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The Feast of Herod by Peter Paul Rubens

Cathy FitzGerald invites you to discover new details in old masterpieces, using your phone, tablet or computer. This episode - The Feast of Herod by Rubens.

Cathy FitzGerald invites you to discover new details in old masterpieces, using your phone, tablet or computer.

Each 30 minute episode of Moving Pictures is devoted to a single artwork - and you're invited to look as well as listen, by following a link to a high-resolution image made by Google Arts & Culture. Zoom in and you can see the pores of the canvas, the sweep of individual brushstrokes, the shimmer of pointillist dots.

We start this series with a masterpiece by Peter Paul Rubens, from the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. Two metres high by nearly three metres wide, The Feast of Herod is painting on a grand-scale - its figures are almost life-size. The picture depicts an opulent banquet to mark the birthday of the ruler, Herod. His guests are adorned in sumptuous clothes and jewels; servants carry in elaborate dishes.

But beneath the surface of this fancy family dinner, something has gone terrifyingly wrong.

To see the high-resolution image, visit www.bbc.co.uk/movingpictures and follow the link to explore The Feast of Herod.

Interviewees: Tico Seifert, Ben Quash, Leah Kharibian, Betsy Wieseman and Michael Ohajuru.

Producer and presenter: Cathy FitzGerald

Art history consultant: Leah Kharibian
Executive producer: Sarah Cuddon
Engineer: Mike Woolley

A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4.

Picture credit: Sir Peter Paul Rubens; The Feast of Herod; (c) National Galleries of Scotland

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Tue 4 Jan 2022 15:30

Broadcasts

  • Tue 7 Dec 2021 11:30
  • Tue 4 Jan 2022 15:30

The Feast of Herod – Explore the high-resolution image made by Google Arts & Culture

The Feast of Herod – Explore the high-resolution image made by Google Arts & Culture

From the collection of the Scottish National Gallery.