Another Weepy Day in London: Perfect for Seeing ‘The Rosettis’ at the Tate Britain; Wren at the Guildhall Art Gallery and the ‘Treasures of the British Library’ at 50!

Monday, Jul 31, 2023

Another Weepy Day in London: Perfect for Seeing ‘The Rosettis’ at the Tate Britain; Wren at the Guildhall Art Gallery and the ‘Treasures of the British Library’ at 50!

I am still on Bombay time and still waking up at about 4.30 am. The house is quiet, Battersea is still asleep, the overhead planes have not yet begun their flight path across the area to Heathrow. It is the perfect time to sit and blog, to edit my photos and send them off to a few select groups of friends. I also had a chat on the phone with Llew who is recovering slowly but surely from his bout with the flu. I then went in for a nice hot shower.

Breakfast was muesli with yogurt, milk and honey. Roz was leaving her home at 8.45am for work and I left with her. I was headed to Sloane Square to run an errand at Jo Malone which I did. I left with a nice gift—enough said!

I then took the Tube to Victoria and changed to get to Pimlico where I began my short walk to the Tate Britain. It was drizzling and I thought it would be best to spend most of the day indoors, greedily feasting on some of the summer art exhibitions of the city.

‘The Rosettis’ at the Tate Britain:

And so at 11.00 am, there I was. I had the place, if not quite to myself, at least not too crowded. I did not know exactly what to expect of this exhibition. So I was happy to find that it traced the literary and artistic contribution to the illustrious and highly talented 19th century British family that had the last name Rosetti (probably a result of some Italian ancestry). There were four siblings: Christina, William, Gabriel and Maria. All of them showed early tendencies towards artistic creativity; but of the lot Christina blossomed into a fine poet (I had studied much of her poetry in high school in Bombay) and Gabriel (who took the nickname Dante after his hero, Dante Alighieri) founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with his brother William and became one of the best-known painters of the late 19th century. Together with his best friends at Oxford, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, he pioneered the Aesthetic Movement which evolved into the Arts and Crafts Movement. I have followed the lives and work of the Pre-Raphaelites for decades as I am passionately fond of their work. Hence, my deep interest in this exhibition.

The early part of the exhibition focused on the poetry of Christina, the early life of Gabriel, his entry into art school, his use of his mother and his sister as models for his work. There are a huge number of drawings and studies of his work in the first few galleries and if one is in a hurry, it might be best to go over them really swiftly to be able to focus on the last few galleries where a feast awaits. There are at least 15 huge oil paintings by Gabriel that use his own wife Elizabeth Siddal as a model. Sadly, she died within two years of their marriage by overdosing on laudanum mixed with opiates which she took for various aches and pains. This was a common 19th century remedy but chances of overdosing were always high. Gabriel took her death hard and his work became morose and focused on subjects that dealt with grieving.

Not long after, he became romantically involved with Jane Burden Morris, wife of his best friend, William Morris. The liaison shook the very foundations of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement and, for a while, there was an estrangement in the group. However, when Jane returned to William Morris, they patched up their friendship and moved on. The last few canvasses in which a very recognizable Jane Morris is the main subject featured in the guise of various Greek goddesses and figures from mythology, are particularly striking. Overall, it was a lovely way to see the major works of Gabriel (many from the Delaware Art museums) all in one place.

I decided to give my feet a rest and munch on my make-shift lunch. I had picked up an almond croissant and a hazelnut yoghurt from Waitrose on the King’s Road earlier in the morning, where I had killed some time before the stores opened at 10.00 am. I sat in the basement café at the Tate and ate my lunch and thoroughly enjoyed them both. I am basically ticking off items that I simply must eat when I am in London and the next item on the agenda will be the chocolate eclairs from M&S (which I cannot believe I have not yet eaten).

On the Bus and Tube to the Guildhall:

I had a 2.00 pm ticket to enter the Guildhall Art Gallery which is a free museum and where I was keen to see an exhibition called ‘The Big City’. I took a bus from outside the Tate Britain (as I was too tired to take the Tube from Pimlico which would involve a 10-minute walk). The bus took me on a See-London tour from Parliament Square and Big Ben, down Whitehall, past the Cenotaph, 10 Downing Street and the Horse Guards, on to Trafalgar Square before it made a sharp left to get to the Duke of York Monument at Haymarket and then rounded the bend to get to Piccadilly Square before arriving at Regent’s Street and sailing past Hamley’s before stopping at Oxford Circus.

I got off the bus and jumped into the Central line Tube going east to get off at Bank (was happy to pass through my old station, Chancery Lane, on the Red Central Line) and was at the lovely corner of the City where the most important financial buildings of London are based: The London Stock Exchange, the Bank of England, Mansion House (Home of the Lord Mayor of London), and just a block away, the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry (so-called because the area was once wholly populated by Jews), the Guildhall itself and, catty corner to it, the Guildhall Art Gallery which has a small but exquisite collection of Victorian paintings that feature London as a source of inspiration. It was still raining and I got into stride with a sweet little lady who was heading in the same direction and looking for the Guildhall too.

Inside the Guildhall Art Gallery:

Once I cleared Security, I entered the Guildhall Art Gallery only to find that I was a day too late for ‘The Big City’ exhibition--however, the canvasses were not quite down yet and I managed to catch a glance of a few of them, especially the very historic one featuring the coronation of George V.

However, there was another new exhibition—one on Sir Christopher Wren. They have replicated his ‘office’ in London, not too far from St. Paul’s Cathedral which he was tasked to rebuild after the Great Fire of 1666. This was a very cute space, the walls covered with his architectural drawings for so many of London’s churches (some not standing anymore) as well as other recognizable buildings such as the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. There is a large machete of a cross-section of St. Paul’s which is also awesome. What I loved was a depiction of Wren’s London (which would make a really gorgeous scarf, I thought).

Once I finished looking at the temporary exhibitions, I moved on to the Main Gallery floor and the one above it. This contains the Gallery’s permanent collection and includes several lovely works by Tissot, Lawrence Alma-Tadema and William Holman Hunt. But what really appealed to me this time round were two canvasses by John Everett Millais—the first depicts a sweet little girl sitting in church with a deeply attentive expression on her face. It is entitled, ‘Her First Sermon’. The second one, right by its side, depicts the same little girl in church, wearing the exact same outfit, but this time the picture is entitled, ‘Her Second Sermon’. Needless to say, she is fast asleep! There is both realism and humor in this depiction—and that’s why I loved it so much. I also took a photograph of ‘The Musicians’ by Lord Leighton and a large-scale 2009 depiction of The Lord Mayor’s Procession which takes place annually in London in early November.

On the Bus to High Holborn:

Again, the rain had not subsided and the ache in my feet and legs continued. It made sense to jump into a bus rather than walk to the Tube station. I was early for my appointment with my friend, Michelle, which was to be at the British Library. Hence, I decided to take the No. 8 bus from Poultry heading towards High Holborn. It was a grand opportunity for me to go past Smithfield Meat Market (which closed down just last week for complete renovation) and to pass through the Charterhouse area before arriving at Holborn Circle in time to get my camera ready to take pictures of the bus as it approached my building at 7 High Holborn.

was not long before I jumped off the bus, headed straight into M and S (which I always used to think of as “my pantry” since it was just across the street from my building—perfectly located for when I suddenly needed to get downstairs to buy something at the last minute). I picked up a package of 2 chocolate eclairs from there with the idea of eating them as a snack for tea.

I then crossed the street and went straight to my building—only to find that my concierge, Arben, was at his desk. I felt really fortunate to find him there as, oftentimes, he is away from his desk or has finished his duty for the day by the time I get there. He always gives me a most warm and affectionate welcome and it is indeed a joy to chat with him and exchange latest news about the building’s residents. He told me that my former landlord in the building, one Mr. McGovern, who actually lives in Ireland, had paid a recent visit to his flat and had mentioned me to Arben as the American professor who had proven to be such a fantastic tenant and whom he wished would come back! I was deeply touched by this and thanked Arben for sharing the information with me. We took some photographs together before I said goodbye to Arben.

On to King’s Cross:

My plan was to take either the 17 or 45 bus from Gray’s Inn Road (which is just at the side of my building) to get to King’s Cross. But when I walked down the road, I realized that they had really moved the bus stop (which used to be right near Argos) to the far end of the street. Annoying! But hey, what I have realized about London is that things keep changing all the time—bus routes, bus stops, etc. etc.

I ate an éclair on the bus and enjoyed it immensely before it was time for me to get off as we had arrived at King’s Cross Station. I was really tired by this point and decided not to go immediately to the adjoining British Library as I would invariably want to enter the galleries to take a look at more temporary exhibitions. Instead, I found a seat on the waiting passengers’ benches and, discovering that there was free wifi at the station, I was able to send out photographs to friends as well as edit my pictures. I spent a really productive hour in this way before I received a text from my friend Michelle. She informed me that she had arrived early at the British Library and would wait for me at the appointed spot, right opposite the entrance to the Treasures of the British Library at 50. I texted back and told her that I would be with her in 5 minutes.

Meeting Friends for A Fish and Chips Dinner:

And so it was that ten minutes later, Michelle and I were having a most affectionate reunion on the main floor of the British Library where I found that the décor had changed (as it keeps doing from time to time). We spent more than an hour nattering away before my friend Roz would have finished with work and would be able to join us for dinner. She received instructions from Michelle on the whereabouts of the North Sea Fish Restaurant on Leigh Street where Michelle’s partner, Mark, would also be joining us.

By the time Michelle and I strolled in leisurely fashion and arrived at the place, both Roz and Mark had already reached and had made each other’s acquaintance. Of course, we all got along really well and then quickly broke the ice as we ordered drinks. I had a pale ale, they all decided to share a bottle of white wine (since we were eating fish). We also all got the fish and chips with one having cod (me), another getting plaice (Roz) and another getting haddock (Mark). Michelle chose to have the shrimp scampi. These were served with large baskets of chips (with tartar sauce and ketchup) and for all of us, shared orders of mushy peas (which traditionally go with the dish). Needless to say, it was all delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal even as we chatted about everything from sports, to movies, to forthcoming trips.

Sadly, at the end of a very enjoyable evening, we had to say our goodbyes. We all walked together to King’s Cross station where we took a few more pictures and parted company to take different Tube lines.

Roz and I took the train to Vauxhall and the 345 bus from there. We were both full and too tired to stay up much longer than to bid each other goodnight and make our way upstairs to bed. We knew we had a long and busy day ahead of us with our trip to the Kentish coast—to the Isle of Sheppey. And since it was our plan to leave by 8.00 am, we decided to make an immediate night of it.

Until tomorrow, cheerio!