Thursday, July 02, 2015

Day 2: London, Part 2

Harrod's Department Store





So basically this is a $15K American Dollars oven. But it is very pretty.


$61K American Dollars. Really.

Victoria and Albert Museum -- Brad and I decided to see the Medieval and Renaissance section because that's the volume Brad's on in Will Durant's History of the World series. My pick was the miniature portraits section, because, well, duh: Miniature Portraits.

 


Oh, you know, just a ceiling

"Mother and Child" by Sir George Frampton, 1894

Earrings, 600-700, Byzantine Empire...I really like these...Also, they have peacocks in the centers which were a popular emblem symbolizing immortality and resurrection.

Two tapestry panels from 300-400, Egypt. What? Needlework that was made in the 300s and survived until now. That is awesome. 


This is St. James the Great -- but I can't read my photo about when and where it is from. Sorry. Isn't his form and face nice? 

Misericords (hinged seats that were once common across Europe; They would be raised during services providing a short ledge for clergy to lean against during long services.) -- Probably carved by Claes de Bruyn, about 1441-5; Belgium; Such cozy little dragons...

A Chest from around 1508; Eastern Italy; This type of chest was used to keep family valuables. Look at all the little tiny drawers all around the inside edges of the trunk. This one had a false bottom which allowed for particularly valuable items to be kept safe from thieves. 


St. Peter, 1520; Eastern Netherlands; He is holding a key because Christ tells him that he will be given the keys of the kingdom...

There was just too much in this enormous museum...even in one section, we couldn't see it all...really, people, just too much. I could have spent the whole week in London just exploring three museums...and walking around looking at gardens, lions and unicorns (and going into Cath Kidston stores -- ha! ask Brad about that one)...


The entire front to a building in Renaissance Italy...removed and rebuilt here. There were things like this everywhere in here. 

An incredible piano...



This ugly and great German stove with a built in chair for warming up. 1577, Hans Kraut, builder.


My weapon of choice -- a very pretty, silver-clad crossbow.

A door from the 1200s -- a 700 year old door. French. 


The facade from Sir Paul Pindar's House, 1600; This house overlooked a main street in London. The windows would have had curved glass, and the wood painted bright colors, and been quite fashionable. Pindar died in 1650, and his house was soon subdivided. The remnants were demolished in 1890 to make way for a railway expansion. 

The back view of the house facade

Staircase, 1522-30; France; From a central hall in a large town house in Brittany; 




Exact plaster replicas of Italian masterpieces...


Tiny miniature portraits...swoon! Most of these are watercolor painted onto thinly sliced ivory. This is by Richard Cosway of Arthur Wellesley, Later Duke of Wellington, 1808.

George Engelheart of an unknown woman, 1804. I think this might be my favorite one of a woman.

George Engleheart of John Dyer Collier (writer and editor of two periodicals, He was friends with many literary figures, including William Wordsworth.), 1785.


Andrew Robertson of the Rev. John F. Colls B.D. But he totally looks like Mr. Collins in the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Jane's Austen's Emma. Totally. 



Isaac Collier of an unknown man, 1590-1600. This is my favorite male portrait. 

Hans Holbein of Jane Small, born Pemberton, 1540; Jane's husband Nicholas Small was a wealthy London merchant; Watercolor on vellum.

This is a self-portrait of Susannah-Penelope Rosse, about 1680. She was the daughter of  the miniaturist Richard Gibson who had learned to paint when a page to King Charles !. Her parents were famnous at court for their tiny stature, but Susannah and her siblings were of average height. Susannah married the jeweler Michael Rosse and lived in a wealthy section of London. She did not need to paint for an income though her paintings were of professional quality. 
Susannah's sister...


Another of Susannah's sisters


Gervase Spencer of an unknown woman, 1749

Thomas Flatman of an unknown woman, 1661; 

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