Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland of a recently restored altarpiece for the Irish saint St Dymphna. The triptych, in eight panels, is owned by the Phoebus Foundation in Belgium and tells the story   Dymphna, a legendary 6th or 7th century Irish saint was the daughter of a Celtic king with quite a complex story. The work is by Goossen van der Weyden, grandson of the famous Roger, and all the panels were shown at eye level so you could really appreciate the details. At some point in the story Dymphna fled Ireland with her jester and his wife and I loved the depiction of them. There was an excellent video with told the saints story and the story of the altarpiece itself. It also told the story of Geel in Belgium the town where where Dymphna was martyred with her confessor. As she is the patron saint of mental illness it became a centre for its healing and it remains so today with patients being supported in the homes of families. Closed 28 May 2023 ...

Again two very good days and I'm really sorry the week is over. On Thursday we concentrated on Roger Van de Weyden with Douglas Brine. In the morning we looked in detail at "The Descent from the Cross" which is in Madrid. I saw this at the end of last year so the experience of it was quite fresh in my mind. Fascinating to go through the iconography in detail and to think about how and why the figures fit in the space the way they do. We then focused on some of the other works in detail. The afternoon was spent in the Print and Drawing Room at the British Museum . I hadn't realised that anyone can go along and ask to see anything that they hold there. A nice atmosphere with a mix of people studying and the staff who work in the room with their personalised desks. We had out a series of drawings linked to Roger van de Weyden. There was a particularly fine portrait of a woman but my favourite was a drawing which was probably for a wall painting of a procession. I was dra...