Monday, October 06, 2008
Toad
BH excelled herself yesterday with a very fine toad in the hole. The hole part of the operation well risen, crusty without being burnt, around the edges and soft in the middle. Only slightly marred by Mr S thinking it necessary to put herbs in his posh sausages, despite putting a reasonable amount of meat in. A recent custom, which seems to have been adopted by even posh sausage makers, which I would do without. A good sausage needs no E-numbers, herbal or otherwise.
As far as culture went, Florence was just what it said on the tin. There was pots of it. And pots of it outside of the crowded Uffizi. Although the crowds in this last were much ameliorated by it being laid out with picture hanging rooms being arranged off big galleries - long and wide - in which one would recuperate. Rather like an Elizabethan long gallery. They even had seats. (I find in the OED that of the 12 main meanings of gallery, most have to do with the long gallery sort of gallery and only one was an art gallery, the dominant use of the word today. Presumably by extension from the days when said Elizabethans used to put their family portraits in such places. I think the Italians use museo indifferantly for an art gallery or a museum).
Perhaps the most notable single work, was the Madonna in the box in Orsanmichele. A painting of the Madonna, in a full-on tabernacle, in what was not but what has become a holy place. A holy painting in its proper place - something which was missing from the warming up experiences in the National Gallery. One could see how one might have a religious experience while confronted by such a thing. We learn afterwards, from an extremely fat guidebook (perhaps half a cubic foot), that it is the most perfect example of such a thing extant.
And the second, was a small church in Pistoia, I think called 'Cappella del Tau'. A very old place which had fallen into disuse, then private hands, but which has more recently been turned in to a museum of modern sculpture (not my sort of thing) with the frescos restored. I felt I was really getting a sense of what a full fresco chapel might have looked like when it was new. Tremendous use of the recently invented perspective painting to make the rather spare vaulting blend into a far grander and more fantastic architectural whole. There was a lot of this sort of thing in Florence, but for me, this was the best example.
Both these places, like nearly all the churches in Florence, were free. Makes up for what seemed like heavy prices in bars and restaurants.
Pistoia, for a relatively small place, had a lot to offer. The cathedral, for example, had a tremendous apse behind the altar. A blue domed affair with arches. The best example of its kind that I have seen. Achieved a lightness that our own St Pauls comes no where near.
As far as culture went, Florence was just what it said on the tin. There was pots of it. And pots of it outside of the crowded Uffizi. Although the crowds in this last were much ameliorated by it being laid out with picture hanging rooms being arranged off big galleries - long and wide - in which one would recuperate. Rather like an Elizabethan long gallery. They even had seats. (I find in the OED that of the 12 main meanings of gallery, most have to do with the long gallery sort of gallery and only one was an art gallery, the dominant use of the word today. Presumably by extension from the days when said Elizabethans used to put their family portraits in such places. I think the Italians use museo indifferantly for an art gallery or a museum).
Perhaps the most notable single work, was the Madonna in the box in Orsanmichele. A painting of the Madonna, in a full-on tabernacle, in what was not but what has become a holy place. A holy painting in its proper place - something which was missing from the warming up experiences in the National Gallery. One could see how one might have a religious experience while confronted by such a thing. We learn afterwards, from an extremely fat guidebook (perhaps half a cubic foot), that it is the most perfect example of such a thing extant.
And the second, was a small church in Pistoia, I think called 'Cappella del Tau'. A very old place which had fallen into disuse, then private hands, but which has more recently been turned in to a museum of modern sculpture (not my sort of thing) with the frescos restored. I felt I was really getting a sense of what a full fresco chapel might have looked like when it was new. Tremendous use of the recently invented perspective painting to make the rather spare vaulting blend into a far grander and more fantastic architectural whole. There was a lot of this sort of thing in Florence, but for me, this was the best example.
Both these places, like nearly all the churches in Florence, were free. Makes up for what seemed like heavy prices in bars and restaurants.
Pistoia, for a relatively small place, had a lot to offer. The cathedral, for example, had a tremendous apse behind the altar. A blue domed affair with arches. The best example of its kind that I have seen. Achieved a lightness that our own St Pauls comes no where near.
# posted by Jim @ 4:28 AM 
