Bristol (Day 2 - morning) - Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery (cont.); The first two Banksy's we came across; around the College Green - The 16th of January 2015

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As we walked down we realised there was a temporary exhibition on wildlife photography, which we visited and found most interesting particularly taking into account the fact that many of the outstanding awarded photographs fell under the category of 10 year old (and under) photographers.

 

 

Just before the way out on the right side of the foyer hall a huge painting covering an entire wall caught my attention especially because it depicted a landscape scenario I had been to not long ago - The State entry into Delhi by Roderick Mackenzie (1865-1941)- oil on canvas. It shows a particular perspective on Delhi Durbar of 1903, a stately occasion to mark the declaration of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra as Emperor and Empress of India.

 

 

 

In front of it stood a Banksy's artistic piece - The Paint Pot angel (on the left), donated by the artist at the end of an exhibition which took place in the Museum in 2009 and is said to have been rated in the top three of world wide tourist events in that year attracting over 350,000 people in one month and people queuing up to five hours.

 

As we made our way down onto the Green Park area we came across another of Banksy's paintings - The well hung lover (on the right), which according to information provided was painted in an erected enclosed scaffolding so as to protect the artist's identity.

The weather seemed to be a lot brighter than expected so we took some time wandering around the beautiful  park before having visited the Cathedral which stood on one of its corners. To the right of us stood the impressive City Hall with its thin bricks with Portland stone dressings, on whose entrance took pride of place the statue of an Elizabethan Seaman (referred to by many as a Merchant Venturer because of holding a charter rahter than a chart).

Constructed over a period of more than 700 years the Bristol Cathedral was beyond any doubt the most impressive building located on College Green. Quite strangely fairly close to its  west front entrance we came across a tree on which several pairs of tenis shoes were hanging (?). I didn't get a chance to ask anyone the particular meaning of this, though I believe it to be a probable  Modern artistic manifestation like possibly any other

The statue of Rajah Rammohun Roy, an Indian social reformer who was an envoy to England for two years standing in front of the Central Library to one of the sides of the Cathedral.

The Great Gatehouse dating back to around 1170 that used to be the Gatehouse for the St. Augustine's Abbey, the precursor of the Cathedral was densely decorated on both sides with carved mouldings with inside ribbed vaults and walls with carved interlaced arcading.

The North front of the Cathedral's Great Gatehouse.

 

Details of the Cathedral's south Gatehouse

Refugee by Naomi Campbel, a statue dedicated to victims of racial prejudice, stood in the garden at the rear of the Cathedral.

Across the road from College Green the beautiful façade of the Lord Mayor's Chapel  and a little farther going down towards the Centre's Promenade a statue of Queen Victoria. 

We did enjoy the morning and I must confess it did exceed my expectations, namely because the free access to the City Museum, which English are so keen about, despite not having visited all the galleries we would have liked to, did effectively allow us to be surrounded by "beauty" for a few hours  ...

 

Bristol (Day 2 - morning) - The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery - The 16th of January 2015

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By ten (the opening hour for the Museum) we were outside its main entrance. Once inside I was astounded by the interior decoration  of the Edwardian Baroque building housing the Museum and couldn't help photographing it, particularly the biplane replica hanging from the ceiling of the main hall, said to have been made in 1963 for the film "Those magnificent men in their flying machines".

Having realised we would most probably not be able to visit the whole Museum galleries in the morning we decided on venturing onto the second floor where French Art and old master Italian  and Dutch paintings were in display, as part of the permanent collection, not wothout having first photographed  an oil  and pencil on paper painting by Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) called The Hands, which caught my attention on the ground floor.

 

 

The painter is said to have made her hospital drawings after having watched surgeons in the operating theatre when her own daughter was being treated. In this picture the surgeons'hands stand out in a prayer-like and peaceful pose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bronze bust of Kathleen Garman (left), Sir Jacob Epstein's long-term mistress and muse, whom the sculptor (1880-1959) would marry after the death of his wife. I came across an account of the making of this work worth of note "a trembling eagerness of life pulsates throughout the work ... a quartet of harmonies ... head, shoulders, body and hands like music." Madame Récamier's marble bust (right) after Joseph Chinard celebrating the beauty of the hostess known to have great wit and charm.

The pianist by Eugene Carrière (1849-1906) - oil on paper laid on canvas. The almost monochromatic grey aplette and soft focus contribute to the naturalistic recreation of light , space and colour according to specialists.

La Frette by Lucien Pissarro (1863-1944) - oil on canvas. This late (neo-) Impressionist scene was painted from a high vantage point on the river bank at the village of la Frette on the Seine.

 

Saint Jerome in a landscape (detail) by Giovanni di Niccolo Mansueli ( -1526) - oil on canvas. According to Christian legend when he was in the wilderness Saint Jerome removed a thorn from a lion's paw. His compassion towards the creature was interpreted as an act of Christian charity.

Andrea del Verrochio (1435-1488) - Madonna and child with angels - painted stucco and wood.

 

Madonna and the child (1509) by the Flemish School - oil on panel.

Giovanni Bellini - The descent of Christ into limbo (detail) - oil on vellum on panel. Christ is depicted in a radiant white mantle, trampling down the gates of hell as he enters the abyss, from which the naked figures of Adam and Eve have already been liberated, whilst another man cringes at the cacophony made by the trumpeting demons.

Il Cerano (1575-1632) - The flight into Egypt - oil on canvas. The quiet drama of the scene painted by the well considered Milanese painter of the 17th century is created by the extreme contrasts of light and dark, as well as the nearly life-size depiction of the Holy Family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Larkin attributed (1585-1619) - Portrait of an unknown lady - oil on panel. Although little is known about this painter it is certain that he worked for patrons connected with the Royal Court over a decade.

 

Cornelies de Zeeu - Portrait of a young man (1565) - oil on panel.

 

Jan Steen (1626-1679) - Kitchen interior - oil on panel. A lascivious gesture towards a serving maid with a man in the shadows laughing behind the scene.

Dutch School - The denial of Peter (about 1630) - oil on canvas. A young woman is depicted pointing her finger to accuse Peter of being a follower of Christ. This highly admired picture has been associated with the early work of the Dutch artist Gabriel Metsu, although the question of attribution has not yet been satisfactorily resolved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(To be continued)

 

Bristol (Day 2 - early morning) - Amusing ourselves around the Millennium Square - The 16th of January 2015

We left the Ibis Hotel fairly early in the morning and before heading to the Bristol Museum and Art gallery amused ourselves posing next to the Millennium Square statues and the huge ball as if we weren't mother and daughter but children, which wasn't too bad a feeling ... and the more so if one considers how unnatural we sometimes are in not doing what we just feel like ... (... and it did feel good).

Gary Grant's statue by Graham Ibbeson

 

The poet Thomas Chatterton's statue

 

William Penn's statue

The English scholar William Tyndale's statue

(To be continued)