National Gallery and British Museum

 

After an overnight flight to London we arrived at our hotel about noon. It is the second building on the right and is in a very quiet area in an alley and only 2 blocks from Covent Garden.



On our first day of sightseeing we went to the National Gallery and the British Museum. In the National Gallery we followed a chronological tour, beginning with the medieval Wilton diptych from 1395.

 

Venus and Mars, about 1485, Sandro Botticelli.



 

The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434, Jan van Eyck.



 

An example from the Renaissance is the Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo in 1500.

 

Some examples of the Northern Protestant Art of the 1600's are two Vermeers.

 

 

A Rembrandt Self-Portrait at the Age of 24.

 

A Rembrandt Self-Portrait at the age of 63.

 

A Rembrandt.

 

 

From the 1600s Baroque Period we saw Caraveggio's Supper at Emmaus.

 

 

From the British Romantic Art of the early 1800s we saw Constable's Hay Wain.

 

and The Fighting Temeraire by Joseph Mallord William Turner.

 

 

From Impressionism beginning in 1860 we saw Monet's The Thames Below Westminster.

  We wandered around the museum a bit longer and enjoyed it so much we returned later for a second visit.

 

After a short break we walked to the British Museum. The first thing we saw there was the Rosetta Stone.

 

 

A large Egyptian section had a statue of Ramesses II.

 

 

There were long halls with large Assyrian panels. This one shows an Assyrian capture of fortress in Egypt.

 

 

Of particular interest to us was the black obelisk of Shalmaneser III since it contains one of the few references to Biblical figures outside the Bible itself.

 

 

The top panel shows the Biblical King Jehu (841 BC) of the House of Omri giving tribute to Shalmaneser III.

 

 

The next point of interest was the Parthenon Gallery. This photo is of the left side of the pediment,

 

 

The right side of the pediment.

 

 

Some of the frieze.

 

 

More of the frieze.

 

 

We also saw many Greek vases such as this black-figured vase of a foot race with four runners.

 

 

A red-figured Greek vase of Odysseus and the Sirens.

 

 We also saw more Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Mycenean objects but eventually tired and walked back to the hotel for some rest and dinner. Tomorrow we will go to the Victoria and Albert Museum.