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If you love art and history, you'll love the National Museum in London. We headed out on Saturday, taking the train from Norbury to Victoria Station. From there, we walked about 15 minutes to Buckingham Palace, through the park, and to Trafalgar Square. On our walk, we came across these two guards returning to their base after work.
We arrived for our scheduled ticket time of 10:30. Trafalgar Square was already filling up. Tickets are free, but you need to book a space online. Once you get there, they ignore that fact, and you pass right into the museum. I'm guessing it is just a way to control the flow of the crowds.
Considered to be a draft or sketch but referred to as a cartoon, it was drawn by Leonardo Di Vinci. It was made of eight sheets of paper and then glued to the canvas. Pictures in the museum were hard to take because there were so many people doing the same.
Water Lilies, painted by Claude Monet. He was fascinated by water lilies. He painted over 250 pieces of art based on his pond on his property. He said it was the change in light and the way the water moved and changed the scene.
"Those who play with the cat will get scratched", a Dutch expression that in English says, "If you're looking for trouble, you're going to find it". The painting depicts a a boy and his sister playing with a cat that is about to scratch the boy. Painted 400 years ago, it shows that humans have always had a sense of humor and play.
They are not sure if Albrecht Dürer had seen a meteoric event, one of his many troubled dreams, or had some spiritual meaning. At the time around 1500, people had fear that the sky would fall to Earth and was a sign of the Apocalypse. Many experts say this could be considered one of the first abstract paintings. Pretty cool!
This painting is considered the first nude in the history of European art. Also, one of a few life size paintings or painted to scale.
"The Lamentation of Christ" depicts Christ as he comes down from the cross. His face is painted black, representing the lack of blood that had drained from his body while on the cross from top to bottom.
Again, it's amazing to see so many people enjoying art. Some pass through only to say they were there. Many, though, actually stop and read about the author and the painting. For me, it's fun to look up information about the painter and their life, where they were from, and any quirks they may have had.
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Not many around; this piece was painted using a technique called glue-on linen. Because canvas was hard to produce and very expensive, linen was glued to a wood and used as a medium. What I find interesting is that the painting on the wall appears to be in black and white. After taking the photo, I could see colors, faint, but they are there.
Painted by Van Eyck, this is a triptych, a three-piece screen that was propped up on the altar for mass. Triptych and diptych (two-piece) were very common in the 1400s. This particular triptych was painted in 1435 or 590 years ago. It doesn't even look like a painting, but more like a photograph taken recently. You wonder why some survive, and others don't, materials such as quality paints, canvas, and preservation. These two and three-fold screens with religious figures and scenes were for wealthy people who could pray and worship while they were traveling.
The famous Virgin With Child painted by Leonardo Di Vinci.
A painting by Verocchi, Leonardo Di Vinci was a student of his. In the painting, you can see a dog and a fish. Those were Leonardo's contributions to the piece. We all have to learn from someone and Verocchi was his teacher. At the time, you wonder if Verocchi that it was worth Leonardo's time to become a painter.
I won't bore you anymore with this, but we love roaming around the galleries and later throughout our trip studying some of the artists, periods in which they lived, and conditions at the time.
