Winter has come and gone and it was a relatively mild season, especially when compared to last year’s. We had an early burst of spring in February and all the daffodils burst forth only to be blown about as the winds returned and the temperature dropped again. The poor trees don’t really know what to do either, with cherry blossoms blooming early along with the magnolias and tulips. Then it actually snowed in Dublin last weekend, which created havoc at Dublin Airport. Climate change anyone?
Michael and I have been fortunate to attend a couple of exhibitions at the National Gallery. The first exhibition we viewed was Canaletto and the Art of Venice, a selection of Venetian works from the UK’s Royal Collection. Paintings, drawings and prints by Canaletto were displayed alongside groups of paintings and drawings by his contemporaries, including Sebastiano and Giovanni Battista Piazetti. The grand scenes of the canals of Venice and the Doge’s Palace were both colourful and intricate.
The second exhibition we viewed was Turner: The Vaughan Bequest. This was an exhibition of 31 watercolours and drawings by JMW Turner bequeathed to the Gallery in 1900 by an English collector Henry Vaughan. In his will, Vaughan divided his collection of Turner watercolours between the national galleries of London, Edinburgh and Dublin, stipulating that they be exhibited every year, free of charge, for the full month of January, when the light is at its weakest. The watercolours were delicately beautiful and we had a lovely time taking in this annual Dublin ritual.
One of the stranger things to occur in Dublin was the unveiling of two statues on the same day of Luke Kelly to mark the 35thanniversary of his death. Luke Kelly was an activist and a musician with the famous band, The Dubliners. Both of the statues were unveiled by the President, Michael D Higgins, (or Miggeldy Higgins as he is affectionately known), with one of the sculptures positioned outside our apartment complex. This sculpture is a marble portrait head of Kelly standing over two metres high with hair made of patinated metal. This sculpture has divided opinion but I have to say that I like it. The other is a life size bronze featuring Kelly singing and playing the banjo and stands in the city centre. As one Irishman put it, “you wait 35 years for a statue of Luke Kelly and then two come along on the same day”.
Michael still enjoys his whiskey and he is now the proud member of two whiskey clubs. He enthusiastically attends his meetings and tastings and has become somewhat of a connoisseur of Irish whiskey. Next week there will be a tasting of Highland Park Scotch Whisky and I will be attending as Michael’s guest. I don’t know very much about Scotch whisky, however I don’t think that will matter too much.
I should perhaps also mention Michael’s heroic deed. He was walking alongside the Liffey on his way to his early morning swim, when he heard a commotion. He went to investigate and found some men running along the river trying to find a life buoy. Upon looking in the river, Michael could see someone splashing about. The buoy was located and thrown into the river and Michael joined the other men in hauling the person out. It was obvious that the man was intoxicated and upon reaching the riverside he complained that his “fookin head hurt”, to which one of his rescuers responded that he was lucky he “hadn’t feckin drowned”. Then everyone set about their day as if what had happened was an everyday occurrence. I love Dublin!
“He has been here and fired a gun”
James and Amber were in Melbourne for a wedding and they graciously allowed Michael and I to stay in their London home while they were away. I flew over on the Thursday and Michael joined me on the Friday evening. I spent a lovely day wandering the streets and taking advantage of some shopping time (to say Michael is not a shopper is an understatement). It was a good time of year to visit London, as the tourist hoards were yet to descend on the city and the weather, while cool, was not unpleasant.
The reason for our weekend sojourn was to view two artworks, which sparked a famous feud between British masters Turner and Constable. The works were on display at the Royal Academy and were being shown together for the first time since 1832. The Turner painting, Helvoetsluys was on loan from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum and the Constable painting, The Opening of Waterloo Bridge, was on loan from the Tate Britain. During the Summer Exhibition of 1832, the paintings were hung side by side in one of the main galleries and Turner, worried that his seascape would be overshadowed by Constable’s colourful work, decided to add a small red buoy on his grey sea.
Constable was outraged by Turner’s act and declared, “He has been here and fired a gun”. It was thrilling to see the pieces hanging opposite each other, knowing the story behind the works. The artworks are very different from each other and it is hard to declare which is the better piece, however, if I had to choose, I would lean towards Turner’s choppy seascape. Michael and I enjoyed the paintings so much that we returned to view them again the following day. We also viewed The Collection Gallery, which had a number of memorable pieces, including an almost full-size 16thcentury copy of Leonardo’s Last Supper (I still hope to return to Milan to see the original). Michael loved Satan summoning his Legions by Sir Thomas Lawrence, a very imposing painting.
Constable was outraged by Turner’s act and declared, “He has been here and fired a gun”. It was thrilling to see the pieces hanging opposite each other, knowing the story behind the works. The artworks are very different from each other and it is hard to declare which is the better piece, however, if I had to choose, I would lean towards Turner’s choppy seascape. Michael and I enjoyed the paintings so much that we returned to view them again the following day. We also viewed The Collection Gallery, which had a number of memorable pieces, including an almost full-size 16thcentury copy of Leonardo’s Last Supper (I still hope to return to Milan to see the original). Michael loved Satan summoning his Legions by Sir Thomas Lawrence, a very imposing painting.
Being a culture vulture is thirsty work, so Michael and I made our way to one of our favourite London haunts – Gordon’s Wine Bar. It was actually warm enough to sit outside in the sunshine, where we relaxed with some cheese and wine. I love London!
The rest of the day was spent wandering up and down the streets, seeking anything that interested us. We saw a couple of art installations, one of which was in the Royal Academy of Art’s Annenberg Courtyard, titled PsychoBarn. The piece is based on the homestead from the Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho, which in turn was based on Edward Hopper’s painting House by the Railroad. It was made from repurposed strips of wood from an American red barn and looked suitably eerie. The other installation was called Bridging Home and was a replica of a traditional Korean home built on top of a pedestrian bridge. This was a quirky piece with one of the house’s walls hanging over the bridge looking as though it could collapse at any time. It was certainly not something you see everyday.
Sunday was a bit of a lazy day, with not too much walking around, mainly because the weather had turned a little wet and dreary. We had traditional roast lunch at The Bull in Islington, a hip and popular pub and all too soon it was time for Michael to head to Gatwick for his flight home (I was staying an extra night). Unfortunately for Michael, Storm Freya moved in, bringing high winds. Michael’s 9.20pm flight was delayed, then delayed again, then delayed some more before finally being cancelled at midnight. He managed to book into a nearby hotel for the night, however the earliest flight he could re-book was for 9.20pm the following evening. Not the most ideal way to end a lovely weekend, but what can you do? I flew home the following day having had a delayed journey to the airport due to track repair works caused by the storm. Michael then endured further delays with his re-scheduled flight, finally falling through the door after midnight. The joys of flying!,
