Category: Art

Famine

Van Gogh’s peasants, he painted them in 1885, are startlingly unattractive. His subjects were inspired by The Blessing before Supper by Charles de Groux; a more comely assemblage.

Trieste

The very name, Trieste, is redolent of sadness: I’m thinking of Françoise Sagan’s novel. I went for a Ryanair weekend in 2008 and, to avoid repetition, you can read about it in a post misleadingly titled Tahiti .

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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Categorised as Art

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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Categorised as Art

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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Categorised as Art

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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Categorised as Art, Local