National Portrait Gallery

On Thursday, H and I visited the National Portrait Gallery. It is a wonderful collection of "Who's Who" of English history and very informative. I learned who invented the small pox vaccination (Edward Jenner), saw the man who dubbed the term "interior decorator," and saw portraits two of my favorite authors of all time.

I was keen on seeing the SELF PORTRAIT: Renaissance to Contemporary exhibit because it is leaving this weekend, but I wasn't too keen on the £8 price. Instead, H and I opted to just check out the main collection. We started on the top floor, where the oldest portraits are kept. The Tudor wing was temporarily closed so our browsing was anything but chronological.

The Regency/Romantic Era portraits were particularly interesting. We saw Cassandra Austen's portrait of her sister, Jane (seen above). Of the portrait, another relative wrote that "though the general resemblance is not strong, yet as it represents a pleasing countenance it is so far a truth." Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, etc.), the infamous Lord Byron, and William Blake ("Tyger! Tyger! burning bright . . .") were other highlights of this section.

As we worked backwards in time, we saw (one of the many copies of) the "dollar bill" portrait of George Washington. H noted the rather abbreviated treatment the American Revolutionary War received amongst the colonial-era pieces.

Finally, we were able to get into the Tudor wing and see two of my favorite monarchs--Henry VIII and Elizabeth I! They had three particularly good portraits of the latter, one of which I'll share with you:



This is the "Ditchley Portrait" and depicts the Queen standing atop a map of the world. I learned the portrait's theme is forgiveness, as evidenced by the stormy sky and emerging sunshine.

As we finished in the Tudor wing, it was nearing closing time. As we descended to the ground floor, we saw the current portraits of the royal family (we weren't too impressed with the latest). And before we left I wanted to see one modern portrait in particular. I am sure many of you can guess which one...



I had seen it before online, but it is a three-dimensional portrait so seeing it in 2-D does not do it justice. Seeing Jo was a nice way to bookend our tour of the Gallery.

Last night, H and I went to dinner down in Leicester Square with three students from Georgia. We went to one of the few "Mexican" restaurants in our area, which was a welcome treat.

I have been taking it easy today; tomorrow is the Chinese New Year Celebration in Chinatown (3 minutes from our apartment), which I cannot wait to see. There will be a parade, dancers, food, and fireworks! In the evening, a few classmates of ours are hosting a party to help welcome in the Year of the Dog. Hopefully I will have pictures of it all to share come Monday evening.