Friday, October 24th
SIXTH DAY | Classic Art is good for me.
This day we were leaving Stratford Upon Avon for the last time. We were going to spend the day in London to visit the National Gallery, the Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe. We arrived in London at 11 o'clock and began the visit with the National Gallery.
The National Gallery houses one of the greatest collections of Western European painting in the world. These pictures belong to the public it's free to see them. So you can find there some very famous paintings like:
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Jan van Eyck, 'The Arnoflini Portrait' 1434 | Van Ghog, 'Sunflowers' 1888
William Turner, 'The Fighting Temeraire' 1839
We had to observe the Renaissance painting and pick out the characteristics of it. I remarked that Renaissance paintings are mostly about religion and open spaces. Humans and angels on the same painting, often the representation of the woman and her child. There is always gold in engraving and a lot of light, very colorfull and glittering with some reliefs.
Lippi, Fra Filipo 'The Annunciation' 1450
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Bellini Giovanni, 'The Virgin and Child' 1480 | Crivelli, 'The Madonna of the Swallow' 1490
We also had to choose in the Gallery a painting that was special for us. I found it and it was a work of Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo da Vinci, 'The Virgin and Child with Anne and Saint John the Baptist' about 1500
This painting is from the Renaissance movement : it is religious because of the Virgin and the Child. There is also a Saint. I love it because I particulary appreciate sketches especially when it's made by Leonardo da Vinci's hands with perfect and very flexibles lines. It gives life to the work whereas I thought that the other paintings seemed congeleated because of the colors and the finition. Here we have a real impression of movment and vitality.
What I also like in sketches is that we can see the evolution of the artist's work, how it was made and what lines were used. Here the smooth, the drapes, the glances and the location of the light are very impressive. The volumes are very visible and soft, and the glances are very real and moving, like the smiles. The women has a very human face and we can see the maternal love on it.
When we finished the visit in the National Gallery, we had a break and went to the Modern Tate by foot.
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