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Landscapes were one of the major themes of the 17th c. paintings especially in the Netherlands.
Indeed the Dutch Golden century produced thousands of landscapes of all kinds:
river views and seaside landscapes, "green" landscapes often with a cottage under some threes, winter landscapes usually with skaters on a frozen river or pond, town landscapes and these interiors of churches which were a Dutch speciality.
These thousand of landscapes were painted not on order but to be sold to anybody who wanted to decorate his interior. Many Dutch families owed such small sized paintings for decoration. These paintings are most often of good quality but do not necessarily show much originality. Shall I say that a cottage and trees from Jacob van Ruisdael, is not very different from other cottages in a wood by the same Van Ruisdael.
The National Gallery has a large number of these Dutch paintings which are quite agreeable to look at especially for the visitor feeling saturated with religious and mythological scenes.
Outstanding among these landscapes is a painting from Meindert Hobbema which by its originality and some symbolism stands out in this field of art.
"Het Laantje van Middelharnis - The Avenue at Middelharnis" (1689) is remarkable by the perspective effect given by the upward-pointing trees receding from the foreground to the village and church in the distance.
Unfortunately, his other works have not the majesty of the above painting and are a repetition of subjects like trees around a pool and water-mils.
Another highlight of the landscapes in this North Wing is the "River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants" (1659) by Aelbert Cuyp. This is the most beautiful landscape of this Dutch painter very appreciated by British collectors.
In his masterly handling of the sunlight Aelbert Cuyp approaches Claude le Lorrain (ref. my tip on Le Louvre).
No amateur of paintings and more generally arts should omit to visit the National Gallery and its remarkable collections of the North wing. |
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The highlights of this 16th c. department of the National Gallery are the Italians:
Raphael, 'The Madonna of the Pinks',
Titian, 'Bacchus and Ariadne',
Michelangelo, 'The Entombment',
Leonardo da Vinci, 'The Virgin of the Rocks',
All of the begin of the 16th c. This century continues the tradition of the large religious paintings, but portraits as well official as private get more and more importance. Mythology is also a main subject of paintings.
Among all these classical Italian paintings one work from Bronzino surprises by its "cool" eroticism "the Allegory with Venus and Cupid" (±1545). The concept of this painting is an enigma with symbols and emblems from mythology and heraldry (pic 1).
In total contrast with the Italians is a work from Pieter Bruegel the Elder " The Adoration of the Kings" (1564).
Surprising is the person on the extreme right wearing spectacles. It is an ironic manner of Bruegel to show the inability of the assistants to see the significance of Jesus. The soldiers reflect the Spanish occupation of the Netherlands in that period. (pic 2 & 3)
A remarkable portrait in this department is the "Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling" (1526) from Hans Holbein the Younger.(pic 4) |
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This is in my opinion the best department of the National Gallery by its diversity and quality.
The highlights here are:
Vermeer, "A Young Woman standing at a Virginal"
Van Dyck, "Equestrian Portrait of Charles I"
Caravaggio, "The Supper at Emmaus"
Claude Le Lorrain, "Seaport with the Embarkation of Saint Ursula" (see my comment on this painter in my Le Louvre tips)
Velázquez, "The Rokeby Venus",
Rubens, "Samson and Delilah",
Rembrandt, "Self Portrait at the Age of 34".
Dutch, Flemish, Italian, Spanish and French schools of the 17th c. are on display in the North Wing with excellent works.
All types of paintings are present: the large works with religious and mythological subjects and the small sized paintings introduced by the Dutch school showing landscapes, genre paintings, private portraits.
My preferences go to the Vermeer and a Pieter de Hooch "The Courtyard of a House in Delft".
There is also in this North Wing a unique landscape from Rubens:
"A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning". Surprising a landscape by Rubens showing a "double light" effect! He had bought this manor house near Mechelen and enjoyed there the pleasures of country life.
Landscapes of all kinds were one of the major themes of the 17th c. paintings especially in the Netherlands.
I will come back on these landscapes of the North Wing. |
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This is the most astonishing portrait of the National Gallery.
It is not a portrait of a specific person; actually I find that the figure is more that of a man than a woman.
There have been medical articles about this woman:
"The deformities of Metsys's grotesque woman, far from being caused by barn door Paget's disease as implied by the article, could quite easily have been the result of several diseases such as acromegaly. The coarse, roughened, greasy skin catches the light in the painting. Her pigmentation, not explained by Paget's disease, fits in with the diagnosis of acromegaly; the large chest would comfortably accommodate the increased lung volume; the ugly face surely catches the soft tissue enlargements ofthe skin over the maxilla,"
Was Quinten Metsys (Massys) aware of this, I doubt.
This satire is not unusual for this painter mostly known by the famous "The Money Changer and His Wife" of le Louvre and the portrait of Erasmus at the Galleria Nazionale, Rome.
The usual name of this Flemish painter is Quinten Metsys (sometimes written Matsys or Massys) painter born in Leuven (1465 - 1530) and member of the Antwerp school. |
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This wing which shows paintings from 1260-1510 is located in a separate building left of the main one. The collection is on the 2nd floor linked to the main building by a bridge.
The Sainsbury Wing was opened in 1991. It is a gift (50 million £) from Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover and his brothers The Hon. Simon Sainsbury (*) and Sir Timothy Sainsbury.
My preferred painting here is the Arnolfini portrait by Jan Van Eyck. This is one of the highlights of Flemish 15th c. school "Flemish Primitives" (see my tips on my Brussels museum pages).
Flemish primitives were not the first to use oil paints but they excelled in it and Van Eyck was a master in this technique which allowed him to depict with great subtlety the effects of light on the fabrics and clothes.
Arnolfini was an Italian merchant from the town of Lucca near Pisa. He lived in Bruges at the time that this Flemish town was an important trade centre.
It is often taught that Arnolfoni's wife is pregnant but this is not sure; the full-skirted dress was fashionable in that time (1434) it seems.
Another remarkable painting in the Sainsbury wing is "Venus and Mars" from Sandro Botticelli (1485).
Among my favoured paintings of this absolutely remarkable collection mainly 15th century works are some extraordinary portraits like "The Doge Leonardo Loredan" from Giovanni Bellini and "A Woman" from Robert Campin (Flemish school).
(*)Simon Sainsbury who died last year bequeathed 5 impressionist paintings (Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Rousseau) to the National Gallery and 13 to the Tate Gallery for an estimated value of 100 million £. |
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Trooping the Colour is a yearly military ceremony carried out by fully trained and operational troops from the Household Division.
This ceremony dates back to the early eighteenth century, when the flags (colours) of the regiment were 'trooped' (carried) down the ranks so that they could be seen and recognised by each soldier. This parade also marked the Sovereign's official birthday.
The parade takes place on Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall. (The daily change of foot guards is at Buckingham Palace).
The troops involved come from the Household Division made up of five Regiments Foot Guards and two Regiments of the Household Cavalry
Only one colour (flag) can be trooped each year and it is done on rotation between the 5 Regiments of Foot Guards: Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh.
The next Trooping the Colour ceremony will take place on 14 June 2008.
If you want to see a "trooping the colour" ceremony in London and have no link with the "Royals" you will be obliged to follow the somewhat complex formalities to obtain - most often not obtain - an invitation.
Tickets for seated stands around Horse Guards Parade are allocated by ballot in March. Applications should be made in January or February only to:
Brigade Major
HQ Household Division
Horse Guards
Whitehall
London SW1A 2AX.
Applicants who are successful in the ballot will then be able to purchase tickets.
Tel +44 (0)20 7414 2479
bookinginfo@royalcollection.org.uk
Individuals without tickets can still see the processions from the Mall. The parade is also broadcast live on the BBC in the UK and retransmitted by some other countries TV's.
In 2006 my good friends (ref. my pages on Belgium, Ieper) of the Welsh Guards trooped the colour. Photos by courtesy of Welsh Guards Online (see also my travelogue).
2nd. Battalion Coldstream Guards was on the 2007 Parade.
The Trooping the Colour 2008 was perfect.
Adequate weather, the flag, the Dragon of the Welsh Guards, was the colour trooped on this June 14th, 2008. As you might know the Welsh Guards are my favourite regiment (re. the liberation of Brussels on Sept 4, 1944 - my page on the history of Belgium). You will recognize them at their badge on the collar: a silver leek.
The best moments were the quick march of the Foot Guards and the sitting trot of the Cavalry.
I remarked, with pleasure, that the commander of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery was a woman; not easy for her to bark orders over that huge parade ground.
Address: Whitehall, SW1Directions: Charing Cross or Westminster tubesWebsite: hbookinginfo@royalcollection.org.uk Other Contact: www.royal.gov.uk |
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What I like with the National Gallery is that the pleasure continues after the 17th c. and goes on to the 19th c. with the Impressionists.
It is always a pleasure to view or view again the most beautiful landscape "The Hay Wain" (1821) by John Constable. The painting found no buyer in England but had great success when exhibited in France.
Another British painter William Turner is on display in this department with the "The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her Last Berth to be broken up, 1838". This painting of the famous vessel "Temeraire" (ref. Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar) was voted as the "greatest painting in Britain".
It is now time to visit the "classical' impressionists with several Monet such as "the Gare St-Lazarre" and "The Water-Lily Pond", Pissaro with "The Boulevard Montmartre at Night", and not forget the "Sunflowers" of Van Gogh.
This mostly remarkable collection of impressionists is the cherry on the cake of the National Gallery which I consider as one of the three best painting museums in Europe with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. |
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Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot bridge which crosses the River Thames, joining Blackfriars station to the opposite riverbank near Oxo Tower.
The bridge you see today was completed in 1869, and then later widened between 1907-10. It consists of five red & white wrought iron arches. On the piers of the bridge you can see carvings of water birds.
An earlier bridge stood here as far back as 1769, and is had nine arches. Unfortunately the stone it was built from eroded easily and it had to be demolished in 1860. A temporary bridge was then erected in its place until construction of the current bridge began.
In 1982 the bridge became famous as it was the scene for a suspected murder - Roberto Calvi, and Italian banker was found hanging below one of the arches - initially a suspected suicide, but these days the theory is murder. Leave a Comment |
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Borough Market is a foodies paradise! This historic market dates back to 43AD, though has only been trading on its current site for around 250 years. The market is filled with stalls selling a huge range of products - a mix of gourmet items and 'ordinary' items. There are a few different sections to the market - Crown Square, the Green Market, the Jubilee Market, and the shops and restaurants which surround the market.
The market is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It is a very popular place and is always very crowded, especially on a Saturday. Friday lunch times are also very hectic, with all of the nearby office workers descending on the market to buy their lunch. If you are in the area on a Friday, queue up with the suits and buy your lunch - it may take a while, but it is worth the wait.
Things you can buy/see at the market include:
-the freshest fruit & vegetables
-full range of meat and poultry, including whole (headless) deer caught that morning
-bread, pastries and cakes
-fresh pasta
-cheese, cheese, cheese
-hot meat sandwiches, filled baguettes, excellent coffee
-excellent bacon and other deli products
We have made it our mission to taste-test all of the different chocolate brownies for sale at the market - after extensive research I can report that the best ones actually come from a small shop on Stoney Street (which borders the market), called Konditor & Cook.
Have also had some excellent fresh pasta from the markets, tasty bread and an amazing Treacle Pudding.
Opening hours
Thursdays: 11am to 5pm
Fridays: 12pm to 6pm
Saturdays 9am to 4pm Leave a Comment Address: 8 Southwark Street, London SE1 1TLPhone: 020 7407 1002Directions: Nearest Tube/Train: London Bridge station is just a few minutes walkWebsite: http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/ Other Contact: info@boroughmarket.org.uk |
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Hays Galleria is a converted wharf located in the Pool of London - the area of the Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. The old wharf was built in the 1850's and was used to take deliveries from ships from around the world, including tea clippers from China & India. The area became known as the 'Larder of London'.
Today the dock has been covered over, and you can stand in the same place that the clippers used to unload their cargo. It is quite a stunning building, with its rounded glass roof letting in the light. The wharf is now home to cafes and coffee shops, clothing chains and gift shops.
Hays Galleria fronts onto the River Thames and this area of the river is the perfect place for a wander as there are so many other attractions nearby - why not pick up a coffee from Hays Galleria and take a walk, or relax by the river at the large pub - Horniman at Hays and enjoy the view. Leave a Comment |
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on June 4, 2007
on November 27, 2006
