August 12th we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum again, this time doing the Raphael Cartoons, some British history, some ceramics, and most of the glass collection. Almost any part of this museum is overwhelming in the size and extent of the collections. It's hard to imagine what a "highlights" tour would encompass. Oh well. On the way back we detoured a bit toward Oxford St. Vicki had wanted to see the Marble Arch and particularly the Marble Arch Mound, a world-class municipal boondoggle of epic proportions. Our ascent of the Mound will appear in the next post.
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| Standing in line to get in, noting bomb damage to the building from 1940-1941 |
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| Now in the great hall of Raphael cartoons; despite what you may have heard at Disneyworld, a cartoon, in this sense, is a full scale preparatory drawing, usually in charcoal, to guide in the production of a large fresco or, in this case, tapestry; not just any tapestry...these are for the Sistine Chapel...a whole series about the life and works of Jesus...each cartoon consists of about 200 smaller bits of paper; after being finished, the cartoons were sent off to the shops where the tapestries were done and copies made (for other monarchs, etc.); perhaps the V&A's most valuable artistic possessions |
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| Raphael's Cartoon, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1515, body color over charcoal; huge |
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| Tapestry made from the cartoon, Mortlake Factory, England, at the request of Charles I (his dad, James I, had acquired the cartoons from an unidentified source a few years earlier); also huge |
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| At the head of the great hall is this colossal if mysteriously placed St. George and the lizard altar piece from Valencia, Spain; no relationship to cartoons, tapestries, Raphael, nor the Renaissance; we figured they put it here to cover a hole in the wall |
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| Ordinarily, cartoons get used up in the fresco- or tapestry- making processes; that these many hundreds of sheets have survived is pretty miraculous; we attended a docent's lecture while in the great cartoon hall and learned this as well as many other facets of the matter; never miss the docents' talks nor free guided tours |
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| Moving right along, upstairs, into the vast British history section, a bust of Charles I with Big Hair |
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| Official court portrait of Henry VIII, 1527, painter unknown (although his head was seen on a pike near Tower Bridge); hoping to upgrade his image, Henry switched to Holbein the Younger shortly after this |
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| Hoot of the day: the Great Bed of Ware, 16th-17th centuries, seen in a number of inns and pubs in Hertfordshire in those times; it is colossal, probably 8x10 feet, and was constructed to be a tourist lure; it was well enough known by the end of the 16th century for Shakespeare to have included a reference to it in Twelfth Night |
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| Occupants carved their initials and other thoughts into the wood all over it |
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| And also waxed seals |
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| Virginal thought to have been played by QE1, an accomplished keyboardist |
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| For some years before her execution, Queen Mary of Scotland lived under house arrest in several of the great houses in England, including that of Bess of Hardwick, embroidering away; above are several panels done by her |
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| The Drake Jewel, given by the Queen to Sir Francis in recognition of his role in defeating the Spanish Armada, late 1580s |
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| Moving right along, now we are upstairs, examining hall after hall of ceramics, porcelain, Delft, you name it... |
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| This will be on the quiz |
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Usually I try to get pictures from the crossing, looking up into the dome: here, for a change, we are looking down, 4 or 5 floors to the old museum entrance |
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| Ever more ceramics |
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| Now we are into the great halls of glass, looking particularly at the ancient and Medieval glass |
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| Medieval Islamic, incredible detail and beauty |
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| The Roemer Wine Glass, 1689 |
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| Good thing they don't have earthquakes in London; do they? |
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| Visitors' bench in the glass departments |
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| San Sebastian in glass |
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| Shelf after shelf, case after case, floor after floor, room after room... |
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| At last it came to an end; staff shortages caused some areas to be closed for the day; we were told |
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| Parthian shot as we are leaving the old building |
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| And looking up to where I'd shot down earlier |
