Catch up Friday
Yesterday was a busy day. It started with the last session of my online course about The History of Occupational Clothing. This week we looked at artisans including carpenters, painters, blacksmiths, bakers, butchers, milkmaids (I didn't know there were 8,500 cows who grazed in the London parks in 1794!), lawyers, doctors/barber-surgeons and plague doctors (scary but actually quite a practical outfit!). As usual, it was fascinating and the tutor went into the history of clothing colours and what was customary to wear.
When that finished at 10.30 I set off for the train station to go to the V&A museum to see the Donatello exhibition - Sculpting the Renaissance. There are some photos of Donatello's work on the linked page, and under the cut for some photos of various sculptures I saw that I thought were fabulous.
Most of the sculptures were made for patrons to either be part of church designs or private worship, but some were secular like this one which is thought to represent the Lord Mayor of Florence Niccolò da Uzzano (although this is disputed). It was made around 1455 of terracotta clay and painted. I thought it was amazing.
Donatello was often copied and this relief bronze (made in 1449) of the Dead Christ with angels was first made in wax and then cast and chiselled to add finer detail.
The relief above was very much admired and so other painters and sculptors copied it. This is an oil painting by Giovanni Bellini (painted around 1465)
This bronze head (possibly of a prophet) was stunning too (made around 1455)
However, the stand-out piece for me at the exhibition was this repoussé copper head of God the Father by Beltramino de Zuttis da Rho made around 1424. Beltramino was a contemporary of Donatello (and there were several examples of other artists in the exhibition). What is so amazing about this is that it's made from one sheet of copper, hammered out from the back to form the shape of the head and all the detail. It was huge (see the last photo) and absolutely amazing as it was gilded and silvered.
This is a stock image of someone looking at it at the Milan museum where it normally lives
I spent about 90 minutes enjoying the art and then treated myself to some cake and coffee in the museum café for £8 - I always forget how much London prices are! I'm a member of the V&A so I had a free ticket and the travel doesn't cost me anything, so a treat is nice (and the cake was delicious). Queuing to get my cake I'm sure I saw Marcus Waring (a well-known Michelin star chef!) getting some too! *London celeb spotting*
I got home at about 3pm and had time to catch up with Mr Cee before he headed out to find out the results of the MRI/X-ray he had a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that the cartilage on the inside of his left knee has worn away, so he'll need an operation to line that side of the joint. In the evening we went out to our tough Pilates and that was about it for Thursday.
Today Mr Cee is sorting out when he'll go in for the knee operation (probably April/May), and I have my online course about items around the home. This week it's needles. That will be about it for today apart from getting some groceries later - it's sunny so I might walk to a different supermarket for a change.
Catch up questions:
9 - Read in the Bathtub Day: Do you read in the bath? Have you ever been reading in the bath and dropped your book into the water?
I don't stay in a bath very long (or have them very often as I get bored waiting for the bath to fill up). The only reason to have a bath is if I'm really cold or I have a bad back. Then I might take my Kindle into the bathroom to read as I try to stay in the bath for at least 30 minutes to allow muscles to relax, but I've never dropped it in the bath.
10 - Umbrella Day: Umbrella or raincoat? Do you carry an umbrella or raincoat “just in case” if the weather looks doubtful, or do you take your chances? What types of umbrellas do you like? Do you keep umbrellas in different places, e.g. one at work, and one in your car (if you have a car), to avoid being caught by unexpected rain?
I have an umbrella stand in our hallway where we keep the large umbrellas. My favourite is a Lulu Guinness birdcage umbrella and we have various other large ones. I also have a couple of small compact folding umbrellas (in the hall and the car). Mostly I'll rely on a coat with a hood to keep me dry rather than use an umbrella though.
When that finished at 10.30 I set off for the train station to go to the V&A museum to see the Donatello exhibition - Sculpting the Renaissance. There are some photos of Donatello's work on the linked page, and under the cut for some photos of various sculptures I saw that I thought were fabulous.
Most of the sculptures were made for patrons to either be part of church designs or private worship, but some were secular like this one which is thought to represent the Lord Mayor of Florence Niccolò da Uzzano (although this is disputed). It was made around 1455 of terracotta clay and painted. I thought it was amazing.
Donatello was often copied and this relief bronze (made in 1449) of the Dead Christ with angels was first made in wax and then cast and chiselled to add finer detail.
The relief above was very much admired and so other painters and sculptors copied it. This is an oil painting by Giovanni Bellini (painted around 1465)
This bronze head (possibly of a prophet) was stunning too (made around 1455)
However, the stand-out piece for me at the exhibition was this repoussé copper head of God the Father by Beltramino de Zuttis da Rho made around 1424. Beltramino was a contemporary of Donatello (and there were several examples of other artists in the exhibition). What is so amazing about this is that it's made from one sheet of copper, hammered out from the back to form the shape of the head and all the detail. It was huge (see the last photo) and absolutely amazing as it was gilded and silvered.
This is a stock image of someone looking at it at the Milan museum where it normally lives
I spent about 90 minutes enjoying the art and then treated myself to some cake and coffee in the museum café for £8 - I always forget how much London prices are! I'm a member of the V&A so I had a free ticket and the travel doesn't cost me anything, so a treat is nice (and the cake was delicious). Queuing to get my cake I'm sure I saw Marcus Waring (a well-known Michelin star chef!) getting some too! *London celeb spotting*
I got home at about 3pm and had time to catch up with Mr Cee before he headed out to find out the results of the MRI/X-ray he had a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that the cartilage on the inside of his left knee has worn away, so he'll need an operation to line that side of the joint. In the evening we went out to our tough Pilates and that was about it for Thursday.
Today Mr Cee is sorting out when he'll go in for the knee operation (probably April/May), and I have my online course about items around the home. This week it's needles. That will be about it for today apart from getting some groceries later - it's sunny so I might walk to a different supermarket for a change.
Catch up questions:
9 - Read in the Bathtub Day: Do you read in the bath? Have you ever been reading in the bath and dropped your book into the water?
I don't stay in a bath very long (or have them very often as I get bored waiting for the bath to fill up). The only reason to have a bath is if I'm really cold or I have a bad back. Then I might take my Kindle into the bathroom to read as I try to stay in the bath for at least 30 minutes to allow muscles to relax, but I've never dropped it in the bath.
10 - Umbrella Day: Umbrella or raincoat? Do you carry an umbrella or raincoat “just in case” if the weather looks doubtful, or do you take your chances? What types of umbrellas do you like? Do you keep umbrellas in different places, e.g. one at work, and one in your car (if you have a car), to avoid being caught by unexpected rain?
I have an umbrella stand in our hallway where we keep the large umbrellas. My favourite is a Lulu Guinness birdcage umbrella and we have various other large ones. I also have a couple of small compact folding umbrellas (in the hall and the car). Mostly I'll rely on a coat with a hood to keep me dry rather than use an umbrella though.