I’m not sure if I made the right decision to stay in a Premier Inn at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 last night when we arrived for a wee festive break in London. It seemed to make sense because we didn’t arrive at Heathrow until 9.30 p.m. so why not sleep there and head into the centre of London in the morning? However I hadn’t realised what a long time the journey in the morning would take us. We took the 8.45 a.m. train on the Elizabeth line to Canary Wharf, and by the time we dropped off our bags at Ally & Cat’s and continued into the centre, we arrived at the National Gallery at about twenty to eleven, so it took a while! We just had time for coffee and a pain au chocolat before joining a Members’ tour which I had booked.
The tour was called Cryptic Creatures, and it was about the animals in paintings. We started in the medieval area and the guide pointed out lots of dragons, lions, horses, dogs, fish, cows, donkeys, sheep and birds in various paintings.
It was so interesting to hear the reasons that these animals were in the paintings and what they symbolised. For example there was a wee magpie on the roof in the Nativity by Piero della Francesca (1470 - 75), and of course magpies represent sorrow. In this case of course the sorrow would be in the future. There were wee sparrows in the painting too, which were only revealed when the painting was restored.
In the main galleries we saw a whale (looking rather sheepish and quite reconciled with Jonah who had his arm round it!) in The Coronation of the Virgin by Johann Rottenhammer (about 1600.) We saw lots of animals in Orpheus by Roelandt Savery (1628); horses, lionesses, more lions, stags, deer, a cockerel, dogs, swans, oxen, a camel, an elephant - they represented a paradise lost, beguiled by music. In Cognoscenti in a Room hung with Pictures (artist unknown, about 1620) a wee monkey is looking in a window as if mocking the rich people within an art gallery. Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne (1520 -3) had two magnificent cheetahs (from the Duke of Ferrara who commissioned the painting and wanted to show off his menagerie) as well as Titian’s own wee dog, snakes, a donkey and an unfortunate decapitated donkey, apparently a victim of a bacchanalian party! And there were many more paintings with animals - it was a fascinating tour.
The tour was called Cryptic Creatures, and it was about the animals in paintings. We started in the medieval area and the guide pointed out lots of dragons, lions, horses, dogs, fish, cows, donkeys, sheep and birds in various paintings.
It was so interesting to hear the reasons that these animals were in the paintings and what they symbolised. For example there was a wee magpie on the roof in the Nativity by Piero della Francesca (1470 - 75), and of course magpies represent sorrow. In this case of course the sorrow would be in the future. There were wee sparrows in the painting too, which were only revealed when the painting was restored.
In the main galleries we saw a whale (looking rather sheepish and quite reconciled with Jonah who had his arm round it!) in The Coronation of the Virgin by Johann Rottenhammer (about 1600.) We saw lots of animals in Orpheus by Roelandt Savery (1628); horses, lionesses, more lions, stags, deer, a cockerel, dogs, swans, oxen, a camel, an elephant - they represented a paradise lost, beguiled by music. In Cognoscenti in a Room hung with Pictures (artist unknown, about 1620) a wee monkey is looking in a window as if mocking the rich people within an art gallery. Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne (1520 -3) had two magnificent cheetahs (from the Duke of Ferrara who commissioned the painting and wanted to show off his menagerie) as well as Titian’s own wee dog, snakes, a donkey and an unfortunate decapitated donkey, apparently a victim of a bacchanalian party! And there were many more paintings with animals - it was a fascinating tour.
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