National Gallery and South Bank

Canal Today : Paddington Basin

We took advantage of our great mooring in Paddington basin to take Alice to visit some of the London sights. The main aim was to go to an art gallery and we had already decided first to go to the National gallery in Trafalgar Square.

We had a lazy start to the day but eventually set off to Paddington station to take the underground to Charing Cross, the nearest station for Trafalgar Square. This was quite straightforward and soon we were out in the sunshine along with crowds of other visitors.

Nelson's Column

National Gallery

Chasing the pigeons!

As we crossed Trafalgar Square, mercifully these days almost free of the marauding pigeons that were once an unwelcome feature of this location, and took a look at the current occupant of the Fourth Plinth, the blue cockerel by Katharina Fritsch.

Hahn/Cock

Inside the national gallery we spotted that there are guided tours, one starting at 11.30 which seemed to us to be a good idea - this meant finding one of the other entrances for the meeting point.

On time, our guide turned up and there was a good crowd but not so many that we could not see the paintings he was talking about. He explained that we would probably see three or four, depending on how long he talked about each one!

The first painting was a part of an altar piece from a Spanish artist that no-one in the group had heard about before, from the 14th century. The speaker asked us lots of questions to help us think about the painting, how it was constructed and what it might have been intended to mean.

It depicted St Michael with another archangel, Lucifer, having been thrown out of heaven. There were many symbolic features, such as the way in which the sword was made in the shape of the cross and was pointing in a particular direction. Three poppy flowers in one corner, almost too small to be seen from a distance, were a traditional symbol of the blood of Christ. The painting had been commissioned by a wealthy person and he was included in the painting, intently reading from his bible despite the dramatic events going on around him. St Michael was shown with large wings, standing for a rainbow which itself was said to mark places where St Michael touched the earth.

We then had a rapid walk through to the second painting, again by a little known artist who was an assistant to Rembrandt. For a long time the painting had not been given a prominent display but had been re-evaluated and brought into the main exhibition. It depicted four wine merchants who were Calvinists and dressed in black. One wore silk, one wore wool and the other two, well it is not clear. However, the artist was specially skilled at painting black, mixing various colours together to show the light and shade of the folds. The only light part of the whole picture was, in one corner, a dog. At the time,such dogs were very expensive and worth more than anything else in the picture, or the picture itself. Just as we were about to leave this picture, the speaker told us that the figure with the expensive clothes had commissioned the painting and was the artist's brother!

Finally, we were taken to a well-known painting, John Constable's Hay Wain. Although this has been endlessly reproduced, especially for table mats, the speaker transformed our understanding of what it was all about. In fact, Constable and his father were quite political - it was painted at the time of the Corn Law Reforms and speaks quite strongly about the lot of poor people.

Apparently, at the time, it was necessary to soak waggon wheels in water to prevent them from splitting apart. Also, again in a corner, were three poppies. In his lifetime, John Constable was not well regarded in his home country although he sold more painting in France in one year than in his whole life in England! The painting was also created in a time after wars and speaks about the hopes of people who want to reclaim a former lifestyle.

Alice really enjoyed the talks, sitting on the floor in front of each picture and helping to answer the questions which the speaker posed to his audience.

It was now lunch-time and we took a look at the gallery cafe but we could not see anything to our fancy so we went outside for a walk to find an alternative. We walked up Haymarket but, alth  ough there were plenty of pizza places, it took some time to find anywhere selling sandwiches. In the end we did succeed and then took the food back down to Trafalgar Square where we sat on a low wall. In the piazza outside the gallery there were numerous performers - actually most were of the statue variety.The latest idea is to use a stand that makes the person look as if they are floating in mid air. Plenty of people seemed to be happy to put some money in the collecting hats just to be allowed to stand next to them for a photograph!

After lunch we went back into the National Gallery to look at some more of the rooms, beginning with several paintings by Canaletto, which very much appealed to Alice, with their strong sense of perspective. Most showed pictures of the Grand Canal in Venice - Alice liked the people in the gondolas - there was also one of Eton school. The explanation alongside indicated that, although the main feature was accurate, most of the surrounding buildings were probably painted from memory.

Then we moved to the Impressionists - perhaps Christine's favourite school of painting. so many of the paintings on display are very well known and it seems almost surreal to see them in real life! One, of bathers by a river, was impressive and seemed to create a sense of relaxation and 'no worries' until you spot on the distant skyline, the shapes of industrial factories, a very different life.

Mike was also keen to find the newest acquisition - the first time the National Gallery has included a US painting. This painting, by Bellows, was of the dockside in New York and contrasted the hard life of working people with the expensive skyscrapers and transatlantic ships in the background.

Women of World War II

By now we had probably looked at as many pictures as we could cope with in one day so left the gallery and walked across Trafalgar Square to Whitehall. We continued down, passing not only the many offices of government departments (including the high security gates to Downing Street), but also the splendid mounted soldiers at Horseguards. (Mind you, to two of us they did look awfully young, underneath the splendour of their uniforms!)

Downing Street - No admission!

By the time we arrived at Parliament Square, Alice requested a break and we sat on a wall to take in the busy view, with Big Ben the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey as the more famous of the sights.

Parliament Square

From there we crossed over Westminster bridge and had a good view of the river as well as the nearby London Eye.

London Eye - sorry about the added finger!

At the other side we dropped down onto the South Bank and walked westwards, at first in front of the former LCC County Hall building, now converted to a hotel and many other purposes including an aquarium.

Just after passing the London Eye itself, long queues as always, we spotted Jubilee Gardens with a great playground with complex structures of logs and ropes, just right for an extended climbing session! Alice made two tours around, weaving her way around all the other children and discovering her own particular way to move from one part to another. The brilliant sunshine, which we enjoyed for almost all of the day, meant that grand parents were quite content to sit - and sometimes watch, or at least quickly panic when they could not see where Alice had reached!

All that effort was soon rewarded by a visit to a nearby ice cream van and again we found a useful wall to sit on whilst we ate them.

It was then time to walk back across the bridge - now quite busy with even more throngs crossing over in the opposite direction and down into Westminster underground station. This time we took two trains, changing at Baker Street and alighting at Edgeware Road for a change. It is just a short walk trip from there to Paddington Basin.

Before making the evening meal, Mike and Alice made a trip to the nearby Tesco, adding asparagus and strawberries to tonight's menu!