Bertie spent a large part of yesterday with Lucy and her dogs.
It’s the canine equivalent of going to his club and he is always pleased to see her. I went to the National Gallery, lunch and a book launch. So much has been written about the Van Gogh exhibition. For what it’s worth here is what my friends and I thought. The show’s sixty-one pictures were all done in and around Arles in 1888/89, the last two years of his life , an astonishing spurt of productivity. There seemed a progression in the pictures reflecting his increasing dependence on alcohol and mental instability (a piss artist?). He only sold two of these pictures. We wouldn’t have persisted and have made a career change.
There is also a small, just two of his pictures, Hockney exhibition focussing on his obsession with learning from other artists and in particular Piero della Francesca and his “The Baptism of Christ”. His correspondence with the National Gallery, circa 1980, is reproduced and brings this out. Of course Hockney was not alone in drawing inspiration from artists from previous centuries. I remember with pleasure “Picasso and the Masters” at the Grand Palais in 2008/9. Not Picassos, but here are two examples on my walls.
I could have a fascinating and provoking blockbuster show at home juxtaposing pictures in my collection with work by the Old Masters. Now on to the book launch at Buck’s Club.
Never judge a book by its cover but I can tell you the story of this cover. A sharp-eyed friend and neighbour of Sir Richard was invited to a charity drinks party at an auction house in Colchester. He spotted this painting propped against a wall and captioned as a ship on the China Station. As you know the China Station was established in 1865 and it’s the water in the Pacific around the Dutch East Indies. He thought otherwise, bought it and, taking it out of its frame, found it was signed by William Pocock. Pocock was a competent marine artist who served in the Royal Navy, 1795 – 1814. In 1811 he was promoted to be lieutenant of HMS Eagle, with Captain (afterwards Admiral, Sir Charles) Rowley, and in her saw active service in the Adriatic. He had time to keep up with his painting too.