In my last post on the National Gallery I followed the Early Renaissance in Florence, and ended with three quiet workshop masters: Verrocchio, who trained Leonardo, Ghirlandaio, who trained Michelangelo, and Fra …
Museums & Art
- London
The Early Renaissance at the National Gallery, London: Florence and the Rebirth of Painting
by Bubblyby Bubbly 7 min readI have always loved the Renaissance, and not just the famous paintings but the idea inside the word itself: rebirth. After centuries in which European art had mostly served the church in …
- London
Botticelli at the National Gallery, London: Venus, Saints, and Savonarola
by Bubblyby Bubbly 8 min readI have loved Botticelli since I was a girl. Long before I understood anything about the Renaissance, I knew those faces: the tilt of a head, the pale gold hair, the calm …
- London
The National Gallery, London: From the Sainsbury Wing to the Sunflowers
by Bubblyby Bubbly 9 min readTrafalgar Square sits at the heart of London, and in early December it runs cold and bright, with the fountains going and a row of wooden chalets set up along the north …
You walk into the V&A and the first thing above you is a storm of blue and green glass. The great Chihuly chandelier hangs in the domed entrance hall, eleven metres of …
- London
The Churchill War Rooms: Inside the Bunker Where Britain Ran the War
by Bubblyby Bubbly 9 min readA few steps below the pavements of Whitehall, behind a plain door near Downing Street, there is a basement where Britain ran the Second World War. The Churchill War Rooms are not …
- London
Hoa Hakananai’a: The Easter Island Moai at the British Museum, and Where It Belongs
by Bubblyby Bubbly 7 min readThere is a figure on the upper floor of the British Museum that stops people in a way the labels never quite explain. It stands about two and a half metres tall, …
- London
The Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum: The Sculptures, the Nereid Monument and the Argument Over Where They Belong
by Bubblyby Bubbly 9 min readThere is one room in the British Museum where wonder and unease sit side by side. Room 18 is a long, top-lit hall lined with marble, and the carving in it is …
- London
Ancient Egypt at the British Museum: The Rosetta Stone, the Hall of Colossi, and a 5,500-Year-Old Murder
by Bubblyby Bubbly 11 min readThe British Museum in London holds one of the largest collections of Egyptian material anywhere outside Cairo, and you meet it on two floors. The monumental stone sits downstairs in the long …
- London
The British Museum in a Few Hours: The Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon Marbles, and the Frog Worth Coming Back For
by Bubblyby Bubbly 15 min readI have now been to the British Museum in London twice, in 2019 and again on a cold afternoon last November, and I still have not seen all of it. That is …
- London
The Natural History Museum in London: From Mary Anning’s Fossils to Hope the Whale
by Bubblyby Bubbly 16 min readI walked into the Natural History Museum on a December afternoon expecting to see Dippy. I had forgotten that Dippy had been gone since 2017. What was hanging above the central staircase …
- London
The Animals of the Tower of London: From the Royal Menagerie to the Ravens
by Bubblyby Bubbly 10 min readThe Tower of London is famous for the Crown Jewels, the executions, the medieval fortress walls, and the ravens. Of all the things to do in London, a visit here is one …