Wednesday, November 5th
I woke up this morning to my roommates checking online for the election results. Even as more of a conservative, I told Rachael before the election even started that I was pretty sure that Obama would win… and he did. Europe was rejoicing today. Headlines in the paper read: A NEW HOPE FOR THE WORLD… and others similar to that. One thing I have really come to realize on this trip, is the global affect that the U.S. has. We affect every other nation with every move we make. Being in the states my entire life has sheltered me from realizing these consequences, but wow, everyone in the WORLD follows our politics so closely because we really do impact everything related to them as well.
Sometimes my history class can feel kind of long, but I really do enjoy it. Mostly for my professor’s enthusiasm and passion for the subject; he has a true sincerity with everything he does. He is an older man, and gets so excited about everything, and truly cares about all of us and our interests. His love and appreciation for the arts is definite and the way he analyzes everything with such detail and curiosity is intriguing. He makes me really happy!
We covered quite a bit today as well and it was interesting watching one of the films because the background music was the second movement of English Folk Songs again. We covered some moral/spiritualist art of Rosetti, Hunt, and Millais. Later our professor went in depth with the work of William Morris who did lots of floral-like designs. He had a lot of oriental influences and referenced biblical illuminated manuscripts as well to create patterns, designs, and furniture. He believed in the concept that everyone should create art, and said that ‘art is socialism and socialism is art.’ Going back to my professors dedication once more- he even took his curtains down from his living room simply to show us some of the designs of Morris’s work.
After lunch, I went to the National Gallery. I was really upset because the one painting I went to see here was Arnolfini Portrait which is normally exhibited here, but is on special exhibition at the moment, and I am too poor to go into the gallery to see it, so I didn’t… However, I got to see much more that made me happy. Who knows, maybe I’ll still go see it.
There was a wonderful Byzantine and Gothic exhibit (the 13th-15th Century Paintings). I was able to view Masaccio, Perugino, and Durer. I loved seeing the gold leaf and lapis lazuli up close with such detail engraved in the gold leaf. I was able to see Masaccio’s virgin and child. This focused on the development of shadows and perspective, showing the progression of the time. What really caught me was the detail in the gold leaf. I loved it.
Next I wandered into the 16th Century Paintings. Here I was able to see Leonadro Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Titan and several other of the masters. I was certain that I saw Leonardo’s ‘Virgin on the Rocks’ when in the Louvre, so I am so confused that I saw it here. Maybe there were variations, or something, or maybe I am making it up… I don’t know…
I went to the 17th Century Paintings, and saw Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velaquez, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. I was introduced to Jacob Can Oost the elder, a painter of Flanders, and enjoyed his ‘Portrait of Boy Age 11.’ I LOVE Rubens, who I learned actually was a teacher of Van Dyck. The way he has such warmth in the skin tones, and the intricacy within his landscapes in addition to his use of glazes is amazing. I saw Ruben’s ‘Rape of the Sabine Women.’ Rembrandt’s use of texture also intrigues me. I think these are two of my all time favorite painters. I really like Caravaggio too, and was disappointed that there was only one of his paintings.
It was interesting walking through one of the rooms because a man in a big jacket and sun glasses was sitting, dazzingly, on one of the benches, wandering off into space. All of a sudden he yelled something out really loud, completely out of it, and everyone in the gallery stopped to stare at him. Within a few minutes, security took care of the situation, and escorted the crazy homeless man out. It was interesting…
I finished up with the 18th- early 20th Century paintings. This included artists such as Goya, Turner, constable, Ingres, Degas, Cezanne, Monet, and Van Gogh. I was able to see John Constable’s ‘Haywain’ and learned that he was from Great Britain. I saw Cezanne’s self portrait, and Van Gogh’s ‘Wheatfield with Cypresses’ in addition to his ‘Sunflowers, 1888.’ What really stuck out was the incredible amount of texture, and the feel of simplicity behind the piece.
I really enjoyed viewing the British painter, Hogarth’s ‘Marriage a la mode series.’ It is all about a loveless marriage between an earl’s son and a merchant’s daughter. The marriage was arranged out of vanity and greed and ends in a terrible tragedy on all ends. Sounds a bit dim, but the paintings are wonderful and have interesting narratives behind them. We studied them a bit in our history class as well a few weeks ago. I was also able to see Gainsborough’s ‘Mr. and Mrs. Andrews’ which we studied a bit in the class as well.
I woke up this morning to my roommates checking online for the election results. Even as more of a conservative, I told Rachael before the election even started that I was pretty sure that Obama would win… and he did. Europe was rejoicing today. Headlines in the paper read: A NEW HOPE FOR THE WORLD… and others similar to that. One thing I have really come to realize on this trip, is the global affect that the U.S. has. We affect every other nation with every move we make. Being in the states my entire life has sheltered me from realizing these consequences, but wow, everyone in the WORLD follows our politics so closely because we really do impact everything related to them as well.
Sometimes my history class can feel kind of long, but I really do enjoy it. Mostly for my professor’s enthusiasm and passion for the subject; he has a true sincerity with everything he does. He is an older man, and gets so excited about everything, and truly cares about all of us and our interests. His love and appreciation for the arts is definite and the way he analyzes everything with such detail and curiosity is intriguing. He makes me really happy!
We covered quite a bit today as well and it was interesting watching one of the films because the background music was the second movement of English Folk Songs again. We covered some moral/spiritualist art of Rosetti, Hunt, and Millais. Later our professor went in depth with the work of William Morris who did lots of floral-like designs. He had a lot of oriental influences and referenced biblical illuminated manuscripts as well to create patterns, designs, and furniture. He believed in the concept that everyone should create art, and said that ‘art is socialism and socialism is art.’ Going back to my professors dedication once more- he even took his curtains down from his living room simply to show us some of the designs of Morris’s work.
After lunch, I went to the National Gallery. I was really upset because the one painting I went to see here was Arnolfini Portrait which is normally exhibited here, but is on special exhibition at the moment, and I am too poor to go into the gallery to see it, so I didn’t… However, I got to see much more that made me happy. Who knows, maybe I’ll still go see it.
There was a wonderful Byzantine and Gothic exhibit (the 13th-15th Century Paintings). I was able to view Masaccio, Perugino, and Durer. I loved seeing the gold leaf and lapis lazuli up close with such detail engraved in the gold leaf. I was able to see Masaccio’s virgin and child. This focused on the development of shadows and perspective, showing the progression of the time. What really caught me was the detail in the gold leaf. I loved it.
Next I wandered into the 16th Century Paintings. Here I was able to see Leonadro Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Titan and several other of the masters. I was certain that I saw Leonardo’s ‘Virgin on the Rocks’ when in the Louvre, so I am so confused that I saw it here. Maybe there were variations, or something, or maybe I am making it up… I don’t know…
I went to the 17th Century Paintings, and saw Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velaquez, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. I was introduced to Jacob Can Oost the elder, a painter of Flanders, and enjoyed his ‘Portrait of Boy Age 11.’ I LOVE Rubens, who I learned actually was a teacher of Van Dyck. The way he has such warmth in the skin tones, and the intricacy within his landscapes in addition to his use of glazes is amazing. I saw Ruben’s ‘Rape of the Sabine Women.’ Rembrandt’s use of texture also intrigues me. I think these are two of my all time favorite painters. I really like Caravaggio too, and was disappointed that there was only one of his paintings.
It was interesting walking through one of the rooms because a man in a big jacket and sun glasses was sitting, dazzingly, on one of the benches, wandering off into space. All of a sudden he yelled something out really loud, completely out of it, and everyone in the gallery stopped to stare at him. Within a few minutes, security took care of the situation, and escorted the crazy homeless man out. It was interesting…
I finished up with the 18th- early 20th Century paintings. This included artists such as Goya, Turner, constable, Ingres, Degas, Cezanne, Monet, and Van Gogh. I was able to see John Constable’s ‘Haywain’ and learned that he was from Great Britain. I saw Cezanne’s self portrait, and Van Gogh’s ‘Wheatfield with Cypresses’ in addition to his ‘Sunflowers, 1888.’ What really stuck out was the incredible amount of texture, and the feel of simplicity behind the piece.
I really enjoyed viewing the British painter, Hogarth’s ‘Marriage a la mode series.’ It is all about a loveless marriage between an earl’s son and a merchant’s daughter. The marriage was arranged out of vanity and greed and ends in a terrible tragedy on all ends. Sounds a bit dim, but the paintings are wonderful and have interesting narratives behind them. We studied them a bit in our history class as well a few weeks ago. I was also able to see Gainsborough’s ‘Mr. and Mrs. Andrews’ which we studied a bit in the class as well.
After I returned, I went to dinner with Rachael, and we ended up going out for some festivities for Guy Fawkes day: Remember, Remember, the 5th of November. V for Vendetta anyone?
Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night, Cracker Night, Fireworks Night, Bommy Night) is an annual celebration on the evening of the 5th of November. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November, 1605 in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, were alleged to be attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London, England.
We met up with Luke, Mike, Shawn and Shannon, and then Chad and his girlfriend who was visiting. We wandered all over central London looking for bonfires and fireworks that were supposed to be out for the occasion, but were unsuccessful. Later we found out that there were tons of fireworks right outside our building.
It was still an awesome evening. We ended up drinking champagne on the monument in Trafalgar Square, took silly pictures with the giant lions, and wandered down to Westminster and Green Park outside of Buckingham Palace for the evening. Entering the park was hilarious because Shannon tripped over a small guard rail and fell face first into the grass. It was sooo funny. Poor guy. Then later, as we all stopped to hang out by some of the park benches in the park, Shawn popped the cork off of a bottle, aiming at and hitting Rachael and spraying me full of champagne. It was pretty funny, I have to admit, but we were rather wet for a while. Later we tried to get Shawn to swim to the middle of the pond, but were unsuccessful because none of us were crazy enough to chip in completely for 60 pounds…
Rachael and I left to head back to our rooms later on because things were winding down and we were tired… But overall, good evening. Good times. :)
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