Videos and further reading

Watch lectures and discussion from the Yale Center for British Art conference, 'The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World', 14 February 2018.

Following an introductory lecture by Nathan Flis (Head of Exhibitions and Publications, and Assistant Curator of Seventeenth-Century Paintings at the Center), a panel consisting of Andrew Moore (former Keeper of Art, and Senior Curator, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery), Francesca Vanke (Keeper of Art and Curator of Decorative Art, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery), and Jessica David (Senior Conservator of Paintings at the Center), moderated by Edward Town (Head of Collections Information and Access, and Assistant Curator of Early Modern Art at the Center), discuss the exhibition, the painting, and the Paston family.

Watch The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World on YouTube

Lectures

Spike Bucklow, Reader in Material Culture at the University of Cambridge, outlines the results of a technical examination of 'The Paston Treasure' painting and places them in an anthropological context. He gives an account of the origin of Sir Robert Paston's wealth and his exotic treasures, as well as his family's fate.

Watch The Paston Treasure: The Lives behind the Picture on YouTube

Dr Francesca Vanke gives a lecture about 'The Paston Treasure', hosted by Houghton International, 15 October 2018.

Watch The Paston Treasure: Riches and Rarities of the Known World on YouTube

Short film

This short film presents a technical journey into 'The Paston Treasure' that delves beneath the paint layers to explain how this unusual painting was made and how it has changed over the last 350 years. Traditional and pioneering analytical techniques were used to reconstruct the experience of the artist, his painting materials, momentum, and interruptions that left major compositional changes hidden under the painted surface. The unique quality of the painting's composition and colour balance today are traced back to its making and the extraordinary interaction between painter and patron.

Watch The Paston Treasure: A Painting Like No Other on YouTube

Publication

Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World published by Yale University Press