Waldemar Januszczak discusses the background to important works of art, revealing why they were created and what they were intended to convey.
Season 1, Episode 1 - "Mr. and Mrs. Andrews" by Thomas Gainsborough
Januszczak begins by analysing Gainsborough's painting Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, which contains subversive elements at odds with its idyllic subject matter, and appears to have been deliberately left unfinished. In his portrait of two aristocratic 18th-century British landowners, Gainsborough may have intended to depict bird carcasses in the unfinished area in the ladyпїЅs lap as a not-so-subtle comment on the coupleпїЅs marriage and social position.

Waldemar Januszczak discusses the background to important works of art, revealing why they were created and what they were intended to convey.
Season 2, Episode 1 - "Boy Bitten by a Lizard" by Caravaggio
The background to Caravaggio's Boy Bitten by a Lizard, which depicts a youth recoiling in pain as a lizard lurking among flowers bites his middle finger. CaravaggioпїЅs painting contains a lesson to the viewer about the transience of youth, the perils of sensual pleasure, and the precariousness of life. Caravaggio was a penniless artist when he created this early work not long after his arrival in Rome in 1592 and Januszczak sets out to explain the meaning behind the symbolism contained within the painting.