Category: Art

Windmills on My Mind

Exploring Wimbledon Common, it’s hard to miss the windmill. Some things never change. In 1799 an enterprising cove sought permission to build a windmill but he was refused because he didn’t submit plans.

British Baroque

The last exhibition I saw was at Tate Britain. British Baroque: Power and Illusion covers the reigns of the last Stuart monarchs, from the restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the death of Queen Anne in 1714.

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Hugh Lane

  In May 1915 a German U-boat sunk the Lusitania off the coast of Co Cork and 1,198 passengers and crew lost their lives. Hugh Lane was one of those passengers. He had been born in Co Cork in 1875.

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Knights and Daze

In May this year I watched (on television) with sadness the funeral procession of Jean, Duke of Luxembourg. Now cast your mind back to 1558 when Charles V’s funeral procession took place in Brussels.

Vibrant Vallotton

Before I take you inside No 10, I must remind you of a post in May: Les Nabis.

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The Arab Boy

I have never seen this fascinating picture but at least one reader may have when it took its holidays in Boston in 2015; home is Kansas City.

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The Little Things in Life

It’s the little things in life that give disproportionate pleasure. Recently I have been given two presents.  This lens and screen cloth is almost too good to use – I may get it framed. If you’d like one, it’s on the National Gallery of Ireland website. 

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Henry VIII and All That

Henry VIII is presenting the Barber-Surgeons’ Company Charter to their first Master, Thomas Vicary, superintendent of St Bartholomew’s Hospital and royal physician.