British Baroque: Power and Illusion


Review of the sumptuous exhibition at Tate Britain looking at Baroque art in Britain.

This roughly covered the reigns of Charles II, James II, William and Mary and Queen Anne. I think I found the earliest work most fun with the later work getting too overblown. I liked the way it looked at the court and history as a starting point then moved on to themes including architecture, interior design, mansions and gardens and Trompe l’oeil.

There were really impressive pieces in this show including a painting from the King’s bedchamber in Whitehall (shown here), one of the few pieces saved from the fire in 1698, the controversial catholic altarpiece from St James Palace and the altarpiece and pieces of the marble surround from James II redesign of the chapel in Whitehall.

I loved the room of Trompe l’oeil work. I was quite thrown by the cut out man and loved the panel on a door showing a wonderfully realistic painting of a violin which looked like it was handing on the door. I also liked the pictures of letters and objects pinned to a board.

I think my favourite room was the architecture one with a wonderful painting of the Palace of Whitehall as it was before the fire full of fantastic detail and drawing for the plans to replace it. I also liked the room looking at interior decoration with a good section on the Painted Hall in Greenwich.

The show got a bit concerned with issues from the period which are difficult now including warnings outside that viewers might be upset by images of slavery in the show. This mainly centred on a large portrait showing a lady of the court with her young black slaves in metal collars. I recognise this is a difficult image to modern eyes and that some people viewing it might not know the history but I felt the warning and the history of slavery into periods not within the remit of the show a bit over the top.

Closes 19 April 2020

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