Edward Robert Hughes, Study for a Picture: Fra Lippo Lippi, 1893. Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead. I am only just starting to get to know the Williamson Art Gallery and Museum in Birkenhead. It’s a little bit out of the way for me, on the Wirral, but only 20 minutes to drive… However, IContinue reading “280 – “Amo” I love!”
Category Archives: 19th Century
279 – Honeysuckle A and B
May Morris, Design for Honeysuckle wallpaper, about 1879-83. The William Morris Society. I spent the weekend with a very slow WiFi connection trying to get my laptop back up to running order. If you’re reading this now, I have clearly succeeded. However, the whole process has given me plenty of time to look at myContinue reading “279 – Honeysuckle A and B”
Another visit to Whistler’s Mother
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, 1871. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. I’m re-posting an essay from 2022 to celebrate the opening – today – of the exhibition James McNeill Whistler at Tate Britain. I’ll be talking about it this coming Monday, 25 May at 6pm… so I’d better get to work!Continue reading “Another visit to Whistler’s Mother”
273 – The first view
Lady Elizabeth Susan Percy, View of the Villa Pescatore from Villa Muti, Piombino, 1833. Courtauld Gallery, London. One of the things I’ve found interesting about delivering my own talks is finding out what is and isn’t popular – and surprise, surprise, there are several star artists that people always want to hear more about, howeverContinue reading “273 – The first view”
271 – Drunk on light
Georges Seurat, Study for ‘The Shore at Bas-Butin (Honfleur)’, 1886. Baltimore Museum of Art. I’ve mentioned it a couple of times already, but The Courtauld’s enormously successful Seurat and the Sea is selling out regularly – but not too far in advance, fortunately (most days next week are still available, for example). I will beContinue reading “271 – Drunk on light”
270 – Don’t sing a nocturne just yet
Anders Zorn, Midnight, 1891. Zornmuseet, Mora. I am looking forward to paying a return visit to the wonderful exhibition I saw in Hamburg earlier this year for Anders Zorn (Part II) at 6:00pm on Monday, 16 March. This will be a second chance to enjoy the rich colour and painterly splendour of Sweden’s great artist,Continue reading “270 – Don’t sing a nocturne just yet”
269 – A – Z (II) – William Nicholson was an Artist
William Nicholson, A was an Artist, from An Alphabet, published by William Heinemann, 1897. UK Government Art Collection. A few weeks back I wrote a post From A – Z playing on the idea that the letters were Anders Zorn’s initials. I hadn’t remembered at the time that one of the earliest independent works byContinue reading “269 – A – Z (II) – William Nicholson was an Artist”
267 – From A – Z: All about Zorn
267 – From A – Z: All about Zorn Anders Zorn, Zorn’s London Studio on Brook Street, 1883. Zornmuseet, Mora. I would love to say that I planned this, but I really didn’t. Last week I was talking about Anna Ancher, who was born on 18 August 1859, and this week I’m moving on exactlyContinue reading “267 – From A – Z: All about Zorn”
The End of the Rainbow
John Constable, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, 1830-31. Tate Britain, London. Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to getting going straight away, and even before Christmas has officially ended. On 5 January 2026 at 6:00pm (which is the 12th Day of Christmas) I will be talking about Tate’s superb Turner & Constable exhibition, which is worthContinue reading “The End of the Rainbow”
261 – Joining the dots
Anna Boch, During the Elevation, 1893. Mu.ZEE, Ostend. I confess that I have never visited the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, despite the fact that it has the most extraordinary collection of paintings: before the opening of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, for example, this was the best collection of his work. The majority ofContinue reading “261 – Joining the dots”
dr richard stemp 