ALLAN RAMSAY AND THE NATURAL PORTRAIT with Georgina Cole

In the 1750s, Scottish artist Allan Ramsay developed a new mode of intimate, informal and intellectual picture called the ‘natural portrait’. This lecture considers the relationship of Ramsay’s portraiture to the Enlightenment exchange of ideas through polite conversation, focusing on his portraits of Margaret Lindsay of Evelick and philosophers David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

GEORGINA COLE’s interests include 18th century painting, architecture and art theory. In 2010, she received her doctorate from the University of Sydney with a thesis on doors and threshold spaces in 18th century genre painting. She is currently working on representations of blindness in 18th century art. Cole teaches the history of art at the National Art School and is a regular presenter at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Her most recent lecture at The Johnston Collection was REVEALING AND CONCEALING in the Rococo interior (2015)

This lecture is generously supported by The Friends of The Johnston Collection