And Yet Another Day At The V&A

August 19th we were at the V&A, again. It was not our best day, inasmuch as several of the galleries we wanted to see were closed: lack of sufficient staffing, they said. We surmised this is due to a) COVID quarantines, or b) lack of young Europeans wishing to work in Britain for a time because of Brexit, or c) delays in staffing up for the summer tourist season. Or some or parts of all. We carried on, however, stiff upper lips and all that, keeping calm, and seeing the inlaid furniture, enameled jewelry, gold and silver, paintings, stained glass, and ever more jewelry. What we want to see is furniture and the rest of British history. We had gotten only as far as the Tudors. Next time, hopefully. 

Old entrance to the V&A; now the current exit
(through the gift shop)

Inlaid furniture

Pretty little boxes

Bracelet of tiny enameled paintings of scenes from Venice

Rarest of sights: the V&A pool not filled with kids splashing 
around; it was a chilly morning

Now we are into vast halls of silver and gold

Silver guy stuff from past ages

Children's tea sets; also doll house silver

Rattle and teething device; also utensil for those
to be born with silver spoon in mouth

Gal silver stuff

Inlaid silver ladies' sewing kit; pretty neat

Wine cooler; seats two

Silver chicken wire item

A silver clutch purse; seriously

Yours truly trying both hands at silversmithing in the silver
workshop (I think it was actually aluminum foil (or aluminium
at the Brits say)

Moving right along, we are now doing the halls of stained glass

Order of the day; how exciting could tapestry work be?

We also did the V&A's four rooms of paintings...some notable
British artists, some Millets and Courbets, Degas and Delacroix,
including two full rooms of Turners and Constables, from which
Vicki was excused; the above is Turner's St. Michael's Mount,
Cornwall, 1834; not to be confused with Mt. St Michel in 
Brittany; and not nearly so high and mysterious looking as
Turner makes it; blog readers also are excused from any further
V&A paintings in this episode

And now we are in the vast but congested hall of jewelry, 
looking at it in somewhat chronological order...

First, the classical and Medieval stuff

The Renaissance, including two Popes' rings; papal bling

Moving right along to Art Nouveau

A couple items Vicki really liked

A ring collection

And, finally, the stairs not taken to the upper realms of jewelry

Coal Drops

Just north of us, beyond Euston Avenue and Kings Cross, the Regent's Canal dips well into London, into an area called the Coal Drops. This was a massive storage and re-distribution ground for the city's supply of coal from the north (coal from Newcastle). The canal became less used and then disused as the 20th century wore on. The last commercial use was in the early 1960s. The buildings and facilities remained, however, and it all became a run-down "no go" sort of area. In the 00s some redevelopment began, first with clubs and a sordid reputation. There has been major re-development and upscaling recently, however, to the point of its becoming one of the more desirable addresses in these parts, especially if you're young and monied. We walked through it one rainy afternoon a few weeks back, but thought we would take another look. It was to be a short walk on one of our days "off."

The re-development continues, on a massive scale

Everything mixed use: office, retail, restaurants

and cafes, residences; Google and YouTube are 

on the other side, facing St. Pancras International

The canal, narrow boats, and one of many public areas

Another of the public areas: count 'em, four kids' splash pads

Old coal office (so the ghost sign says)

Long alleys of former coal bins, now restos and retails

Comfy chair...not

We didn't (do the tour)

Another plaza, setting up for a concert

Bespoke jeans shop; among many such establishments; of course
you would not to wear jeans bought off the rack

A few of the historical notes

More of the Victorian structure

St. Pancras locks on the canal

And not only coal was stored here: natural gas tank frames,
framing new office/residential buildings

Erected 1861

St. Pancras Yacht Basin; I'm trying to imagine how Turner would
have painted it

Another boulevard, public area, ever more splash

pads...they must be expecting global warming

And the music has begun; sic transit, gloria...

Another Day At The National Gallery Of Art

After a day of R&R--it had been a solid week of activities for me--we went back to the National Gallery for yet another day of art appreciation, enhanced by the Great Courses art history videos we have been watching. (And further enhanced by watching a few episodes of Fake or Fortune, an art history sleuthing show on BBC Four that has gone through 9 seasons...something completely unimaginable on American TV). By now we are well into the National Gallery, up through Caravaggio and Velazquez and Rubens and knocking on the doors of 18th century painting. We are trying to do it all chronologically, but the Gallery's layout and organization and COVID detours do not lend themselves to such a program as ours. Anyhow, here are more pix along with the usual irreverent wit. IIDSSM.

Jacob Jordaens, Holy Family Caught in Headlights,

1620

Extremely rare non-full-figured, clothed female by
Rubens, his sister-in-law, Susanna Lunden, the
painting aka, mistakenly, Le Chapeau de Paille (the
hat is felt, not straw),1622; we'll have an occasion
for comparison in our next episode

Rubens' more mature Judgement of Paris, 1632 

Attributed to Van Dyke, Santa Claus and the Elves Celebrate
Another Successful Christmas, 1620; the inscription reads
"That outta keep the little bastards happy for another year"

Philippe de Champaigne, Cardinal Richelieu,
1633; Louis XIII's main guy; could have been
a star center in the NBA, but chose the church
and statecraft instead

Rene Ssance, Pigeon Defiling the Future Queen of Heaven,
1635; note angel's red, white, and blue wings...hmmm

Claude Lorrain's Enchanted Castle, 1664; we never ever miss 
a Claude

One of Vicki's favorites, Steen's Effects of Intemperance, 1663

Poussin's Bacchanalian Revel, 1632; we think it might have been
fun to be a Poussin model

Never ever miss an Avercamp, despite the fact they all look the
same

Velazquez' Toilet of Venus, 1647; the "Rokeby Venus"; only
the fact that he was close personal buds with the King saved
Velazquez from the Inquisition on this one; I speculate

Murillo Self Portrait, 1664; paint vs. reality

Vicki stands for scale with a huge Guido Reni
Adoration; painter of light

Mr. Fruity Butt Pants [Michaelangelo di Merisi, aka
Caravaggio], Boy Bitten by Lizard, 1594

Mr. Fruity Butt Pants, At the Restaurant in Emmaus, 1594; Jesus
is telling the waiter that the chicken is over-seasoned, take it
away!

Personal favorite: Salvator Rosa, Philosophy, 1645;
the inscription says "be silent, unless what you have to 
say is better than silence," an early anticipation of
Wittgenstein's "wovon man nicht sprechen kann,
daruber muss man schweigen" (Tractatus Logico-
Philosophicus, 7.0); marvel at my Renaissance man
erudition... 

Our wanderings in the Gallery have brought us now to what I regard

as the "crossing," the heart of the place, where are displayed, opposite

each other, two Turners and two Claudes; in his Bequest to the Nation,

Turner had specified that his two be shown with the Claudes, an

earlier landscape master whom he revered; he had also specified

that the Fighting Temeraire be displayed at the National Gallery so

as to be close to Trafalgar Square and the Nelson column; anyhow

this is holy ground for Turner fans...

Claude's Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheeba,
1648

Turner's Dido Building Carthage, 1815

Turner, Sun Rising Through Vapor, c. 1807

Claude, Landscape with the Marriage of Isaac and Rebekah, 1648

We tarried; actually we were trying to find the exit, since we had
already had our quota for the day; but in an adjoining room,
something similar was going on...some Turners among the 
Canalettos...Venice, the Basin of San Marco on Ascension Day,
1740

Turner, Bridge of Sighs, Ducal Palace and Custom House, Venice:
Canaletti Painting, 1833; this is Turner's homage to Canaletto,
whom he shows at his easel on the left

Homage aside, Turner was competitive to a fault, with his
contemporaries as well as The Greats, and relished exhibiting
his work by that of the latter; here, his The Dogano, San Giorgio,
Citella, from the Steps of the Europa [his hotel], 1842; hard to
imagine an artist, up to that time, better traveled than Turner

We left, singing "Anything you can do, I can do better..."