Naples: Between Heaven and Earth
This course and city experience form part of The Story of Art and the Cities that Helped Write It, an ambitious long-form programme exploring art history through the places where it was created, collected, transformed, and preserved. Through a combination of expert-led online learning and immersive city experiences, the programme places great works of art back into their original cultural context—revealing the people, power, ideas, and institutions that shaped them. Each individual course and city experience can be enjoyed on its own, while also contributing to a wider journey across the cities that defined the story of art.
Find our more about The Story of Art and the Cities that Helped Write It programme here
Overview
Naples is a city where art and culture have long been shaped by the meeting of the sacred and the everyday, the classical and the contemporary, the earthly and the divine.
In this experience, we explore the artistic identity of Naples through the extraordinary collections of the Museo di Capodimonte, the powerful drama of Caravaggio, and the remarkable legacy of the ancient world preserved in the National Archaeological Museum.
From the emotional intensity of Baroque painting to the sculptures, frescoes and treasures of Greek and Roman antiquity, we will discover how different cultures, beliefs and artistic traditions have shaped the way Naples sees and represents the world.
Through close encounters with exceptional works of art, we will consider the role of faith, the power of artistic imagination, and the enduring dialogue between ancient ideals and the realities of human experience.
Naples:
Dates:
Online Course: 27 Oct, 3, 10 Nov 2027 Wednesdays, 4pm GMT
City Tour: 27 & 28 November 2027 Friday & Saturday, 9:30am-5pm
Online course (per city module) €380 - 3×1-hour lectures preparing each city (collectors, context, art history framework)
Online + Naples experience (combined package) €2,100 Full pre-study + guided on-site immersion.
Naples city experience €1700
Lecturer’s Biography
Aliki Braine
Aliki Braine (b. 1976, Paris) is an artist and art historian. She studied at The Ruskin School of Fine Art, Oxford, The Slade School and The Courtauld Institute, London where she was awarded a distinction for her theses on 17th century painting. She has been working for The National Gallery for 25 years and teaches for Christie’s Education, The Wallace Collection, The Arts Society and numerous private clients. Aliki is also a practicing artist who taught at Camberwell College of Art and Westminster University and who regularly exhibits her work internationally.
Publications & Exhibitions
Books
Art; The Whole Story, Thames and Hudson (2010)
501 Artists, Barons Publishing (2007)
1001 Paintings to See Before You Die, New Burlington Books (2006)
Reviews
Robert Shore, Beg, Steal and Borrow; Artists Against Originality, Elephant Books (2017)
Pauline Martin, L’Évidence, le vide, la vie; La photographie face à ses lacunes, Ithaque Editions (2017)
Brady Wilks, Alternative Photographic Processes: Crafting Handmade Images, Focal Press (2015)
Robert Shore, Post-Photography: The Artist With a Camera, Laurence King Pub (2014)
Exhibitions
‘Veronica Bailey & Aliki Braine: Cross-Reference', dalla Rosa Gallery, London (2018)
‘Wilful Damage’, Galerie Raum Mit Licht, Vienna, Austria (2011)
‘Les Evidences du Réel; La photographie face à ses lacunes’, Musée d'art de Pully, Lausanne, Switzerland (2017)
‘Material Light’, Kulturni Centar, Belgrade, Serbia (2015)
