Heaven Visited

I have recently visited three of the most spectacular homes on earth, here is a tiny glimps for you.

Smedmore House first:

Home with a view of the sea, privately owned still.

Then-

Greenway, Agatha Christie's holiday place on the River Dart.

 National Trust

And now something else!

 And here is the clue for this house below.....

No idea? Try  https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Coleton+Fishacre/

Mauritshuis, home of the pearl earing and a wonderful place to see.

Like The Wallace Collection, the Mauritshuis in the Hague has a very special atmosphere, rather more intimate than cosy, paintings are presented beautifully, not too dark, not too many in one spoonful, well chosen together and we often had the room empty of other visitors.

It was lovely to see 'education in action' before the "Girl With The Pearl Earing" and I was able to get a clear shot of it soon after.

The Mauritshuis was the highlight of our visit to Holland and it will be interesting to compare it to our impending visit to Italy. I will report back here.

PS But not much sculpture inside!

Art in Cornwall, A Summer in February

One of the sources of building material for the Thames Embankment came from Lamorna Cove in Cornwall. So next time you come to London and see this sculpture of Queen Boadicea by Thomas Thornecroft next to Big Ben, think of the stones below the embankment you stand on and remember this beautiful little cove in Cornwall.

We had not gone just to look at the sea and granite but also because this part of Cornwall has good light which attracts painters and other artists. Lamorna is very close to The Newlyn Arts School and museum, The Tate Gallery St. Ives and The Hepworth Gallery. The February weather was almost up to summer standards with shirtless boys playing cricket on the beach in the warm sunshine but these worthy establishments stayed firmly shut for the season much to my disapointment.

We watched the recently released "Summer in February" filmed locally which tells the tragic story of A J Munnings PRA and his first wife. Such beautiful weather there in February!

 Can you spot St. Micheal's Mount?

The Minack Theatre did us proud though. John Brolly did a splendid rendering of Prospero in The Tempest in a Tea Cup. Miranda was played by a large teaspoon, ooh la-la, and despite the chill in the sea air we were entertained brilliantly.

John Brolly        http://storytellerjohnbrolly.webs.com/

The Minack Theatre            http://www.minack.com/

Tate St. Ives     http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-st-ives

Newlyn Art school        http://www.newlynartschool.co.uk/

Newlyn Art Museum    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newlyn_Art_Gallery

Re-examining Rodin

Rodin was in every sentence in our first year of lectures. He was Alan's hero, he could do no wrong, he made no mistakes. We were told to hold our breath and wonder.

The RA had an exhibition back in 2009 where he took world centre stage. Room after room of nakedness, thick ankles, mould lines and lookalike warts tempted us to gradually accelerate through the exhibition chambers. Yes it was a great exhibition, like no other. I am re-examining Rodin. I wonder how I will view him?

    

Brugge Again

The wooden pulpit is just amazing, the detail and composition is somewhat complex to say the least. It would take a month to give this town's art some justice.

If you happen to visit mainland Europe then don't miss out on Brugge, the Architecture is worth seeing of course, chocolate excellent and the Art worthy of considerable attention. Here is a tiny glimpse. Go in winter as you may find fewer people around. (There is also some more contemporary sculpture worthy on note, one of which I have shown below in a previous post on Berlin. http://dorsetsculpture.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/berlin.html)

Tristram's Death Bed" by Harry R Mileham FRSA

This painting has been wrongly attributed to Ms Stokes by Christopher Wood who admitted to have "miss guessed" the monogram signature. Robert Mileham

Tower of London Poppy Flow 14-18 War

I photographed this amazing sight from London's tallest building, The Shard. A striking reminder of the loss of so many in War, (World War 1914 to 1918). The sun caught the Tower with a river of red poppys which seem to flow out towards the Thames.

Stirring The Christmas Pudding Harry R Mileham

A very Happy Christmas and New Year to all my e friends.

This little oil sketch features my father and his two older siblings. Where this picture is and who owns I do not know. There are wood cut versions too but this one does not look as if it has been finished; painted by my grandfather Harry R Mileham FRSA about a hundred years ago to the day! My aunt can be seen dropping a silver sixpence in and my uncle about to taste a bit of the raw mixture!

Famous Paintings In Unusual Places

So? No prizes for guessing where I have been!

My host knew exactly what I was talking about and so we visited her enfamillie the next day. Here is the Pub’s spin on her http://www.youngandjacksons.com.au/downloads/chloe_history.pdf

I think I read the true account of her very sad story which seems to have been erased from the internet so I will have to look elsewhere and get back to you.

“Chloe” by

Jules Joseph Lefebvre 1836-1911

Oil on canvas – 260 x 139cm, 1875.

 see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chlo%C3%A9.jpg

“Complete works” see: http://www.jules-joseph-lefebvre.org/

Or see: http://www.theartwerx.org/lefebvre.html

Study on Art Renewal site here: http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=188&page=4

CHARLES DICKENS 200 Pickwick

To celebrate Dickens' 200th birthday here is my Grandfather's painting of "Pickwick, Christmas at Dingley Dell" painted in 1926.

Dr James Fox

If you do a programme on British Masters (Art) for Television and you take the nettle in your hand, you are bound to get stung. So here’s another one from me Dr James. Like all the great and good you stick your neck out.

On BBC 4 recently, Dr James actually said that the Art of Alma Tadema was bad Art. He inferred that what was to come in 1910 by others was good Art and everything before it was bad. A slight over simplification but that was the message.

It is my view that it can be badly painted or sculpted; subject matter be questioned; the message it sends is wrong; and for a host of reasons express an opinion that one dislikes it; but to say it is bad art must infer that you have the correct view on what art is. Oh dear….

The bad one he chose as illustration was this one by the way. I don’t like it but would never dare say it was bad, that would be arrogant Dr Fox.

(and anyway, wasn't Alma T Dutch?)

Spaniels

What music I could write if I had you with me always. (Elgar)

The Painting is by Fragonard and can be seen in the Wallace Collection in London

(Quote below slightly amended.)

A young girl, carves her initial on the bark of a tree, while observed by her pet spaniel, the symbol of her fidelity to her love. The theme reflects the increasing sensibilité of the second half of the eighteenth century. Its scale and careful technique also show Fragonard varying his style to echo the contemporary taste for the ‘little masters’ of seventeenth-century Holland, although he continued to animate such stylistic references with his own inimitable theatrical lighting, delicate draughtsmanship and calligraphic traceries of hair and foliage.