Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is one of Birmingham’s crowning glories. It stands proud and easily recognise-able on the skyline of this our wonderful city. I’ve been meaning to review this for some time and find myself with two many highlights. consequently this post shall be split in two parts. This is the first, in case you were curious.
Andrea Fantoni (attributed to) – Figure Of Christ Crucified (Without Supporting Cross) circa 1690
Of course, following the recent theme, it would be remiss of me not to open with Catholic Iconography. This was presumably made by Andrea Fantoni, an Italian sculptor and woodcarver of the late-Baroque period trained under the auspices of Pietro Ramus. Andrea is most famed for the “confessional from the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo, and the Duomo of St. Alessandro in Brescia, as well as the pulpit in the Basilica di San Martino at Alzano Lombardo” (Wikipedia)
This piece was made from Boxwood which is a beautiful hard wood capable of being highly polished. This representation of Christ crucified is full of agony. This is beautifully represented in the facial expressions, stringing of the limbs and heaving chest cavity. The hair was also done marvellously. I was quite taken by this sculpture. Emotion is difficult to render in wood.
Benjamin Williams Leader (1831–1923) – February, Fill Dyke
Leader was a landscape painter whose early inspiration came from the Worcestershire countryside. In 1881, February Fill Dyke was exhibited at the Royal Academy to great acclaim and Leader was made an associate (ARA) in 1883, becoming a Royal Academician (RA) in 1898 (Wikipedia). This was by all accounts one of his most popular works.
I was struck by the composure of this painting. Depicting a wet November morning in Leader’s native Worcestershire, the colouring in the sky is beautifully reflected in the puddles. One can also see an elderly woman collecting wood for her fire and two children walking their dogs. I think this piece is intimate, beautifully conceived and immaculately executed. And, perhaps above all, quintessentially English.
John Brett (1831–1902), A North-West Gale off the Longships Lighthouse, 1873
The final piece for this post if from John Brett. What I look for in paintings with water is how motion is depicted. There is lots of it here, as with any turbulent sea piece. Brett has chose to keep this one free of boats, which means we can focus on the turbulence of the waves as contrasted against the relative calm of the clouds. These are united beautifully by the rays of sunshine, broken in parts by the spray of water from the clouds. This piece, with its small lighthouse at the centre, is quite superlative in its composition, subject matter and tasteful execution. It is only s shame the museum put it so high up on the wall!
He also studied with Richard Redgrave. In 1853 he entered the Royal Academy schools, but was more interested in the ideas of John Ruskin and William Holman Hunt, whom he met through his friend the poet Coventry Patmore. Inspired by Hunt’s ideal of scientific landscape painting, Brett visited Switzerland, where he worked on topographical landscapes and came under the further influence of John William Inchbold. Wikipedia
Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Highlights.
This was one of my earlier works, which I had the pleasure of reading out at the Birmingham and Midlands Institute Play Reading Group. We were reading Arthur Miller that week, in case you were wondering.
The featured image on this post is a wonderful pallet knife piece by Leonid Afremov called Reincarnation, which I thought was most appropriate given the Catholic overtones of this poem.
Michaelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio is one of the greatest painters who has ever lived. My favourite piece by him is St Francis in Meditation, which I first saw at the Convento Dei Capuccini museum in Rome (pictured below). This piece was painted circa 1606, some 10 years after Boy Bitten by Lizard. It represents St Francis of Assissi in deep prayer. One can see immediately from the proportion, use of lighting, depiction of torn fabric and emotion in the face of the Saint himself, that this is a piece of great artistic merit. It certainly struck me when I saw it.
I mention this because it bears similarity to Boy Bitten by Lizard. This earlier painting was the first in which Caravaggio depicted emotions in the face of his subjects. St Francis’ emotive face bears the hallmarks of Caravaggio’s earlier works.
According to Leonard J. Slatkes, the painting’s symbolism likely derives from the Apollo Sauroktonos theme in which a poisonous salamander triumphs over the god, while the arrangement of various fruits suggests The Four Temperaments, with the salamander being the symbol of fire in Caravaggio’s time. The salamander also had phallic connotations, and the painting might have been inspired by a Martial epigram: “Ad te reptani, puer insidiose, lacertae Parce: cupit digitis illa perire tuis. (Spare this lizard crawling towards you, treacherous boy/It wants to die between your fingers) Wikipedia
Boy Bitten by Lizard is an early masterwork in my eyes. From the reflection in the glass, allowing us perspective into the room’s surroundings, to the dew on the rose leaves and the sheen of the grapes – this is truly remarkable. But the focal point of this painting is the pained emotion on the subject’s face (thought to be Mario Minniti). This beautiful chiaroscuro dividing the face down to the shoulder amplifies the pain the subject feels when his hand is unexpectedly bitten by a lizard. This is a departure from Caravaggio’s earlier works such as as Boy Peeling a Fruit, Sick Bacchus and Cardsharps. These have been described as both airless and stiff by comparison. Observe the sheen on the nose, the intake of breath expressed in the models lips, the furrowed brow, the recoiling fingers on both hands. The shock is palpable and wonderfully rendered.
As an aside, it is believed the inspiration for this piece is Sofonisba Anguissola’s, Boy Bitten by a Crab (c. 1554), pictured below.
Overall, Boy Bitten by Lizard, is a masterwork. Do observe it in your spare time.
While my posts are usually confined to art galleries rather than paintings alone, this piece so struck me that I felt the need to dedicate a post to it. I’m sure you don’t mind, dear readers. Now, to the painting. At 26 square metres, it is difficult to picture the scale of the Bellini brothers’ phenomenal rendition of St Mark Preaching in Alexandria.
This pice was originally commissioned by the Venetian confraternity of the Scuola di San Marco in May 1504 from Gentile Bellini. However, unfortunately Gentile died in 1507, and stipulated in his will that his brother, Giovanni (widely considered the greater artist) should finish it. When it was finished, this monumental piece hung in the Scuola di San Marco for three hundred years before being moved to the Pinacoteca di Brera, in Milan.
He specialised in panoramic group scenes like the one reproduced here, full of detail and enlivened by numerous small touches of actuality, such as exotic costumes and architecture. A G Dixon
Moving onto aspects of the painting itself. I like the delicate lighting demonstrating the sheen in St Mark’s robe. Of course the saint is clad in royal purple, which is the only time this colour features on the canvas, giving added pizzaz to St Mark’s position as preacher. I also love the detail in the mosaic on the stairs to his makeshift pulpit.
Another aspect I noted was the wonderful variety of headwear featured in this piece. The Alexandria St Mark will have known was a multicultural city with up to three quarters of a million people living there from Egypt, Greece, Judea, Rome, Ethiopia and Nubia. This also meant a large diversity of religion, including the old Pharaonic religion, Hellenism, Roman Mythology and Judaism. I found it quite striking how the variety of religious groups are represented in this piece and their extraordinary hats. Remember this piece is 26 square metres. Imagine the minute brush strokes needed to produce shading this beautifully. Even the facial features imprinted in the veils, on this scale, are quite impressive.
Observe the wonderful shading in the turbans here and the way the light hits the silken garment worn by the central figure in this section. I’m a sucker for well represented fabric. Look at the scarves, the crumpled white fabric on the ground, the giraffe, the weave of the turban and the puffy sleeves. This is just masterful.
My final point of note is the beautifully depicted Mamluk architecture. we know that Gentile went to the new Ottoman capital Istanbul as part of the peace settlement between Venice and the Turks, but the accuracy in this architectural reproduction suggests he may have gotten as far as Jerusalem, no mean feat in the 15th Century.
Overall, I think this piece is quite stunning and absolutely deserving of a full post. I so look forward to going to Italy later this year and making a detour to Milan to see this fabulous masterwork.
Would you believe me if I told you there is a Romanesque church, dome and all, in the middle of Birmingham? No? You’d be right. But there is one in Five Ways/Edgbaston. The Birmingham Oratory was built between 1907-1910 in honour of Cardinal, now Saint, John Henry Newman, the founder of the English Oratory in 1849. The Birmingham Oratory is a Catholic religious community of priests and brothers of the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, and was their first house in England.
Saint Philip had the gift of healing, returning many sick people to health. He lived in close contact with the supernatural and experienced frequent ecstasies. Those who witnessed him in ecstasy gave testimony that his face shone with a heavenly light. He always had a delicate health. On one occasion, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and cured him of an illness of the gallbladder. Pierced Hearts
Saint John Henry Newman visited to Rome to explore the possibility of establishing an order of Oratorians. He returned to England, with Pope Pius IX’s formal approval, to establish an English Oratory. I’m not sure how the Hagley Road must have looked like in 1907, I imagine a lot more pious than it does now. It is extraordinary to me to think that within sight of my seat in the office there is a gorgeous Romanesque Oratory, which I can visit on my lunchtime for Mass if I so choose (I haven’t yet) and few people know it is there.
It has just occurred to me that I should have a Catholic section to my blog.
I digress. The Birmingham Oratory is a wonderful tranquil place, a stone’s throw from the centre of Birmingham. It is rife with history and is a constant reminder of the marvellous work Saint John Henry Newman did in furthering the Kingdom of God. This ‘furthering’, whichever religion we profess, or don’t, is surely a noble aim indeed. Achieving it in one’s lifetime must be an extraordinary thing.
Despite stubborn popular opinion, Hull has a lot to recommend it. There are an array of theatres, marvellous cultural sites as well as it being the home of formerly alive poet Philip Larkin. But at the heart of Hull is also the Ferens Art Gallery. This is home to some impressive paintings and some nauseating modern art. Below are my highlights from this gallery.
Philipe de Champaigne – The Annunciation ca. 1644
This picture was painted for the private chapel of Queen Anne of Austria (1601–1666), the widowed wife of Louis XIII. The chapel, a small oval room in the Palais Royal, Paris, was decorated by the most prominent French painters of the day. Met Museum
The Annunciation refers to the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit to be called Jesus (Luke 1:26–38). This is a particularly fine representation of this momentous and emotive event in the Christian Faith. Observe the Virgin Mary’s humility here. Observe the beauteous righteousness of the angel Gabriel. The fabric really took my eye as well. The way that the light is reflected from the heavens opening, how it falls more evenly on Gabriel is wonderful. I also love the cherubs fighting to get a look at the event. This is a really impressive painting.
Crijn Hendricksz. Volmarijn (c.1604–1645) – The Supper at Emmaus ca 1632
I was surprised to find another Catholic piece in my highlights. Perhaps I am becoming more holy. This 1632 piece by Crijn Hendricksz may be seen as an attempt to hold a candle to the famous painting of the same name by Caravaggio produced in 1601. I’ll focus on this one for now, if that is all right. The painting depicts the moment when the resurrected but incognito Jesus, reveals himself to two of his disciples (presumed to be Luke and Cleopas) in the town of Emmaus, only to soon vanish from their sight (Gospel of Luke 24: 30–31).
As you may have seen from my Highlights of the Mauritshuis post, I am a sucker for candles represented in paintings. I love the way that Hendricksz has depicted the light on Jesus’ face in particular. I also appreciate the pseudo iconographical breaking of the bread here. Observe the elegance of their fingers and how the light is reflected in their nails. Observe the stigmata on Christ’s hand. Observe the delicacy of the wrinkled brow. I’m really impressed by this.
John Hoppner (1758–1810) – Anna Isabella Milbanke (1792–1860) (later Lady Byron)
Moving away from Christ, Hoppner’s delicate portrait of Anna Isabelle Milbanke also struck me. Anne Isabella Noel Byron was the 11th Baroness Wentworth and known as Baroness Byron. She was born Milbanke and loved between 17 May 1792 – 16 May 1860. Milbanke was highly educated and religious, perhaps known in part for her marriage to Lord Byron, a famous English poet. She described him to her mother as “a very bad, very good man”.
But you don’t want to hear about their marriage in Seaham, near Durham, or the fact that I have eaten at Downey’s Fish & Chips and so too should you. No you want to hear about the vicissitudes of this painting. And who can blame you? While the rendering of this portrait is not as sharp as the latter two, I should say it is of great merit. The first aspect of note for me is the tule of the dress. The crashing of the waves in the background and small boat in the distance are delightful. However, the true highlight of this piece is facial finesse depicted. The expression is solemn, almost glum (perhaps Lady Byron is cold in the sea air). I think this portrait is quite marvellous.
Spencer Tunick – Sea of Hull 2017
From Catholicism to nudity, I am happy to say my final highlight is the Sea of Hull. This was a piece commissioned for an installation at the Ferens Gallery to celebrate Hull’s relationship to the sea. Interestingly, the photo shoot itself took three hours and the volunteers depicted were ushered around Hull by aptly names ‘nude wranglers’. One has to immediately admire the commitment of these blue people. Hull is rather far North and is a sea town, which means howling coastal gales. The fact that Spencer Tunick convinced 3200 people to go out, sans-kecks, is deeply impressive.
Moving onto the composition of this photograph, one can see the different hues of blue are used cleverly to give the impression of motion. These four shades were taken from the Ferens Gallery itself. Looking at the photograph, I was amazed at its sheer scale. Thousands of people painted themselves one colour and gathered together as one sea. The inference of unity, resolve and strength shown here is clear. To me, this is a unique piece, bravely conceived and flawlessly excecuted.
Stéphane Janssen, one of the volunteers, said of the piece: “I always say that it’s the least sexual thing that I’ve ever seen in my life. We are naked, but it is not important. We are equal. Big people, small people, all colours, all walks of life. Guardian“.
Please do visit the Ferens if you’re in the area. I assure you it is rewarding, even if it is in Hull.
