Two Days At The National Gallery, 2011

Monday and Tuesday, both days of rain, we took the Tube into town and stayed in the National Gallery, one of our favorite museums. It is not huge--the collection has somewhat over 2,000 items--but nearly everything in the world of European painting from the 13th to the 20th centuries is represented, sometimes very well represented, and the Gallery has its own surpassing masterpieces too. For us it was also a great review of much of what we have seen in Europe in the past two years. Indeed we spent the first three hours in the Medieval/Renaissance wing, looking at the now-familiar Cimabuies, Massacios, Corregios, Leonardos, Domenichinos, Lippis, Renis, Michaelangelos, Botticellis, Rafaels, et al. Getting to see Botticelli's Venus and Mars up close was a special thrill.

One of the things we like about the Gallery is its very effective display of virtually all the paintings. Sadly, in many of the greatest museums, there are issues of glare, glass, shadow, poor placement and lighting, that really dampen the experience. (E.g., the big Botticellis at the Uffizi). On the other hand, the Gallery has a no fotos policy, and, unlike many of the greatest museums, really enforces it, with a vigilant guard for every room. I didn't even try (except once). And the website, although exemplary in many ways, doesn't make it easy to download any items of the collection. The excellent audioguide costs a mere 2.50L for us concessionaires and, not least, the whole thing, like the British Museum, is free and open to the public. Admission and audioguides at the Uffizi or Prado or Louvre would have been $30-$50.

Botticelli's Venus and Mars

And, of course, there are half a dozen of the most famous

Turners, including The Fighting Temeraire, regarded by

Britons, according to the BBC, as the nation's most

important painting

Renoir's Gladiolus, a favorite of Vicki's