Back home, I googled his name, trying to find the name of that exhibition had seen, and it was this morning, searching The Times online, that I finally found it.
The National Portrait Gallery has a wonderful website, in which they keep track of former exhibitions, so there it was: Between worlds, voyagers to Britain, 1700-1850

Why did he make such an impression on me, in the course of that exhibition, I don’t know. Maybe that portrait of him by Winterhalter, in which he wore a piece of jewelry that is described in The Times

It was Victoria who commissioned Singh’s portrait from Franz Xavier Winterhalter. It’s a flattering piece, but it hides secrets: one assumes that the exiled ruler must be in full possession of his earthly powers — he’s easy and comfortable in traditional dress. But, look just below his chin and you see the symbol of his subservience, the miniature of Queen Victoria. Then look at the diamonds on his turban and you see jewels that the British confiscated and held in the Tower and returned to Duleep only for the purposes of the portrait.

Such an unusual destiny.

We took a walk in the grounds.

And then went into the Centre. Really a beautiful place. The light and the display of the works of art and artefacts is fantastic

and the students are so lucky to be able to enjoy the centre, which is free, where one can go in, walk around or sit and and read a book

And what’s even more, photography is allowed, as long as you don’t sell the photos
More of my photos here.
Don’t miss the Sainsbury Centre website, which is really a must.
Thanks again to Leo and Elly who took me there.

I have been meaning to write a post about the Florence Nightingale Museum in London for quite a while.
I finally went and visited it when last in London, althought I have been meaning to go for years. It’s not really easy to find and is in an area where I only went to take the Eurostar back to Paris, when it was still at Waterloo Station.
This time, I made room for it in my plans.

One of the few photos one is allowed to take

It’s a small museum but it has interesting memorabilia and shows a couple of informative videos.
I watched them with two other women, and at the end, one of them said:

I can’t resist asking! Are you a nurse?

When I said I wasn’t, both she and her friend were quite surprised and asked me what had brought me there.
So, I thought it over and replied that I had always been fascinated by women of the past centuries who, in spite of everything that society expected from them, had managed to achieve their plans and accomplish their dreams. And Florence Nightingale was certainly one of those.
In those days, nurses were certainly not well considered and no one from a “good” family would expect their daughter to become one.
But Florence had a dream and, probably due to the Crimean War, changed what nursing and hospitals were all about. Modern nursing and hospitals owe her a lot.
One detail that really amused me was the fact that her parents called her Florence, because she was born in Florence, Italy, while her sister, who was born in Naples, was called Parthenope, the ancient name of Naples. One feels relieved that they didn’t have more children as one wonders what they would have been called!

My thanks to Autolycus for mentioning the link to the recording of Florence Nightingale’s voice, which can be found at the British Library Sound archive. Quite moving!

I had booked from Paris to see the Cranach exhibition which had started quite recently, but booking on-line was not possible for the From Russia exhibition, which attracted crowds.
So when at the Royal Academy of Arts to see the Cranachs, I bought a ticket for the From Russia and saw it on on the following day.

This exhibition will be a unique opportunity to explore the fascinating exchange that existed between French and Russian art during a crucial period that was witness to upheaval and revolution. All the paintings have been lent by the four principal Russian museums: The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and The State Hermitage Museum and The State Russian Museum in St Petersburg. For the first time, works from these museums have been gathered for a single exhibition.

I found it difficult to follow the links between the paintings, mostly because of my lack of pictural culture. But it was great to see a painting like The Dance by Matisse in the flesh, so to speak or Gauguin‘s Vairaumati Tei Oa (Her Name was Vairaumati).
My favourites were definitely Chagall‘s Promenade and Nathan Altman‘s Portrait of Anna Akhmatova (honestly, I didn’t even know the name of Altman, before I went to that exhibition).

But I enjoyed the Cranach exhibition much more. Not that I knew more about Cranach than I did about modern painting, but somehow, I found it easier to understand. In fact, I like one-artist retrospectives. One has time to get familiar with the paintings, to see a relationship between them.

As the exhibition booklet puts it, Cranach…

… was one of the most versatile artists of the Renaissance, court artist to the Saxon electors, a staunch supporter of the Reformation, and a close friend of Martin Luther. During the course of his long career, Cranach created striking portraits and expressive devotional works, propaganda for the Protestant cause, as well as his own brand of erotic female nude and inventive treatments of biblical, mythological and classical subjects.

At one point, I noticed that in practically every painting, except for the portraits, there was someone, be it a human or an animal that was looking straight at you. So I walked through the rooms again to find the watching eye
I found the nudes just lovely, like the Venus shown on the exhibition poster, which apparently was found “too risqué for London Underground“, or Adam and Eve.

The Cranach is on till the end of June, but From Russia stops middle of April.

Traditionally, when Elly, Leo and I get together, whether in Paris, London, or Norwich, we take a photo of the three of us together.
This year, Elly‘s photo wins the prize !

It was taken, I think, at the National History Museum, last Sunday afternoon. The museum was incredibly crowded with people pushing prams, children running around, and general madness, but we did manage to secure a minute or two in front of those crazy mirrors.

My version of our group here
Some photos I took at the Natural History Museum in 2005 here

This is my last post from London as I have to start packing. I’ll be taking the Eurostar back to Paris this evening, but no doubt, you’re in for more photos and posts from this trip.

After the British Library, I had decided that I’d go and visit Dickens’s house. At least one of his houses, which has been turned into a museum.
It’s on Doughty street, and now, I know that it’s not far at all from the British Museum or from the British Library for that matter. But when I left the BL, it took me forever to finally find Doughty Street. I’ve probably already confessed that I can’t read a map, so I have to rely on people’s kindness, knowledge of the neighbourhood, and their ability to explain.
I can tell you that they made me walk one way and another till I was ready to give up

Then, did this sign appear!

Doesn’t it look like Dickens put it up there himself?

I had read about Dickens Museum at Autolycus, and found that he had been quite accurate!

It’s quite an interesting place, full of memorabilia, furniture from his times

the sitting-room

and in the basement, they show a short film about Dickens’s life and times.

The basement walls are covered with books by Dickens

I got in, bought my ticket and as I was starting my visit, this grandfather clock, which was here at the time of Dickens started to chime

starting to go back in time

I encourage you to find this museum which is, as the person who sold me the ticket put it, tucked in, as I said that I had found it hard to locate!

Do have a look at the Dickens Museum site. You get an interesting virtual visit of the house!

I have wanted to have a look at the British Library, in its new building for quite a long time. It was opened in 1998 and the architecture of it is resolutely modern, and has been much criticised.

The yard and the entrance to the BL

In fact, I thought it did fit reasonably well in the neighbourhood, considering it’s almost next to Saint Pancras station.

Saint Pancras, seen from the British Library yard

The courtyard has places where people can sit, read, have lunch or simply enjoy the sunshine.

Reading in the courtyard

It features this bronze statue of Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton by Eduardo Paolozzi

The inside is spacious and attractive. This photo cannot do justice to the huge glass structure which shelters thousands of books.

A row of laptops along the glass structure sheltering books

There are people studying all over the place, of course

School-children at work

But what I most enjoyed, I cannot show you as photography was not allowed, was the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, featuring the Treasures of the British Library, from sacred books to Pinter’s manuscripts, with manuscripts by Jane Austen. Do click on the Link and have a virtual visit. It’s well worth it.

I was lucky enough to get a reduced price ticket, and be wonderfully seated at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. I got the ticket on Leicester Square through tkts

I saw The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, starring Penelope Keith, among a crowd of excellent actors. I loved the staging, the actors, and the great rhythm at which the play was acted.
Isn’t it amazing how even though you know exactly what’s going to happen, expect some of the lines, as you’ve heard them so often they still make you laugh? All the more so because you know them, perhaps?
A favourite one is the scene in which Mr Worthing has to admit he was found in a bag in the cloakroom of Victoria Station

Jack: Yes. The late Mr. Thomas Cardew, an old gentlemen of a kindly disposition found me and gave me the name of Worthing because he happened to have a first class ticket to Worthing at the time. Worthing is a place in Sussex. It’s a seaside resort.
Lady Bracknell: And where did this charitable gentlemen with the first class ticket to the seaside resort find you?
Jack: In a handbag.
Lady Bracknell: [closes eyes briefly] A handbag?
Jack: Yes, Lady Bracknell, I was in a hand bag. A somewhat large… black… leather handbag with handles… to it.
[pause]
Lady Bracknell: An ordinary handbag.
Lady Bracknell: And where did this Mr. James… or, Thomas Cardew come across this ordinary handbag?
Jack: The cloak room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own…
Lady Bracknell: [Shocked] The cloak room at Victoria Station?
Jack: Yes. The Brighton line.
Lady Bracknell: The line is immaterial.
[begins tearing up notes]
Lady Bracknell: Mr. Worthing. I must confess that I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred in a handbag, whether it have handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life which reminds one of the worst excesses of the French revolution, and I presume you know what that unfortunate movement led to?

A delightful evening after a tiring day. My pedometer says I walked over 17,000 steps.

This visit with friend toli had been planned several times but somehow had never happened.
This time, we hadn’t planned anything, it happened on the spur of the moment and like many unexpected things turned out to be beautiful.
Beautiful garden…

Morning visit to the garden

Beautiful and tasty lunch…

Gambas with carrot

Beautiful landscape…

Along the river Seine

Beautiful weather…

Elders taking a walk

Beautiful sunset…

the sun setting over French Vexin

Beautiful cat

Friendly Chapo

Thanks, toli!
More photos here -still uploading.