Stories of Art

Sandro Botticelli created some of the most alluring images of the Italian Renaissance, but who was he and how did he transform the history of art? And was his great masterpiece Primavera originally conceived as an instruction manual for a young bride's wedding night? Join Alastair and James as they begin a two part series on the life and work of a Renaissance master.

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time.

Artworks in this episode:
Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c.1480s, Uffizi, Florence
Fra' Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child with Two Angels, c.1460-65, Uffizi, Florence
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Youth, c.1482-85, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Man holding a Roundel, c.1480, Private Collection
Jan van Eyck, Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?), 1433, National Gallery, London
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of Smeralda Bandinelli. c.1475, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Man with the Medal of Cosimo de' Medici the Elder, c.1474-75, Uffizi, Florence
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of Michele Marullo, c. 1500, Private Collection
Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, c.1475, Uffizi, Florence
Sandro Botticelli, Giuliano de' Medici, 1478-80, Uffizi, Florence
Sandro Botticelli, Possible portrait of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, c.1479, Uffizi, Florence
Donatello, David, c.1440s, Bargello, Florence
Sandro Botticelli, Pallas and the Centaur, c.1482, Uffizi, Florence

Recommended Reading:
Ana Debenedetti, Botticelli: Artist and Designer, 2024
Mark Evans, Botticelli Reimagined, 2016
Walter Pater, Studies in the History of the Renaissance, 1873

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Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

Why has The Scream become one of the most famous artworks in the world? And what happened when this ghoulish image was stolen - not just once, but twice? Join Alastair and James as they explore the remarkable story and surpising afterlife of Edvard Munch's enigmatic portrait of despair.

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time.

Artworks in this episode:
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893, The National Museum, Oslo
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503-19, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Edvard Munch, Morning, 1884, KODE, Bergen
Edvard Munch, The Sick Child, 1885-86, The National Museum, Oslo
Edvard Munch, Ashes, 1895, The National Museum, Oslo
Edvard Munch, The Dance of Life, 1899-1900, The National Museum, Oslo
Edvard Munch, Love and Pain (Vampire), 1895, Munch Museum, Oslo
Edvard Munch, Evening on Karl Johan, 1892, Bergen Kunstmuseum, Bergen
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893, Munch Museum, Oslo
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1910, Munch Museum, Oslo
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1895, Private Collection
Edvard Munch, Despair (Sick Mood at Sunset), 1892, Thiel Gallery, Stockholm
Edvard Munch, Despair, 1894, Munch Museum, Oslo
Andy Warhol, The Scream (after Munch), 1984, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Recommended Reading
Heidi Bale Amundsen (editor), Edvard Munch: The Scream, 2024
Sue Prideaux, Edvard Munch: Behind The Scream, 2005
Thanks to the Munch Museum.

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Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

What makes Georges Seurat's masterpiece 'A Sunday on La Grande Jatte -1884' so revolutionary? What does the picture mean? And why did it become so famous? Join Alastair and James as they explore the mysteries of one of the most beguiling paintings in the history of art. 

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time.

Artworks in this episode:

Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grand Jatte - 1884, 1884-86, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Georges Seurat, Bathers at Asnières 1884, The National Gallery, London
Georges Seurat, The Diner, 1883-84, Private Collection
Georges Seurat, Embroidery; The Artist's Mother, 1882-83, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, La Grande Odalisque, 1814, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Eugène Delacroix, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, 1854-61, Saint-Sulpice, Paris
Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes, The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, c.1869, The National Gallery, London
Georges Seurat, Madame Seurat, the Artist's Mother, 1882-83, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Georges Seurat, House at Dusk (La Cité), 1881-82, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Georges Seurat, Aman-Jean (Portrait of Edmond François Aman-Jean), 1882-83, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Georges Seurat, Seated Boy with Straw Hat, study for Bathers at Asnières, 1883-84, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
Georges Seurat, Bathers (Study for "Bathers at Asnières"), 1883-84, National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C.
Georges Seurat, Horse and Boats (Study for "Bathers at Asnières"), 1883-84, National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C.
Georges Seurat, Boy from Behind, c.1893, Private Collection
Arnold Böcklin, Isle of the Dead, 1880, Kunstmuseum, Basel
Georges Seurat, The Couple: Study for La Grande Jatte, 1884, The British Museum, London
Georges Seurat, La Grande Jatte, 1884, Private Collection
Georges Seurat, Monkey, 1884, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Georges Seurat, The Channel at Gravelines, Evening, 1890, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Recommended Reading:
Alastair Sooke, Seurat: Bathers at Asnieres, 2025
Robert Herbert, Seurat: 1859-1891, 1991
Karen Serres, Seurat and the Sea, 2026

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Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

How did William Hogarth help create the modern art world as we know it?  Did he really stage the first conceptual art exhibition?  And why in the final years of his life was he the subject of ridicule? Join Alastair and James as they chart the life and times of the man that helped transform the story of British art. 

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time.

Artworks in this episode:
William Hogarth, O the Roast Beef of Old England (‘The Gate of Calais’), 1748, Tate Britain, London
Canaletto, London Seen Through an Arch of Westminster Bridge, 1747, Private Collection
Jean Siméon Chardin, The Ray, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Jean Siméon Chardin, Still-Life with Cuts of Meat, 1730, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux
Anthony van Dyck, Lord John Stuart and His Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart, c.1638, National Gallery, London
William Hogarth, George Arnold, 1738-40, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
William Hogarth, Heads of Six of Hogarth's Servants, c.1750-55, Tate Britain, London
William Hogarth, Portrait of Captain Thomas Coram, c.1740, The Foundling Museum, London
William Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode: Plates 1-6, 1743, National Gallery, London
William Hogarth, Gin Lane, 1751
William Hogarth, Beer Street, 1751
William Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty, 1753
William Hogarth, The Painter and his Pug, 1745, Tate Britain, London
William Hogarth, Sigismunda Mourning over the Heart of Guiscardo, 1759, Tate Britain, London
William Hogarth, The Bathos, 1764

Recommended Reading:
Jenny Uglow, William Hogarth: A Life and a World, 1998
Mark Hallett, Hogarth, 2007
Jacqueline Riding, Hogarth: Life in Progress, 2022

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Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

How did William Hogarth transcend his humble origins to become one of the wealthiest artists in 18th century Britain? And in doing so, did he invent a new kind of art? Join Alastair and James as they chart the life and times of that most English of artists - William Hogarth.

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time.

Artworks in this episode:
William Hogarth, The Painter and his Pug, 1745, Tate, London
William Hogarth, Hogarth's Shop Card, 1720
Marcellus Laroon, Sir James Thornhill, c.1712-15, National Maritime Museum, London
Sir James Thornhill, The Painted Hall, 1707-26, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London
William Hogarth, Self Portrait, c.1735, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven
William Hogarth, Falstaff Examining his Recruits, 1730
William Hogarth, The Cholmondeley Family, 1732, Private Collection
William Hogarth, A Harlot's Progress, Plates 1-6, 1732
William Hogarth, A Midnight Modern Conversation, c. 1732, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Recommended Reading:
Jenny Uglow, William Hogarth: A Life and a World, 1998
Mark Hallett, Hogarth, 2007
Jacqueline Riding, Hogarth: Life in Progress, 2022

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Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

Is The Garden of Earthly Delights the strangest painting in all of art history? Is Bosch's bizarre masterpiece a vision of paradise or apocalyptic doom? And what's with all the giant fruit? Join Alastair and James as they dive headlong into the weird and wonderful world of Hieronymus Bosch.

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time. 

Artworks in this episode:
Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1490-1500, Museo del Prado, Madrid
Hieronymus Bosch, Christ Mocked (The Crowning with Thorns), c.1490/1510, The National Gallery, London
Hieronymus Bosch, The Adoration of the Magi, c.1494, Museo del Prado, Madrid
Salvador Dalí, The Great Masturbator, 1929, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid

Recommended Reading:

Matthijs Ilsink et al, Hieronymus Bosch, Painter and Draughtsman: Catalogue Raisonné, 2016

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Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

How did Lee Miller find her way into Hitler's apartment on the day his death was announced? And did what she witness in the Nazi concentration camps change her forever? Join Alastair and James as they conclude the story of one of art history's most remarkable photographers - Lee Miller.

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time.

Artworks in this episode:
Lee Miller, The Deputy Bürgermeister's daughter (Regina Lisso), 1945
Margaret Bourke-White, The Leipzig Suicides, 1945
Lee Miller, Fire Masks, London, England, 1941
Lee Miller, Non-conformist Chapel, 1940
Robert Capa, US troops assault Omaha Beach during the D-Day landings, 1944
Lee Miller, Bad Burns Case, 1944
Lee Miller, Beaten SS Prison Guard, 1945
Lee Miller, US soldiers examine a rail truck load of dead prisoners, 1945
Lee Miller, Dead SS Prison Guard Floating in Canal, 1945
Lee Miller and David E. Scherman, Lee Miller in Hitler's Bathtub, 1945
Lee Miller and David E. Scherman, David E. Scherman in Hitler's Bathtub, 1945

Recommended Reading:
Anthony Penrose, The Lives of Lee Miller, 1985
Carolyn Burke, Lee Miller: On Both Sides of the Camera, 2006

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Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

How did Lee Miller transform herself from Jazz Age beauty to Surrealist photographer in 1930s Paris? And what lay behind her extraordinary capacity for reinvention? Join Alastair and James as they tell the first part of the remarkable story of the American model, artist, photojournalist and celebrity chef Lee Miller.

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time.

Artworks in this episode:
Lee Miller and David E. Scherman, Lee Miller in Hitler's Bathtub, 1945
Lee Miller, Charlie Chaplin with Chandelier, 1932
Lee Miller, Untitled (Severed Breast from Radical Surgery), c.1930
Man Ray, Indestructible Object (or Object to Be Destroyed), 1964 (replica of 1923 original), The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Lee Miller, Joseph Cornell, c.1933
Lee Miller, From the Top of the Great Pyramid, 1938
Lee Miller, Portrait of Space, Al Bulyaweb, near Siwa, Egypt, 1937
Lee Miller, Eileen Agar, 1937
Lee Miller, Picnic, Mougins (Nusch and Paul Eluard, Roland Penrose, Man Ray and Ady Fidelin), 1937
Pablo Picasso, Lee Miller, 1937, Private Collection/National Galleries of Scotland

Recommended Reading:

Anthony Penrose, The Lives of Lee Miller, 1985
Carolyn Burke, Lee Miller: On Both Sides of the Camera, 2006

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Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

What does the Bayeux Tapestry tell us about the events of 1066? Did King Harold really get an arrow in the eye? And does the Tapestry really depict a bizarre medieval sex scandal?  Join Alastair and James as they tell the story of Bayeux Tapestry and explore what it tells us about the power of art to shape the historical imagination. 

Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time.

Artworks in this episode:
The Bayeux Tapestry, 11th century 

Recommended Reading:
The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry: Unravelling the Norman Conquest by David Musgrove and Michael Lewis, 2026

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Laura Sovilla
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac

Did Vincent van Gogh intend to kill himself? How would his art have developed if he had lived even just a few months more? And what role did his sister-in-law, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, play in establishing his reputation? Join Alastair and James as they chart the final, tragic years in the life and art of Vincent van Gogh.

Follow Stories of Art on Instagram: @storiesofart.heni

If you want to see the artworks discussed in this episode you can switch on video in your podcast app at any time.
Artworks in this episode:
Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889, Courtauld Gallery, London
Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait with bandaged Ear and Pipe, 1889, Private Collection
Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1889, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
Vincent van Gogh, Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Vincent van Gogh, Almond Blossom, 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Doctor Gachet, 1890, Private Collection
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, 1890, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Vincent van Gogh, Tree Roots, 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows, 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks

Hosts: Alastair Sooke and Dr James Fox
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Social Producer: Grace Dewar
Producer and Editor: Ben Harding
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac