London, we are soon to part

Wednesday, March 7

What? We've been in London for a little more than a week and we haven't been to the V&A yet? My gosh, time to fix that. 

The V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) has its origins with the Great Exhibition of 1851 which showcased Britain's new industrial progress. At the urging of and with the support of Henry Cole, the museum's first director, the museum actually came into existence in the following year and was named the Museum of Manufactures. It was housed in Marlborough House. Within a few months, it was moved to the Somerset House (now home to the Courtault Art Institute).

By 1854, it was moved again, to its present site, called Brompton House at that time. The property was expanded greatly over the next few years. In 1857, it was officially reopened by Queen Victoria and was renamed the South Kensington Museum. The museum was the first in the world to have a "refreshment room". It soon was opened evenings, thanks to gas lighting, so that the working class could go after their work day, another first. After another addition to the building, the new cornerstone was laid by Queen Victoria, her last public appearance just before she died in 1899. At this ceremony, the museum was renamed again, this time in honor of her husband and called what we know today as the Victoria and Albert Museum, or more informally, the V&A.

The V&A houses a good-sized permanent costume exhibit which changes slightly to allow the clothes to "rest" in storage out of the light for preservation purposes. On a previous visit, I saw a ruff (fancy ruffled collar) from Elizabeth I's period. I was awestruck. Alas, it was not on display this time.

On display this time were outfits for both men and women from these dresses from about 1740:

to modern ones like these:

and, then there was this pair of finger-less mittens with open palms, long before the need to text:

It also has the famous Cast Court consisting of full-size plaster reproductions made from casts of stonework of various kinds. For instance, a copy of David:

and these busts of children:

and, this modern sculpture.

As it has been every time that I have visited the V&A, there was some type of work being done on the casts. Here's are this year's batch of bundled up projects. 

No visit to the V&A would be complete without a look at the wonderful Della Robbia ceramics. The ceramics are usually painted, intricate and large.

    

In another room, there were several Della Robbia ceramics produced for churches, mostly as altar pieces. From a few feet away, they looked like marble statues. Here is one that was painted:

Before leaving the museum, we went looking for something (I forgot what), but serendipitously found our way to a Victorian exhibit of home furnishings. And, of course, the most famous of all interior designers was none other than William Morris. Here are some samples of his patterns for wallpaper and carpeting:

The lighting in the rooms was very subdued and no flash was allowed, so these photos are a bit dark. 

William Morris decorated the museum cafe, which is still in its original style. On previous trips, I took several photos of it (it is drop dead gorgeous), but on this visit, we did not go there. That is a shame. I forgot all about it until after we had left.

Done for the day, we returned to our flat for dinner.

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We love having an apartment instead of a hotel room. We like the comfort of furniture to sit on, instead of just a bed to perch on while trying to read or write at the end of the day. We like having our meals in our apartment, at our leisure. I particularly dislike having to go out before I have my breakfast, so having at least a small kitchen is mandatory for us. 

Normally, we come back from our day and I cook a regular meal like we would have at home, but with a nod to the country that we are visiting. This time, at least while here in London where we have to depend upon city grocery stores (small and limited selection), we have been stopping at the local Tesco a block from our apartment to get a take-out type meal to pop into the microwave for a fuss-free meal at the end of the day. We have been very content with our quick meals so far. Next week, we will be in the Cotswolds, presumably with a suburban supermarket somewhere not too distant. I think that I will be making more regular meals then, but for these past two weeks, I have enjoyed the city life of grabbing a take-out meal on the way "home".

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Thursday, March 8

We enjoyed the tiny glimpse of Morris at the V&A so much that we decided to make a short day trip out of town to Bexleyheath to visit Morris' house that he had built for himself and his new wife. 

Morris and his band of friends, known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, fancied a simpler way of life than the fussiness of Victorian customs offered. They were quite taken with the simplicity of the medieval era, and they painted and designed their objects in a way reminiscent of those times. His new house, called Red House for its use of very red bricks, was built with this medieval aesthetic. 

There was a heavy emphasis, both inside and outside, on archways to mimic earlier building styles. 

Original to the house is this unusual ceiling in a hallway at the top of the stairs. This the original pattern, and the original paint.

The ceiling had holes in the plaster to outline the pattern so that if it had to be repainted, the same pattern could be repeated. Here's what a ceiling in the house looks like after being painted over:

The house originally had no wallpaper, even though Morris was to become famous for his wallpaper. Instead, he and his wife invited their artist friends to visit them for weekends and they all spent their time painting the walls with medieval scenes in dark tones. A later owner did put up Morris wallpaper in parts of the house and had other walls painted white. This wall, once behind a cabinet, shows how the house was originally decorated:

One room, which Morris used as a studio because of its bright light, was papered over with one of his designs (which is still being produced today).

On display in the room is the wood block from which this design was originally printed.

Friday, March 9

Having whet our appetites for Morris design, we headed in a different direction, this time to Walthamstow, an hour or so north of the city, to the Morris Gallery. This building was his home when he was a teenager. His mother was widowed and needed to downsize. He was off to boarding school and therefore did not really live in  this house very much.

The house is owned by the City of London and is used as a museum for the history of the Morris Company.

It probably took us longer to get there than we spent in the museum, but I am glad that we went because I just love his designs and any excuse to see them is fine with me.

Here are some of them:

I've always thought that our late Victorian house would look wonderful with some Morris paper on the walls. Well, one can dream.

Saturday, March 10

As long as we were on a kick of going to homes of famous Victorians, we decided to go to Carlyle's house in Chelsea. 

It seemed a bit out of the way, but actually it was a snap to get there by bus. Although London is known for its Tube, we have been mostly taking buses. There is a bus stop just outside of our building, the buses are frequent and with a tansfer, we can get anywhere.

Carlyle's house is on a quiet street. Maybe I could amend that by saying "quietly affluent" street. This is a pricey neighborhood, for sure, but it doesn't scream money. His house seemed rather unassuming. It is narrow, maybe 20 feet wide, a bit dark and the rooms are quite small. I must confess that I know next to nothing about Carlyle except that he was one of those Victorian writers who bored me to tears in my one and only Victorian literature class. 

His house was a quick visit, leaving us plenty of time to sprint off for lunch before going to a matinee to see Noel Coward's play "Brief Encounter". I've seen a lot of his plays, but I had not seen this one. I thought that it was very well done; everything about it, the scenery, the costumes, the directing, the acting. I liked it.

That was our day.

Sunday, March 11

Today is Mothering Day in the United Kingdom. We saw lots and lots of people carrying flowers, presumably to their "mums" as they are called here.

This is our last day in London (not forever, I hope). We thought about going to the Churchill War Rooms since so many people recommended them to us. Somehow, it just seemed a bit heavy, though we probably should have experienced the exhibit.

Instead, we went to the Guildhall Gallery. It is a rather small museum, owned by the City of London, in the heart of the financial district. Therefore, the streets were nearly deserted, this being a Sunday.

The museum touted its Pre-Raphaelite collection, so I was very interested in seeing it, since we had been steeped in the esthetic for the past few days. I was expecting to see a wonderful collection of Rossetti, Burne-Jones and the rest of the group. There definitely were paintings there from the Pre-Raphaelite school, but not of the style that comes to the mind's eye. I really wanted to see those paintings of women in flowing medieval gowns -- like Flaming June, for instance. This was the only Rossetti in evidence (there may be more in storage):

The model, by the way, is Jane Morris.

There was a lovely domestic scene by Frederick Leighton:

I liked this painting by Charles Henry Malcom Kerr because, of course, of the fabrics:

And this sweet painting by George Dunlop Leslie, called Sun and Moon Flowers:

And, this one by James Tissot was very nice also (but I wouldn't call it Pre-Raphaelite):

That ends our London portion of our trip. Tomorrow we will pick up our car at Heathrow and drive to Upper Slaughter for about four weeks. While I am looking forward to it, I will miss London. I am a city girl, afterall.

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