THE ARTIST AND HIS ENVIRONMENT
	A series of six vignettes, each tied together by a single theme or story, represents artists from different centuries and schools of art. Viewers can gather information from their own experiences to interpret the paintings — filmed from the originals — or use them to create their own artwork. Separate descriptions for each vignette featured on this DVD are presented below. 30 min  I S $ 19.99

THE PEASANT'S WEDDING An in-depth look at Brueghel-The-Younger's peasant wedding, including the settling of the dowry, village onlookers, revellers, costumes and dancing from this 17th-century Flemish artist. (Brueghel, Pieter, 1564-1638) (Art, Medieval) (Painters, 17c. Flemish)

SKATERS ON THE AMSTEL Visually investigates the painting by Arent Arentsz, showing the costumes, games, and sport of merchants and townspeople — ice-fishing, hockey, skating, and sleighrides — with Amsterdam and its windmills in the background. (Arentsz, Arent, 1585-1635)

THE LOWLANDS Seventeenth-century works from Flemish and Dutch masters: Ruysdael, Rembrandt, Snyders, Hals, and Massa. Peasants and farmers gather at a village by the sea in The Ferry Boat. In contrast, Snyder's Still Life with Figure shows the upperclasses in their ruffled collars enjoying the fruits of the harvest, and Rembrandt's mother in Portrait of a Lady with Handkerchief.

YOUTH Van Dyck's Daedalus and Icarus details the legendary artist and inventor advising his son before his trip to Crete on artificial wings. Langetti's Isaac Blessing Jacob illustrates the love between father and son in a Biblical family setting. (17c. youth - Dutch and Italian)

WOMEN OF THE 19th CENTURY A woman in her "artist's workshop" sculpting figurines, a female shopkeeper and the window-shopping of her colorfully-clad clientele, women in oversize hats and elegant costumes, and in portraiture, represent paintings by Henner, Gerone, Tissot and Hughes and their attitudes towards women in the 19th century. (Art, Modern) (Women in Art)

ROMANTIC LANDSCAPE IN ENGLAND An 18th-century look at the English masters: Marlow, Morland, and Gainsborough. The sights and sounds of huge waves, a floundering ship with creaking masts, and a man signaling from shore, is followed by shepherds grazing their sheep on a sunlit shore, and a farmer's family loading up a harvest wagon in the beautiful English countryside. (Art, 18th c. England)