Winter Break: English Gothic and Gothic-Revival Art and Architecture

This morning we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, famous for its impressive collection of decorative arts from around the world. There we met our guide, Angela, a spunky social historian who led us through some of the medieval galleries and then took us to the vast nineteenth century rooms, where we then drifted off in myriad directions, some to look at tiles, some to look at the model of the 1851 Crystal Palace, some promptly to get lost. Certainly our class had plenty to talk about as we feasted on a delicious lunch at the "V and A" café, most of us seated in the William Morris green room. Many of us are planning to return to this museum on our "free day."

Next, we went to the National Gallery, where we encountered numerous works of art relevant to our studies of the Gothic and Gothic-revival as well as many other famous works familiar from our intro art sequence—by artists such as Hogarth, Holbein, Velasquez, and Wright of Derby, to name just a few. Perhaps most importantly, we found Spencer's beloved Wilton Diptych, a mysterious panel painting in the International Gothic style created for Richard II, rife with gold leaf, lapis lazuli, and white hart symbolism. Other highlights included the Arnolfini portrait, works by Pieter de Hooch (a name which entirely eludes proper pronunciation), and Turner's Great Western Railway. The museum also boasts a top-notch collection of impressionist paintings, which were positively swarmed by visitors (and, in one gallery, packed by student protesters) while we were there; a brave few of us actually navigated through these crowds and saw the beautiful works of art up close. Some of us will also likely return to this museum on our free day.

Following a filling dinner of Indian food, including two orders of the world’s largest naan bread, we attended the Royal Haymarket to see the current revival of Sheridan’s The Rivals, which we enjoyed, though it did remind us that we will not be visiting Bath (except for Charlotte, who plans to go there on her free day).

[TE & BJ]