Downton Abbey’s Secret Code
Have you ever wondered why the makers of that tedious piece of High Tory propaganda, Downton Abbey begins with a shot of a dog’s ass? Well, it always confused me until I noticed that the shot also contains the name…
Hey! It’s Brain Haemorrhage Day and I feel fine.
6th May 2009 Unsurprizingly no one was taking photographs of me four years ago today. I didn’t look too good – much worse in fact than the picture above. It was the day I had a serious brain hemorrhage and…
Good wishes for the USA from the calm side of Hurricane Sandy
It’s a pleasant, slightly breezy Autumnal morning here in Lewes, UK, but enjoying it is a guilty secret on the day that Hurricane Sandy is on its perilous journey towards the coast of the USA. I’m hoping that it won’t…
The Death of Chatterton – every young Romantic’s dream
Chatterton (1855-1856) by Henry Wallis. Tate Britain, London I couldn’t let my week of blogs about the wonderful Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain go by without mentioning the one painting exhibited there that has a personal significance for me beyond…
Some of those Pre-Raphaelite ideals still impress.
Work (1852-1865) by Ford Madox Brown. Manchester Art Gallery. In case we are ever tempted to think of those arty Pre-Raphaelites as mere fey decorative artist intellectuals, we should think of Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893), the painter who stood on…
Jane Morris, The pre-Raphaelites’ Muse, is queen of the Tate’s new exhibition.
Astarte Syriaca (1875-1876) by Gabriel Dante Rossetti. Manchester City Art Galleries. I went to the “Pre-Raphaelites, Victorian Avant-Garde,” Tate Britain’s Pre-Raphaelite exhibition last weekend and the face that stays with me is that of Jane Morris, the wife of William…
Pre-Raphaelite master, John Everett Millais – poetic painter
Ophelia (1851-1852) by John Everett Millais. Tate Britain, London. As much as I probably prefer Edmund Burne-Jones to the other Pre-Raphaelite artists, I also love the work of John Everett Millais (1829-1896) and there’s probably no doubt that was the best…
Edward Burne-Jones’ Perseus series is one of the stars of London”s Pre-Raphaelite show.
The Baleful Head from The Perseus series by Edward Burne-Jones (1887) Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. At the weekend, I went to see the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition that is currently showing in London’s Tate Britain, “Pre-Raphaelites, Victorian Avant-Garde” billed as the first major…
Busy doing nothing all weekend with Tomas Tranströmer, Beethoven and the pre-Raphaelites,
Tomas Tranströmer It was what I would call a busy weekend. I wasn’t gardening, doing any essential DIY, shopping, socializing or even going to the gym. I was busy in my head. I went to the powerful and very large…
It is Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann weekend
Alban Gerhardt Kurt Masur This weekend will be dominated by Beethoven and Schumann and the exciting young German ‘cellist Alban Gerhardt in a concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall. I don’t go to orchestral concerts enough but I’m excited about…