I've been out and about again...
Today's forecast is windy and sunny but a bit chillier than it has been at 17C/62F and consequently, I set off for the train to London with a light coat.
I had to travel before 9.30am as I'd bought an entry ticket for the National Gallery for 10.15am. Usually, I'd catch the 9.38am train but it was cancelled which is unusual. My old lady transport pass which gives me free travel can only be used after 9.30am so I had to pay my fare today, but I didn't mind as everything else I was planning was free (including my train journey home).
I went to the National Gallery to see two exhibitions St Francis of Assisi and The Ugly Duchess: Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance. Under the cut for some things I found interesting.
The St Francis exhibition was quite large, with a range of different artists' ideas about the character and history of St Francis from contemporary artists up until the present day. The first item that welcomes you to the exhibition is this life-sized sculpture of St Francis made by Antony Gormley (Untitled - for Francis 1985). Made from a body cast of the artist, and showing the stigmata of St Francis it's made of lead, fibreglass and plaster and is inspired by the Giovanni Bellini painting St. Francis in Ecstasy or St Francis in the Desert.
This is a more classical image of St Francis by Francisco de Zurbarán: Saint Francis in Meditation (1635-9). This was huge and beautifully painted. The robe is tattered showing the embodiment of the Franciscan ideals of poverty and humility.
This artwork was created about 20 years after the death of St Francis (1250) and illustrates eight stories from his life. There are portraits of Franciscan friars in the band on either side of the central figure.
There was an illustration from the writings of a Benedictine monk in 1240 showing a Franciscan monk. They were known as Greyfriars in England.
One of my favourite paintings (although the hands are really weird I love the ducks and geese!). This is by Stanley Spencer in 1935 - he took inspiration from his ageing father (wearing slippers and his dressing gown) and it's set in England. Saint Francis and the birds.
Mr Cee and I saw this amazing tree within a tree in an exhibition all about trees ("Into the Woods" at the Hayward Gallery in 2020). I really liked it then, but it had not occurred to me it was anything to do with St Francis, and there was quite a weak link to a story of the Madonna appearing in the branches of a hollow tree... I like it anyway just because it's clever and is carved from one piece of wood - it's by Guiseppe Penone Albero Porta - Cedro (Door Tree - Cedar) 2012
Another favourite that doesn't feature St Francis himself is The Wolf of Gubbio - a story of a wolf who lived peacefully amongst the townsfolk for two years after a peace pact with St Francis. Painted by the French artist Luc-Olivier Merson in 1877. This has so much detail it in - it's worth enlarging.
I also love a fresco, and this one is part of a Franciscan house in Sienna showing women of the Order of Saint Clare. Chiara Offrenduccio di Favarone was a noblewoman who entered religious life and met St Francis who invested her as a member of the Franciscan brotherhood. She was canonised in 1255 and the Order of Saint Clare thrived. This is a group of four 'Clares' painted around 1336-40.
After all that I moved to the very much smaller exhibition about the Ugly Duchess - so-called as her image was adopted by Lewis Carroll's illustrator John Tenniel for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In fact, she is probably based on a lost drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. This is a copy of the drawing probably made by Leonardo's associate Francesco Melzi.
There was another example of Leonardo's fascination with exaggerated and interesting faces drawn by the man himself (A Satire on Aged Lovers 1490). The older woman is in an outlandish and outdated costume and he seems to be offering her a ring or a flower - a token of love? In the Renaissance making fun of lustful older people was considered to be funny...
And here is the Duchess herself An Old Woman by the Flemish artist Quinten Massys (1513) which was displayed with the accompanying portrait of An Old Man. The man is displayed on the right-hand side, whereas convention would put the man on the left in a portrait (or pair of portraits) and the woman would have been far more modestly dressed with a quiet and pious expression. However, she is shown in old-fashioned clothing and holding a rose which may indicate betrothal and quite unseemly clothing for her age at the time. She is painted 'warts and all'.
By the time I'd seen all that, it was just after 11am so I decided to go home and have lunch with Mr Cee who very kindly picked me up in the car from our local station so I didn't have to walk up the hill to home.
This afternoon I don't have much planned - Mr Cee is currently making the bed with the clean bed linen that has dried on the line outside in perfect drying weather (smells lovely!). This weekend is going to be busy with the final sorting out of the spare bedroom so Youngest Cee can move back in and Sunday will be spent collecting all the smaller things from his flat. We're hiring a van on Tuesday (there's a bank holiday and we're out that day), to pick up his bed, and larger pieces of furniture which will just about fit into our house (he's not got that much!). We still haven't had definite confirmation (he should hear today), but Wednesday should be the day the sale is final, so we'll have cleared everything before then.
Mr Cee has suggested we order a delivery for dinner tonight so that will be a nice change - and that will be Friday! Today's question is: 26 - Paper Airplane Day: Can you make a paper airplane? Can you make one that actually flies more than a foot or two before crashing?
I can! I make really good 'dart' paper 'planes and they can fly for ages in calm conditions :)
I had to travel before 9.30am as I'd bought an entry ticket for the National Gallery for 10.15am. Usually, I'd catch the 9.38am train but it was cancelled which is unusual. My old lady transport pass which gives me free travel can only be used after 9.30am so I had to pay my fare today, but I didn't mind as everything else I was planning was free (including my train journey home).
I went to the National Gallery to see two exhibitions St Francis of Assisi and The Ugly Duchess: Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance. Under the cut for some things I found interesting.
The St Francis exhibition was quite large, with a range of different artists' ideas about the character and history of St Francis from contemporary artists up until the present day. The first item that welcomes you to the exhibition is this life-sized sculpture of St Francis made by Antony Gormley (Untitled - for Francis 1985). Made from a body cast of the artist, and showing the stigmata of St Francis it's made of lead, fibreglass and plaster and is inspired by the Giovanni Bellini painting St. Francis in Ecstasy or St Francis in the Desert.
This is a more classical image of St Francis by Francisco de Zurbarán: Saint Francis in Meditation (1635-9). This was huge and beautifully painted. The robe is tattered showing the embodiment of the Franciscan ideals of poverty and humility.
This artwork was created about 20 years after the death of St Francis (1250) and illustrates eight stories from his life. There are portraits of Franciscan friars in the band on either side of the central figure.
There was an illustration from the writings of a Benedictine monk in 1240 showing a Franciscan monk. They were known as Greyfriars in England.
One of my favourite paintings (although the hands are really weird I love the ducks and geese!). This is by Stanley Spencer in 1935 - he took inspiration from his ageing father (wearing slippers and his dressing gown) and it's set in England. Saint Francis and the birds.
Mr Cee and I saw this amazing tree within a tree in an exhibition all about trees ("Into the Woods" at the Hayward Gallery in 2020). I really liked it then, but it had not occurred to me it was anything to do with St Francis, and there was quite a weak link to a story of the Madonna appearing in the branches of a hollow tree... I like it anyway just because it's clever and is carved from one piece of wood - it's by Guiseppe Penone Albero Porta - Cedro (Door Tree - Cedar) 2012
Another favourite that doesn't feature St Francis himself is The Wolf of Gubbio - a story of a wolf who lived peacefully amongst the townsfolk for two years after a peace pact with St Francis. Painted by the French artist Luc-Olivier Merson in 1877. This has so much detail it in - it's worth enlarging.
I also love a fresco, and this one is part of a Franciscan house in Sienna showing women of the Order of Saint Clare. Chiara Offrenduccio di Favarone was a noblewoman who entered religious life and met St Francis who invested her as a member of the Franciscan brotherhood. She was canonised in 1255 and the Order of Saint Clare thrived. This is a group of four 'Clares' painted around 1336-40.
After all that I moved to the very much smaller exhibition about the Ugly Duchess - so-called as her image was adopted by Lewis Carroll's illustrator John Tenniel for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In fact, she is probably based on a lost drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. This is a copy of the drawing probably made by Leonardo's associate Francesco Melzi.
There was another example of Leonardo's fascination with exaggerated and interesting faces drawn by the man himself (A Satire on Aged Lovers 1490). The older woman is in an outlandish and outdated costume and he seems to be offering her a ring or a flower - a token of love? In the Renaissance making fun of lustful older people was considered to be funny...
And here is the Duchess herself An Old Woman by the Flemish artist Quinten Massys (1513) which was displayed with the accompanying portrait of An Old Man. The man is displayed on the right-hand side, whereas convention would put the man on the left in a portrait (or pair of portraits) and the woman would have been far more modestly dressed with a quiet and pious expression. However, she is shown in old-fashioned clothing and holding a rose which may indicate betrothal and quite unseemly clothing for her age at the time. She is painted 'warts and all'.
By the time I'd seen all that, it was just after 11am so I decided to go home and have lunch with Mr Cee who very kindly picked me up in the car from our local station so I didn't have to walk up the hill to home.
This afternoon I don't have much planned - Mr Cee is currently making the bed with the clean bed linen that has dried on the line outside in perfect drying weather (smells lovely!). This weekend is going to be busy with the final sorting out of the spare bedroom so Youngest Cee can move back in and Sunday will be spent collecting all the smaller things from his flat. We're hiring a van on Tuesday (there's a bank holiday and we're out that day), to pick up his bed, and larger pieces of furniture which will just about fit into our house (he's not got that much!). We still haven't had definite confirmation (he should hear today), but Wednesday should be the day the sale is final, so we'll have cleared everything before then.
Mr Cee has suggested we order a delivery for dinner tonight so that will be a nice change - and that will be Friday! Today's question is: 26 - Paper Airplane Day: Can you make a paper airplane? Can you make one that actually flies more than a foot or two before crashing?
I can! I make really good 'dart' paper 'planes and they can fly for ages in calm conditions :)