What do JMW Turner, fossils, Henry Austen and doughnuts have in common?

 London, of course!
Here is where the fossils are: the Natural History Museum.

2015 England Trip Travel Journal Entry

Tuesday, March 17
 

This day was packed! My feet were so worn out at the end of it. We at last went to Tate Britain! It was exciting to finally get off at Pimlico Station. "Alight for Tate Britain" is what the Tube announcer say every time, and at last it applied to us. We weren't exactly sure if we were going in the right direction, and while we were standing there looking rather bewildered an older lady passed by and said with a smile, "Tate Britain? Just down that way." She must be a local. (As well as being yet another example of a friendly English person.)

Tate Britain: the national gallery of British art.

What a great overview of western history is in that gallery! There are fewer pieces than in the National Gallery, so it is mentally more manageable. You can actually remember what you've seen. We went backwards from 1910 and the beginning of Modernism to the Renaissance and the beginning of British art. Boy, did things change! Each shift from one decade to another in ideology and style is more than evident.

Portrait of Elizabeth I in 1563 by Stephan van Herwijck

The Cholmondeley Sisters from 1600-10

Scenes from Richardson's Pamela by Joseph Highmore in 1743-4

Three Ladies Adorning a Term of Hymen by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1773
Reynolds is one of my favorite artists.

One of the most famous paintings in the Tate:
The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse in 1888

And another of the most famous...
Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais, Bt in 1851-2

We happened to be looking at a painting that was to be the subject of a 15 minute lecture. It was an 18th century depiction of a battle on the isle of Jersey, and the expert who was to give the lecture was just then setting up the chairs. When he noticed us looking at it he got started telling us about its history, so we ended up getting our own private lecture. It was basically a propaganda piece during the Napoleonic wars with France, and as such would have also made the artist some money, because it would have been printed and displayed. The gentleman who was about to lecture looked like my idea of a stereotypical professor: his grey hair a little disheveled, with a suit jacket over a dress shirt and jeans, a silk scarf and glasses.

The painting which was to be the subject of the lecture.
The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781 by John Singleton Copley in 1783

A Country Blacksmith Disputing upon the Price of Iron, and the Price Charged to the Butcher for Shoeing his Poney
by JMW Turner in 1807
We thought this was a somewhat unusual scene for Turner, being a very ordinary scene.

Crossing the Brook by JMW Turner in 1815

Malvern Hall by John Constable in 1809

We had a pleasant lunch in the cafe with a delicious pot of Darjeeling and our own food: Wensleydale cheese, carrots and dip, boiled eggs, cashews and cookies (or biscuits, I should say).

Mom looking cheerful about our tea. :)

Tea always makes us happy. (Which is good, since we
drank a lot of it...)

Next we zipped up to Victoria Station for South Kensington and Exhibition Road. The Natural History Museum looks like it is a giant fossil carved out of a canyon – and I mean giant. Massive! The great hall alone is worth seeing. But it would be worth visiting again to see the rest.

The Victorian marvel that is the Natural History Museum.

The great hall of the Natural History Museum with Dippy the dinosaur.

And a view from the other end.

A fuzzy photo of what appears to be a giant armadillo.

Proof that we were there!

The British rooms at the Victoria & Albert Museum were open today! So we went from 1760 back to 1500. My favorite specimens are of course the clothes. Two other favorites were an invitation to Vauxhall Gardens and the book of Palladian architectural techniques.

Enjoying an 18th century drawing room transported from an actual house.
A typical stance: holding a camera. :) It's also not a bad way to get a picture of oneselves!

A lovely 18th century Robe à l'Anglaise in a textile exhibit.

An 18th century court dress in the same exhibit area.

The 1786 ticket to a jubilee in Vauxhall Gardens.

A rare ladies' jacket from 1620.

Those galleries closed before we were really finished, so we rushed a bit through the 1500s before walking to the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall to make our way through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. That was lovely – and long. It is no small expanse of park! But it made a pretty romantic scene with the light layer of fog swirling around the rows of streetlamps in the twilight of the tree-lined paths.

Walking across the bridge into Hyde Park.

It was rather a contrast from the lights of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street we next encountered as we went in search of Henry Austen's house in Hans Place. We found it at last, and discovered from my very handy book (Walking Jane Austen's London) that Jane herself would have slept on the third floor where a light happened to be on while we were gawking outside. It was the only light on and I could almost imagine her up there, maybe writing a late-night letter to Cassandra, or out walking around the square, rather like we did when we walked around it and turned a corner to find Harrod's.

Number 23 Hans Place, the former home of Jane Austen's brother Henry in 1813.
It has a Victorian façade now.

There's the light, the place where Jane herself would have stayed when visiting Henry.

A window display in Sloane Street. I especially liked the tea theme. :)

We only went because we were there. It is a rather dazzling sight to see, outlined by those white lights against the black night sky, and we did get some spectacular doughnuts that happened to be half price. :) They were greatly enjoyed while we watched 'Sherlock' after our delicious dinner of stir-fried veggies, chicken, rice and tikka sauce.

Our doughnuts from Harrods! A dulche du leche and
a pistacho flavored.

'Sherlock' and dinner!

    

© 2015 Anna Morton