London - The National Gallery

Portrait of Aechje Claesdr

Of all the many masterpieces on display in the National Gallery, this is the one that I could have stared at all day.  It was painted by Rembrandt Van Rijn in 1634 during a period in his career when he focused mainly on portraiture.  Art speaks to people in many different ways, so I won’t try to make any bold interpretation based on the subject of the painting and who commissioned it and all that.  Look at the ruffles on her collar, and her hairline, and the texture of her face comprised of more colors than you think, and the light on her forehead.  My goodness.  To quote Forrest Gump, “I’m not a smart man Jenny, but I know what good painting is.”  

Another day and another museum—this time the National Gallery was our destination, and we were a little smarter about touring today.  After a late breakfast of French bread, butter, and raspberry jam, we arrived in Trafalgar Square with enough time to walk around a bit before walking into the gallery for FREE, and just in time for the FREE hour-long highlights tour.  Our budget is enjoying the lack of strain caused by these incredible free attractions, and it's helping us save up for the attractions later in the week that are not so free.  The docent conducting the tour was very friendly and knowledgeable, but she spoke in conversational tones, and I heard maybe twenty percent of what she said since my hearing is not so good in crowded rooms.  We kept shoving the children toward the front of the group, so I think they caught most of her rap.  She showed us four masterpieces painted during different periods covering a variety of subject matter and techniques, and we were able to go back later in the day and view them in more detail—turns out the ones she showed us are some of the most beloved paintings in the entire gallery.  

We employed our museum strategy outlined in the British Museum post, and it worked very well here.  We knew that one visit would be sufficient at the National Gallery even though a serious art buff could spend weeks in the place.  Joseph liked Whistlejack, a portrait of a rearing horse with a minimal background.  We all liked the Monet paintings, especially The Thames under Westminster.  There was another Monet work of his wife and her friend painted on the beach that still has bits of shell and sand visible in the paint.  A surprise Klimt pleased Deena and me very much.  Deveny liked the Van Gogh collection, which includes the eye-opening Sunflowers, but she preferred Wheatfields.   Modern art is more her thing, especially Picasso, so we’ll indulge her at the Tate Modern later in the week.

We took a break when we started feeling hunger pangs and decided to walk next door to the Church of St. Martin of the Fields for luncheon at cafe in the crypt.  There were street performers all over Trafalgar Square where we got sidetracked by a talented group of young men doing break dancing and all kinds of gymnastic feats.  While the family enjoyed the show, especially the drunk guy undressing in the front row, I wandered off to find a geocache which turned out to be a creative hide with some of the best urban camouflage I’ve seen.  Deena and I had lunch in the cafe in the crypt twenty years ago, and it was one of our favorite memories, so we wanted to take the children there on this trip.  The cafe is located literally in the crypt below the church of St. Martin, and the ambience is warm and medieval.  We bought cokes and cookies to go along with the chicken and hummus sandwiches we had packed and had a simple, energizing lunch.  

The other quirky thing about St. Martins is the opportunity to do a brass rubbing.  No, not rubbing the brass head of a saint’s bust for metaphysical bestowment of good fortune, but a clever form of art practiced for centuries, primarily in Britain.  The idea is to place a heavy paper over a commemorative brass plaque found on monuments or grave markers and rub over it with wax-based metallic crayons to produce an image on the paper.  The result is quite striking, and we thought Deveny would enjoy the process—she did.  There is a room off the crypt devoted to the artwork, and there are hundreds of recreated brass designs from which to choose.  Deveny selected a Celtic design inspired by the Book of Kells and the cheerful attendants got us set up with supplies.  Joseph logged onto the free wifi and did some schoolwork while Deveny got lost in the brass rubbing—what a fun, relaxing activity.  She was pleased with her results after an hour or so, and we headed back to the National Gallery for our self-guided hourlong masterpiece wrap-up tour.
  

Brass Rubbing

We saw works by Rubens, Degas, Cezanne, Botticelli, Michelangelo, and many more.  We finished our day at the National Gallery in the espresso bar on the ground floor where patrons can spread out on comfy couches and take advantage of the free wifi and plug-in strips for electronic devices.  The kids fired up the laptops again for more schoolwork, and Deena and I propped our feet up on the hassocks and worked on the blog.  I think art appreciation is one of the best forms of education that combines creativity, history, religion, politics and other society shaping themes, and we’ve certainly appreciated our share today.