This Thursday London is set to reenter lockdown to help slow the spread of COVID-19. The National Gallery will be closed, but is scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, December 2nd, a month from now. I’m happy I had the chance to see it today. Here are some of the highlights of my trip. 🙂
a woman with a pointed nose painted on the far left of the predella (the foot or base) of the altarpiece La Madonna della Rondine by Carlo Crivelli, 1491
This famous Jan van Eyck painting from 1433 was smaller than I imagined. Oil on oak, 26 x 19 cm.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Virgin of the Rocks, 1452-1519, was on display in a dimly lit room, roped off from the rest of the gallery, probably for the sake of social distancing. It was still one of the most striking paintings of Route A, even, maybe especially, from a distance. I remembered that my Art teacher said this painting was an example of the techniques ‘chiaroscuro’ and ‘sfumato’. Backing away from the painting, the faces seemed to light up while the background blended with the shadows of the surrounding room, making it look like the figures were seated at the end of a long hallway.
I was surprised to see these colours in a 15th century painting. This one is by Luca Signorelli c.1490.
Mamluk, Egyptian Silver inlaid bowl from the early 16th century – according to the caption at the gallery, the halos around saints in paintings were often inspired by Islamic metalwork like this.
This altarpiece changed as I walked around it because the light reflected off the gold details a little bit differently from each angle. Amazing!
Lorenzo Monaco, The Coronation of the Virgin with Adoring Saints, 1407-9 – Walking around this altarpiece was an experience because the light reflected off the golden details a little bit differently at every angle. The blue, black and white angel wings surprised me too.
Rogier van der Weyden, The Magdalen Reading, before 1438
The figures in the paintings above have almost the same expression on their faces. I guess the acts of reading and slaying strange creatures are more similar than I thought.
Rembrandt Self Portrait at the Age of 63. Painted in 1669, the year he died.
Notice the arrows on the ground – they are part of the one-way system designed by the Gallery to ensure social distancing.
Exit (except I left the wrong way and had to go back through the exhibition again, oops.)
