Once More Dear Friends Unto The Tate Britain

It's always been a favorite London museum, the home to much of the nation's Turner collection and much other historic British art. Some of the best special exhibitions I have seen have been at the Tate Britain. But I think we may have finally hit our limit. The "modern" in-your-face installations are a distraction, and the moralizing all around is worse. Why not just display the great art and tell us about it, especially when you have a whole gigantic museum down the river reserved for modern "art" and its assorted "insights"? (The Tate Modern). Oh well, we visited--it's a short walk from our flat--and resolved to visit again, maybe some day when there's a special exhibition of interest or when we've forgotten the current experience. We looked at some favorites, some others, and moved on. A particular disappointment was the restaurant where Rex Whistler's fantastic (as in "fantasy") murals wrap around the room: darkened so you could see a grossly over-done video on the putative racism some see in the murals. "A child of his time" Turner would have said. 

In your face, in the main hall; with accompanying noise
from other rooms

The "benches" in the room, evidently intended for the kiddies, talk to
you when sat upon

Waterhouse, The Lady of Shalott, 1888

Also new to us, Sargent's Claude Monet Painting by the Edge of a Wood,
1888; the great portraitist of the age, Sargent also went outside on occasion

John Everett Millais, Christ in the House of His Parents (The Carpenter's
Shop), 1849-1850; occasioned a public outcry, led by none other than
Charles Dickens...

Millais, Ophelia, 1851-52; muy famoso

Now into the Turner wing, his very early self-portrait

Turner, View of Orvieto, Painted in Rome, 1830; we also like Orvieto

Turner, Snowstorm--a Steamboat off a Harbour's Mouth, 1842;
among the births of Impressionism...

Book Of Mormon At The Prince Of Wales Theater

Seeing a West End show was on our list of things to do on this London visit, and on August 2nd we saw The Book of Mormon at the art deco Prince of Wales Theater. We enjoyed the show immensely--the talent and energy of the cast was incredible--but couldn't help thinking of Mormon friends who have in fact done so much good in Uganda. Pix of course were not permitted during the production.

National Portrait Gallery, 1

It's close to Trafalgar Square, but every time we've walked past it in recent years it's been closed for extended renovation. This time, however, finally, it was open and we leapt at the opportunity. There are important portraits of important people all over the UK--great houses, National Trust sites, other museums--but we've always assumed that the best of the best would be in the National Portrait Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery in the US is far more than just portraits, and we had hoped that the British version might be similar. We were there a couple hours, completed only the top floor...Tudors to the end of the 18th century...and I'll post just a fraction of what we saw. Especially for the 16th century portraits, the authorship and provenance are often problematic, and I'll omit such matters. We'll be back for the exciting conclusion.

Famous red-head

Her long-standing beau, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; according to
some movies we've seen, which were based on a true story

Mary Queen of Scots

Sir Walter Raleigh, famous in North Carolina

The Ditchley portrait of Elizabeth I

Sir Francis Drake, world traveler

William Cecil, Elizabeth's principal advisor in the
earlier years of her long reign; later Baron Burleigh;
Burleigh House is one of the really great ones...

Sir Francis Walsingham, principal advisor in later years,
spymaster and persecutor of Catholics, especially Mary
Queen of Scots

Lady Jane Grey (the chronology gets a bit messed up from here;
my bad)

The Younger Holbein's cartoon for one of his famous portraits
of Henry VIII

Richard III; found under a carpark

Anne Boleyn; with head

Thomas More family for all seasons

The aforementioned "pretty witty" Nell Gwyn

Oliver Cromwell; including warts

Very young poet John Milton; so fair, at Cambridge
they called him "our lady of Christ's College"

Diarist Samuel Pepys

Charles I; with head

Sir Anthony Van Dyke self-portrait

Poet and playwright Ben Johnson

Last and most famous of all, Shakespeare; thought
to be the only likeness of him painted during his lifetime;
the National Portrait Gallery's very first acquisition... 

London Scenes And Out-Takes, 2

Bowellism still alive and well in central London

M16..."Bond, James Bond..."

Squares and parks all over

"Look, kids..."; finally out of the years-long scaffolding

Who knew?

His and hers

Near Tate Britain; all the buildings named after British
artists

More ghost signs

On Carnaby Street, a pedestrianized area

Among the 20-some displays of Taylor Swift show
outfits at the V&A; Rebecca's set is complete; the
museum was over-run with younger Swifties; whoever
thought up these displays, getting thousands of youngsters
into the museum, deserves a big bonus and raise

Not so old London

Two-wheeled advertising

My favorite "stupid satyr tricks" Greek pottery still
there at the BM

Usual mob seen at the Rosetta Stone...not as bad as the Mona Lisa,
but nearly