Sister Wendy Beckett, TV art historian, dies at 88 (bbc.co.uk).
Emerging from her hermit-like existence in a caravan at a Carmelite convent in Norfolk, she hosted unscripted BBC shows from galleries across the world.
And becoming, in the words of BBC director of arts Jonty Claypole, “a hugely popular BBC presenter and will be fondly remembered by us all”.
After obtaining permission to study art in the 1980s—largely through books and postcard reproductions of the great works obtained from galleries—Sister Wendy decided to write a book to earn money for her convent.
And commissioned by the Beeb in 1991 to present a television documentary on the National Gallery in London, which she did with much enthusiasm, admirable self-confidence and lack of moralising in her black nun’s habit without script or autocue, with the sisters at the Carmelite convent later replacing her ramshackle caravan in the convent grounds with a small mobile home finally with a lavatory, bathroom and electricity (telegraph.co.uk, Dec., 2010), but still likely no television.
#RIPSisterWendyBeckett (Instagram).
Here’s Sister Beckett analysing the nature of Titian’s “Bacchus and Ariadne”.
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