Of all London's many wonderful museums, the National Gallery of Art is still our favorite. We were there five times on this campaign (free admission, as with all the national museums) augmented by watching all of the Teaching Company's videos on the museum. I'm sure I've posted scores, if not hundreds of pix from the National Gallery [search box!] over the years, so here I'll mercifully post just a few of new or notable interest. 2024 is the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery, and quite a few of its best known paintings were out on loan to other museums in the Nation.
 |
| Uccello, Battle of San Romano, c. 1440; episode #4,334 |
 |
| Uccello, St. George and the Dragon, 1470 |
 |
| A very late Botticelli, Mystic Nativity, 1500 |
 |
Definitely never seen before by us at the National Gallery...six of the
nine Mantegna paintings entitled The Triumphs of Caesar; acquired in
1629 by Charles I, and retained, very exceptionally, by the Commonwealth
after his, um, untimely death (retained along with the Raphael cartoons at the
V&A), and housed for most of these centuries at the palace at Hampton
Court... |
 |
But now housed temporarily at the National Gallery until 2026,
while their special gallery at Hampton Court is being renovated |
 |
Up closer of one...extremely famous in art history;
late 15th century |
 |
We're accustomed to seeing the largest crowds at the Prado looking
at Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights...but seeing these crowds, on
every occasion, before van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait (1434) was a
bit of a surprise...maybe he's making a comeback |
 |
Up closer of the mirror in the Arnolfini Portrait;
first instance of a reflected scene in art history; to
become a standard flourish in Flemish painting and
subsequent art...one of several firsts in this 1434
work |
 |
| Leonardo, Virgin on the Rocks; original in the Louvre |
 |
| Vermeer, A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, 1670 |
 |
| Leonardo's so-called Burlington House Cartoon |
 |
Bosch, Christ Mocked, 1510; love the chaperons they're
all wearing |
 |
van Ruisdael, Landscape with a Ruined Castle and Church, 1670;
great sky |
 |
Team Rubens, Portrait of the Archduke Albert, 1615;
we wondered whether this might be the inspiration of
Jonathan Yeo's recent portrait of Charles III ("Red Chuck") |
 |
| Rembrandt, Belshazzar's Feast, 1638; note wife Saskia as a model |
 |
Masaccio, Virgin and Child, 1426; tempera, gold,
International Gothic, lack of perspective...not what
he's famous for...at all |
 |
Piero della Francesca, Nativity, 1470; aka the Adoration of the
Lute Players |
 |
| Jan Gossart, An Elderly Couple, 1520; resonated with us |
 |
| Peter Brueghel the Elder, Adoration of the Kings, 1564 |
 |
Gainsborough, The Market Cart, 1786; many of the
other famous landscapes out on loan... |
 |
What was he thinking? department...Edgard Degas, Portrait
Of Princess Pauline de Metternich, 1865; from a photograph;
trying to make a painting look like a photograph...? |
 |
Frederic, Lord Leighton, Cimabuie's Celebrated Madonna, 1855;
a massive painting, Queen Victoria purchased it on its first day of
exhibition in the Royal Academy; depicts a procession taking the
painting from Cimabuie's studio to the St. Mary Novella church in
Florence |
 |
| Poussin, Not the Last Supper, 1636 |
 |
| Poussin, Eucharist, 1637; note reclining disciples |
