Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Wallace Collection looking at how curators and objects from the museum have shaped how we view Richard III. There were only two objects in the show, plus a redirection to a third in the museum, but they came with good information boards and some interesting stories. Alongside a small version from the museum of Delaroche’s “The Princes in the Tower” there was a suit of armour made with input from curator, Tobias Copwell, for the new film “The Lost King”. You were also directed to go to look at one of their sets of armour for a man and horse in the main gallery which was reproduced in rubber for the Lawrence Olivier film of Richard III. A good use of a few items. Closes 8 January 2023 Reviews Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Fascinating lecture from Wallace Collection on the 15th armourer Konrad Seusenhofer from Augsburg. Toby Capwell, Curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection, outlined the history of armour at this time and the relationship between Seusenhofer and the Emperor Maximillian. He took us though why Augsburg became the centre of armour manufacture and the different styles. He then took us through various Seusenhofer pieces In the museum and talked in detail about the recent attribution of   a set of foot armour, shown here, to Seusenhofer. I usually walk past armour in museums and find it hard to relate to but this talk really showed how it can be considered as artwork and how elite pieces are as fascinating as paintings commissioned by the same patrons.

Fascinating online lecture from the Wallace Collection discussing Renaissance armour. Toby Capwell argued that armour was another art form of the courts of the time and that armourers were considered to be artists, sharing ideas with artists in other mediums. He proposed that in some senses armour is body sculpture and in quoted Vasari saying of one armourer he was “the greatest sculptor in iron”. He took us through the main styles using examples from the Wallace Collection. I was fascinated to hear the names of the armourers and to realise how much we know about them. It is also interesting to consider the art of the time in the various courts and how it is reflected in the armour or how it shows that armour. It have me a lot to think about in future viewing.

Intriguing online talk from London Art Week looking at the role armour and weapons play in Old Master portraits. This was well chaired by Charlie Mackay from the Weiss Gallery who currently has an exhibition of the same title showing portraits with examples of armour borrowed from one of the other speakers. He brought together Toby Capwell, from the Wallace Collection, and Red Finer, from Peter Finer, a dealer specialising in fine art and armour, to discuss the armour being worn in some of pictures in the show. Unfortunately I had a bad connection at the start of this zoom talk so I missed some of it while I logged out and back in again. I’m hoping a recorded version appears sometime as I came in at the end of them talking about Gerard Reynst, the 2nd Governor General of the Dutch East India Company from 1613. I would love to have known more about the symbolism in this work. Other pictures included Lord Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk by John Michael Wright which they used to ta...

Small exhibition at the Wallace Collection of armour from the time of Agincourt to mark the 600th anniversary of the battle. It pointed out that the battle is always seen as a victory by common, long bow wielding English but it proposed that the battle was won by hand to hand combat by the knights! The examples were mainly from the continent but were very impressive with a classic helmet of the time, a chain mail shirt and a cross bow and bolts. Each display cabinet looked at a different type of soldier. The display also included a painting from this year by Graham Turner showing the battle and had a cabinet on Sir James Gow who was an adviser to the Olivier film in the 1940s as well as being a Keeper at the Wallace Collection itself.