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Our Man In… The Florence Academy of Art

Added 2022-11-24 17:00:10 +0000 UTC

A feature on The Florence Academy of Art’s cameo in Amazon Prime Video’s James May: Our Man in Italy (Season 2, Episode 4!)

This July, many friends and alumni of The Florence Academy of Art had a pleasant surprise when they saw familiar faces the studios of the academy featured on the popular show James May: Our Man in Italy. After the first few minutes of the 4th episode, The FAA makes its appearance with Director of the Intermediate Painting Program Toby Neve, and Principal Instructor Nicholas Chaundy leading May in a Florentine-themed “fine art experience.”

From the left: James May, Toby Neve, and Nicholas Chaundy look at art in The Florence Academy of Art's Florence campus

The new project for James May, a British television personality and journalist, of Top Gear and The Grand Tour fame, is an Amazon Prime Video travel documentary following James throughout a country where he dives into the culture of the place, and continuously entertains viewers. While the first season took place in Japan, in the second May “bumbles,” cracks witty-jokes, and earnestly and intimately connects with people and the places he travels to throughout Italy (visiting Sicily, Naples, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Venice, and more), all while attempting to “discover the secrets of la dolce vita.”

In the fourth episode of Season 2, titled “Really, Really Nice Cheese”, James finds himself in the city of Florence and “puts his Renaissance man credentials to the test with a spot of medieval sport, art, science, and modern-day alchemy.”

The Florence Academy of Art was able to take the lead on “art” with Toby Neve giving May a private lesson in perspective drawing from a beautiful location on the Arno River, overlooking the iconic Ponte Vecchio.

James May and Toby Neve on location, drawing the Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Later in the day, Nicholas Chaundy had the opportunity to lead a portrait class of select Advanced Painting students with James as the subject, wearing a Medici-inspired costume.

Advanced Painting students drawing and painting James May in costume from life in the FAA Florence campus

The faculty and students alike had an incredible experience working with James and the production crew. When asked about the experience Nicholas Chaundy said that it was a fun and entertaining experience, and mentioned specifically how pleased he was to see the students embrace the challenge of the pose and do such a great job, especially under the pressures of the circumstance (it’s certainly not the regular school day to paint a portrait quickly in a room full of crew and cameras)!

James May admires the portraits of himself painted by FAA students

Toby Neve said “living in Florence is such an inspiring privilege for all of us who are involved in the craft and the tradition of European art, and having the opportunity to share that experience and the wonderful city of Florence with more people is a delight. James was such a keen and interested student which made my part in the production enjoyable and inspiring. Hopefully James will return one day since we only scratched the surface of what this beautiful city has to offer.”

A shot from the episode. From the left: Emma Garay, Saara Knapp, Francesco Bianchini, Louis Szápáry, Phoebe Stewart Carter, Nikolas von Tiedemann

While it might be unlikely that May will return as a full time student, he did take a small piece of this experience back home with him. At the end of the portrait session, James and the crew took a silent vote on their favorite of the portraits, and unanimously chose the one by Francesco Bianchini, who is now a Principal Instructor at the FAA. Francesco graciously gifted his painting to James!

Portrait of James May by Francesco Bianchini

To see how James was as a sitter and student alike, as well as the reactions to the beautiful artworks the students created in a very short time period under pressure, you’ll just have to see the episode!