: Double Vision
Two near-identical paintings. One great Dutch master. And a mystery that has spanned more than 350 years. In this episode of The English Heritage Podcast, Amy Matthews travels to Kenwood to explore “The Guitar Player”, Johannes Vermeer’s celebrated painting, and its striking counterpart from the Philadelphia Art Museum. Displayed side by side for the first time, these two works are inviting spirited debate from visitors, and cutting-edge research too.
English Heritage’s Wendy Monkhouse, Ella Letort and Alice Tate-Harte take Amy through questions of authorship, technique, condition, and provenance. From pigment analysis and imaging technologies to the marks of time visible on canvas, this episode reveals how art history and science work together to interrogate one of the most intriguing puzzles in Vermeer scholarship.
Look closely and decide for yourself: are these two paintings the work of the same hand or do their subtle differences tell another story?
You can find out more about this collaboration with the National Gallery (London), the National Gallery of Art (Washington) and the Philadelphia Art Museum in the show notes.
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Speaking with shadows
When you’re wandering about a historic place, what voices do you hear echoing off the walls? Are they the ones you learnt about at school – or do you wonder about the shadowy, quiet voices that may have gone unheard?
Travel from 17th-century Northamptonshire, where we hear about the heroic servant who may have become Britain’s first black pub landlord, to wartime Essex, where Polish special forces soldiers trained in secrecy for life or death missions to their homeland.
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