Duration: 59'06''
Simon Schama examines how traditions developed in the years following the Renaissances.
Licence: ERA Licence required
UK only Staff and students of licensed education establishments only Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
1: Second Moment of Creation | Civilisations
Simon Schama looks at the formative role art and the creative imagination have played in the forging of humanity itself.
2: How Do We Look? | Civilisations
Mary Beard explores images of the human body in ancient art, from Mexico and Greece to Egypt and China.
3: Picturing Paradise | Civilisations
Simon Schama explores the depiction of nature. Simon discovers that landscape painting is seldom a straightforward description of obser...
4: The Eye of Faith | Civilisations
Professor Mary Beard explores the controversial topic of religion and art. How, and at what cost, do different religions make the unseen ...
6: First Contact | Civilisations
David Olusoga shows how art was always on the frontline when distant cultures met.
7: Radiance | Civilisations
Simon Schama starts his meditation on colour and civilisation with the great Gothic cathedrals of Amiens and Chartres. He then moves to 16th-cent...
8: The Cult of Progress | Civilisations
David Olusoga explores the artistic reaction to imperialism in the 19th century.
9: The Vital Spark | Civilisations
Simon Schama explores the fate of art in the machine- and profit-driven world, looking at the rise of art as a tradeable commodity.
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère | Civilisations
David Olusoga explores the controversy of Manet's ''A Bar at the Folies-Bergère'' and its signalling of prostitution.
Anselm Kiefer | Civilisations
Anselm Kiefer discusses why his work is influenced so massively by German history.
Art from concentration camps | Civilisations
Simon Schama views the art that was made by children in concentration camps.
Aztec Double Headed Serpent | Civilisations
David Olusoga investigates the history of the Aztec Double Headed Serpent.
Benin Bronzes | Civilisations
David Olusoga visits the Benin Bronzes at the British Museum.
Cai GuoGiang | Civilisations
Simon Schama investigates Cai GuoGiang's ''fire'' art, where he uses fireworks, stencils and pigments to create form.
El Anatsui | Civilisations
Simon Schama explores El Anatsui's flowing sculptures made from scrap metal like bottle caps and tin cans.
El Greco | Civilisations
Impressionism | Civilisations
David Olusoga explores the beginnings of Impressionism and how ground-breaking the movement was at the time.
Islamic Art | Civilisations
Mary Beard explores Islamic artwork and the debates within Islam about the role of artists and images.
Jan Vermeer | Civilisations
David Olusoga explores Jan Vermeer's life and work, a man who barely ever left the small Dutch city of Delft.
Johan Zoffany | Civilisations
David Olusoga explores Johan Zoffany's work, which portrays a rare moment seen in the art of the time, depicting British traders cavorting with...
1: Into the Brain | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Documentary series looking at the brutal, bloody and dangerous history of surgery begins with the area of the body w...
2: Bad Blood: Stuarts to Hanoverians | Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History
Lucy Worsley explores how the health of monarchs has shaped the nation. She looks at th...
2: Bleeding Hearts | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
The series about the history of surgery charts the development of heart surgery. Michael Mosley witnesses a breatht...
4: Fixing Faces | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Series about the history of surgery continues with a look at the development of plastic surgery, which started over 40...
4: Medicine and Long Term Change | History File
Paul Viragh presents programme on medicine and long-term change - Harvey's theory of the circulation of the blood is usually ...
5: Bloody Beginnings | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Michael Mosley looks at how surgery dragged itself kicking and screaming out of the dark ages, transforming itsel...
Measuring levels of oxygen in the blood | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Using a pulse oximeter to show what happens with the levels of oxygen in the blood when you st...
The Great Plague
The Great Plague of 1665 killed 100,000 Londoners - one in three of the people living in the city. While kept diaries have provided terrifying testaments to...
S3E1: Forces of Nature | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
The French Revolution sent shockwaves through Britain. While some watched transfixed, others were horrified. Si...
Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz
In the most personal and unflinching film of his career, historian Simon Schama confronts the Holocaust as not just a Nazi obsession but ...
Handmaid's history | Simon Schama Meets
Margaret Atwood describes how history is cyclical and contemporary leaders or movements are based on nostalgic whims of the past. ''T...
Judaism and Hellanism | The Story of the Jews
A look at how Jewish culture changed through the influence of Hellenic culture but eventually remained intact.
To His Mistress Going to Bed' | Simon Schama's John Donne
A reading and analysis of John Donne's poem 'To His Mistress Going to Bed'.
6: Van Gogh | Simon Schama's Power of Art
Simon Schama investigates what drove Van Gogh to paint Wheat Field with Crows.
Cookies help us run our services and give you a better experience. For the full details please read our Cookie Policy.
