Trip London 201711 D. National Gallery Guided Tour

Continue... After wandering around in National Gallery on my own,
I went to the guided tour meeting point on ground floor in Sainsbury Wing.

Quite a number of visitors are interested.
The group has about 20 persons.
We walked up the staircase. She took us to see some paintings.


FIRST, the curator talked about part of an altar piece
painted / made with gold leaves and egg tempera.

She explained about how it was done, the paint materials,
how to tell who-is-who regarding some of the characters in the painting,
how it looked in a church, the symbols, etc.

Then, we went to Room 8,

and saw another painting 200 years later.

"An Allegory with Venus and Cupid", about 1545, Bronzino.
(Sorry, I didn't take picture of cupid grabbing Venus's breast while kissing her.
This image is linked directly from National Gallery's image of the painting. )
Lots of symbolism/personification of
Time, Fraud, Jealousy, Spring or Jest, Folly and Pleasure.
The curator do reminded us the little-girl in shadow
has honey and sting in each of her hands to symbolise the pleasure and aftermath.
This erotic painting was a gift to Francis I kind of French.

Then, room 33.

"Madame de Pompadour at her Tambour Frame",
1763-4, François-Hubert Drouais.  217 x 156.8 cm.
(mistress of French King Louis XV; a patron for art, letter & fashion)

(close-up)


Then, we was led to see two self-portraits by Rembrandt 29 years apart.
(these two images are form National Gallery website.)

Self Portrait at the Age of 34, 1640, Rembrandt

Self Portrait at the Age of 63, 1669, Rembrandt.
The curator talked about the life and changes of Rembrandt.

The first one he dressed and posed like the old masters 100 years before himself.

The other one, he doesn't care anymore.
The curator told us the changes he made which x-ray have found out. 

Then another one... a landscape.
(this image is from National Gallery website)

A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning,
probably 1636, Peter Paul Rubens,
131.2 x 229.2 cm, Room 31.

There are over over 200 paintings with landscape but she chose one I thought is boring.
OK, I know Rubens is famous.
The curator did explained the composition,
usage of warm and cool colours and light, viewpoints, etc.




I took photos of the two small pieces of work by Vincent Van Gogh.

Sunflowers, 1888, Vincent van Gogh. 
Room 43.  92.1 x 73 cm.
For use of decoration of his room in Arles to welcome his friend Gauguin.

(it is one of the 4 he painted between August & September )
National Gallery's explanation video: 
https://youtu.be/vFGVaMVyAoU
Yellow means happiness for Vincent.
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/learn-about-art/paintings-in-depth/sunflowers-symbols-of-happiness
  

Although I visited the Van Gogh Museum about 20 years ago
as an art/design student...
And that I had taught art in secondary school
and in particular one year showing students
 that lovely PowerPoint of his works and THAT song from YouTube,
sorry that his style is really not my cup of tea.
(of course I didn't say that to my students)
 
Then, extra.

The Fortress of Königstein from the North,
 about 1756-8, Bernardo Bellotto,
132.1 × 236.2 cm, Room 40.
 A scenery in Germany. The artist use a very precise style.
This was bought by the gallery this year 2017.



Then,

"Moses striking the Rock", 1743-4, Corrado Giaquinto,
136.5 x 95 cm. Room 40.
This painting is part of the group:
Modelli for Frescoes in Church Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome.

The story of Moses doing that to get water was in the Holy Bible
 - Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:11.
(He was supposed to speak to the rock instead of striking it twice)

Then, this is a Roman mythology painting.
Just that the shape is interesting.

An Allegory with Venus and Time, 1754-58, Giovanni BattistaTiepolo.
Venus, Aeneas, the winged Time, Cupid, The Three Graces.
 292 x 190.4 cm, Room 40, as an interior decoration for
ceiling of the home/palace of the Contarini family in Venice.

Walking towards Room 32.

Love the way National Gallery place this big picture
where people see it far away across from other rooms.

"The Adoration of the Shepherds",

about 1640, Guido Reni.  480 x 321 cm, Room 32.


(partial close-up)

Partial close-up.
National Gallery official video on how they clean it up:  
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/media/14546/seg_15_episode_11.m4v

BTW, the National Gallery has three pictures
of the Adoration of Shepherds,
painted by Poussin, (pupil of ) Rembrandt(?) and Reni.
 
There are over 2000 paintings in National Gallery.
I think this is my 4th or 5th time since 1993 ?
I will re-visit again sometime in future to see more.

Next:
 try to do a little shopping before heading back.
http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-e.html

In case you missed the earlier part of this London day-trip,
http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711a.html
http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-b.html
http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-c-national-gallery.html

Trip London 201711 C National Gallery

Continue: National Gallery.
After Gallery A or Room A, I went to Room 28 on Level 2.

"Belshazzar's Feast" ,  Rembrandt.  1635.  66 inches x 82.4 inches.

By Rembrandt the famous Dutch painter!
This painting is about the story written in the Holy Bible - Old Testament - Danial.

(Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar looted the Temple in Jerusalem
and has stolen the sacred artefacts such as golden cups.
His son Belshazzar used these cups for a feast .
Suddenly the hand of God appeared
and wrote the inscription on the wall
prophesying the downfall of Belshazzar's reign.
They didn't understand what it meant. ) 

Have you heard of the saying "The writing is on the wall" ?
 It means there is warning about the wrong thing people are doing.
It comes from that Bible story.

Then, Room 29...

 "The Annunciation" Nicolas Poussin, 1657.  104.3 x 103.1 cm
Angel Gabriel tells virgin Mary about what will happen to her. This story is in the Holy Bible, New Testament, Luke 1:26-35.
The pigeon means holy spirit. There are different paintings with the same theme.

When I was in kindergarten,
once there was a simple play performance
that I was made to try the role of the angel. 
(but I didn't know it was a male angel)

Add caption

The Adoration of the Shepherds, about 1640, The Le Nain Brothers

[ Antoine (about 1600 - 48), Louis (about 1603 - 48), Mathieu (about 1607 - 77)]

Room 24:

This painting is big. Much taller than me.

"Christ before the High Priest", 1617, Gerard van Honthorst, 272 x 183 cm.

The Dutch painter made it while living in Rome of Italy.

This is the close up.

The story is in all 4 gospels in the New Testament in the Holy Bible.
e.g. Matthew 26: 57-66.

Next: 

 I went to join a 1-hour guided tour with art curator.

To be continued...

National Gallery Guided Tour (Saturday afternoon)

http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-d.html

If you would like what happened earlier:
  Part A

http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711a.html
  Part B

http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-b.html
  Part C

http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-c-national-gallery.html

Trip London 201711 B National Gallery

London - National Gallery.
(many photos below; might take a short while loading)
I browsed in the shop in Sainsbury Wing first.

Originally I thought maybe I can find a nice shopping bag or a 2018 diary.
The current-exhibition-artwork-based merchandises in shops
are not appealing at all !
Wouldn't it be better if the buyer(s) or merchandiser(s) 
or person-in-charge for the shops
have more art / design training or better still a degree.

After asking about the time for the afternoon guided tour, I went outside.

Drawn in Colour: Degas from the Burrell

Entering from the Getty Entrance to main building.

I briefly walked through the Degas Impressionist exhibition on ground floor/Level 0.

Edgar Degas drew lots of ballet dancers, woman bathing and horses.

Somehow the pastel drawing reminded me of the
terrible made-in-China PRC poor quality oil pastel
I once bought when I was about 6 years old.
Even though later I had a better made-in-Japan Sakura-brand pastels.
The nightmare affected me for decades:
I do not really like pastel.
Sorry. Not allowed to take photo in that exhibition.
His drawings can be easily found on www.


Then I went to a room which I had not entered before.

Gallery A or Room A

This painting shows
how people were visiting room 32 of National Gallery a hundred years or so ago.

Artist: Giuseppe Gabrielli. 1886.

"Saint Paul Writing", 1520s, Pier Francesco Sacchi.
(He was writing the Holy Bible   1 Corinthians 13: 4,  in Greek)
"The Madonna and Child with Saints" 1543, Bernardino Lanino.

"The Madonna and Child with Angels, Saints and a Donor"
 about 1529-31, Girolamo da Treviso.
(it was an altar piece in church  S. Domenico in Bologna )

Fewer people go to this gallery/room...
because it is the earlier works from about 13th century
where the "uglier" pictures (done before the Renaissance) are.
Quite a number of French and Italian artists.

Some paintings are not quite good-looking
because they didn't study perspective or anatomy then.
Still some relatively nice works.

Many paintings are on Christian theme.
They  just call it religious paintings nowadays
(for fear of annoying non-Christian visitors?)
(isn't Britain a Christian country?
I do not like the extreme political correctness)

Naturally in old days,
there are a large numbers of paintings on similar theme of 
Virgin Mary / Madonna with baby Christ. 
And other stories found in the Bible.
Paintings about and for Christianity is a high ranking genre.
Many were placed inside churches and cathedrals.

"Saint George and the Dragon" Gustave Moreau, 1889-90.

"The Raising of Lazarus" 1625-76, Possibly by Simon de Vos.
Different artists/painters have different versions
of this story written in the Holy Bible (John 11:1-44)

National Gallery room A

If interested, you can find more info on the paintings
from National Gallery official website.
www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/floorplans/level-0/gallery-a-paintings-1250-1600

Next,
I went up and see other paintings....
and then,
 joined a guided tour...

Next 2 blog entries.
  Part C
http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-c-national-gallery.html
  Part D
http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-d.html