Exhibits include the silver chalice with which Charles took communion on the morning of his execution, and a number of pieces of jewelry that contain locks of his hair.  Wartski also have a beautiful necklace made from silver pearls that belonged to Marie Antoinette.  The queen gave them to the wife of the English ambassador during the revolution, who smuggled them out of France.  Yesterday, the woman who worked at Wartski was so friendly that she took the necklace out of its case so my friend and I could inspect it closely and hold it!  Well worth a visit.

You can visit one of the Geffrye’s 18th-century almshouses which has been fully restored to its original condition, offering a rare glimpse into the lives of London’s poor and elderly in former times. Visitors will have a chance to visit the restored historic almshouse on the following days:

* Saturdays: 1 May, 5 June and 3 July 2010
* Wednesdays: 21 April, 5 and 19 May and 2 and 16 June 2010 (**see Wednesday details below)

Timed entries on Saturdays and Wednesdays are at 11.00am, 12.00pm, 2.00pm and 3.00pm.

Tickets: Adults £2.00, Friends of the Geffrye, disabled visitors and children under 16 free. Numbers are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that only groups of 8 or more can book in advance.

Find out more at http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/ and http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/virtualtour/almshouses/18thcentury-almshouse/.

**The 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month we welcome advance booking by groups of 8 or more, therefore not all of these tours may be open to the public. There are 16 places for this tour and these will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis 10 minutes before the tour begins. We suggest those wishing to visit the restored historic almshouse on a Wednesday contact the Information and Bookings Officer on 020 7739 9893 to check availability.

Thanks, Anne!

Sloane was one of the great networkers of his age. He was a secretary of the Royal Society of London and he revived the publication of their Philosophical Transactions. He counted among his many friends, colleagues, and patients Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, Samuel Pepys, John Locke, and Henry Morgan.

Sloane was hugely successful in his profession and with his hobbies. He became both the President of the Royal College of Physicians and the President of the Royal Society – at the same time! His medical practice (and his marriage to a rich widow) ensured that he was able to indulge his taste for collecting. He collected books, natural history specimens, ethonographic material, prints, fossils, coins, manuscripts to name just a few of his interests. He was one of the richest people in London and was eventually able to buy the Manor at Chelsea.

Sloane was also popularised the use of chocolate as a medicine so it is clear that he was also a genius who was far ahead of his time! This also means that lots of events commemorating Sloane involve chocolate in some way. So if he wasn’t worth celebrating enough already there’s an excuse to dose yourself with some healthy chocolate while enjoying his legacies!

There are a lot of events to celebrate the life and many achievements of the enterprising Dr Sloane this year. Here are just a few.

Sloane’s hometown of Killyleagh in Northern Ireland has a series of concerts and events starting this week to honour their favourite native son. See http://hanssloane.com for details. The Killyleagh birthday party continues in September with a Chocolate Ball at Killyleagh Castle ‘(dress: Milk, Dark or White Tie of course!)’ and a Chocolate Festival. See http://hanssloane.com/events.php.

London will also play host to a variety of events celebrating Sloane.

The British Library will host a conference on 7-8 June 2010 entitled ‘From Books to Bezoars’ which will include the latest news about the Sloane Printed Books Project. Thousands of Sloane’s 40,000 books have already been identified.

The British Museum is also offering a series of events including a concert and talks. See their Events Page for all the details. Meanwhile the British Museum also has on online exhibition of some of the objects Sloane collected. See them at Sloane Objects. There is also a page giving a biography of Sloane and the history of the British Museum at Sir Hans Sloane.

The Royal College of Physicians, the Chelsea Physic Garden and The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret are joining forces to present a series of events for the rest of the year. The RCP will host an exhibition called ‘Sir Hans Sloane: Discoveries, Travels and Chocolate’ from 5 July-24 December 2010. The Physic Garden has a series of events including chocolate tastings througout the spring and summer. The Old Operting Theatre is holding ‘Odyssey of Chocolate’ workshops and Sloane walks in Chelsea and Bloomsburgy will be led by its director, Kevin Flude. For a full list of events see Hans Sloane Our Local Hero Events (pdf).

The Natural History Museum holds Sloane’s famous and important Herbarium which includes specimens from his Voyage to Jamaica in the late 1680s. The Museum will also host a series of Sloane350 events.

Hans Town in Chelsea was named for Sloane (as, of course, was Sloane Square!) – he once owned the land it stands on. Find out more at Hidden London Hans Town.

Why not celebrate Sloane’s birthday with some chocolate and his very own Rum Punch Recipe? Or make some Rum Chocolate Truffles. I know I’m tempted!

Lunchtime Lecture:
Blood under the microscope: William Hewson, an 18th-century anatomist
Thursday 20 April, 1pm

Join Tania Kausmally, historian and archaeologist as she lays bare the history of 18th-century anatomist and microscopist William Hewson, the father of modern haematology.

Plus free tour of Benjamin Franklin House, where Hewson lived and worked. Tour dates: Monday 26 April at 12, 1, 2, 3.15 and 4.15pm.

Lunchtime lectures and museum tours are free but booking is essential on 020 7869 6560.

Evening Event:
Joseph Lister, surgeon and microscopist
Wednesday 28 April, 7pm

Professor Harold Ellis CBE FRCS
Harold Ellis charts the story of Joseph Lister FRS, who followed in the footsteps of his father, a wine merchant and distinguished amateur microscopist, to develop the skills that led to a new understanding of wound infection and to the introduction of antiseptic surgery.

Evening lecture tickets cost £5. Free entry plus one guest to fellows/members; free to affiliates and medical students. Booking is essential on 020 7869 6560.

The College Library will be open on the night with a special display on Lister for lecture ticket holders from 6–7pm.

Current Exhibition:
Curious: the craft of microscopy
An exhibition by Susanna Edwards
Tuesday 16 February-Saturday 3 July

Qvist Gallery, Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm

Free and open to all

Several years ago artist Susanna Edwards happened upon a collection of Victorian microscopic slides in a second-hand shop. Intrigued by the creativity and dexterity involved in making these delicate objects, she began to research the history of microscopy. Her exhibition traces her project, exploring microscopy as craft and technology, art and science. Through stunning photography, her exhibition reveals the way in which developments in microscopy have changed the way we see the world.

Supported by the Royal Microscopical Society, the Arts Council, London, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

The Hunterian Museum
Royal College of Surgeons of England
35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields
London
WC2A 3PE

Open: Tues-Sat, 10am-5pm
Free Admission
Nearest tube: Holborn
T: 020 7869 6560
E: museums@rcseng.ac.uk
www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums

Cheers, Robin!

Paul Sandby: Picturing Britain
The National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
7 November 2009 − 7 February 2010

The Royal Academy of Arts, London
13 March 2010—13 June 2010

This exhibition celebrates Paul Sandby’s bicentenary. Born in Nottingham, Sandby (bap. 1731-1809) started his artistic career as a draftsman on the Military Survey of North Britain in the 1740s. He was captivated by the scenes and people of Scotland and his work soon went beyond map making. Sandby worked with his brother on the ‘Great Map’ of the Highlands of Scotland. When he wasn’t working on his cartography, Sandby was creating landscape scenes, castle views, and street scenes from Edinburgh. He was a master at using watercolour to create vivid pictures. Even his maps included vignettes of the places the map recorded and details about what people were doing. Thus a castle in the distance might be fronted with an image of Jacobite prisoners being marched to their destination.

When he returned to Edinburgh, Sandby took on the Old Town as a subject. (The New Town, of course, did not yet exist.) His drawings are full of tiny details like a wee sign reading ‘Good eating down this close’ as a guide for hungry visitors in an image of 1751. By the late 1750s, Sandby was back in England and ready to take on the art world. He engaged in a feud with William Hogarth by ridiculing the latter’s ‘line of beauty’ theory. Sandby created a series of prints depicting Hogarth acting foolishly and nearly always featuring a sidekick called ‘Pugg’. The works come across as rather bitter and Sandby later distanced himself from these works. Sandby continued to develop his landscape style while also working on city scenes. His ‘Twelve London Cries Done from the Life’ of c. 1759-1760 is a series of portraits of London workers. Unlike traditional images which tend to show cheerful characters going about their work, Sandby’s figures are a bit scary and surly. The fish vendor, for example, is so frightening that she’s even able to scare a cat who would surely be interested in her wares.

Sandby was incredibly prolific. He next turned to travelling throughout England, Wales and Ireland to capture views of towns, abbeys, castles and country houses. He used his camera obscura to good effect but his drawings and watercolours always have a feeling of movement and light. He also did full scale paintings. His depiction of The Rainbow (c. 1800) which is usually in Nottingham is marvellous and harks back to the Dutch Old Masters. (Sandby is particularly good at painting animals.) Sandby’s ‘Views’ from his travels were collected and published in The Virtuosi’s Museum (1778-1782) but each print was also available separately as a monthly instalment.

Paul Sandby: Picturing Britain is an exhibition which should do a lot to restore a virtually forgotten artist to his rightful status. I have been to the exhibition in Edinburgh twice now. But, be warned, it is free here and you’ll have to pay to see it in London! [Ed. note, March 2010: worth it tho'!]

Find out more and book tickets at: http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/paul-sandby-ra-1731-1809-picturing-britain-a-bicentenary-exhibition/.

A Masterpiece Recovered: Delaroche’s Charles I Insulted
The National Gallery, London
24 February – 23 May 2010
Free

First shown at the Paris Salon of 1837, ‘Charles I Insulted’ is one of the great paintings on themes of English history for which Paul Delaroche become renowned.

The king is shown in the days before his execution in 1649, being bullied by Cromwell’s defiant troops.

The painting was housed at Bridgewater House in London where it was badly damaged during the Blitz. The painting was quickly consolidated, rolled up and evacuated to a house in the Scottish Borders, where it has remained safe and dry for almost 70 years. It was unrolled for the first time only in the summer of 2009.

Despite the damage – conservators counted some 200 tears in total – the picture was discovered to be almost entirely legible and has lost none of its emotive intensity. The painting is being cared for by conservators but is yet to be fully restored, so will retain its war wounds for visitors to examine.

You can see a video about the painting at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8513585.stm.

From the National Portrait Gallery:

Paul Delaroche was one of the most celebrated artists of his time. His large history paintings received wide acclaim at the Paris annual exhibition, then dominated by the conflicting influences of Neo-classicism and Romanticism.

Such was Delaroche’s success that it often exceeded that of his contemporaries, Ingres and Delacroix. His paintings combine Ingres’s highly finished style with Delacroix’s historical themes to great effect, resembling stage productions where dramatic scenes are being acted.
About the painting

The monumental Execution of Lady Jane Grey, Delaroche’s most famous painting, is arguably the best example of this new genre. Depicting the moment before the execution of the young queen in 1554, after a reign of just nine days, it is poignant in subject matter and uncanny in its intense realism.

Through preparatory drawings and sketches, this exhibition traces the slow and careful gestation of the painting. It also places it in the wider context of history painting of the time. Important precedents are displayed alongside the major works which established Delaroche’s reputation in the 1820s and 30s.

‘Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey’ examines Delaroche’s predilection for emotionally-affecting English themes and his involvement with the theatre, both essential components of his art. The exhibition aims to return critical attention to a major painter who fell from favour soon after his death, but to whom the public now respond with wide admiration.

Find out more and book tickets at http://nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/delaroche-lady-jane-grey.

From the British Museum website:

Drawn from the two foremost collections in the field, this major exhibition features 100 exquisite drawings by Italian Renaissance artists including Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Verrocchio.

A unique collaboration between the Uffizi in Florence and the British Museum, the display charts the increasing importance of drawing during this period, featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Jacopo and Gentile Bellini, Botticelli, Carpaccio, Filippo Lippi, Mantegna, Michelangelo, Verrocchio and Titian.

In 15th-century Italy there was a fundamental shift in style and artistic thinking in the use of preparatory drawings. What began as a means of preserving artistic ideas became the ideal way to perfect more naturalistic forms and perspective – a new approach by painters, sculptors and architects.

Infrared and other technology used in conservation research provide fresh insights into how drawing allowed painters to experiment and explore with a freedom not always reflected in their finished works. Examples in the exhibition show the trend towards depiction of movement and expression of emotion, often inspired by classical antiquity.

This exhibition is a unique opportunity to discover the evolution of drawing which laid the foundations of the High Renaissance style of Michelangelo and Raphael.

You can find all the details and book tickets at http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/future_exhibitions/italian_renaissance_drawings.aspx

The NPG says,

This outstanding exhibition, the first of its kind in the UK, tells the story of the Indian portrait over three centuries, exploring the fascinating ways in which Indian artists have approached the depiction of the human form and the changing role of portraiture in Indian history. Bringing together 60 exquisite works from international collections, the exhibition will celebrate the beauty, power and humanity of these works of art.

Starting with the Mughal court, the presentation includes some of the earliest realistic images of emperors and magnificent court portraits, as well as studies of Mughal courtiers, holy men and servants. The distinctive regional styles from Rajasthan and the Punjab Hills are also shown alongside the European-influenced works produced by Indian artists under British rule.

Find out more here: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/the-indian-portrait-1560-1860.php.

Have you seen any of these items?

Bust of Poussin’s wife
A terracotta bust of Anne Marie Dughet, the wife of the artist Nicolas Poussin, by Francois Duquesnoy, circa 1630. Bought in 1842 auction by John P Beavan.

Wedgwood Plate
A set of 12 Wedgwood plates, featuring cameos of brown, white and blue festoons, designed by Lady Diana Beauclerk, circa 1777.

Henry VIII’s dagger
Of Turkish design, with a steel blade damasked in gold and a case embellished with diamonds and rubies (date unknown). In the 1842 auction, it was bought by the actor Charles Kean, who is said to have used it on stage. It was sold at Christie’s in 1898 to someone named “Haigham”.

Bust of Vespasian
Ancient Roman basalt bust of the Emperor Vespasian, formerly in 10 Downing Street and later at Strawberry Hill. The bust was last recorded at Christie’s in 1882 where it was sold by the Duke of Hamilton.

Gothic dining table
Commissioned by Horace Walpole in 1754, designed by Richard Bentley, the surface of the table is made of Sicilian Jasper. Last recorded in 1953 in the collection of the antiquarian HL Bradfer-Lawrence, of Ripon, Yorks, who died in 1965.

Read the full story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/6889607/Hunt-begins-for-lost-Horace-Walpole-treasures-at-Strawberry-Hill.html

The US version of the Walpole exhibition is on show at the Yale Center for British Art until 3 January.

Find out more at The Art Newspaper.

The exhibition catalogue is available to fill the gap before the V&A version opens.

You can find out more about the Strawberry Hill Trust here: http://strawberryhilltrust.org/