Cathy's Art Diary

Impressive exhibition at the King’s Gallery looking at Italian Renaissance drawings from the Royal Collection. The show struck a good balance between appealing to the art history geeks like me and being more popularist by including three artists in residence and tables for you to draw at within the show. I liked the way the show was themed, focusing on the subjects of the drawings ranging from studies of bodies, though nature, religious and secular compositional studies and designs for objects. Complimenting this they discussed why and how drawings were made. I liked the small displays of artists materials throughout the show. One moan, which is a common one for me, was the way the lighting reflected off the glass, making it hard to see the detail without seeing lights or looking at yourself! Highlights were this wonderfully complex Guilo Romano tapestry design, a beautiful portrait by Fra Angelico, a study for the Raphael Vatican tapestry using figures in contemporary dress a...

Charming and informative exhibition at the King’s Gallery looking at royal portrait photographs since the 1920s. The show worked on many layers. It was a history of the royal family over the period, a look at the development of the technology and style of photography and a discussion of how photographs can be used to promote an image. It was nicely displayed with good, clearly written labels. I could have done with a family tree particularly for the late Queen’s cousins which might have helped with the multiple names used for one person eg Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon = The Queen ( till 1952) = The Queen Mother. The show cleverly used the name which was used at the time the picture was taken. Review Telegraph

Interesting online lecture from the Royal Collections Trust discussing how royal portrait photographs have been used in newspapers. The talk accompanied the exhibition at the King’s Gallery marking a century of royal portrait photographs. Helen Lewandowski talked about how photographs were adapted for use in the press. She talked about the decisions over what image was to be used and how it might be tweaked. She also talked about how the technology of both photography and printing changed and the effect this had. She also talked about the relationship between the sitters and the photographers focusing on Cecil Beaton, Dorothy Wilding and Lord Snowdon and how the royal family have used photographs to change their image over the years.

Fabulous exhibition at the King’s Gallery putting the Holbeins in the Royal Collection into context. I loved the opening of the show with the “Noli Me Tangere”, which is not how we think of Holbein. It set the narrative that this wasn’t just about the portraits.   The first gallery of the show took time to set the scene for his arrival in England pointing out that there were portraits at court before but how many arrived as gifts and tended to feature foreign royalty. I was moved to see the images of Catherine of Aragon’s parents, Ferdinand and Isabella, which surely must have come with her to England as a reminder of home. The next room focused on Holbein’s work for courtiers with an emphasis on the preparatory drawings for portraits. It included one of the few examples where they had the drawing and painting. The sitter looked older in the painting. It was wonderful walking round looking at this group of people from nearly 500 years ago who would have known each other. T...