Every Object Tells a Story

I have been to two artists’ studios this week. Sir John Lavery lived at 5 Cromwell Place from 1899 – 1940. To remind, he was born in Belfast and died in Co Kilkenny in 1941, aged eighty-four. In between he was painting in London.

His career got off the ground when he spent ages (two years) doing this group portrait. He has crammed in 253 subjects, each identifiable, and in 1890 presented it to the Queen. She cooed over it recognising many of her (and his) subjects. He used the money to buy his handsome studio near South Kensington station.

If you can get there before 5th July there is rather an amazing exhibition, Every Object Tells a Story. It is a collection of some 400 exhibits from ancient civilisations although I did find an early 19th century French candlestick and there is one of the famous Mae West sofas. Curator, Cork man Richard Hoare, showed me round and I benefitted greatly from his expert commentary, otherwise there are copies of the chunky exhibition catalogue available to consult. It is well worth a visit and everything is for sale. Be warned, as most things are museum quality they may be beyond your purse. I took a liking to these copulating frogs that were made as a pool ornament: £65,000.

You are guaranteed to get cultural nourishment and afterwards my friends took Richard Hoare and me to Le Colombier for a top-hole lunch; Kir, buckets of rosé, tomato salad, cold cod with a Russian salad and a spot of  Poire Williams to polish things off. Richard’s real job is as an artist. He spent three winter months painting in Mayo, near where I had been fishing, and has been commissioned to paint in Japan later this year.

Then a return visit to Sir Frederic Leighton’s studio for an evening Recital by Christopher Quaid (violin), winner of the Irish Heritage Music Bursary 2016, and Kumi Matsuo (piano). They are both studying at the Royal College of Music. It was an excellent programme in a beautiful setting. My favourites were a violin and piano sonata by Mozart and a violin setting of Lensky’s Aria from Eugene Onegin. A late supper at Il Portico rounded off a hugely enjoyable evening.