August 17th
August
17th
We went to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, one of the better art galleries in the world. It is arranged chronologically, with works of European art from the 13th to the 20th centuries. In the Sainsbury Wing, there are works by Leonardo, Uccello, van Eyck, Botticelli, Raphael, Bellini, and Piero della Francesca. In the West Wing, there are works by Cranach, Holbein, Raphael and Michelangelo, Bronzino, Tintoretto, Titian, and Veronese. In the North Wing, there are works by Rembrandt, Claude, Vermeer, Poussin, Rubens, Velazquez, and Caravaggio. In the East Wing, there are works by Gainsborough, Turner, Constable, Hogarth, Canaletto, Goya, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Degas.
We
also attended an English Quaker Meeting. On the way there, we passed
the handsome Italianate church St.
Martin-in-the-Fields, created by James Gibbs (1682-1754) in 1726.
There seemed to be a production crew near the Meeting house, which
caused some speculation. The English Quakers were very thoughtful and
welcoming, and we had a nice time getting to know some of them. On
the way back to the National Gallery, we saw some very impressive
street art. We sat on the steps in Trafalgar Square and listened to a
televised opera concert. We didn't know that it would be happening,
we were just lucky enough to catch it. Rebecca and Russell quickly
scanned the National Portrait
Gallery, with all of its famous and infamous faces from English
history. Some of the portraits were beautiful works of art in their
own right, while others were more interesting for the person they
depicted. We also saw the Admiralty Arch.
