Smarthistory is an excellent free resource which I have used extensively. Created by art history lecturers Dr Beth Harris and Dr Steven Zucker, it is the official partner for art history to Khan Academy, an on-line American non-profit educational organization founded by Salman Khan in 2008.
Smarthistory has produced an extensive number of videos featuring ‘conversations’ about a work of art or architecture, with the voices of Beth and Steven, recorded on location in front of the original work in various parts of the world. For example, you might like to look at Las Meninas by Velazquez, (https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/reformation-counter-reformation/v/vel-zquez-las-meninas-c-1656) to complement the the lecture given by Dr Jacqueline Cockburn on this site.
I first used these short videos when taking The Arts Society course In the Footsteps of Gombrich which ran in Truro a few years ago. More recently, I have looked at them closely before going on art orientated holidays in Italy. Last September in Venice, my geek of a husband used a Khan Academy video in conjunction with headphones to play the video on his phone as he stood in front of a piece of art in a church or museum. Of course, if you are interested in coming on our visit to Vienna in May 2021 (http://theartssocietyfalmouth.org/downloads/2019-2020/VIENNAKLIMTTASFALMOUTH.pdf) you will find information to whet your appetite from Smarthistory by searching for ‘Smarthistory Gustav Klimt’ and ‘Smarthistory Vienna Seccession’.
In addition to these short videos, Smarthistory also offers a number of online courses which you can access on https://smarthistory.org/overview/courses-and-syllabi/
Happy surfing, stay well
Mary
Beth and Steve provide a wonderful range of conversations about so many works of art. Superb.
I just had a quick look at the Khan Academy and found the short video on Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow (Winter) - it was the very first picture I owned - sadly not the original!! but one of those pictures you could buy in the 70's of quite good print quality mounted on a chipboard panel. I remember it was a decent size and took pride of place in my siting room. Fascinating to listen to the description of the picture and hear them talking through the composition.
Hadn't realised that it was one of a series of the seasons - a not unusual approach taken by artists - a Cornish/kent artist, Graham Clarke, that I have always liked from about the 70's which was one of the first 'original prints' I purchased with my first pay packet! https://www.grahamclarke.co.uk .