Advent Calendar: Day 11

Christmas Fan Alice Loch 1881 Royal Collection

Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden

I went to this charming exhibition on a sunny day last weekend and left feeling rather spellbound. The curators have done a beautiful job, the deep colors on the walls, the urns from Hampton Court flanking the entrance and the mini pergola set up within the first room to house the paintings all set the scene wonderfully. And that's all without taking into account the extraordinary array of works on display.

The exhibition takes you through the history of garden design with sections such as the Renaissance garden, the botanical garden and the landscape garden among others. It shows how men and women have interacted and used gardens for leisure, scientific study or to impress foreign courts and it celebrates the pivotal role they play in our existence.

The Royal Collection is rich in objects and for this exhibition they have been drawn from all mediums alongside numerous paintings, prints and sculptures there are ceramics, pieces of jewellery, original books and even a wheelbarrow.

The first work that really captured my attention was this wonderful Jan Breugels the Elder's Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

In the painting the actual figures of Adam and Eve are pushed away and placed in a clearing in the background, they are almost the last thing you see. The scene has been used instead as the perfect excuse to demonstrate Breugel's creative prowess and knowledge of botany and natural history. In the Bible it is written that much like Noah's ark there were male and female counterparts of every animal in the Garden of Eden.

The joy of this painting is spotting the different animals seeing where the artist has understood and portrayed the difference between the two genders and looking at his attempts to paint the more exotic animals he would never have actually seen. Breugel, despite not being well traveled himself, would had a good knowledge of animals because he was able to study the menagerie of animals kept at the court of the Archdukes in Brussels and the zoological library and even larger menagerie of Rudolf II.

It's a captivating work with seemingly endless engrossing details such as the Macaws sitting in the tree, the dogs arguing with the ducks or the little guinea pigs in the bottom right all set in a lush verdant landscape.

From the paradise gardens, courtly gardens, fantastical gardens and early experiments with garden design we rapidly progress to the full blown decorative and ornamental gardens of the 18th Century. Naturally many of the images are of the elaborate gardens of the Royal Palaces such as St James, Kensington and Windsor. 

The painting above by Leonard Knyff is a spectacular example of these it shows us the extensive buildings and grounds at Hampton Court. It reveals the contrasts within the grounds. There is a semi circular elaborately patterned and gated garden with beautiful vistas towards the palace facade and decorative fountains. This is surrounded by large fields divided by lines of trees and which on closer inspection are full to the brim with deer. On the right the artist has of course included the famous maze using the aerial viewpoint of the painting to show it to it's best advantage.

Detail from Leonard Knyff's painting of Hampton Court

But it is not just the paintings that steal the show there are also exquisite and often one of a kind objects throughout the show. Through the ages the Royal family have often had the best of things so you can expect to see handcrafted faberge pieces, Porcelain services made exclusively as elaborate gifts for the family or dramatic pieces commissioned by them directly.

One that I found very touching was this gorgeous headdress from the orange blossom parure.

It was a set that Prince Albert gradually gave to Queen Victoria during their marriage. The tradition started with one of his first gifts to her, an orange blossom brooch at the time of their betrothal then around Christmas in 1845 he gave her earrings and another matching brooch and finally on their wedding anniversary in 1846 he gave her this tiara to crown the set. Orange Blossom evidently had a sentimental significance to the pair as Queen Victoria wore sprigs of real orange blossom in her hair and on her bodice on their wedding day as you can see in this painting of  Victoria in her wedding gown by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.

I could have spent hours wandering around and exploring the endless details in the works and I fully intend to return using the one year pass scheme on the ticket.

I would recommend booking as the exhibitions in the Queens Gallery get booked up very quickly during the summer opening of the State Rooms.

In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion

The recent exhibitions at The Queen’s Gallery including the astronomically popular Leonardo exhibition last summer have demonstrated that this gallery is capable of some stimulating exhibitions packed full of the most interesting works of art from the Royal Collection. 

This recent offering focuses on the costumes of the Tudor and Stuart monarchy and their court. It combines paintings with examples of the original clothes which brings the paintings to life and demonstrates the high standards and intricacy that was expected from artisans and artist alike.

The exhibition shows that just like in the fashion world today the most famous men and women wanted to be at the cutting edge taking inspiration from their contemporaries at home and on the continent. We can see the array of materials, jewels and styles that the royals and the aristocracy used to assert their taste and status. All carefully observed and painted by the court artists favoured at the time such as Sir Peter Lely, Hans Holbein and Sir Antony Van Dyck.

One of the most interesting works has to be the portrait of Charles I by Van Dyck. The king is painted from three angles because the painting was to be sent abroad to a sculptor who would have required a likeness to work from. 

To the right of the painting is a delicate original lace collar similar to the one worn by Charles. It is nice to be able to compare the way that the artist has painted the collar with how it would have originally looked as it forces us to see the degree of fidelity to the original that the artist was practicing. Of course the collar in the display case is not the exact one in the painting, in fact the King wears three different outfits in the painting probably intending to give the sculptor plenty of choice as well as showing off the breadth of his wardrobe. 

To a modern viewer being shown in three different outfits in one painting does not seem so impressive but the costs of fine clothes in that era where far and away beyond our modern day prices. This is particularly clear when we look at some of the representations of the Tudor and Stuart women in their elaborate get ups. Such as the frankly ostentatious apparel of Lady Anne of Denmark (the cover girl for this exhibition). It is clear that no expense has been spared on this dress and that every intricate detail has been pointed out to the painter who in turn points it out to the viewer.

The award for the most amusing painting has to go to The game of ‘Lady come into the garden’ by Godfreid Schalcken. A game which seems to essentially be a ye olde worldy strip poker. Make sure you find this one to have a little laugh but don't forget to look at the beautiful rendering of the tapestry on the drawn back curtain.

There is also a very clever little exhibition publication entitled Robe magazine which is a mock-up of a fashion magazine from 1667 including quirky features on some of the works in the exhibition. At £3.95 it is a fun accompaniment to the exhibition.

So enjoy but don't forget to book!