If I Could Own Just One Painting
I had come to Charing Cross, so that I could go to the National Gallery to see the Acts of Mercy paintings that used to be in the Middlesex Hospital. I’m no art expert, but they have to be seen to be believed. You might think art has no place in hospitals these days, but Addenbrookes has an extensive collection, which I think makes staff and patients feel better. Addenbrookes also marked 800 years of Cambridge University with the unvieling of a mural by Quentin Blake, showing various alumni of the University.
They also say this on their web site.
The arts have the potential to distract, amuse, enlighten and engage patients, staff and visitors. In recent years, a growing body of evidence has been compiled proving the value of the arts in healthcare settings. Earlier this year, this resulted in the Department of Health issuing its first ever review of arts in health which recognised that the arts “are, and should be firmly recognised as being, integral to health, healthcare provision and healthcare environments, including supporting staff”.
It is sad that those paintings from the Middlesex, couldn’t have been found a home in the new hospital on Euston Road.
I also had time to visit my favourite painting and the one above all others, I would own; Whistlejacket by George Stubbs. Noone has ever painted horses like Stubbs, capturing their power, feelings and character so well!
Carravaggio
I ended up watching a program about who killed Caravaggio on BBC4. This is the sort of program I worry about, if the BBC decides to save money. Having been introduced to the works of Caravaggio by an artist friend, I feel that this is the program, I should watch, to make sure I am less of an ignorant Philistine.
According to Caravaggio‘s entry in Wikipedia, today is the four hundredth anniversary of his death.
The Middlesex Hospital Lives On!
To me, two London hospitals hold pride of place in my mind, St. Bartholemew’s or Barts, as it was the local hospital, when we lived in the Barbican and the Middlesex, as our oldest and youngest sons were born there.
The Middlesex is now just a bricked and boarded-up chapel, surrounded by a vast deserted building site, as it has long been demolished to make way for a hotel and housing.
But something from the Middlesex lives on; the art. Or rather some of the most amazing pieces of Victorian art, that used to be in the hospital reception area.The paintings are now on display at The National Gallery until October. See more here on the BBC. The artist was Frederick Cayley Robinson. Note that the link points to a French entry in Wikipedia, as there is no English one! What does this say about our views on artists?
Wonderful Building – Shame About the Contents
One of the places I wanted to see in Newcastle was the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.
It certainly is a magnificent building.
The trouble is the contents. And judging by the lack of visitors in the various galleries, the good people of Tyneside don’t think much of them either.
However the restaurant was good. Or certainly my venison was excellent. And it was gluten-free, of course!
I ate early, but by the time I left, the restaurant was full.
So perhaps if you give people what they want you attract the punters.
Antibes and the Picasso Museum
I at least managed to get to the Picasso Museum in Antibes. When we had the house on the Cap d’Antibes, we did go a couple of times, but inevitably when we tried it was closed. And it was closed on our last visit in April 2007.
The museum is very much worth a visit as it is one of the best collections of Picasso’s work. I suspect too, that it has got bigger in the twenty years since I last visited. There is also a large collection of works by Nicolas de Stael, who is an artist, of whom I’d never heard.
But then what do I know about art?
As you can see in the pictures, there is still a lot of work being done around the museum.
A Cloud
I’ve just photographed this cloud through the window of the hotel.
A Cloud
To illustrate how fleeting this image was, I took another a few minutes later.
A "Not-So-Good" Cloud
Street Art in Dalston
This mural is at Dalston Junction, where the Balls Pond Road meets Kingsland Road.
Street Art, Dalston Junction
Appropriately, it is by the old Reeves offices and factory.
Reeves Offices in Dalston
This was probably the place where my mother worked before she got married. I’m not too sure what she did, but I think she worked in accounts or wages, although I do know that worked a comptometer. I can remember her telling me that you used to do division, by multiplying by the reciprocals. She still knew her reciprocals many years later.
Reeves Offices in Dalston
As befits a company, whose business has been art for nearly 250 years, the details are very much in keeping.
Another twist in this area, is that my grandmother, who my mother always said thought herself terribly posh, was born round the corner in the Balls Pond Road. It’s going back up again!
The Accidental Artist
Tommy McHugh was on the television this morning. He’s an artist, who had never painted before he had two brain aneurysms. This is his story from The Times.
Amazing!
Stunning Scanning
I was just watching the local BBC news and saw an item about SatScan. A company called SmartDrive have developed a very high class scanner to help in the understanding and restoration of major art works.
Very interesting.
Click here to view an infra-red image of Titian’s “Nymph and Faun” at a very high resolution of 16,000 by 14,000.
The Anonymous Widower 