Do not miss the National Gallery!

I read that the National Portrait Gallery in London was closed until 2023, and not realizing that the National Gallery is a separate thing, I almost missed that for Encounters. Thank goodness I figured it out, and though I had to spring it on my students last minute, I got very few complaints. For one, it's free. For another, it is awesome. The National Gallery houses over 2,300 of the greatest paintings in the world. It is in Trafalgar Square near plenty of spots for eating, drinking and shopping. It is definitely a place in which you will spend three hours before you will see everything. It ended up being a favorite among my Encounters in Humanities students for good reason. 

Much of the early art is religious in subject matter, including this badass painting of the archangel Michael stomping a mudhole in a demon's ass.

Question for Encounters students: What role did the church play in shaping art, and what is the equivalent of that today?

I can't tell you how many paintings featured the ascension of Christ. In this inset, there's this little guy.

Question: What do those details that might be overlooked contribute to the meaning of a work of art?

Belshazzar's feast is one of my favorite bible stories, and it was the subject of at least of couple of pieces. I myself even wrote a story that incorporates it, and have you ever seen a little film called A Knight's Tale starring Heath Ledger.? The writing on the wall says "you have been weighed and measured and found wanting." 

The detail and subdued color struck me in this piece by John Constable. It's a picture of a memorial, but the only one observing the monument is this lone buck in the forest. You can almost see the silence in it.

A Degas.

This one is called The Effects of Intemperance by Jan Steen. Many paintings were moralizing subjects.

Question: What role does or what role should art play in promoting certain moral values?

This depicts the execution of Lady Jane Grey, who asked to be blindfolded before she was beheaded, hence the need to be guided to the block. Even at a distance, you can sense the fear on the face of the teenage queen.

A painting of paintings in a gallery in a gallery. Each little painting is very detailed.

Gauguin.

This is William Hogarth's The Graham Children. There is a figure of Cupid with Time's scythe in the corner, because the little baby on the left, named Thomas, died before the portrait was complete.

Question: What is the relationship between art and mortality (or immortality)?

Inset: A Horse Frightened by Lightning by Jean-Louis-Andre- Theodore Gericault. The horse's eye.

Inset: Hendrick ter Brugghen's Jacob reproaching Laban for giving him Leah in place of Rachel.

Just look at Leah's face...did a look ever more loudly say "OMG I am so fucking embarrassed"? She wants the floor to swallow her up.

A lot of the paintings were allegorical, featuring figures that stand for abstract concepts, just as many Greek and Roman mythological deities did. This is love and chastity duking it out. 

Monet and gawkers.

This is a picture of the Queen of Bohemia that reminds me of my friend Kerry and a dog that looks like my dog Ozzy.

This is a depiction of rhetoric.

There were many paintings representing Samson being snipped by Delilah, which seems like a lot of bad PR for women.

Question: What role might art play in forming attitudes about non-dominant populations in society?

This was among the Dutch paintings that reminded me of prints my grandparents had in their house - except this one, with a skull. This is a print I would like to have in my house, but Grandma would not approve.

Another allegory: this is Time Revealing Truth. Time of course has his scythe, and truth is bared while pulling the mask off of deceit.

I recognize this painting and the below from the opening credit sequence of HBO's Carnivale, which I was obsessed with for some time. This is The Origin of the Milky Way by Jacopo Tinteretto.

Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian. Many paintings featured Greek or Roman myths, or classical historical events. 

This is a great excursion for Creative Writing as much as for encounters, because so many of these paintings were depictions of stories. I could see a prompt in which students write a scene inspired by what is taking place in one of these paintings. Then of course, there's always the ekphrastic poem, and this spot is ideal for that.

Van Gogh and gawkers.

An incredibly detailed painting of Venice by Canaletto. You have to go to the museum to appreciate it. Seriously, you should go.