Terry Jones challenes Renaissance

Former Python Terry Jones claims that the Renaissance was not the great artistic leap it is widely believed to be.

The writer, whose passion for medieval times helped his work on such movies as Monty Python and The Holy Grail, believes that there was plenty of valuable art before the so-called golden age.

Jones is to present his provocative argument in a three-part Radio 4 series to be broadcast in March.

Announcing the show at the station's spring schedule launch, Radio 4 controller Helen Boaden said: "Terry Jones will be debunking the achievements of the Renaissance.He's a very brave man."

In the Anti-Rennaisance Show, Jones will claim the flowering of realism in art of the period was the result of "despotic materialism that has scarred the face of European history".

Published: 28 Nov 2001