National Portrait Gallery: McClintock, BP Portrait of the Year and King James

The National Portrait Gallery in London (near Trafalgar Square) is one of my regular locations for dropping  in for a coffee and “view” the odd painting from time to time.  The layout is a bit labyrinthine though the guards are helpful in finding an object, painting or temporary exhibition.  Some months ago I visited some photos and prints to do with Richard Hamilton and was taken to the location.  I soon found myself in the company of other visitors who were quite happy to share their thoughts and read out the odd picture label. 

On the occasion of the BP Portrait of the Year I went to the front desk.  It is upstairs or up lift (elevator) and got further directions.  I wandered around and liked a few portraits and went back to the start and asked one of the attendants for some help.  Sarah and Peter took me round and we discussed several paintings.  As usual the subject of titanium dioxide came up in some very bright pictures.  Peter also paints and we discussed Zinc Oxide and Lead Oxide.  The bookshops are also helpful in finding the occasional postcard and even a book. 

The last Thursday of the month is the date for the NPG “Visualisation” for visually impaired people.  (http://www.npg.org.uk/learning/outreach/visualising-portraits.php) It is also a chance to meet other people.  We tend to gather across from the information desk.  You can always ask to be taken to the painting in advance to see what you can make of it and the neighbouring pictures.  Often a reference is made to some other portraits in the vicinity. 

 

Esther Collins organises much of the activity and is a mine of information as is the NPG website.  (http://www.npg.org.uk/learning/digital/sen/picture-descriptions.php) I am not so familiar with this one and Esther explained the accession numbering system (No 1 is Shakespeare) Esther was also pleased that I had wandered into the BP Portrait show on my own as they have encouraged the attendants to engage more with visitors in general and I have noted this though I have become more familiar over the building and organisational structure.    There are usually a few interns at our sessions and gradually more awareness of visually impaired visitors is being shown.

The subject for the September talk was McClintock, an Arctic explorer.  (http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ap&npgno=1211) He is portrayed in the kit of an Arctic explorer of the day, though painted in a studio.  Examples of other McClintock portraits were passed round (he is in Naval uniform and the NPG has a reserve copy) There is also a photograph of this Victorian gentleman.  (This picture is almost opposite from the Kitchener described in my post http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/earl-kitchener-of-khartoum-by-von.html ) In place of military accessories such as sword, belt, pips and epaulettes we have all sorts of gadgets on display.  

There is quite a story behind McClintock and his search for Franklyn who went missing.  The painting itself is quite stylised and reflects the almost photographic detail at the time.  Having heard Sir Ranulph Fiennes speak at a lunch before about his state of being frostbitten and exhaustion on some of these expeditions, this McClintock portrait resembles more a renaissance ideal of the “Victorian Arctic Explorer”.  The race for the Arctic and Antarctic was underway and was often between Norwegian explorers such as Amundsen and Nansen and the British explorers.  With global warming and the disappearance of some of the Arctic ice does this painting represent a scientific record at all?  Did the gadgets arrayed around McClintock provide any scientific data at all?  Fascinating topics for discussion.  A portrait can direct so much interest. 

25^th October

The October portrait was that of King James VI/I as painted by the Flemish painter Daniel Mytens.  King James is sandwiched between his son Charles (later King Charles) and his daughter Elizabeth (later Queen of Bohemia).  Our describer was Marion Cole, who reminded me that we had met before at the description of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo by William Hoare. (http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/stamp-collecting-connects-hoare-with.html)

This portrait of King James is rather motionless and illustrates the King’s show of power.  He is seated in his chair of estate and is in the dress of a Knight of the Garter with all the associated regalia.  Marion said that the pose resembled that of Pope Julius II and King James had maintained his position in the Church of England while setting in train a divine right theology which proved a disaster for his son Charles. 

 

Prof Whitestick by the portrait of King James I

National Portrait Gallery, London

The Garter star can just about be made out and the King is shown with the garter on his left leg.  King James is shown with almost platform shoes to increase his height appearance.  Marion described the portrait geometry with the colours of red and white dominating the king, and a blue frame of the inside lining of his Garter mantle. 

I asked about the rapier and it is described as jewelled.  Marion could not identify the clasp like object and I wondered if it could have been a dagger hilt.  We had a discussion about some diamond described as black.  A passing guide remarked that diamonds have no shining effect until the facets are cut, so this diamond may have been a precious stone left unset, though we wondered how a glittering diamond would have been portrayed. 

Currently the National Portrait Gallery has an exhibition on Prince Henry Stuart.  He is the sister of Elizabeth Stuart (I am photographed with the Robert Peake portrait of Elizabeth Stuart the Winter Queen of Bohemia).  Prince Henry died quite young and some treasures have been put together.  The exhibition is interesting as it reflects Jacobean history.  King James I/VI has a mixed reputation, the “Wisest fool in Christendom” springs to mind. 

27^th October

My visit to the Lost Prince exhibition is covered in a separate post relating to the exhibition itself with references to the portraits in the Stuart family both here in London and some of those from Scotland.  The link is:

http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-lost-prince-henry-stuart-national.html 

The Lost Prince: Henry Stuart, National Portrait Gallery, London

27^th October 2012

I visited this exhibition on a Saturday afternoon after the monthly talk at the National Gallery on a painting by Ingres.  Having done the father at the NPG talk on 25^th October, I thought it was time to find out more about the son, elder brother to Charles I and also brother of Elizabeth Stuart- Winter Queen of Bohemia ( http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/elizabeth-stuart-winter-queen-of.html). 

I had heard one enthusiastic review on Radio 4 and a friend who had gone had said it was OK, some nice pictures but… I decided to go nonetheless and asked a friend to go round with me.  With a concession, the ticket cost £10 for the pair of us.

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/the-lost-prince-the-life-and-death-of-henry-stuart/exhibition.php

The NPG has “gathered” a lot of material on the subject and short life of Henry Stuart, heir to the Scottish and English thrones and son of King James VI/I.  Some objects have been loaned by the Royal Collection, British Library and British Museum.  The exhibition has many large paintings by Robert Peake the Elder, of Prince Henry as he grew up and there is a well crafted portrait by Isaac Oliver, which was copied by others. 

The prince was born in Stirling and brought up there until after his father James VI ascended the English throne.  In moving to London the King had been careful to ensure that the son was trained in kingship and learned about arts and science, as it was deemed expedient for both a renaissance and warrior prince within his European peer group.  King James was no renaissance man, unlike King James IV of Scotland and even his grandfather King James V.  James VI/I is nevertheless credited with keeping the peace between Spain and England while ensuring that war was avoided at all costs. 

The Scottish Reformation had wiped out much of nascent art in a process which made the Bonfire of the Vanities seem like a Teddy Bears’ Picnic.  The exhibition has detailed examples of Prince Henry’s education and training to be a king and also fostering links with other states in Europe.  Through his sister there were close links with the Elector Palatine and the House of Orange with the warrior prince Maurits van Nassau (Maurice of Nassau) in the Northern Netherlands.  His mother was Anne of Denmark, the sister to King Christian.  For a teenager, he seems to have been precocious and his achievements, such as they were, have been imbued with those who die young- he died short of his 19^th birthday in 1612.  

Some of the exhibition panels have been quite well crafted and some of the documents and covers are “blown” up on the walls.  His wooden effigy is on display (minus the head) with a setting illustrating the Westminster Abbey life-size configuration on the wall above.  That said, many of the walls are otherwise bare.  In this regard, this exhibition compares unfavourably with the use of exhibition wall space as at, for example, the Catherine the Great Exhibition in Edinburgh, which included many representational devices as decorative panels.  While this show has more large scale enlargements than the British Library Illumination exhibition, there is no audio and the only video screen which I encountered appeared not to be working. 

In making these comparisons with two other exhibitions, I should add that I had the catalogues before I visited these two; I bought the Prince Henry catalogue in the shop after my visit and have had part of the essays read out.  There has been some debunking of a rather “over the top” book by Roy Strong and an essay by Malcolm Smuts suggests a more academic approach to the exhibition rather than seeing it as a showstopper.  (Catalogue details are as follows: The Lost Prince – the Life and Death of Henry Stuart by Catherine MacLeod, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2012 ISBN 978-1-85514-458-3)

The background music is a bit monotonous and given Henry’s support for the Arts and Masques, some more interesting music from the masques or composers at the time could have been played.  The displays of his armour and the sketches of the barriers and masques arranged by Inigo Jones are discernible on viewing. 

 

The pictures by Peake may not reach critical acclaim but they are simple enough to make out with some limited vision.  I lost a bit of the horse when Henry is shown with Robert Devereux in a stag hunt.  Otherwise the Peake portraits are brightly coloured and of the right size to be enjoyable.  Manuscripts are a possible problem area and you need someone to read out the content and labels. My friend was just about able to read some of the correspondence from the originals, though there are printed panels of some of the texts.  There seemed to be nothing to handle though if you are interested in his suits of armour (he was 14 at the time), the Wallace Museum has a handling area.

The merchandise is, however, worth a browse.  There are quill ballpoint pens for £1.50 and some of the knick knacks are worth handling, perhaps even buying for Christmas: velvet scarves, jewellery, pewter tankards and candlesticks, books and cards. 

If you are interested in Jacobean life, then this is a very good exhibition and adds much to what’s currently on offer on the topic in London such as the Shakespeare Exhibition at the British Museum and Timon of Athens at the National Theatre.  There is a beautiful bronze of a horse said to be coveted (Good King James Bible word) by his brother Charles.  The Letters Patent of his creation as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester are on show and this is a timely reminder that not all Princes of Wales ever keep, let alone ascend, the throne. There is much to enjoy and doubtless this will launch many historical novels of the “What if Henry had become King?” type

The labels appear to be numberless and my friend wrote down some items of interest and has later matched them with the catalogue.  The catalogue numbers are not followed in the exhibition.  My viewing notes of the exhibition as it presented itself have had the catalogue number of the book (£25) added.  The order of the exhibition is not clear though the themes of the exhibition show the time line from birth to death, funeral and Henry being quickly forgotten.  The notes are as follows:

Cat 1. Prince Henry Frederick

Unidentified artist, 1596

Cat 11 Basilikon Doron

James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) , c1598
Ink on paper, bound in velvet with gold clasps

Cat 7 Prince Henry

Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
c1603, oil on canvas
Portrait, age 9

Cat. 3 James VI of Scotland and I of England

John de Critz, the Elder
c1606

Cat 8 Princess Elizabeth, later Queen of Bohemia

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1603

Cat 9 Charles I, when Duke of York and Albany, 1600-1649

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1610

Cat 15 David Murray of Gorthy

Unidentified artist, 1603
 
Cat 14 Prince Henry with Robert Devereux, 3^rd Earl of Essex
Robert Peake, the Elder, c1605

Cat 27 Letters Patent of James I creating his son Henry Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester

Attributed to Isaac Oliver and two other unidentified hands, 1610
 
Cat 28 Prince Henry on Horseback
Robert Peake, the Elder
c1606-08?
(on loan from Parham House, Pulbourough, West Sussex)

Set and costume designs for Prince Henry’s Barriers

Inigo Jones, 1610

Cat 29 Prince Henry’s Armour for the Field, Tilt, Tourney and Barriers

Royal Armoury, Greenwich, under Jacob Halder
c1608
Suit of Armour at age 14

Cat 30 Prince Henry’s Armour

Dutch, c1608
Suit of Armour showing thistles, rose and fleur di lis

Cat 33 Henry, Prince of Wales

Isaac Oliver,
c1610-12
portrait used in exhibition’s flyer

Cat 47 Thomas, 2^nd Baron Vaux of Harrowden

Hans Holbein the Younger
c1533

Cat 48 Elizabeth Cheney, Lady Vaux

Hans Holbein the Younger
c1536

Cat 45 Henry, Prince of Wales

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1610
Portrait showing Henry not in martial pose
Can see hilt and rapier, left arm on hip

Cat 49 Boy Looking Through a Casement Window

Unknown Netherlandish artist, c1550-60

Cat 50 A Bearded Old Man with a Shell

Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt
oil on panel, c1606

Cat 58 Astronomiae Instaurate Mechanica

Tycho Brahe
1602

Cat 53 Pacing Horse, bronze

Pietro Tacca, after Giambologna (Jean Boulogne), c1600

Cat 52 Cesarine Venus
17^th Centry cast after a model by after Giambologna (Jean Boulogne)

Cat 65 John Smith’s map of Virginia

William Hole, 1612

Cat 60 Prince Henry

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1605-8
foot on shield.  This is the most interesting picture and shows a character emerging with a sense of movement. 

Wall panel of elegies

Very vivid
HP
Ich di fn
(ich dien on coat of arms)

Cat 80 Charles I, Duke of York

Robert Peake, the Elder
c1613

Cat 74 The Effigy of Henry, Prince of Wales

Richard Norris, 1612

Cat 82 Henry, Prince of Wales

Daniel Mytens after Isaac Oliver, 1628

Postscript

On reviewing the catalogue at home, I managed a cross-check with William Drummond of Hawthornden who wrote an elegy in 1613.  It was included in the show but I hadn’t noted it specifically.  Drummond wrote an elegy for Prince Henry titled “Tears of Meliades” (Teares on the Death of Moeliades).  This was one of the items in a case below the large expansion I noted.  However, I hadn’t noted Drummond’s work specifically, which according to the catalogue, was a 3^rd edition, printed by Andro Hart in Edinburgh in 1614.

The catalogue and the exhibition have proved useful in linking both portrait galleries in London and Edinburgh.  I was searching in the Scottish Portrait Gallery picture labels which Meg Faragher kindly sent me after my visit and there is a portrait of Drummond in Edinburgh.  The details are:

William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585 – 1649)

attributed to Abraham van Blijenberch
oil on panel, painted in 1612

This sensitive portrayal of the poet and historian William Drummond of Hawthornden is attributed to the little-known Netherlandish artist Abraham van Blijenberch. It is possibly one of only a few portraits he painted during a four-year stay in London.  Van Blijenberch painted other Scots, such as Charles I and Robert Kerr, 1^st Earl of Ancram.  This portrait shows the young and pensive Drummond in a fashionable black doublet and lace-edged standing collar.  It was painted in 1612, around the time Drummond wrote his famous elegy Tears on the Death of Meliades, which commemorated the death of King James’s elder son and heir, Henry, Prince of Wales.

PG 1096 bought in 1928

Gwen John Self Portrait 1900: National Portrait Gallery London

28^th June 2012

The last Thursday of the month is the NPG London visualising portraits event.  I had missed them since January on account of hospital appointments for my hip operation and subsequent surgery.  (During that time, Esther from the NPG had been in touch and had arranged for me to get the photos of Elizabeth Stuart – see post http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/elizabeth-stuart-winter-queen-of.html )

I entered the gallery through the main entrance and as with all public buildings there is an increased security presence with the run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.  The staff told me to go to the information desk area where the group normally gathers.  (In the past I have been escorted to the room as I had arrived with time to have a “look round”.)   There were about 5/6 of us there and I had met 2 of them before.  Esther was there and Ben an intern, was assisting. We gathered and took the stairs to the Late Victorian Room where Gwen John’s self portrait is hanging next to her brother Augustus John by Sir William Orpen. 

Our reproduction copies are slightly smaller than the painting itself.  Marion Cole was our describer and we discussed the John family, Gwen John’s training at Slade and her tutor.

Gwen John was a successful artist who moved to Paris and modelled for Auguste Rodin, with one famous sculpture of her as a muse in plaster in the Rodin museum in Paris and a bronze casting in the USA.  She became a lover and stalker of Rodin until he died and moved between Paris and Hampshire.  She died in 1939.

Description:

 
Gwen John is portrayed with her head slightly turned at the top, with her hands clasped near her hips at the bottom of the painting. With an oval face, hair tied back and centre parted her face was described by Marion.  Colours in the reproduction and in the original are unclear for me.  The background is green on a brown first coat, while the blouse is russet.  The shoulders are shown in full width and about half way on the height of the 2 foot painting. 

We took advantage of Marion who described the adjacent painting of Augustus John.  This one is pure geometrical rectangles from right to left with John sitting or sprawled.  Both paintings were darkly lit.  Marion had brought along a biography of Gwen John with some illustrations of her other works.  She was famous in portraits and had even “done” a mother superior of a convent from a prayer card.  The sitter had been dead for 200 years! 

We enjoyed our discussions which lasted 90 minutes and it is interesting to hear descriptions of faces.  This neatly complemented an interview with Jenny Saville which I heard on BBCRadio3 Nightwaves.  Saville was being interviewed by Matthew Sweet and in discussions about life sittings, the talk switched to the philosophical one of returning the gaze of a blind person.  Saville had painted Rosetta and discussed blindness frankly.  This programme is of a high quality and I would recommend it for this interview alone.  The programme was titled Jenny Saville and broadcast on June 25.  It is available as a podcast on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/r3arts  . 

Other interviews in this Radio3 slot have included one with Uta Frith with her neuroscience background and an interesting side move to visual cues and non verbal communication.  This programme was broadcast on 19 June and title The Turing Test. http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/r3arts

Gwen John: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw03484/Gwen-John?LinkID=mp02438&search=sas&sText=gwen+john&role=sit&rNo=0

Augustus John: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp02437/augustus-john?search=sas&sText=augustus+john

Many thanks to Esther and Ben for taking us round.  Each visit has allowed me to visit another century of portraiture as well as familiarise myself with the building and its stairs, lifts and I think I even heard an escalator!

Elizabeth Stuart - Winter Queen of Bohemia: Portrait by Robert Peake

Update: 9th March, 2012

During the describing of the picture of Elizabeth Stuart in January, the National Portrait Gallery arranged for the photographer Anthony Luvera ( www.luvera.com and
Anthony_Luvera on Twitter ) to take photographs of the group.  Because of my hip problems, I was unable to attend the February description at the NPG and Esther Collins for me to have a sneak peek of some of the photographs which the NPG are planning to use on their website.  Many thanks to Anthony for snapping me in front of the portrait of Elizabeth Stuart.  This will give you an idea of the size of the portrait at the NPG.

*** end of update


The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London gave a talk for the visually impaired on a portrait of Elizabeth Stuart by Robert Peake.  (http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/event-root/january-2012/picture-description-portrait-of-elizabeth-queen-of-bohemia-26jan12.php )

Professor Whitestick meets Elizabeth Stuart at the NPG

(courtesy Anthony Luvera)

Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was born in Falkland Palace in Fife, Scotland.  Falkland Palace is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland and is well worth a visit as it is not far from Dunfermline and Edinburgh. 

Elizabeth was born to James VI of Scotland and his wife Anne of Denmark so making her a princess in Scotland.  When her father became James I of England after the union of Crowns in 1603, the family moved from Scotland to London.  Her brother Prince Henry was the heir apparent, though died of typhoid and her other brother Charles became king on the death of King James I. 

The painting is life size and shows Elizabeth at age 14 and in the status of an English princess dressed in the Jacobean style of the time.  More information on the portrait can be found on:

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ap&npgno=6113

and an enlarged copy of the portrait can be seen on:

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw08140/Elizabeth-Queen-of-Bohemia?search=ap&npgno=6113

The audio description of the painting was given by Lesley and there were about 5 visually impaired people and several visitors.  The painting is in Room 4, which also has paintings of James I and Shakespeare in it. 

Elizabeth takes up all of the length of the painting and the triangle base covers most of the width with her two feet just showing beneath a raised skirt.  Her dress is predominantly shimmering cream silk forming the triangle from head to toes.  There are vertical lines with the skirt.  Part of the Jacobean costume involved the skirt being draped round a farthingale.  A farthingale is a form of corsetry using ‘whalebone’ made from the jaws of a baleen whale, a toothless whale which filters food from water.  The skirt is draped over the farthingale giving the impression of the wearer gliding over a floor.  In the portrait, Elizabeth’s feet can just about be seen when I moved close to the actual painting in the gallery.

Lesley described Elizabeth’s complexion as fair with rosy cheeks and lips probably coloured with cochineal.  Her hair is raised in what could be described as a bouffant or beehive look.  Her forehead appears to be higher due to some of her hair being plucked as was the fashion at the time.  She’s wearing jewels in her hair with a coronet tiara.  There is also a double ruff round her neck.

She is said to have inherited her good looks from her mother and not from the Stuart side of the family!  She has blue eyes, almond shaped, and a fine nose, unlike the Stuarts who had round fat noses and droopy eyes.  She is shown with her hands resting on the farthingale with long fingers and standing on a Turkish carpet; Turkish carpets were fashionable at the time in London.  To her left is a Chair of Estate which indicated her rank as a royal princess of England. 

However, being a princess in a Protestant country her marriage opportunities were limited to non-Catholics, so many of the European households were ineligible.  She was betrothed and married to Fredrick V, who was Elector of the Palatinate in Germany.  Apparently, she did not think much of German culture at the time, being versed in French court protocol in much the same way as her grandmother, Mary Queen of Scots had been.  As a child, Elizabeth was raised to become a queen consort under the guidance of a Scottish noble family at Linlithgow prior to moving to London. 

In the early 17^th century her marriage would have been the start of a new life with little expectation of returning to London.  Although the marriage was a happy one, it turned out to be unlucky for her as Frederick was chosen to be King of Bohemia, when the Czechs decided to decline the nomination of the Hapsburg emperor for their king.  Elizabeth became known as the Winter Queen of Bohemia and gave birth to Prince Rupert just as the religious wars in Europe during the counter reformation caused them to flee Prague Castle and move into exile around 1619-1620.  Frederick died while they were living in The Hague, in the Netherlands. 

Professor Whitestick meets Elizabeth Stuart at the NPG

(courtesy Anthony Luvera)

Lesley described her dress with the threads coated with silver gilt and spangles and how the artist had painstakingly reproduced the detail and jewels in her dress.  Discussions amongst the group were had regarding the cleaning of such garments and whether Elizabeth had a body double to model the costume while the portrait was being painted as well as Elizabeth’s connections in London during her later life.  She was still a child when the Gunpowder Plot with Guy Fawkes occurred in 1605, though she lived to see the restoration of the Stuart family after the English Civil War and the beheading of Charles I.  However, she was separated from some of her children as they either married Catholics or in turn became Catholic.  She retained her Protestant faith while in the Netherlands.  She was said to have had relationships and was described as the Queen of Hearts.  One of the group mentioned a building in the Strand area of London with connections to her.

Many thanks to the National Portrait Gallery for a very interesting 90 minute talk around the painting.  The NPG Bookshop has a selection of postcards, though none of Elizabeth Stuart.  However, a postcard of her father James I / VI is available, with the painting located next to Elizabeth Stuart’s in Room 4.  Also, NPG has an attractive little book titled Insights: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries by Charles Nicholl which is on sale for £5 and available in the bookshop.  In hardback and with 110 pages, it has many colour plates. 

A later painting of Elizabeth Stuart by Gerrit van Honthorst is owned by the National Gallery (NG6362).  It may not be on display at the moment but here is a link to it on their website: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtualtour/#/room-24-B/

PS

Lesley also talked about the background to painting and artists at the time of Robert Peake.  There were many influences from the north European renaissance, with Flemish and German artists and craftsmen having an influence on the English market. 

There is currently an exhibition of royal manuscripts at the British Library.  I haven’t been to this exhibition due to my lack of mobility, but I have the catalogue and it is proving to be an interesting source of information.  I heard a comment on the radio about a new exhibition at the British Museum on the Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca) that the catalogue may be more interesting than ‘peering at tiny manuscripts in a crowded exhibition.’  This illustrates neatly the importance of audio description at the Wallace Collection in the case of manuscripts, and the royal portraits in the case of the National Portrait Gallery.  There was a continuity of skills as illuminated manuscripts featuring kings and government transformed into the art of portraiture and many of the skills in gilding were transferred to painting.  I hope to visit both the British Library and British Museum exhibitions with sighted friends and some prior knowledge of the exhibits. 

Earl Kitchener of Khartoum by von Herkomer and Goodall, c1890, NPG

A portrait of Earl Kitchener (Horatio Herbert 1^st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum) was discussed on the 29^th of December 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.  The gallery holds these events on the last Thursday of the month for the visually impaired. (http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/event-root/december-2011/portrait-of-horatio-herbert-kitchener-1st-earl-kitchener-of-khartoum.php)

I was a bit early and so asked for Room 23 as I entered the building on the Minus 1 level.  There are various entry points to the National Portrait Gallery and I still get a little confused when entering the building.  I entered through the shop and approached one of the guards near the revolving doors.  I was taken to the painting on level 1 by a side lift (elevator). This painting is not the memorable one frequently used in posters of the type “Your Country Needs You” so often parodied in theatre and TV programmes: 

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drbexl-/4299088242/

I had the chance to roam around the gallery room of Victorian military and explorer “types” and recognised a painting of Queen Victoria in a huge triangular dress receiving a potentate of some sort. Another “type” caught my eye and another attendant read out the caption and told me that the group which had gathered on the ticket and information desks on Level 0 was on its way.

The group of about 10 gathered and sat around Lord Kitchener while Fran made some comments.  Images of Miss Brodie lecturing her class should be discounted; the group have a hinterland of their own and are not a group of impressionable schoolchildren.  The programme for next year was handed out for the regulars though the website may be more interesting for some background to the portraits being discussed.

An interesting approach of the NPG is to have the actual painting in front while descriptions are made.  Measurements of paintings, whether in metric or imperial, can be tricky if no means of making sense or comparisons of dimensions are available.  Fran neatly solved this problem by standing in front of the painting and describing some of the features with reference to herself.

The painting shows Kitchener in military dress and standing against an horizon of Middle Eastern landscape.  The portrait was done by Sir Hubert von Herkomer     while the drawing of the town was done by Frederick Goodall. 

Kitchener had blue eyes and some eye defects and this was described to us.  Kitchener had said that one of his eyes was slower than the other thus accounting for his being a “bad shot” and not proficient at sport when he was at school and in training.  Remarks were made about his moustache and the fashions of beards and moustaches were discussed though I did not offer myself as a tactile object!  I described the life mask of Henry Wellcome at the Wellcome Collection and as if on cue Fran produced a bust of Sir Edward Elgar for us to touch.  The bust had been brought up just in case!  In touching the bust of Welcome, I first encountered his moustache whereas in the case of Elgar I hit him on the nose.  The life mask is not the same as a bust sculpted by an artist.  This illustrates the different information obtained on either a “touch tour” or “handling sessions”

There were probably three people attending who had an interest in military history and had family connections with WW1 (First World War).  Some comments regarding Kitchener’s “pips” were made, as well as his sword and belt.  His right hand is shown holding gloves and a pith helmet. The left hand holds a red book and I asked a question about the relative difficulty of drawing or painting a gloved rather than an ungloved hand.  (I had been to a gallery tour at the National Gallery concerning Titian’s drawing skills being criticised by Michaelangelo!)

There was a discussion about uniforms (the dress is beige coloured against a sandy background), with collar styles and insignia mentioned as cue points for further debate.  We were informed by one of the participants that Kitchener was wearing a collar of the Prussian Army style and that this was the model adopted by the US Marines.  (I mentioned this to an American who exclaimed “Well I never!”)  Some had a relative who had been in a French cavalry regiment during WW1 and comparisons with family photographs were made.  Kitchener was painted in 1890 in a Victorian tradition which was common practice at the dawn of photography.

Topics such as the British Empire, Sudan, religion, freemasonry and mapping were discussed.  Kitchener was said to be High Church Anglican and from Ireland so what was the red book he was holding?  Tractarianism and the Oxford Movement were floated in discussion. 

Kitchener had been involved with mapping Lebanon and the area around Gaza.  British cartographers left their mark in Iraq and Saudi Arabia (Shakespeare) and in India (Everest) as well as the Ordnance Survey itself.  I have always enjoyed maps and have been encouraging the easier access to tactile maps. For Christmas I was given a copy of Map of a Nation by Rachael Hewitt who recently broadcast in part of the Freethinking essays on BBC Radio3.  This is a treasure trove and I found myself updating my Arniston post and that was only getting as far as A on the A2Z of the index. 

The subject of Sudan had been brought to the Radio4 Today programme which had been edited by guest editor Mo Ibrahim (from Nubia in Sudan/Egypt) So, the recent unravelling of Sudan and other border disputes were also discussed.  References to Khartoum and Omdurman were made and as no one mentioned Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army, I uncharacteristically kept quiet.

Conclusion

This was my second portrait description at the NPG and was again a painting with some subjects worth exploring. At the beginning of the talk, Fran said that instant feedback and interjections from the group were to be encouraged. In what was a bleak day weather wise in London, this visit brightened the period between Christmas and New Year.

In 2012 topics include Elizabeth Stuart (Winter Queen) and her father King James I/VI.  (http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/event-root/january-2012/picture-description-portrait-of-elizabeth-queen-of-bohemia-26jan12.php) There is no need to reserve a place in the group and it was pleasing to meet two of the regulars at other events.  If, like me, you tend to be early, you can always ask to be taken to the painting to judge for yourself the real thing. It is always possible to ask “Who is that”

Geometry of Portrait:

We were given an A3 reproduction of the portrait and at home I keep them in a clear plastic folder with a slight (green?) tinge.  This allows some extra contrast when viewed with a low voltage lamp.  I can make out that Kitchener takes up about 80% of the length and about 80% of the width when centred. On top, his head is square rather than being oval and his arms form triangles, with the elbows forming the apex, though asymmetric.  He is cut off mid thigh and a triangle is formed with his tunic and legs. An inverted triangle forms the torso and a smaller triangle appears below the belt line. In the background I can make out a mosque with minaret. Seen this way, everything is monochromatic though the fine drawing and lines are fairly visible in my peripheral vision.  The portrait is fixed in my mind and though I can’t see his eyes, I know where they are, and that they are blue.

More information on the portrait can be found on:

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=ap&npgno=1782

Stamp collecting connects a Hoare with a Durer

The working title for this blog post was ‘A Hoare with a Durer’, but on reflection I thought it best to edit it …

I heard an interview with Sir John Sulston on Radio4 and he mentioned the pleasure he got in stamp collecting.  I had already introduced philately into the draft of the Durer painting but I realised that I had collected stamps from Senegal, Gambia, Togo and Dahomey (Benin) and in fact had visited these countries in the 1980s and 1990s.   

I went to my first National Portrait Gallery talk for the visually impaired. (They are normally at 2pm on the last Thursday of the month.)  On account of a mix up on times I was there too early and on discussion with the staff decided to wander around the Tudor and Elizabethan section of the galleries.  Many of the pictures of Henry VIII and Elizabeth were familiar as was Archbishop Cranmer.  I had to ask who someone was and it happened to be Sir Francis Drake.  I then had a fascinating discussion with two other visitors who were passing the time waiting for their timed ticket entry to the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition next door at the National Gallery.  

The group of around 8 people gathered in Room 11 with chairs clustered in front of a portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo painted by William Hoare of Bath in 1733.  (http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp122558/ayuba-suleiman-diallo-job-ben-solomon?search=sas&sText=ayuba) We were given an A3 reproduction of the painting which is the centre piece of a group of portraits of Methodist movers and shakers of the time such as Whitefield and Selina, Countess of Hastings.  The painting has been purchased by a museum in Qatar and will be on show in the NPG until 2015. 

The painting is a ‘challenging’ one in several ways.  Diallo was a slave trader from the modern day Senegal and Gambia area, and had wandered across the Gambia River into a different tribal area where he was captured. Face and beard shaved, he was shipped to Maryland in the American Colonies.  While a slave he was noted for his appearance and demeanour and with some bad luck was shipped to England where he was bonded until released for £59. 

Diallo is said to be the first African ‘Moslem’ to be painted in England and the NPG wanted to keep the picture.  There is a lot of context to this painting and much of the records of Diallo exist in contemporary notes.  He is described as an Islamic priest and he did not drink alcohol or eat pork.  He is said to have been reluctant to have his portrait done for fear of it being idolatrous.  On the other hand he wanted to be painted wearing clothes appropriate to his status in Africa.  He is portrayed wearing a white turban with a red cap on top.  I could make out the turban though the cap eluded me.  I queried the robes said to be of silk as the Quran forbids men to wear silk - or gold for that matter.  Much was made of Diallo’s scholarship in Arabic and he is shown wearing a Quran suspended round his neck. 

Marion, our guide for the painting, was armed with the record of the time and we were able to discuss aspects of slavery, enlightenment, abolition and the portrayal of the “African” of the times.  With a small group and the real painting in view, it is possible to do repeated iterations between the reproduction and the portrait.  Marion was able to indicate triangles of the body and the rectangles of the neck and other features of portraiture. 

Was Diallo idealised as a noble foreigner?  It is delightful that one can have discussions such as these in a gallery space. Dallio was a slave trader who was captured and crossed the Atlantic before returning home.  A lot of moral relativism and an interesting subject matter.  Get there before it goes to Qatar. 

Thanks to the National Portrait Gallery, Marion and Lucy for the William Hoare painting description.  A list of upcoming talks can be found on:

http://www.npg.org.uk/[~base_url~]whatson/events-calendar.php?filterDate=&eventSearch=Enter+keyword...&eventType=&eventKeyword=Picture+descriptions&eventsSubmit.x=13&eventsSubmit.y=3

The monthly Art through Words at the National Gallery was Vigin and Child painted by Albrecht Durer in 1500.  (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/workshop-of-albrecht-durer-the-virgin-and-child-the-madonna-with-the-iris)

Durer first came across my radar as a schoolchild interested in stamps. Two of my cousins and my uncles were interested in stamp collecting, and at the time a lot of geography and history could be assimilated through philately.  Ordinary stamps can reveal more about a country than many think.  I remember German (Deutsche Bundespost) definitives portraying Durer and Goethe.  As an 8 year old I hadn’t a clue who they were and my father got me an encyclopaedia and I was told to “look it up”!

As a student in Munich I had access to the Alte Pinakothek and on a trip to the Zwinger in Dresden was told that Durer was unrepresented in London’s National Gallery.  So it was a treat to have the Durer painting ‘Virgin and Child’ in the description series.  There is only one other Albrecht Durer painting in the National Gallery.  It is displayed in a show case near the Virgin and Child and is of St Jerome.

Not much is known about the Durer ‘Virgin and Child’ and the painting could be said to have “form” in many senses of the word.  What struck me was not the red rose robed Virgin, but the shape described by an arch.  While many of those attending the talk were versed in Marian iconography, I could not help being attracted to what looked like a large scallop shell (shades of St James and Santiago).  Eventually the red/orange robed figure and the green background could be discerned.  There was much discussion about the Madonna being clothed in anything other than blue.  Someone said that perhaps the Durer studio had run out of blue (lapis lazuli).

Our guide for the talk was Steven assisted by Jos.  The geometry of the painting was described and we had two enlargements of some details.  The details show trellis work and irises and these lines provide a frame for the figure.  There is also an enlargement of the hair and veil of Mary and a signature showing AD mysteriously on top of the varnish. 

The painting had been authenticated by Lord Clark (father of Alan Clark and Civilisation) It was sold to the National Gallery in 1945 and some doubts as to its provenance arose and whether it was a Durer workshop production.  (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/the-madonna-with-the-iris)  One of the group commented that it was a beautiful painting workshop or not.  Modern science came to the rescue with the use of X-Ray and Infra Red techniques. 

The handwriting of Durer as far as the drawing of the painting is concerned could be discerned by looking under the surface.  A lot of the detail of the painting, including the butterfly, moth, vines, lily of the valley and peonies, was noted and some were able to identify the likely symbology of the period.  The painting could be part of an altar piece and Durer was possibly influenced by an artist based in Colmar on the French border. 

The high point of the visit is the actual viewing of the painting itself.  With such clear detail in our minds it is possible to stand in front of a work of art and appreciate it for what one can see.  The image of the large scallop shell did not leave me, even when in front of the painting.  It seemed that Shell Oil had stuck their logo in the top left hand corner!  The next time you partake of Coquille St Jacques think of me staring at the Albrecht Durer painting.

Many thanks to the National Gallery, Steven and Jos.