‘Eternal Problems’, RIBA Journal Exhibition Review by Niall McLaughlin

‘ETERNAL PROBLEMS’, RIBA JOURNAL EXHIBITION REVIEW BY NIALL MCLAUGHLIN

JUNE 2014

Niall McLaughlin has written a piece for the RIBA Journal on the symbolic use of architecture within early Renaissance Art. The essay describes observations based on a visit to the ‘Building the Picture’ exhibition, currently on show at the National Gallery in London. The exhibition gathers together architectonic works by the Italian masters of the 14th-16th centuries that explore real and imagined architectural space.

The article observes how the Renaissance artists’ enthusiasms for displaying their newly discovered skills of perspective and knowledge of the classical forms are conflated with a religious symbolism. The tropes of classical architecture are used as visual metaphors for the divine and eternal. The article explores the effect of these spaces on the viewer and the reasons why the idealised architecture tends to alienate rather than engage.

DEDICATION SERVICE FOR THE BISHOP KING EDWARD CHAPEL

FEBRUARY 2013

The Bishop King Edward Chapel at Ripon College, Cuddesdon is now complete. The theological college celebrated the opening of its new chapel with a service of dedication attended by the Bishops of Oxford, Gloucester and Dorchester. The services were followed by a dinner and presentation ceremony for those involved in the project.

The Sisters of Begbroke, who are resident on the college campus and who have funded the project, expressed their delight at the finished chapel, ‘We knew that what was needed was not just a building but a work of art which would touch the spirit. We are thrilled that this is what Niall McLaughlin has delivered.’