Hertford House, London
Hertford House Interior
On a cold and damp London day in 2008 (honestly, what London day isn't damp) I decided to seek out Hertford House. This small gallery in the heart of London happens to contain some very famous artists, but with their lesser known works of art. The one work I was particularly set on seeing was Fragonard's The Swing. The Swing had always been a painting that I came back to, it either served as a frontispiece for assignments or as wallpaper on my desktop. I liked this painting, in fact I liked it alot and still do-it's cheeky, playful, feminine and oh-so-rococo.
Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Swing, 1767
Although the above image of the gallery interior does not feature The Swing, it does give a sense of the grandeur of the gallery despite its small size (in comparison to the Queen's Gallery for example).
At the time, I tried desperately, as always, to take a photo of my preferred work of art, but as always a little old man in a navy blue jacket and grey slacks would walk up to me and in the language of his native country say "NO photos madame". For some reason, regardless of country, museum 'guards' always seem to sport the same attire-blue jacket, grey slacks.
Anyhow, museum 'guards' aside-you can see I have a bit of a bone to pick with them....Despite my art history education (yes, yes I know, a flash ruins the paint quality over time) I don't think a smartphone photo without a flash is that harmful, and do they really think that I'm going to be capable of replicating the painting and selling it at Sotheby's for 10 million?!!? But like I said, anyhow...
Hertford House was originally built for the Marquesses of Hertford and eventually was the home of Sir Richard Wallace. When Sir Wallace died, it was bequeathed to the British nation by his widow in 1897 and became a gallery . The collection and gallery, is both sumptuous and approachable. It is sumptuous because of it's rococo and neo-baroque décor, and approachable in its scale.
As a whole, it is both very gilded and grand.
On a cold and damp London day in 2008 (honestly, what London day isn't damp) I decided to seek out Hertford House. This small gallery in the heart of London happens to contain some very famous artists, but with their lesser known works of art. The one work I was particularly set on seeing was Fragonard's The Swing. The Swing had always been a painting that I came back to, it either served as a frontispiece for assignments or as wallpaper on my desktop. I liked this painting, in fact I liked it alot and still do-it's cheeky, playful, feminine and oh-so-rococo.
Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Swing, 1767
Although the above image of the gallery interior does not feature The Swing, it does give a sense of the grandeur of the gallery despite its small size (in comparison to the Queen's Gallery for example).
At the time, I tried desperately, as always, to take a photo of my preferred work of art, but as always a little old man in a navy blue jacket and grey slacks would walk up to me and in the language of his native country say "NO photos madame". For some reason, regardless of country, museum 'guards' always seem to sport the same attire-blue jacket, grey slacks.
Anyhow, museum 'guards' aside-you can see I have a bit of a bone to pick with them....Despite my art history education (yes, yes I know, a flash ruins the paint quality over time) I don't think a smartphone photo without a flash is that harmful, and do they really think that I'm going to be capable of replicating the painting and selling it at Sotheby's for 10 million?!!? But like I said, anyhow...
Hertford House was originally built for the Marquesses of Hertford and eventually was the home of Sir Richard Wallace. When Sir Wallace died, it was bequeathed to the British nation by his widow in 1897 and became a gallery . The collection and gallery, is both sumptuous and approachable. It is sumptuous because of it's rococo and neo-baroque décor, and approachable in its scale.
As a whole, it is both very gilded and grand.
No comments:
Post a Comment