The Queen's House

If you have an interest in British architectural history, the Queen's House in Greenwich should be on your "must" list. Built in the 17th, it was Britain's first classical structure, designed by Inigo Jones, one of his first commissions following the usual Continental grand tour. It was designed for Anne of Denmark, James I's wife, but finished for Henrietta, Charles I's wife. Our main interest was the so-called "Tulip Staircase," the first free-standing staircase in Britain; but much else was waiting for us inside. By turns, the Queen's House has been a royal residence, an artist's studio, housing for a royal mistress, for French refugees, residence for Ranger of the Park, home to a smuggling ring, a naval orphanage and school, a war-time billet, and, now, a museum and art gallery attached to the National Maritime Museum. There is a permanent art collection that is now joined by a spectacular temporary exhibition of paintings on loan from Woburn Abbey, ancestral home of the Russell family (of Bloombury development fame), while it is in renovation. Not the first such temporary exhibition we have benefited from that was due to a renovation.

View from the river, through Wren's buildings, to the Queen's
House; an noted in the previous post, Queen Mary insisted the
Queen's House's view to the river be unobstructed

The Queen's House, Vicki entering

In the Great Hall

Looking down the Tulip Staircase

And up, at Vicki; actually, they're said to be fleur-de-lis, to honor
Henrietta, not tulips; still gorgeous and impressive

The first room you pass through contains a Reynolds,
a Claude, and a Van Dyke, all from Woburn Abbey;
we were knocked out; this is Reynold's Francis
Russell, Earl of Tavistock (Tavistock Place is a block
north from our flat...practically neighbors!)

Claude's A Classical Landscape with Arcadian Shepherds;
according to the (excellent) signage, the Earl of Tavistock paid
220£ for it in 1762 and felt he was over-charged

Van Dyke's Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford

For the first time ever (and we were there) all three of the "Armada
Portraits" of Queen Elizabeth I; all anonymous or unknown, all
contemporaneous with the Armada or its defeat; one from 
Woburn, one from the National Portrait Gallery, one from the
Royal Museums Greenwich; the docent said the painters remained
anonymous because the issue about the Armada was still in doubt...

The National Portrait Gallery version was actually cut down
(conspicuously) in the 19th so as to fit their notion of what a
portrait should be

Gheeraert's Sir Francis Drake, wearing the Drake
Jewel, last seen on my most recent post from 
the V&A

Unidentified star fort; probably part of the maritime museum

collection...

Michael Dahl, Queen Anne, 1714

Lemuel Francis Abbot, Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson,
1797

Gainsborough, Woodcutter and Milkmaid, purchased 1755

William Westfall, Scenes from a Voyage Around Autsralia, 1810;
Westfall was official artist for the voyage around Australia,
establishing it as a continent; tie me kangaroos down, sport...

Obligatory Canaletto, Regatta on the Grand Canal; there's a

similar one in the National Gallery

Greenwich view, pretty sure it's a Canaletto

The Russells also bought this one, Admiral Don
Adriano Pulido Pareja, thinking it was a Velazquez...
alas, it's now thought to be a copy by his son in law,
Mazo; I think we saw the real one at the National Gallery...

And finally, Poussin's David and Bathsheba, 1630

In yet another room was a set of paintings by various artists 
depicting naval scenes from WWII: here, Convoy to Russia,
by Charles Pears

Norman Wilkinson, A Catalina Flying Boat Sighting the Bismarck,
26 May, 1941

Also by Wilkinson, The Tanker 'Ohio' in a Malta Convoy, August,
1942  

Richard Eurich, Bombardment of the Coast near Trapani; Turner
would have felt complimented