When you are lucky enough to have a few days in London, it is difficult to choose what to do. I went through a tourist guide and circled some places on the map. On this day, I thought I would see a nearby gallery and then head to the National Gallery. Due to jetlag, I wasn’t up with the daisies and only made it to the Wallace Collection.
However, this collection was well worth an afternoon. As the brochure says, it is “the finest collection of art ever assembled by one family and now a national museum.” Five generations of collectors, four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace contributed. The collection resides in the family townhouse which was ever expanded to provide room for all of the family’s treasures.
The 29 galleries display French 18th-century painting, furniture and porcelain together with superb Old Master paintings. There are further displays of arms and armor, gold boxes, miniatures, sculpture and Medieval and Renaissance works of art.
Although this collection predates my particular area of interest (late 1800s) there was much to enjoy. Of the paintings, I admired “The Swing” by Fragonard. What a joyful if irreverent scene. The woman with her pink skirts flying kicks off her shoe as her lover looks up at her legs and a bishop pulls the rope. Francois Boucher’s portrait of Madame de Pompadour is surely one of the finest of Louis XVI’s official mistress. Although at the time she had ceased being the kings lover, she exhibits herself here as a friend and companion. Her relationship with the king held up for 20 years until she died at the age of forty-two.
The Dutch Masters collection is extensive. There are a few portraits done by Rembrandt and one self portrait but I particularly liked the one of his son. You can see the love and also the sorrow the painter was feeling regarding his family at that time. This is the only son who had survived and he didn’t live long after this painting was completed. The style used in this painting is similar to the “Jewish Bride” that I mentioned in an earlier post. The paint is thick and pulled across the canvas. This is so different from the ridged and smooth application in the portraits he was commissioned to do by wealthy families like “Susanna Van Collen and Her Daughter”. I like to think that in the paintings he did for himself, he preferred to experiment and use a faster, dirtier style which brings forth the aliveness of the subject.
I stood in front of two paintings of Fruit and Flowers by Jan Van Huysum for a good while admiring the minute detail of each item. I have done battle with leaves before and know how difficult it is to make them look lifelike. Van Huysum put nuance into every centimeter and I tip my paint brush to him.
Of the excellent portraits by Van Dyck exhibited, I love the one of Phillipe Le Roy. If the man wanted to look impressive in his painting, he pulled it off. He stands clad in black with his foot on a step and a tall greyhound looking up at him. I’m a sucker for sight hounds in paintings, and this one is grand. The most famous work of the exhibit is by my old favorite, Frans Hals. It is called “The Laughing Cavalier” although he is not laughing or a cavalier. He was most likely painted in his wedding attire. The detail on this painting is much more fine than others I’ve seen by Hals so I’m guessing this was done early in his career. He became more loose and experimental as he aged.
It was also interesting to learn about the different French styles while going from room to room. Louis XIV was the time of the Baroque with very dramatic adornments. Louis XV was the Rococo with flowers and asymmetrical gilt over wood. Turquoise and pink were the colors of the day and Madame de Pompadour was the style trend setter. She championed the Sevres porcelain factory and the king urged the nobility to purchase the delicate beauties. Only the most perfect pieces were not destroyed. It took over 3000 pieces to make a service of 800.
The Wallace Collection has one of the best collections of Sevres porcelain in the world. The style of Louis XVI was more classical in nature with straight lines and Greek/Roman motifs. The discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum created a new fixation on antiquity. Also, mechanical items were in vogue. One table exhibited features a button which when pushed caused the table’s leaves to appear and drawers to open. Marie Antoinette was the fashion setter of her day with dresses and wigs reaching new heights.
And finally, I answered a question that has stumped me for a while. What is snuff? The museum has quite a variety of porcelain and gold snuff boxes owned by the most distinguished royalty. It turns out that they were all snorting a mixture of herbs and tobacco. In the 13 steps of snuff etiquette our guide explained, the last step called for sneezing, coughing or spitting. That just doesn’t seem like something they should have been doing at court.
