I’m still flying high from my trip to the Yale Center for British Art two weeks ago. I’ve blogged about the special Thomas Lawrence exhibit Victoria Hinshaw and I went to see, the place also has a treasure of other British art from the 18th and 19th century.
Here Vicky and I stand before a bust of Prinny (George IV), looking very Roman, however. Prinny, not us!
(Check out Vicky’s blogs from the trip at Number One London)
Here’s the most spectacular painting by George Stubbs (1724-1806). Stubbs is most famous for his paintings of horses and this one is brimming with action.
All the great portrait artists are represented:
Gainsborough
Reynolds
Hoppner
Copley
And another of my favorite artists of the period.
Turner
This museum was just wonderful. Everywhere I turned I found something spectacular to look at and almost all in “our” time period, give or take a few years!!
Have you ever visited a place that stayed with you like this? There is something about this artwork that just won’t let go of me. I felt this way about England when I visited, too.
On Wednesday I’ll be at eHarlequin talking about a certain kind of art, vedute, the souvenir paintings of the Grand Tour.
P.S. My heart goes out to all of Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. The devastation is massively horrible. May we all figure out some way to help. I lived in Japan as a child when my father was stationed there. I’ll blog about that on Diane’s Blog on Thursday.
I think the museum that stays with me is the Frick Museum in New York City. Every painting in this museum is a knock-out. There are three Vermeers, which is saying something since there are only 36 in the world (I could be wrong on that number I know it’s between 33-36), but my favorites are the Whistlers. Most people only talk about what is known as Whistler’s Mother, but his work at the Frick just stays with me. In fact in my art theft trilogy I might actually set the third book at the Frick and have one of the Whistlers as the object that is stolen (http://collections.frick.org/media/images/Objects/1917-1918/19181132.jpg) That Whistler to be exact, but it’s still all a mystery.
My family is also related to the Fricks on my father’s side. We married in, but we did have the Frick silver candlesticks until they were destroyed by a fire, but it’s fun to think these paintings were once part of the (my) family’s holdings.
The National Gallery. It’s the first museum I visited on my own when I spent a summer in London. Then again, I’ll never forget seeing Winged Victory at the bottom of the staircase at the Louvre. Took my breath away.
Oh, Rachel. Now I hope I can get to the Frick when I’m in NYC. I’m impressed that you are related, but so sorry about the loss of the candlesticks.
Judy, I loved the National Gallery, too. I would love to go back. And I get goosebumps just seeing photos of Winged Victory. I’d love to see it in person.
Oooh, I wanna see this exhibit so very much! Why do I have to live so far from anything fun? (pout)
Rachel, I adore the Frick! I love how the paintings are displayed in the “home” setting, and how every single painting is a masterpiece. It’s hard to pick a favorite museum, there are things I love in every one I’ve ever visited. But I did cry a bit when I saw “Mona Lisa” 🙂
Oh, and the famous Holbein painting of Anne of Cleves, which I didn’t even know was in the Louvre! I just came around a corner and saw her there, and got some funny looks when I cried, “OMG, there’s Anne of Cleves!” like she was some friend I was looking for, LOL
I’m with Amanda, why does this fabulous exhibit have to be so far away? And that Stubbs painting is one of my absolute favorites!
I spent an entire day in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the memories of that day are still with me. To see the paintings I’d only seen in books and posters and postcards, to see the actual works was a humbling experience.
During the same visit to Amsterdam I saw Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. If you’ve never seen it you cannot imagine the size of it, the beauty and the overwhelming awe you feel. My viewing of it was made more poignant by the fact that I visited his home earlier in the day.
Amanda and Louisa, I feel that way every time i see Copley’s Watson and the Shark at our National Gallery of Art
It has been a while since I have been to a good art museum. When we travel, I usually get out voted or it is so far down on the list of things to do, we never get there. This is one exhibit I would dearly love to see. Maybe I can send the rest off to play gold or something.