Keep Your Powder Dry

A trip to that there London saw the ECWtravelogue revisit a few entries that have already appeared in the numerous London entries. Hampton Court Palace appears very briefly in the ECWtravelogue, with just a mention of the Toy Inn plaque at the entrance to the Palace.  A word of warning, Hampton Court is ridiculously expensive. Prices in the ticket office have an added voluntary donation (the small print says that you don't have to pay this if you don't want to, I'm sure that the vast majority of foreign tourists fall for this ruse). I would also recommend taking your own food and drink with you, to eat in the grounds. The cafes are best avoided unless you have just had a big lottery win (£12 for a pie! Just a pie, no sides, just the pie. Yes. really.) Think of Hampton Court and you immediately think of the great Tudor Palace that it once was. Whilst a good percentage of the Tudor buildings exist, most of the visitor accessible parts are from much later rebuilds. The Tudor...

What can I say about the Portland Collection at the Harley Gallery, on the Welbeck Abbey estate, near Worksop? Firstly, I must point out that photography is not allowed. At all.  Not even sneaky ones without flash, so you'll just have to take my word for what's there. The Harley Gallery is located in what has to be one of the nicest gallery buildings I have been to. A large airy gallery space houses portraits of Charles II as a boy, and William Cavendish first Duke of Newcastle by van Dyck.  Other Civil War era portraits include Sir William Farmor by  William Dobson; 'Mad Madge' the Duchess of Newcastle, and Sir Edward Harley both by Sir Peter Lely. Elsewhere there is a Newark siege coin, a number of Charles I medallions and Charles's toothpick and case. Highlight of the entire gallery has to be a drop pearl earring  worn by Charles in pretty much every one of his portraits (from the age of sixteen). A close second is the chalice that he drank from on the...

A bit of an afterthought it has to be said: Tate Britain leaves me, well a little underwhelmed to be brutally honest. However, what has piqued my interest is an exhibition of William Dobson's portraits. Dobson was held to be the finest English born portrait artist of his age, and became artist to the Charles's Royal Court in Oxford. He pretty much took over once Van Dyck was no longer on the scene. A small exhibition, which is on display until the end of this month, so you'll need to get a wiggle on if you want to see it. Dobson's most famous portrait of the Civil wars, Richard Neville Prince Rupert, Colonel William Legge and Colonel John Russell Quite like the detail in "Portrait of An Officer" Elsewhere in the gallery the 1540 gallery has a rather famous bust of Carolus Rex, which caused a little consternation to the pair of elderly visitors from the US who were very confused as to who it could be - they calmed down when I poli...

Please note: the National Portrait Gallery is closed for a major redevelopment, reopening in spring 2023.  A few days in town tramping the tourist trail made me wonder what does our capital have to show us about the Civil Wars? I shall start by looking at the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the immediate vicinity. First let's look at the National Gallery : this is a wonderful resource for researching clothing colours, you can see my thoughts and research  here . The National Gallery has a large collection of Van Dyck's portraits. His famous equestrian portrait of Charles is not currently on display, as they are currently renovating a number of the renaissance galleries: hopefully, this will soon be back on display. Currently there are a number of Van Dyck's portraits of the extended royal family on display, including: Prince Rupert The Stuart Brothers The National Portrait Gallery has a whole gallery devoted to the Civil War (and ...