Sometimes the most rewarding art experiences are found in the least likely places. The V&A is world-renowned for its vast and superb collections of sculpture and applied arts. Less well-known is the fact that the museum has almost as many paintings (2000) as the National Gallery. We have carefully selected a few paintings for particular discussion, on the principle that each one should reveal, in a small rectangle, the passionate interests and preoccupations of a specific period of time.
The 18c saw a reconsideration of childhood as a distinct state of innocence with its own imperatives in the form of play, and individual differences even in same gender siblings. The V&A has Gainsborough’s incredibly perceptive study of his daughters illustrated above. They are two discrete individuals depicted in a fleeting moment of response to one another, a moment unique to their sibling dynamic. That same century saw the development of interest in individuals, regardless of their status. An exceptional group of sketches of Venetian characters by the forerunner of Canaletto, Luca Carlevaris, further illustrates interest in individuality.
The mid 18c saw the expansion of the British Empire in India: Tilly Kettle accordingly painted a startling portrait of the Nawob of Arcot. Despite the hideous institution of slavery and those who shunned depictions of those enslaved, we find an anonymous yet utterly remarkable portrait of Francis Williams, the free black scholar of Jamaica who was a distinguished poet and school master who set up a school for the children of freed slaves.
By the early 19c Britain was in thrall to the anguish of romance: here at the V&A is Francis Danby’s iconic ‘Disappointed Love’ as well as Rossetti’s ‘The Daydream’ portraying Jane Morris wilting in a sycamore. Meanwhile, the social challenges of the early Victorian period are given expression in Landseer’s piteous ‘Drovers Departure’, set in the wilds of Scotland, and the no less painful emotion felt by Richard Redgrave’s ‘The Governess’ in the suburban home of her middle-class charges.
In France, painters develop a quite different expression of realism through vigorous brushstroke, seen here in Millet’s ‘Wood Sawyers’. Degas pursues an Impressionist desire to look beyond the illusions of theatre, as he looks over the heads of the bourgeois bored audience to the apparitions of dancing nuns risen from the dead in Meyerbeer’s ‘Robert Le Diable’.
This collection, gathered since the 1850’s when the V&A was the South Kensington Museum, reveals the varied tastes of its early benefactors, from an enlightened cloth manufacturer to a visually acute stockbroker. Do join us for an illuminating morning in the galleries.
11.15 for 11.30: Meet at the V&A Exhibition Road entrance.
1.15 pm: Optional lunch in nearby restaurant La Trattoria by Alfredo Russo in South Kensington
£75, excluding lunch. We regret that the number of participants must be limited to 15.
80 City churches were destroyed in the unfathomable horror of the Fire of London of 1666. An astonishing number -51- were rebuilt under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, an ecclesiastical rebuilding programme unmatched anywhere in the world. With great sensitivity, and, even greater nuts and bolts skill, he managed to shoehorn completely reimagined preaching and praying spaces onto existing medieval footprints. He transformed desolate rubble into 51 churches in the short space of 25 years.
This Spring we invite you to meet Nicholas Friend “in situ” to experience, or, perhaps, re-experience, a triad of Wren’s greatest masterpieces in the City. Wren’s remarkable ability to capture the optical effects of natural light within enclosed physical space is his greatest legacy to the City of London and beyond. These select churches continue to be mood-shifting, if not uplifting, an instant contribution to anyone who steps inside to this day, whether of a religious persuasion or not.
In this study morning we witness Wren, not only as a genius for architecture and structural engineering, but, as a man with a solid underpinning of emotional and spiritual wisdom about the glory of natural light. Structural and interior architects from near and far have flocked to his buildings to find inspiration for their own work: they see him, as do we, as a genius at allowing the maximum amount of available natural light to penetrate the physical ‘shell’, equally unimpeded by obtrusive structural elements or overzealous decoration. Robert Adam the master Scottish architect himself remarked in a letter to his brother after visiting St Stephen’s Walbrook, ‘ … I visited … with doubly the pleasure I had before.’
Our study morning is devoted to the most splendid of these buildings in proximity to one another. St Mary-At-Hill and St Stephen Walbrook illustrate the story of the Wren City churches’ spacious and beautifully-lit geometry. En route between them on our gentle architectural stroll* – with many stops and sitdown opportunities along the way – we observe the exteriors and the glorious steeples of four other Wren creations. We end our study morning marvelling at the extant 17c furnishings of St Mary Abchurch.
*If you would prefer not to walk between the churches, we will happily order an Uber for you from the first venue to the second.
NB: Some of us may care to take an optional late lunch together in the Vintry, a charming City restaurant in the churchyard of St Mary Abchurch.
11:15 am for 11.30 am: Meet at St Mary-At-Hill church, Lovat Lane, Eastcheap, EC3R 8EB.
12.15: Arrive St Stephen’s Walbrook
1.15 pm: End study morning at St Mary Abchurch, Abchurch Yard, London, EC4N 7BA
1.30 pm: optional lunch in the Vintry, a charming City restaurant in the churchyard of St Mary Abchurch
£80, including donations to churches. Please be assured that a map will be provided on booking.
We regret that participation for this event must be limited to 15.
The Handel Hendrix House website opens to a page not unlike a morning newspaper with inflated headlines. With a level of drama evidently pitched at getting our immediate attention, it reads,
What could be more startling than the apparent pairing of George Frideric Hendel (5 March 1685- 14 April, 1759), a German-British Baroque composer, and, Jimi Hendrix (27 November, 1942- 18 September, 1970) an American Rock and Roll guitarist, songwriter, and singer, under one roof in London England? We might begin to understand their rare juxtaposition by first considering their points of commonality.
Consistently recognized as one of the greatest musicians and opera composers of his age, Handel created the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto music for secular audiences, thus inadvertently transforming English church music. He is one of the great masters of choral music; some say his writing for choruses is unsurpassed. Handel had a striking ability to depict human character and emotion in a single scene or aria, a gift used with great power in his operas and oratorios; it must not be forgotten that his music is eminently vocal; his writing for solo voice, outstanding.
Although his mainstream career spanned a mere four years, Jimi Hendrix is widely regarded as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music,” and perhaps the most remarkable musician of the Golden Age of Rock. He not only radically redefined the expressive potential and sonic palette of the electric guitar, he intuitively fused British avant-garde rock together with the innately ‘American’ musical traditions of blues, jazz, rock and soul. He is considered the most influential electric guitarist in the short, but, intense history of popular music. His legacy lives on in the music of modern masters of the instrument such as Bruce Springsteen and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.
Both men set up home at 25, Brook Street – in different eras, for different durations – from which they proceeded to unwittingly redefine music. During the course of our private tour, we hear the music of Handel on harpsichord and in song by professional musicians. It promises to be an uplifting treat for us all!
Meet 11.00 for coffee for 11.30 tour at Handel/Hendrix House, 25, Brook Street, London. Maps will be provided after booking.
11.30 -12.30 am: A private tour of the House
12.30-1.00 pm: A rousing recital by professional musicians
1.00 pm: An optional lunch at Da Corradi in Shepherd Market nearby
£95, excluding lunch. We regret that the number of participants for this morning event must be limited to 20.
All good architects play with our emotions whether intentionally or not. Robert Adam, whom we recognise today as not only the consummate master of romantic classicism, but, of what today we might call “unbiased manipulation”, illustrates his genius at its highest expression at Syon House, the west London estate of the Duke of Northumberland, whose interiors he completely recreated in the mid-to- late 18c. Together, the entrance hall, anteroom and dining room of Syon House, present one of the greatest architectural experiences in all of England, each successive room perceptively changing one’s mood as you stroll through the House. The pristine coolness of the entrance hall, its every detail controlled by a cornice running all round the room, and, with a floor to echo the patterns of the ceiling, is followed by an astonishing contrast of a warm anteroom in deep blue and gold, with soft gold, blue and terracotta-coloured marble floor, crisp plaster reliefs on the walls and figures set high on the cornice as if playing from the gallery. After standing in one room then entering another, one feels witness to a series of masterstrokes by an architect who has absorbed all his influences, whether from ancient Rome or Roman Baroque, and come up with something which feels ever fresh, ever new and totally unique to this day!
Those seamless achievements are matched in interest by rooms that reveal Adam’s process, his ‘challenges’ at having to work within the confines of the stone footprint of a pre-existing Elizabethan building. We look for creative compromises that might have been made along the seven year duration of this mighty endeavour. As with all creatives so-called “impediments” often inspire the most perfect solutions. For example, called upon to make a grand classical library out of the etiolated long narrow Elizabethan gallery, his solution was truly quite brilliant. He simply slowed things down a bit by deliberately dividing the whole ceiling and walls into implied separate compartments, thus creating a rhythmic syncopated effect as one walks through the room. He breaks up its length almost invisibly without intrusive partitions or furnishings- he creates a sequenced subtle spatial architectural experience! In the State Drawing Room he found himself addressing a coved rather than flat ceiling. He brilliantly applied to its curved surface an unusual design made up of many coloured medallions whose numerous small scale and quiet colouration encourage a feeling of almost gentile domesticity.
We present a pleasant morning with Nicholas Friend in person – back in England for work and family – in Syon House’s State Rooms before walking across the lawn to the magnificent Conservatory, masterpiece of Charles Fowler completed in 1827 – the perfect complement to Adam’s house. Here we can admire Charles Fowler’s skill in using the new technology of iron and glass with the same delicate touch in his structural details and chosen palette for both. We see that he seamlessly matches in light intelligent elegance Adam’s own architectural vision nearby. Fowler graciously compliments Adam.
From here it is a gentle 20 minute walk into Brentford, a fascinating riverside town which is being completely refurbished under the Brentford Project, long overdue for such a superlative west London setting of docks and waterways as well as the Thames itself. There we take an (optional) lunch in the youthful Sam’s Waterside restaurant, well reviewed for its food, and agreeable staff.
For those of us who would prefer not to take the walk into Brentford, but who would like to come to lunch, we will order taxis from the house to the restaurant.
11.15 for 11.30: Please meet at main entrance Syon House
1.30: optional lunch at Sam’s Waterside restaurant
£87 or £ 75 for Members of Historic Houses, including entry to Syon House, excluding optional lunch after the tour.
We regret that participation for this event must be limited to 20.
Booking Information:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Due to the coronavirus cheques are not a viable option at this time. Instead, please make your payment to Friend&Friend Ltd by bank transfer to our account with Metrobank, bank sort code 23-05-80, account number 13291721 or via PayPal to nicholas@inscapetours.co.uk, or credit/debit card by phone to Henrietta on 07940 719397. She is available Tuesdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm or Thursdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm. Do get in touch if you would like extra support learning how to use Zoom.
How to Set Up a PayPal account::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Click on this link: https://www.paypal.com/uk/home
In the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click “Sign up.”
On the following screen choose “Personal account” and click “Next.”
On the next page, you’ll be asked to enter your name, email address and to create and confirm a password. When finished, click “Next.”
Click “Agree and create account” and your PayPal account will be created.
How to Connect your Bank Account to your PayPal account:::::::::::::::::::::::
Log on to your account and click the “Wallet” option in the menu bar running along the top of the screen.
On the menu running down the left side of the screen, click the “Link a credit or debit card”.
Enter the card information you wish to link to your PayPal account and click “Link card” for debit card.
How to Send Money::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Log on to your account. Click Send & Request.
Enter the email address of the person you wish to send money to: nicholas@inscapetours.co.uk
Type in the amount you wish to send, click continue then press ‘Send Money Now’.
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