Today was Giulia's first proper session (other than the Audubon field trip) and as it was just the two of us I thought she would not mind returning to a previous theme in a familiar setting.
Last time I was studying people in the National Gallery it did not go very well. But every difficult session is educational and I hoped I might have a more positive experience this time.
Initially I didn't follow anyone around but instead decided to explore parts of the gallery I had skipped over last time in order to tail my prey.
I also spent a good 10% of my writing time perusing the shop...but hey, I'm human.
We skipped the five minute task; it's difficult to observe people quickly and then read your observations within their earshot and not get evicted, or punched.
Wandering around I was more aware this time of the renovation work going on and the crowded walls.
Lots of good stuff is in storage and I was particularly sorry to miss out on the Bruegals while there were new (slightly meh) acquisitions on display.
Guess what this is a picture of...>>>
Of course, it's Roslin Chapel!
Anyway, moaning aside, there are plenty of iconic Scottish pictures to see.
The Monarch of the Glen is huge, not just the picture but the stag. Is that the point? Was Landseer so close he was about to be crushed? Where are its hooves?
I know, she's still moaning.
It is mightily impressive though, and having been within two feet of a red deer stag, eye level with its antlers, he has done a good job of replicating the awe-inspiring power of the beast.
Another favourite that I somehow missed last time is Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch.
There's nothing I don't like about this image. The upright figure, the comic stance, the seriousness. It's fantastic. I don't even mind that it is so popular.
In particular I love that it seems that Henry Raeburn painted it for his own amusement!
Though he eventually gifted it to the reverend's widow.
Main task
Eventually I found my people and I found the object they were entranced by. How could they not be? How could anyone not be?
"Are you ready Margaret?" Asked a lady, dressed in Jenners' tweeds and with a neat walking stick that she handled so lightly it could not have been baring much of her weight.
Margaret dragged her head away from the painting to look at her friend. "Nearly June," she replied evenly and turned back to the painting.
The light tap tap of the cane growing fainter indicated that June was moving away.
Margaret's trainers squeaked a little in spite of the carpet. She pulled her bag strap up her shoulder, rustling her Asda raincoat and gazed back at the painting.
Margaret met Lady Agnew's gaze, the relaxed, almost post coital, pose of confidence, money, status. Her heart pounded, her skin tingled, her cheeks felt flushed. She half laughed to herself; she wasn't a teenager anymore, she was nearly 80 years old and yet she felt a thrill looking at this painting like she never had before.
Why? The fabrics were more luxurious than any Margaret had felt in her life, the dress like a cloud of silk, better than even Margaret's wedding dress and the wall hangings, of aqua floral satin, left her awed. But still it was none of these, it was Lady Agnew herself; her expression was power, control and Margaret absorbed it.
"We need to leave now." June said tersely, once more tap tapping at her side. "My bus is coming." It wasn't a question or an entreaty and as she turned to leave Margaret stopped her well-to-do friend.
"You go June," she said. "I am going to stay a little longer." She picked up her Primark bag and went back round the circuit to the shop; she wanted to buy a postcard of Lady Agnew and no one was going to stop her.
The painting of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw is stunning. It launched John Singer Sargent's career. A gorgeous study of light and luxury fabrics. But undoubtedly the appeal of it today is not its opulence but its subject. How Lady Agnew faces the world, embodying confidence and poise but in a relaxed and not very Victorian seductive reclining pose. She's inviting us in but she could at any moment raise her hand and tell us to back off.
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