Category: Special Exhibitions

‘Money Talks’ at the Ashmolean Museum.

On 5th December 2024

In Art, Commerce, Social History, Special Exhibitions

Last Monday I had the pleasure of visiting this super exhibition and I hope you will enjoy my report even though I have travelled once more outside my usual beat of the City.

The exhibition is described as follows: ‘Art and money have much in common. Both influence who and what we think of as valuable. It can be surprising to think of money, so functional in form, starting its life as drawing or sculpture. The current Money Talks exhibition at the Ashmolean explores the place of money in our world through art, highlighting a multitude of global perspectives across time. Works on show range from rare monetary portraits and historic depictions of wealth to contemporary activist Money Art, alongside more unusual examples from some of the best-known artists including Rembrandt and Warhol. Together, they expose the tension between the power of money and the playfulness of art’.

Here are some of my favourite exhibits.

The exhibition entrance, with a dollar sign by Andy Warhol …

There is the fascinating story of the design for the coinage of Edward VIII who chose to abdicate before any came into circulation. I like the ‘warning’ on this box: NOT TO BE OPENED EXCEPT IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO SENIOR OFFICERS OF THE ROYAL MINT …

What it contained …

Edward proved rather difficult because he wanted the coins to incorporate his ‘best’ profile …

‘Cubist’ designs submitted for the reverse of Edward’s coinage. They were rejected, with the Mint Advisory Committe declaring that they ‘could not be taken seriously’ …

They probably had a point.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II …

The slightly disconcerting hologram …

An enormous tapestry ‘Comfort Blanket’ by Sir Grayson Perry is based on the design of a very familiar monetary object – the £10 banknote. In Sir Grayson’s own words, it is ‘a portrait of Britain to wrap yourself up in, a giant banknote; things we love, and love to hate’

The two defining artistic movements of Art Nouveau and Art Deco left their imprint in monetary art, much as architecture, jewellery and furniture. ‘Jugendstil’ or German Art Nouveau in money can be best exemplified through the works of the Viennese ‘Avant Garde’ artists like Gustav Klimt, Franz Matsch and Koloman Moser. This is Moser’s draft artwork for 50-crown note for the Austro-Hungarian Bank …

The Inflation Display – some crazy high value notes …

Artists have always highlighted and reflected on wealth, power and money. But the contrasting way in which money is depicted and treated in Eastern and Western traditions of art is interesting in itself. Perhaps owing to the bad press money gets in the Bible and the Christian world view, money is often depicted in negative ways in Western Art.

Greedy usurers and tax collectors, miserly men, conniving and hoarding women are often the subjects associated with money. The ‘crookedness’ of money is also physiognomic: these subjects are often shown with grotesque features, unkempt appearances and unsavoury expressions.

Two Tax Gathererers, 1540s, Workshop of Marius van Reymerseale, an artist known for his satirical paintings of greed and corruption …

Tax collectors were paid percentages of the revenues they collected and would extort every last penny from taxpayers.

The Miser, 1780s, by Thomas Barker of Bath …

His unwillingness to part with money is underlined by the poor quality of his clothing and a generally unkempt look.

The man with the moneybag and his flatterers, Johnnnes Wierix, around 1620 …

This crude composition based on a Flemish proverb uses toilet humour to allude to the power of wealth. A defecating rich man scatters coins from a sack and ‘ass-kissers’ and ‘brownnosers’ scuttle up his humongous behind.

On the contrary, in the Eastern traditions, money is celebrated as an agent of fulfilment, plenitude and fertility.

This shift in attitude prompts Eastern artistic engagement with money to be far more positive and fun. It celebrates money’s agency in bringing prosperity, wealth and happiness. Here we see representations of gods and goddesses, symbolisms and happy cultural associations with money …

A seated figure of Kubera, Buddhist god of wealth, Tibet, 18th–19th century.

Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of wealth …

Humour, satire, irony and wit are often deployed as critical tools by artists to playfully poke fun or shine a light on different social and political topics. These include many of the enduring questions and issues facing society, from the pressures of inflation to the intersections between gender, celebrity and status.

James Gillray lampoons a belching and farting prime minister …

Pitt the Younger, depicted as Midas, Transmuting All into Paper, 1797.

Another Gillray. Political Ravishment, or the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street in Danger, 1797 …

Prime Minister Wlliam Pitt, the young man, is shown trying to woo an old lady, the Bank of England, as he slips his hand into her pocket.

Bringing us up to date, a rather careworn looking King Charles III …

The final exhibit, Susan Stockwell’s sculpture ‘Money Dress’ is an excellent example of a ‘feminist’ intervention using money as medium. Shaped like an impressive Victorian gown, it is dedicated to the early 20th-century explorer and anthropologist Mary Kingsley (1862-1900) …

The exhibition is open until 5th January 2025 – highly recommended.

Finally, some images from the streets.

Last Saturday I was feeling a bit grumpy as I went to buy a paper when I met this lovely man pushing his beautiful Christmas dust cart …

We shook hands, wished one another a Happy Christmas, and I didn’t stop smiling for ages!

Obviously many people cycle to Oxford Station to catch the train. How do they get to their bike if it’s in the middle of this lot …

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

A suprising bonus of being treated by the NHS (and other images I hope you will like) …

By The City Gent

On 31st October 2024

In Animals, Architecture, Quirky, Social History, Special Exhibitions

I often build up a bank of images that don’t fit any particular theme but that I rather like. I feel it’s a shame not to share them so that’s the purpose of today’s blog. Apologies if you have seen some of these already on Instagram.

My friend recently had a surgical procedure at University College Hospital and was given a room to herself in order to recover. That room was on the 14th floor and this was the view …

One of the best London panoramas I have ever seen.

The nursing care was great too.

Funnily enough I had a great view when I was resident in St Thomas’ Hospital for few days last year …

I should have charged tourists an admission fee.

I can occasionally get what I think are good pictures without wandering too far.

An interesting sunset …

The moon moving slowly past the Shard …

Tower 52 framed by newer buildings turned pink by the sunset light …

The continual colour changes fascinate me …

The eerie glow of the Barbican Conservatory in the early evening …

Incidentally, here we also get a good view of flypasts heading for Buckingham Palace. This one was for the King’s Birthday on 15th June …

Just around the corner, a red glow slices through an office block on Fore Street …

Whilst on the theme of sunsets and moons, please excuse a couple of holiday snaps from Dubrovnik …

Lovely place, highly recommended.

Some images from a recent visit to the Houses of Parliament starting with Westminster Hall and its 14th century hammerbeam roof ..

Various plaques indicate where the bodies of eminent people lay in State before their funeral …

This one prompted me to learn more about the Earl of Strafford who was subsequently beheaded on Tower Hill in 1641 …

His trial along with a list of key attendees …

Guy Fawkes was also tried here but I suppose it’s not surprising that no plaque commemorates the event considering what he had set out to do!

Guy and his fellow conspirators …

Fawkes’s signature before and after he was tortured on the rack has a gruesome fascination …

View from the House of Commons Terrace …

I recently had a very enjoyable lunch at Larry’s Restaurant at the National Portrait Gallery. It has a wacky lobster theme throughout …

Nice cocktails too.

On one of my walks I came across the rather splendid Law Society building on Chancery Lane …

I liked the ‘lions’. They are formally known in heraldry as Lions Sejant …

The sculptor, Alfred Stevens, always referred to them as his cats since, apparently, he used his neighbour’s pet animal as a model for the pose.

I do wander around outside the City occasionally and find delightful surprises such as this memorial dispensary in Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn …

Horses and donkeys were the most commonly used animals in wartime – mainly for transport and haulage, but camels, elephants, pigeons, bullocks, dogs and goats were all pressed into service. Many suffered from exposure, lack of food and disease, dying alongside their human companions …

In 1931 a competition was held for the design of a memorial for the main facade of the building. Frederick Brook Hitch of Hertford was the winner and his wonderful bronze plaque is above the main door …

Read all about the pigeon that was awarded the Croix de Guerre in my blog of January 2021.

I love the sight of dozing ducks …

The Heritage Gallery at the Guildhall Art Gallery is hosting three small exhibitions at the moment. I have already written about two of them and you can find them here: one about Robert Hooke and another about Blackfriars Bridge.

The third is about a gentleman called Charles Pearson – a name I didn’t recognise but should have.

He was a great campaigner who supported universal suffrage, electoral reform and opposed capital punishment. He also had a vision for an underground railway, describing a ‘Spacious Railway station in Farringdon Street by which means … the overcrowding of the streets by carriages and foot-passengers van be diminished’.

The exhibition contains a street plan along with a booklet setting out his case using speeches he gave on the subject …

There is also a link between Pearson and The Monument.

An inscription on the north side originally held Catholics responsible for the Great Fire: The Latin words Sed Furor Papisticus Qui Tamdiu Patravit Nondum Restingvitur translates as ‘but Popish frenzy, which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched’. Pearson campaigned to have the words removed and you can see where they once existed at the base of the panel before being scored out …

The deletion in close up …

Another great reason to visit the Guildhall Art Gallery is that their prestigious bookshop is now stocking my book …

Over 100 pages in full colour with a fold-out map at the back. A bargain stocking filler for only £10!

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

Robert Hooke – out of the shadows. Plus a great new perspective on London’s buildings, homes, streets and environment.

By The City Gent

On 10th October 2024

In Architecture, Art, Special Exhibitions

I was off to the Guildhall Gallery again last weekend looking for blog inspiration and, as usual, was not disappointed.

Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was a typical ‘Renaissance Man’ of 17th century England but is not anything like as well known as his contemporaries such as Sir Isaac Newton, Samuel Pepys and Sir Christopher Wren (a lifelong friend).

In the course of his career at the Royal Society and as Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, he carried out the earliest research with the microscope, described and named the cell, was a founder of the science of geology, and discovered the law of springs/elasticity, the achievement for which he is most remembered today. He was also a City Surveyor, organising the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666. Overshadowed by Newton and Wren, he faded into relative obscurity and now there is not even a portrait of him.

The Guildhall Gallery has gone some way to bringing him out of the shadows with a new exhibition in The Heritage Gallery, Robert Hooke and the Monument …

Hooke worked with Wren on the design of the Monument, built to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666. It remains a striking feature of the City and a major tourist attraction to this day …

It was originally intended to have a scientific function as a zenith telescope – instrumants that can be used for determining the precise measurement of star positions. Unfortunately, movement caused by the wind and nearby traffic made it unsuitable for this purpose.

Hooke’s diary (which is dated 1672-83) was a memorandum book he kept to remind him of the many places he had been and people he had met. It records his visits to sites in the City that he was working on including the Monument …

Indicated is an entry from 5th April 1676. He records going to see ‘the pillar’, i.e. the Monumant, in construction. He describes examining the balcony and the setting for the golden urn on top of it. He visited the construction work frequently and must have been very fit with a good head for heights!

The urn at the top …

Hooke was a true polymath. A diagram for a proposed design for a thermomenter is also on display …

…amongst other papers he collected …

You can also see a daguerreotype of the Monument from circa 1845 taken from Gracechurch Street, with the church of St Magnus the Martyr in the background …

Incredibly fragile, this is the oldest photograph of the City of London in the London Archives.

I’ve always been fascinated by Hooke and particularly love Micrographia. The Royal Society blog states: ‘This great book of explorations of the very small, the very far and the very elusive, needs little introduction. Written and illustrated with 38 lavish copperplate engravings, Micrographia or, some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses, with Observations and Inquiries thereupon, to spell out its full title, remains a landmark in the history of microscopy’.

The accuracy of his famous drawing of a flea is even more striking when we compare it with an image produced using the latest microscope technology …

You can read more here in the Royal Society blog.

Look at an online copy of Hooke’s beautiful book here.

Since he was a contemporary of Pepys, the famous flea is included on a paving stone in the Pepys garden in Seething Lane …

You can find a complete guide to the garden and its carvings in my blogs here and here.

If you visit the Hooke exhibition, make sure you also pop in to the upstairs gallery where a really enjoyable treat awaits …

The Giant Dolls House Project invited schools and community groups to create minature rooms in shoe boxes to show their perspectives on the City of London’s buildings, homes, streets and environment.

I was absolutely fascinated …

My favourite. I could imagine myself sitting in that chair, relaxing and reading a book from the little library …

Do visit if you can – my images don’t really do it justice.

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

Sculpture in the City (and a few words about Thomas Bayes).

By The City Gent

On 29th August 2024

In Memorials, Sculpture, Special Exhibitions

The Sculpture in the City project is always worth a visit, which is what I did last week. I have also added some other pieces that caught my eye.

First up is this one entitled Temple by Richard Mackness. It’s on the corner of Bishopsgate and Wormwood Street, EC2M 3XD…

‘In this object, questions of belief and value weave with consumer culture and the human need to find meaning and to belong’. You can read a fuller description here.

This one has been around since last year but I’m including it again because I like its location. It’s called Muamba Grove, 0 Hue 1 and 2 by Vanessa da Silva and can be found at St Botolph-without- Bishopsgate Churchyard, EC2M 3TL …

‘The artist’s process offers an indication of the inseparable link between the body and the sculpture – the artist’s own body becomes entwined within the making of the forms. Da Silva’s use of colour and carefully considered scale contributes to the sense of dynamic and fluid movement’. You can read more here.

If you visit the churchyard look out for St. Botolph’s Hall, once used as an infants’ school, but now a multipurpose church hall available for hire. At its front entrance is a pair of Coade Stone figures of a schoolboy and girl in early nineteenth century costumes …

In the foreground is the large tomb of Sir William Rawlins, Sherriff of London in 1801 and a benefactor of the church …

This is Book of Boredom by Ida Ekblad. It’s at Undershaft, EC2N 4AJ (in front of Crosby Square) …

‘Conveying a rich sense of abundance and corporality, this painted bronze sculpture presents a vibrant composition filled with fragmented, angular patterns and shapes, merging elements of figuration and abstraction’. You can read more here.

This is Untitled by Arturo Herrara at the base of the Leadenhall Building EC3V 4AB …

‘Untitled reflects the dynamic movement of people using the space and the mechanic stairs. Both designs energise the area under the stairs with an all over composition that mimics the traffic and activity of this large urban space in the City’.

I caught my first glimpse of these creatures, called Secret Sentinels, as I turned from St Mary Axe into Bevis Marks (EC3A 8BE). They made me smile, which is a good start! …

They were created by Clare Burnett …

‘Secret Sentinels is a family of sculptures made from found objects and materials and covered in glass tiles. The sculptures are inspired by how we balance privacy against convenience in relation to state and private surveillance. The protrusions from each piece gently reference the surrounding, ubiquitous cameras in the City security systems, doorbells, phones and computers’. You can read more here.

Here are the other things that caught my eye during my walk that are not part of the Sculpture in the City project.

Infinite Accumulation by Yayoi Kusama is an extraordinary sculpture on the pavement outside the Liverpool Street Elizabeth Line station entrance …

Another work now on permanent display is outside Moorgate Station and was created by the British artist Conrad Shawcross RA. It’s called Manifold (Major Third) 5:4 and was installed late last year as the penultimate artwork for the Crossrail project. According to a sign close to the art, ‘this vast bronze sculpture is an expression of a chord falling into silence’ …

You can read more here.

The open space at Citypoint is currently a temporary home to Squiggle …

Moving away from sculpture, I like the coloured glass deployed around 22 Bishopsgate …

Thomas Bayes (circa 1701-1761) has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons due to the sudden sinking of the yacht named after him and the tragic loss of seven lives. You can read the BBC news report here.

I thought you might be interested to know that Bayes is buried in a family grave in Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. It can be easily seen from the paths but the inscriptions are rather indistinct (despite restoration in 1969 funded by statisticians worldwide) …

In the vault are laid members of the Bayes, Cotton and West families.

The inscription on the east side of the tomb (Wikimedia Commons)…

On the top of the tomb is inscribed: Rev. Thomas Bayes, Son of the said Joshua and Ann Bayes (59).

The west side, Miss Decima Cotton who died on 12 April 1795 …

Born in Hertfordshire, Bayes studied at Edinburgh University and began his preaching career in that city; he later assisted at his father’s meeting-house on Leather Lane in Holborn before being appointed Presbyterian minister to the Little Mount Sion meeting-house at Tunbridge Wells in 1731, which post he occupied until his retirement 20 years later. During his lifetime Bayes published nothing under his own name, although he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1742, perhaps on the basis of an influential defence of Newtonian mathematics published anonymously in 1734. His fame rests chiefly upon his mathematical ‘Essay towards solving a problem in the doctrine of chances’, published posthumously in 1764; this adumbrates the highly influential ‘Bayesian’ approach to probability theory, as well as containing the famous ‘Bayes’ Theorem’, still widely used in statistics and information technology.

I was fascinated to find out that, armed with powerful computers to handle the data, American security experts use Bayesian inference to prioritise potential threats to the nation. You can read more here.

I found this image of the grave after restoration in 1969 …

I think it’s time to get the scrubbing brush out again!

On a more cheerful note, about 200 yards away is this building …

Concerned about Sir John Cass’s connection with the slave trade, the Business School that bore his name decided to rebrand themselves and, in an online poll, ‘Bayes Business School’ was the winning suggestion. I think it’s nice that his final resting place is so nearby!

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

Victorian London in Photographs (pomp, progress and poverty). Plus the latest City Banksy and a ‘lost’ man!

By The City Gent

On 22nd August 2024

In Social History, Special Exhibitions

I’ve just been to see this super pop-up exhibition in St Paul’s Churchyard. It runs until 29 September and I highly recommend it …

If, like myself, you like following London’s history using photographic images some of those on display will be familiar to you, but it’s great to see them again in a nice setting with very informative signage.

This is one of my favourites …

The ‘great and the good’ take the inaugural journey on the new underground railway. The date is 24 May 1862 and they are in an open wagon at Edgware Road Station. ‘Number 16’ is William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), later Prime Minister for four terms.

Another image I know well illustrates the vast difference between the lives of our railway passengers and the lives of the poor and destitute …

This photograph of a woman was taken by John Thompson in 1877 and was titled The Crawlers. Reduced to poverty, she explained to him that she was looking after a friend’s baby in exchange for some bread and a cup of tea.

Another image from 1877 along with an example of the excellent exhibition signage …

Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to travel back in time and tell the these two ladies, and the young lads with their backs to us, that people would be looking at their images and thinking about their lives almost 150 years later …

Street Life by the same photographer …

Pomp at the new Crystal Palace …

And progress – both Bankside Power Station and Tower Bridge under construction …

Another theme – Grand Boulevards …

Do pop along and see it if you can – it’s a great exhibition and my images are just a small sample.

On a similar theme, I have a little collection of old postcards of which these are a few examples.

Tower Bridge gradually taking shape, as seen from the river …

St Paul’s Cathedral from Bankside with a paddle steamer moored in the foreground …

Flower seller ladies outside the Royal Exchange. I like this image, with the top-hatted man on the left having the flower placed in his buttonhole and the lady near the middle shielding her eyes from the sun …

Euston Station with the famous arch which was controversially demolished in 1962 (‘an act of cultural vandalism’ said one commentator!) …

Covent Garden Market …

A busy day at Bank Junction …

Incidentally, just behind the exhibition is a great example of what pollution can do to Portland stone over time …

The plaque reads as follows: HEAD AND SHOULDERS OF PORTLAND STONE STATUE OF SAINT ANDREW SOUTH PEDIMENT. THE COMPLETE STATUE 12 FEET HIGH AND WEIGHS SIX TON. CARVED BY FRANCIS BIRD IN 1724 FOR £140. THIS PART WAS REPLACED IN 1923 AND VACUUM IMPREGNATED WITH SILANE RESIN.

STOP PRESS, the latest City Banksy has been removed from its street setting and installed in Guildhall Yard. For how long I do not know …

Finally, whilst walking along Chalk Farm Road yesterday, I saw this sweet request taped to a shop window near the 31 bus stop …

I don’t suppose he subscribes to my blog but you never know!

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

Tower Bridge and the extraordinary Sir Horace Jones. Plus a gathering of equerries and bedchamber ladies!

By The City Gent

On 8th August 2024

In Architecture, City Symbols, Sculpture, Social History, Special Exhibitions

I thought I was familiar with the names of all the archiects associated with the City but somehow one of the most eminent seemed to have slipped my mind – although I must have read about him on numerous occasions. Some of his greatest works will be well known to all my readers – for example the original market buildings at Smithfield, Billingsgate and Leadenhall. His greatest surviving achievement however, in my view at least, is the structure that represents London itself to many people throughout the world – Tower Bridge.

Jones was a brilliant artist as can be seen from this pen-and-ink drawing by him from his 1884 design …

^{© London Metropolitan Archives, City of London (ref COL/SVD/PL/03/0293})

This model at The London Centre gives some perspective as to its location …

The modern City framed by the Bridge …

In action …

From the River Thames heading east …

Serious engineering …

You can read about my tour of the bridge in March last year here.

My further interest in it was spiked, as it often is, by the current exhibition featuring Tower Bridge at the Guildhall Gallery …

The great man himself. Horace Jones 1819-1887 painted in the year before his death by Walter William Ouless …

Some of the fascinating items on display in the exhibition.

This dramatic photograph captures the hive of activity during construction …

Centre stage are the high-level footway bridges slowly coming together while in the background you can see the South Abutment Tower under construction. Work on the bridge had started in 1886 and work was completed in 1894 (seven years after Horace’s death).

Hot tickets …

The ‘Ceremonial’ document outlining the programme. I was intrigued by the occupants of the carriages. What’s the difference between a ‘woman of the bedchamber’ and a ‘lady of the bedchamber’? And there are examples of chaps who are ‘in waiting’. Two equerries, a groom and a lord to be precise. No doubt a precise pecking order has been established over the centuries!

A napkin from the opening Celebration Dinner …

A great selection …

Instructions on how to operate the raising mechanism, an engineer with a super king size spanner, a workman doing masonry repairs, a police officer pulling a rope across the road to close it to traffic, the Tower Bridge tug and the Bridge Driver in the control cabin.

For the people of London during the First World War the bridge was more than a metaphorical symbol of resistance. Perched atop the upper walkway sat an anti-aircraft gun, its height and tactical position aligning it perfectly to defend against German raids. Its presence brought comfort to Londoners in the area and this poster captures the sentiment …

Each of the men listed in the centre of the poster were presented with a print as ‘grateful recognition of their services in protecting London against hostile aircraft during the Great War of 1914-1918’.

Whilst I was visiting I treated myself to this book. It’s a great read …

It explains in interesting detail why, despite a knighthood and elevation to the Presidency of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Horace never really received the full recognition he deserved and this remains the case today. For example, the Guildhall Gallery now owns the Ouless painting above but it is not on display. I’m pleased to say, however, that there is an excellent bust of Horace that you can go and see. It really gives a hint of the powerful presence and personality that clearly upset some of his contemporaries …

Unfortunately, I’m sad to say that it is tucked away at the back of the cloakroom! You’ll find it by turning right as you leave the special exhibition.

It’s on until 19 September and is located in the Heritage Gallery. During your visit you can enjoy watching films from the London Metropolitan Archive. This one is of the 1928 Lord Mayors Show …

You can also inspect a superb back-lit copy of the ‘Agas’ map of circa 1561 …

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

Kaleidoscope!

By The City Gent

On 20th June 2024

In Art, Special Exhibitions

I visited the Guildhall Gallery last week for this extrordinary exhibition …

With over 150 pieces, this is a major retrospective which features series of works from as far back as 1990 right up to the present day, including 41 London-themed kaleidoscopic prints created exclusively for this new exhibition.

So this blog can only give you a brief taste of what’s in store if you visit – and I have kept it a manageble size by just including my favourites! You can read a very comprehensive review of the exhibition (including a video of the artist at work) on the Books & Boots website. I strongly recommend you read it before visiting the gallery.

I started by looking at the tools Anne uses in her wood engraving work – fascinating …

In addition to the woodcarving and linocuts she also creates mixed media collages.

I’m delighted to say that St Paul’s Cathedral features strongly.

Wartime searchlights pierce the sky …

This is followed by five sequential wood engravings reflecting on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2015 …

I really like this series of four entitled Sky Window …

Deserted Pool …

Living History …

Between Order and Chaos …

Out of this World …

British Museum Diagonals …

Under construction – Bishopsgate London in the 1990s …

Royal Academy – RA Metamorphosis …

Royal Academy – RA Revolution …

On my way out I paused for a good look at Grayson Perry’s 2016 woodcut Animal Spirit …

Inspired by London’s financial sector, you can read more about it here.

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

Shakespeare at the Guildhall Library.

By The City Gent

On 23rd May 2024

In Special Exhibitions

Drawing on Guildhall Library’s remarkable Shakespeare collections, this exhibition examines the history of the printing of William Shakespeare’s plays, from the small ‘Quartos’ of the late 16th century and the Folios of the 17th century, to the reworking of the text in the 18th century and the rediscovery of the original texts in the 19th century …

Just inside the door you are greeted with an image of the funerary monument of William Shakespeare in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon circa 1616-1622 …

There are a series of excellent, informative panels …

They range over subjucts such as the difference between a Folio and a Quarto …

… printing technology …

…and how the works were viewed and appreciated over the centuries …

The books, of course, are the stars of the show (and they do not all relate solely to Shakespeare).

It was not until some years after his death that the majority of his plays were gathered together, edited to create a definitive version of the text, and published 400 years ago in the now iconic First Folio, 1632.

And here it is in facsimile …

The engraved portriat by Martin Droeshout is one of the few likenesses with any claim to authenticity.

A facsimile of the Second Folio, also published in 1632 …

An original Third Folio, 1664 …

And the Fourth, 1685 …

The Library Shakespeare – An example of the late 19th century emergence of ‘gift books’, nicely bound with coloured illustrations …

There are other delights on display.

The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont, printed in 1613 …

An 1853 spoof comic version of Macbeth Macbeth Travestie. Macbeth somewhat removed from the text of Shakespear: in two acts …

There are almost thirty items in the exhibition …

… and there is a splendid free guide …

There is also an interesting photowall showing some of the Guildhall Library’s other treasures …

After you leave the building, walk across the road to the little green space on the corner of Aldermanbury and Love Lane …

Constructed in 1896, this pink granite monument stands within the former churchyard of St Mary Aldermanbury. Its primary purpose is to honour the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays, but it also serves as a tribute to Henry Condell and John Heminge, two associates of the Bard who worked with him at the Globe …

They played a cucial role in compiling and printing the First Folio after his death in 1616 …

Both lived nearby and were buried in this churchyard …

The church was gutted in the Blitz with only the walls remaining standing. The stones were subsequently transported to Fulton, Missouri in 1966 and rebuilt in the grounds of Westminster College as a memorial to Winston Churchill who had made his Sinews of Peace, “Iron Curtain” speech in the College gymnasium in 1946.

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

Exploring the Crypt Museum at All Hallows by the Tower.

By The City Gent

On 9th May 2024

In Memorials, Roman London, Social History, Special Exhibitions

In my blog three weeks ago I wrote about the treasure trove that you’ll find at All Hallows by the Tower and promised to return again and explore the Crypt Museum. This week’s edition is the result.

I headed down the steps to the atmospheric interior …

One of the first exhibits you encounter is this floor of a 2nd century Roman dwelling …

Sometimes it’s just easier to take a picture of an information label!

Walk where the Romans walked …

The church historian told me that, if I stood on the tiles long enough, I would be transported back to Roman times. Sadly, I was in a bit of a hurry.

On display are several casts of Roman gravestones.

A ‘most devoted son’…

And an ‘incomparable husband’ …

This stone once depicted a couple but the woman’s head is now missing …

The inscription reads : Demetrius, to Heraclia, his wife (set up this stone) at the expense of her own estate, as a memorial to her.

Lots of treasures in display cases …

Including this beautiful carving in alabaster …

This is the ‘great hoist’ …

Costing £3 in 1682, it was made to suspend the beautiful Grinling Gibbons font cover which can now be found in the south west corner of the church …

This is the original north door from the 1884 construction of the North porch …

It was badly damaged in the fire bombing that happenened three weeks after the direct hit on the church on 19 December 1940.

There are several connections with famous Americans.

William Penn was baptised in All Hallows and this memorial to commemorate the event was erected in 1911. It was damaged in the wartime bombing …

William’s father, Admiral Sir William Penn, was Commissioner of the nearby Navy Office and his son was baptised here on 23 October 1644. The Baptismal Register recording the occasion …

Penn’s entry is number 23 on the right hand page.

And what about this lady. For almost two hundred years the only non-American First Lady until the inauguration of President Trump on 20 January 2017 …

The relevant entry in the 1797 Marriage Register …

Memorabilia relating to The Reverend ‘Tubby’ Clayton …

Under the High Altar is sited the Undercroft Chapel …

The altar comprises stones brought back to All Hallows from Richard I’s Castle Athilt in Israel.

As I said in my earlier blog, All Hallows really is a treasure trove and my blogs really just give a brief glimpse of how interesting the church is. So well worth a visit.

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

Fantastic City models at the London Centre on Aldermanbury.

By The City Gent

On 2nd May 2024

In Architecture, Special Exhibitions

Occasionally I come across something in the City that is fantastic but which, for some reason, I was completely unaware of. I found it here at The London Centre on Aldermanbury …

NLA (New London Architecture) is an independent organisation for anyone and everyone with an interest in London’s built environment. Their basic remit is to engage with government, business and the public to educate, challenge, connect and create positive change.

In April 2023 they opened this new facility in the West Wing of the Guildhall complex. It’s a quiet place filled with meeting rooms and facilities that make it an ideal “hub for the built environment profession”. Entry to the public area is free so there’s no need to book. You don’t need to be a member of the profession to explore either, so just turn up. Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday 11:00-17:00, and on Fridays they host free lunchtime talks from 12:30 – 13:00.

To facilitate city planning and other discussions about buildings, growth and expansion, the Centre houses three large scale models …

Here is more about them.

The original City of London Model (1:500 scale)

Anything in grey was built before 1945, enabling you to see the extent of central London that was re-built after the Blitz. The scale allows for lots of detail to be articulated — it’s not just boxy blocks — and some of the newest, modern high-rises even light up …

Guess where …

New London Model (1:2000 scale)

In this newer model they’ve shrunk the buildings and doubled the footprint of the original, greatly expanding just how much you can see from a virtual ‘sky-high’ vantage point. The model represents a 200 km2 area of Greater London, showing 240,000 buildings using data from 2012 …

Note Wembley Stadium in the foreground …

Royal Docks Model (1:1000 scale)

This was fully 3D printed and gives an overview of developments across the area over the next 10 years. The solid white buildings are existing while the buildings in frosted white show masterplans with outline planning permission. The model represents 10,000 buildings and the label points out the the water in the docks alone covers an area larger than the whole of Venice!

Oh, and guess what – there’s a separate Barbican model …

‘In addition to the models there are dozens of wall displays exploring various areas, opportunities and the unique London logistics that city planners and builders must consider. The entire centre is a living, working resource that also serves as a fantastic educational opportunity for anyone with an active interest in the seemingly endless queue of expansion, renovation and regeneration projects.’ Here are a few of them …

The Great Estates …

I really loved my visit – highly recommended.

There’s also something really interesting on at the Guildhall Library upstairs – something to visit at another time …

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent

‘Unravel’ at the Barbican – an extraordinary experience.

By The City Gent

On 11th April 2024

In Art, Special Exhibitions

Until 26th May 2024, Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art shines a light on artists from the 1960s to today who have explored the transformative and subversive potential of textiles, harnessing the medium to ask charged questions about power: who holds it, and how can it be challenged and reclaimed? Spanning intimate hand-crafted pieces to large-scale sculptural installations, this major exhibition brings together over 100 artworks by 50 international practitioners. Drawn to the tactile processes of stitching, weaving, braiding, beading and knotting, these artists have embraced fibre and thread to tell stories that challenge power structures, transgress boundaries and reimagine the world around them.

This review summed it up nicely for me -‘hybrid, heterodox, filled with strangeness and anger and beauty and horror, Unravel at the Barbican is often gorgeously excessive, at other moments quiet and private, not giving up its secrets until you linger’.

An extraordinary experience – not at all what I expected and highly recommended. I really wanted to ignore the ‘Do Not Touch’ signs!

Here are some of the images I took when I visited last Saturday.

Views from the upstairs gallery …

Yinka Shonibare’s figurative sculpture Boy On A Globe uses his signature Dutch Wax fabrics to address race, class and the legacy of imperialism by reflecting on colonial trade and the entangled economic histories embedded within fabrics …

The work of Małgorzata Mirga-Tas representing Roma people …

Family Treasues by Sheila Hicks …

Faith Ringgold tells her life story in a quilt …

Hannah Ryggen’s Blut im Gras (Blood in the grass), 1966, protests against the US war in Vietnam. The then-US president Lyndon B. Johnson is depicted here nonchalantly wearing a cowboy hat …

Arch of Hysteria by Louise Bourgeois uses a textile doll or model to convey a psychic experience of pain …

Myrlande Constant’s tapestries are drawn from Haitian Vodou traditions, her father was a Vodou priest …

Tau Lewis uses recycled fabrics and seashells in The Coral Reef Preservation Society, partly in homage to enslaved people who lost their lives in the Middle Passage, a stage of the Atlantic slave trade …

These larger-than-life, deity-like macramé sculptures by Mrinalini Mukherjee surge up from the ground as though organic beings. Drawing on nature and myriad artistic references, their knotted, rippling forms confound expectations of textiles as two-dimensional …

Sarah Zapata’s work embraces her identity as a Peruvian American – two cultures in which textiles are integral …

Solange Pessoa’s work, Hammock, was created in response to the land of Minas Gerais, Brazil, where she grew up. Textiles, in the form of rags and canvas, act as a carrier for living and decaying matter …

Tracey Emin is here too with a hard hitting work, No chance – WHAT A YEAR, about being raped when she was a thirteen-year-old girl (Content trigger warning) …

Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art runs until 26th May 2024.

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

A visit to the wonderful Two Temple Place.

By The City Gent

On 28th March 2024

In Architecture, Special Exhibitions, Stained Glass

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to visit this extraordinary building but the wait was certainly worth it. And entry is free!

You know you’re in for a treat when, at the entrance, you encounter these charming cherubs chatting to one another over a late 19th century telephone …

The way in …

Two Temple Place is ‘a dazzling neo-Gothic gem’ on Victoria Embankment …

Then the richest man in the world, William Waldorf Astor emigrated to England from America in 1891 and he spared no expense when work began on Two Temple Place in 1892. It was designed by one of the foremost neo-Gothic architects of the late nineteenth-century, John Loughborough Pearson, and served as an impregnable bolthole with the eccentric Astor’s private apartment and bedroom upstairs. Its main purpose, however, was to accomodate the people managing Astor’s vast estate.

The man himself …

If you love stained glass as much as I do this must be on your list to visit. Here are just a few of the many images I took as I walked around. I haven’t included captions since the ones at the venue are so detailed this blog would be far too long. So I hope these pictures are good enough to encourage you to visit in person …

At the bottom of the stunning staircase you encounter D’Artagnan …

And further up, Athos …

More breathtaking glass awaits you upstairs …

In the foreground is a modern piece from a special exhibition that is also resident at Temple Place for the time being …

Entitled ‘The Glass Heart’, the guide tells us that ‘this bold new exploration of glass in the UK brings together for the very first time rarely seen works from key UK collections, celebrating this remarkable material – unforgiving, fragile, strong, sustainable. The Glass Heart will make you think again about glass as we explore how it has illuminated and contained human narratives and ideas’.

Here are a few images from this exciting and unusual exhibition …

Well written and beautifully illustrated, at £10 the guide book is fantastic value for money and a great memento of your visit …

Two Temple Place is a truly magnificent one-off. Make sure you check on the website for opening times before you visit since these can vary : https://twotempleplace.org/

If glass is your passion, don’t forget you can watch the creative process in action at the London Glassblowing Gallery …

The items for sale there may change forever your perception of what glass can do and the way it can influence the way we see the world – a fantastic place to visit …

There are glass hearts like these in the Temple Place exhibition. If you visit see if you can spot them …

I enjoyed that glass of Rosé as well!

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

My favourite London scenes from the Guildhall Art Gallery (and the return of a popular masterpiece).

By The City Gent

On 14th March 2024

In Art, Special Exhibitions

Regular readers will know that I love the Guildhall Art Gallery! It describes itself as one of the City’s best kept secrets and that certainly seems to be true since when I visit I often feel like I almost have the place to myself.

This week I popped in to see what was on display with particular reference to London. My usual favourites were there along with some interesting new additions.

Among the new arrivals was this painting by Doreen Fletcher (b.1952) 0f the Carlyle Hotel, Bayswater, around 1981 …

I think her paintings are fabulous and I am the proud owner of a signed copy of a book about her work published by The Gentle Author. I also own two of her prints, Still Standing – Commercial Road …

And Hot Dog Stand, Mile End …

You can read more about her here and here. The book I own is now out of print but you may be lucky and find a copy on eBay.

Another new arrival at the Gallery is this work by Grete Marks (1899-1990) entitled London Wharves (1972) …

I really like the textures of the material she has incorporated …

Margarete or Grete Marks was born in Cologne, Germany, where she studied at the School of Arts and later at Dusseldorf Academy before entering the Bauhaus School of Arts in Weimar in November 1920. At this time the Bauhaus was in its first incarnation under Walter Gropius and enjoyed enormous influence over the fine and decorative arts throughout Europe.

A painting by Sharon Beavan (b.1956) entitled View from Rotherfield Street to the Barbican (1989) …

I really get a sense of the higgledy piggledy that is London. You can read more about Sharon here.

Another newcomer I like is this oil on canvas Camberwell Flats by Night (1983) by David Hepher (b.1935) …

Hepher first started painting South East London’s high-rise architecture in the 1970s, inspired by the scale and impact of the tower blocks on the London skyline. Camberwell Flats by Night reflects Hepher’s sustained focus on residential architecture, and the details of ordinary, everyday life. He refers to his architecturally-themed works as landscape paintings, equating the powerful effects of the built environment on human experience to those of the natural world. He has said, “I think of myself as a landscape painter; I live in the city, so I paint the urban landscape.”

The Gallery acquired the painting in 2022 and it required some conservation. You can read about what that entailed here.

I looked up a few old favourites as well.

Two examples of City pomp and ceremony.

First, The Ceremony of Administering the Mayoralty Oath to Nathaniel Newnham, 8 November 1782. Nathaniel Newnham (before a sugar-baker and a founder of the private bank of Newnham) became Lord Mayor in 1782 and is seen here in his black and gold state robe being admitted in Guildhall on November 8 in the Silent Ceremony …

He faces William Bishop, the Common Cryer, who holds the book from which he reads his Oath with William Rix, the Town Clerk; behind stands Heron Powney, the Sword Bearer with the upraised Sword of State and beside him is William Montague, the Clerk of the Chamber of London …

The two small boys at the bottom right are nephews of the Lord Mayor …

The other is one of my favourites, William Logsdail’s painting entitled The Ninth of November 1888 …

Although it’s the Lord Mayor’s procession in this picture he is nowhere to be seen and the artist has concentrated on the liveried beadles (who he actually painted in his studio)…

… and the people in the crowd …

There is a minstrel in blackface with his banjo and next to him a little boy is nicking an orange from the old lady’s basket. On the right of the picture the man in the brown hat, next to the soldier with the very pale face, is Logsdail’s friend the painter Sir James Whitehead.

Naughty boy!

It’s a sobering thought that, not far away in the East End that afternoon, police were discovering the body of Mary Kelly, believed to be the last of Jack the Ripper’s victims.

A view of Blackfriars Bridge and the City from Lambeth about 1762 by William Marlow (1740-1813) who was, as can be seen, very influenced by Canaletto. The City’s wharves are viewed through the Portland Stone elliptical arches while St Paul’s stands out in the background. At the north end are the buildings of New Bridge Street and the spire of St Martin Ludgate. In the centre of the picture, a wherry conveys passengers and their belongings downriver …

The demolition of old London Bridge increased the flow of the river under Blackfriars Bridge, weakening it. It therefore had to be replaced with the current iron and granite bridge built between 1860 and 1869.

The Thames and Southwark Bridge in 1884 by John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893) are represented here on a quiet night under the moonlight. St. Paul’s prominent dome is seen on the right side, along with the spires of St Augustine, St Mary-le-Bow and St Antholin. A few vessels are in the dark on the left. The river and the sky are open pathways for the flood of light …

John Atkinson Grimshaw began working as a railway clerk for Great Northern Railway and had no formal training. Despite parental opposition, he took up painting at the age of twenty-five. In the 1880s, he began to paint London views, concentrating on moonlight subjects. From 1885 to 1887 Grimshaw had a studio at Trafalgar Studios, Manresa Road, Chelsea and knew Whistler well. It is said that Whistler confessed he had regarded himself as the inventor of nocturnes until he saw Atkinson Grimshaw’s ‘moonlights’.

The Monument from Gracechurch Street after Canaletto (artist unknown). We are looking towards Fish Street Hill and old London Bridge, with the Church of St. Magnus the Martyr in the background. Many reproductions were made after Giovanni Antonio Canal, who was colloquially known as Canaletto. These were in high demand after various British nobles and even King George III started collecting them …

This painting shows the wide thoroughfares of eighteenth century London and the bustle of the city. The Monument, designed by Dr Robert Hooke and the architect Christopher Wren, was erected between 1671 and 1677 to commemorate the fire and the rebuilding of the City.

Finally, if you visit the Gallery now you will see a notice about the Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch …

and the nearby garden …

It’s really nice to see some green space in the Guildhall courtyard …

And art by the children of serving families …

As the notice says, the painted dolls at the front of the garden represent unity and love for children everywhere who are suffering in times of conflict …

Oh, and by the way, one of Gallery’s most popular paintings is back on display after being featured in Tate Britain’s ‘The Rossettis’ exhibitions in London and the Delaware Art Museum. Described by the Pre-Raphaelite artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti as “my very best picture”, ‘La Ghirlandata’ was acquired by the City of London Corporation in 1927 for its permanent art collection and is displayed in the gallery’s main Victorian exhibition space …

The 1873 oil on canvas depicts ‘the garlanded woman’ playing an arpanetta and looking directly at the viewer. The artist’s muse for the central figure was the actor and model, Alexa Wilding, with two ‘angels’ in the top corners posed by William and Jane Morris’ youngest daughter, May Morris.

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

Special Billingsgate edition.

By The City Gent

On 1st February 2024

In Commerce, Social History, Special Exhibitions

Often, just when I fear I am running out of subjects to write about, the Heritage Gallery at the Guildhall Art Gallery comes to my rescue and they have just done so again with their special exhibition focusing on Billingsgate Market.

A Survey of London by John Stow in 1603 described Billingsgate as follows: ‘… which … is at this present a large Watergate, Port or Harbrough for shippes and boats, commonly arriving there with fish, both fresh and salt, shell fishes, salt, Orenges, Onions, and other fruits and rootes, wheate, Rie, and garine of divers sorts …’.

Before you view the items on display, pause at the backlit ‘Agas’ Map of 1561 and seek out ‘Bylynges gate’ and the carefully drawn ships moored at the quayside …

The first cabinet …

On the left is the Liber Horn, a book made in 1311 by Andrew Horn (Chamberlain of the City 1320-1328). It’s a compilation of charters, statutes and customs written upon vellum in Norman French …

In May 1699 an Act of Parliament conferred special privileges on the market which was declared ‘… a free and open Market for all sorts of fish whatsoever …’ and the sale of fish six days in the week and mackerel for sale on Sundays’. The two documents in the centre of the case date from this period.

The order issued by the Court of Aldermen on 24 December 1699 details the hours of the fish market and the times at which the market bell was to be rung as well as commenting on ‘… Mischiefs and evil Practices …’. …

On the right is a petition by the fishermen to Sir Richard Levitt (sic), Lord Mayor, protesting at being ‘… hindered and oppressed by great vessels loaded with salt and oranges …’ and requests the dock be cleared for the petitioners’ vessels …

The market flourished and the 1830 map on the right illustrates the layout of the dock at that time …

The second cabinet …

The collection of tolls by the market authorities was recorded in volumes. These detail the payments raised on type of vessel and catch with expenses including (handwritten at the bottom of the page) an allowance for coal and candles and collecting bad fish …

Porters were licensed by the City of London to act as porter and ply for trade within the market and this volume records the details …

This is a close up of the entry for Edward Jenkins, the man whose entry is crossed out because of his death, showing his various changes of address over the years …

Licenses were issued to individuals confirming their ability to work …

There is also a nice selection of images for visitors to enjoy. Here are just a few …

The present building dates from 1876 and was designed by Sir Horace Jones, an architect perhaps best known for creating Tower Bridge but who also designed Leadenhall and Smithfield markets. Business boomed until 1982, when the fish market moved to the Isle of Dogs. The south side of the old market today …

I love the weathervanes …

Similar weathervanes adorn the new market buildings in Docklands but they are fibreglass copies.

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

My visit to the Wellcome Collection and the ‘Cult of Beauty’.

By The City Gent

On 25th January 2024

In Social History, Special Exhibitions

I hope those of you who are regular readers don’t mind too much when I wander outside the bounds of the City when I think there is something interesting happening elsewhere, and in the case of the Wellcome Collection it’s only a few Tube stops away.

At the entrance to the Cult of Beauty exhibition …

The guide tells us that the exhibition explores notions of beauty across time and cultures. ‘Around the world, beauty is constantly seen as an ideal worthy of going to great lengths to achieve. But what are the driving forces that lead us to believe in a myth of universal beauty, despite its evolving nature?’

‘Featuring over 200 items, including historical objects, artworks, films and new commissions, the exhibition considers the influence of morality, status, health, age, race and gender on the evolution of ideas about beauty.’

Reproduction of the bust of Nefertiti, originally created circa 1354-1351 BCE …

‘An archytype of African feminine beauty’.

‘Beautiful features have long been seen as a gateway to the spiritual in different belief systems. The print of Krishna challenges Christian associations of beauty with morals such as chastity’ …

‘The Virgin of Guadalupe is a symbol of multicultural and multi-ethnic identities, especially in areas where different religions and cultural traditions meet’ …

The ‘Esquiline Venus’ and the ‘Idolino’ or ‘Little Idol’ – First Century concepts of beauty reproduced in the late 19th century …

‘Husbands bringing their ugly wives to a windmill, to be transformed into beautiful women’ – German chapbook circa 1650 …

Trying to get that figure in shape …

It was not just women enduring torture …

A dandy being laced into a tight corset by two servants (1819).

Cosmetic entrepreneur Helena Rubenstein testing products in her Long Island Factory (1950s) …

The installation ‘Beauty Sensorium’ brings together historical references with reconstructions of Renaissance make-up recipes, inviting visitors to look, smell and touch …

Equipment to enhance appearance and fragrance …

More like a surgeon’s travelling kit …

‘Narcissister’s three-metre-tall hanging sculpture ‘(Almost) all of my dead mother’s beautiful things’ centres on the crushing weight of beauty ideals that are passed from one generation to another’ …

‘Makeupbrutalism’s multimedia installation ‘It makes no sense being beautiful if no one else is ugly’ encourages us to question our beliefs, confront our raw selves beneath social pressure and to peel back the layers of the beauty industry’ …

What represents beauty changes all the time …

This 1970s product made me smile …

And on the Underground going home later, I had to smile again when I looked up and saw this (plus ça change) …

It is a provocative and thoughtful exhibition and I enjoyed it very much.

Remember you can follow me on Instagram …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

A terrific new exhibition – a Roman cat, Georgian rabbits and much more.

By The City Gent

On 26th October 2023

In Quirky, Roman London, Special Exhibitions

Earlier this week I visited the recently opened Roman Wall exhibition in Vine Street. Entrance is free but you need to book a time slot online.

Looking down through a window near the entrance you get an excellent sense of Roman London’s street level …

Once inside the imposing nature of the wall itself is immediatly apparent…

The exhibition signage is first class throughout …

It is also complemented by Museum of London plaques …

Archaeoligical finds from the site (which served as a cesspit for many years) are beautifully displayed ..

As regular readers will know, I rather like quirky stuff, and some of the finds displayed fall into that category.

The paw prints on this tile are a cat’s …

The Romans brought cats with them to Britain although there is some evidence of domesticated felines before this time. Like modern cats, they knew no boundaries. When this tile was still soft and lying on the ground of the tile yard to dry, one of our cats’ ancestors strolled casually across it, leaving its territorial mark for posterity.

This rabbit skeleton has been dated to between 1760 to 1770 …

There are no visible butchery or skinning marks, so it was probably not kept for eating. It is likely that it was kept as a domestic pet, perhaps by the children of the family. Alongside it are the vertebrae and jawbones from a younger rabbit. These bunnies may have been much loved when alive. But having died, it appears that both were dropped unceremoniously into the cesspit in the backyard. Or maybe, horror of horrors, they fell in accidentally and drowned.

Of course I had to include this, a charmingly named ‘stool pan’ …

Another useful explanation …

Nice to see he’s wearing a decidedly modern-looking anti-Covid mask.

How the terraced houses on the site may have looked …

Some of the other artefacts on display include the following.

Pretty chinaware – someone must have been very unhappy when these articles were broken and had to be consigned to the rubbish pit. Or maybe they had just fallen out of fashion and were discarded …

Clay pipes galore …

A familiar brand …

Lots to see, very well displayed and explained …

As you leave you get a fine view of the outer face of the wall …

The last thing to admire is the artwork by Olivia Whitworth, the East London-based artist who creates wonderfully detailed illustrations …

If you are in ‘London Wall mode’, don’t forget there are two other wonderful examples nearby.

Just five minutes’ walk away at Cooper’s Row, round the back of a hotel, is an equally spectacular stretch of wall that is off the tourist trail. Here you can see the marks of former staircases and medieval windows cut through to create a rugged monument of significant height …

Also, alongside Tower Hill Underground Station, the Roman Emperor Trajan stands in front of another magnificent section …

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

Shakespeare at the Guildhall Art Gallery – not to be missed.

By The City Gent

On 19th October 2023

In Memorials, Social History, Special Exhibitions

A property deed signed by William Shakespeare and a near-perfect copy of the First Folio are on display as part of celebrations to mark the 400^th anniversary of the publication of one of the world’s most significant literary treasures

The City of London Corporation’s copy of the 1623 First Folio, which was owned by one-time Prime Minister, William Petty Fitzmaurice, and is now conserved at Guildhall Library, is one of the finest and most complete copies in the world …

The book was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death. It’s a collection of 36 of his works and was brought together by two of his friends, John Heminge and Henry Condell under the full title of:

Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies. Published according to the true originall copies.

As a tribute to their friend, Heminges and Condell wanted to put forward the best possible version of Shakespeare’s plays, so they used original prompt books, quartos, and original notes to collate the final collection.

The title page has an engraving of the playwright …

This is an important image since it’s one of the few portraits of Shakespeare to have been approved by those who had known him personally.

The parish register containing the entry for the burial of Edmund Shakespeare, William’s nephew, is also on display …

In the exhibition you will see John Keats’s facsimile of the First Folio, in which he wrote two poems, including ‘On Sitting Down To Read King Lear Once Again’, and which is open to the play’s first page …

In March 1613 William Shakespeare and three associates agreed to purchase the Gatehouse of the former Dominican priory in London known as Blackfriars from Henry Walker for the sum of £140. The indenture of bargain and sale is dated March 10. The purchasers also agreed to the mortgage shown here, dated March 11, for the same property, in the amount of £60, implying that the buyers put up only £80 at the time of sale. The document is signed by three buyers, William Shakespeare, William Johnson and John Jackson. The place set aside for the signature of John Heminges is left blank …

The thrill here, of course, is that this document contains one of the only six Shakespeare signatures known to exist. Here it is ..

My image is not great so this is a screenshot of a better one from the Internet …

The heroes of the story of Shakespeare’s plays and of the First Folio are John Heminge and Henry Condell without whom most, if not all, of his work would have been lost forever.

They were both buried at the church of St Mary Aldermanbury which was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666 and then rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. Unfortunately it was gutted during the Blitz in 1940, leaving only the walls intact. Rather unusually, in 1966 the remains of the church were shipped to Fulton, Missouri, USA. The church now stands as a memorial to Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech made at Westminster College, Fulton, in 1946.

Heminge and Cordell, however, have been honoured with a splendid memorial on the previous site of the church …

‘TO THEIR DISINTERESTED AFFECTION THE WORLD OWES ALL THAT IT CALLS SHAKESPEARE. THEY ALONE COLLECTED HIS PRINTED WRITINGS REGARDLESS OF PECUNIARY LOSS AND WITHOUT THE HOPE OF ANY PROFIT GAVE THEM TO THE WORLD. THEY THUS MERITED THE GRATITUDE OF MANKIND’

Incidentally, the Heritage Gallery in the Guildhall Art Gallery is a bit of a hidden treasure with ever-changing displays of great interest drawn from the City of London collections and archives. It also boasts a splendid back-lit copy af the Agas map of Early Modern London …

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

Fire in the City! Artists in the Blitz.

By The City Gent

On 12th October 2023

In Art, Special Exhibitions, Wartime

Five City churches are currently hosting an exhibition of reproductions of paintings by firefighter artists along with contemporary photographs from the London Fire Brigade archive.

The works are displayed on pop-up screens. For example, this one is at

St James Garlickhythe …

And this one is in St Mary Aldermary …

You will find details of participating churches at the end of the blog along with opening times.

Here I am going to publish examples of some of the work on display, starting with my favourite, Driving by Moonlight, by Mary Pitcairn …

It depicts an AFS volunteer, Gillian “Bobbie” Tanner, at the wheel of a truck. She was awarded the George Medal for bravery and the citation read: ‘On the night of 20 September 1940, Auxiliary G.K.Tanner volunteered to drive a 30 cwt lorry loaded with 150 gallons of petrol. Six serious fires were in progress and for three hours Miss Tanner drove through intense bombing to the point at which the petrol was needed, showing coolness and courage throughout‘.

During the Second World War, women joined the fire service for the first time as volunteers in the AFS working in a variety of roles ranging from control operators to dispatch riders and delivery drivers.

AFS women despatch riders around 1940 …

A 1941 oil painting by Reginald Mills of Mrs Kathleen Sayer an AFS Station Officer …

The Women’s Division of the AFS had its own leadership structure.

This portrait is by Bernard Hailstone …

After the war Hailstone had a very successful career as a portrait painter. A gregarious, outgoing man, he went on to paint the last officially commissioned portrait of Sir Winston Churchill in 1955 and later members of the Royal family.

Here he is at work as a fireman circa 1940 attaching a hose to a fire hydrant …

Resting at a Fire by Reginald Mills, around 1941 …

These AFS firefighters are surrounded by rolled up hose, resting in the back of an appliance vehicle which pulls a trailer pump, while their colleagues in the background continue to fight a fire. You can see a church spire in the background.

Bells Down by Julia Lowenthal …

Julia Lowenthal’s drawings and paintings gave remarkable insights into life inside the fire stations during the Blitz. Unlike most of her fellow firefighter artists she worked primarily in pencil and watercolour. Lowenthal was based in Kilburn and most of her surviving work is of colleagues in the station, and often at rest. Her watercolour sketch Bells Down refers to firefighters being called to action by bells in their fire station.

At the top of a turntable ladder in Eastcheap directing water into a blazing building, terrifying …

Also terrifying, Run! by Reginald Mills ..

There are examples of extraordinary works by Paul Dessau. In one set, four scenes show different stages of the battle to conquer the flames, much in the style (if not the subject matter) of a Hogarth series. Look closely and you’ll see a monstrous form in each panel. In the first stage, termed Overture by the music-loving Dessau, the bombs begin to fall and a smokey menace looms large over the City …

In Crescendo, the flames take hold as a fiery giant smashes down buildings …

Rallentando, as the name suggest, shows the beast tempered, its infernal form withered but still intimidating …

In the final scene, Diminuendo, the foe lies vanquished amid the smoking rubble, the firemen victorious. Yet the creature has untold siblings who will return night after night to challenge the city’s protectors anew …

Cannon Street – also by Dessau …

Aftermath of a bombing raid near Cheapside with St Paul’s in the background …

Rescuing Horses by Reginald Mills …

Red Sunday, 29 December 1940 by W.S.Haines. Haines was a member of the London River Service and unlike other firefighter artists he was not working in the tight confines of the City of London. This meant he had the opportunity for more panoramic pictorial compositions. Here you can see St Pauls Cathedral and the spires of City churches, through the iconic silhouette of Tower Bridge …

The London Blitz lasted from 7 September 1940 until 11 May 1941 and between 7 September and 2 November heavy bombing continued every night except one. More than 20,000 Londoners were killed including 327 men and women from the fire service with over 3,000 seriously injured. The Germans’ key weapon in the Blitz was the incendiary bomb, a device designed not to explode on impact, but able to burn at 2,500 degrees. Thousands of these were dropped creating fires that threatened to overwhelm the capital.

The firefighter memorial opposite St Paul’s Cathedral …

Part is dedicated to the women who died whilst serving in wartime. The lady on the left is an incident recorder and the one on the right a despatch rider …

Fire in the City is open now and can be seen in the following churches:

St Mary-le-Bow: Monday to Friday, 7.30am – 6.00pm. Open weekends on an informal basis.
St James Garlickhythe: Monday to Wednesday, 10.00am – 4.30pm, Thursday, 11.00am – 3.00pm, Sunday: 9.00am – 1.00pm. Friday & Saturday, Closed.
St Mary Aldermary: Tuesday to Friday, 7.30am – 4.00pm
St Magnus the Martyr: Tuesday to Friday, 10.00am – 4.00pm, Sunday, 10.00am – 1.00pm (Mass at 11am)
St Stephen Walbrook: Monday to Friday, 10.30am – 3.30pm

(Venue details may be subject to change so it is advised to check individual church websites for the latest information). The exhibition will move to a second cluster of churches from Monday 23 October until the end of November (with selected venues hosting displays into December).

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/

Wow – it’s a dress worn by Queen Elizabeth the First!

By The City Gent

On 5th October 2023

In Social History, Special Exhibitions

If you want a real treat, do try to visit to the Guildhall Art Galley where, until 12th November, you can immerse yourself in a world of exquisite craftsmanship and historical significance at the Treasures of Gold and Silver Wire exhibition. This dazzling display of over 200 items – from centuries-old robes to contemporary jewellery – forms the finest collection of gold and silver wire objects to ever be brought together in an exhibition. The entrance fee is £10 and you can book online for a timed ticket.

The highlight for me was the Bacton Altar Cloth (1590-1610), the only surviving dress worn by Queen Elizabeth the First …

I spent a long time gazing at its exquisite workmanship and trying to spot little details such as the depiction of animals stitched into the fabric (there seem to be quite a few caterpillars) …

The Queen is seen wearing a similar dress in her Rainbow Portrait 1600-1602 …

Here are just a few of the other delights on show. The exhibition signage is excellent and very detailed so I won’t attempt to replicate it here.

Queen Mary’s 1911 coronation dress …

The Queen’s 1977 Silver Jubilee Cope …

Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Glove and its informative label …

Royal Regalia …

‘The Most Noble Order of the Garter Mantle with Badge, Cordons and Hood’ …

A seventeenth century burse, or bag, for carrying the Great Seal of England …

Crowns of the Master and Wardens of the Girdlers Company (15th and 20th century) …

The arts are represented.

A costume worn by Darcey Bussell in 2004 …

The cloak and crown worn by Helen Mirren as Cleopatra in 1982 …

Charles Dickens’s Court Suit and his dress sword, 1870 …

The Military …

There are unusual and unexpected items too.

The Fishmongers’ Pall 1512-1530 – used for covering the coffin of distinguished Liverymen …

Some detail …

A piece of Oliver Cromwell’s dressing gown …

And finally, the David Shilling Commemorative Hat …

‘Treasures of Gold and Silver Wire’ celebrates the 400 anniversary of the wonderfully named Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers.

It’s definitely one of the most interesting exhibitions I’ve seen in years and my pictures can’t really do it justice (and they only represent a small number of the 200-plus items on display).

If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …

https://www.instagram.com/london_city_gent/