Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Westminster (Borough of)

  • London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Damage to Downing Street)

    London – Lambeth – Imperial War Museum (Damage to Downing Street)

    I will, at some point, stop faffing about looking through the Imperial War Museum’s on-line photographic album, but these are interesting photos (well, I think) of damage done to Downing Street on 20 February 1944. A fleet of 200 German aircraft attacked London, killing 600 people and doing damage to numerous Government and residential buildings.

    Repairing the damage with ladders. This was towards the end of the bombings in London, the last Luftwaffe air raids were in May 1944.

    An annoying hole in the ceiling of the drawing room and that isn’t snow on the ground, it’s glass. The work of a sentryman had to continue though, so they made a path through the glass for him.

    The photographer at the time, Captain Horton, noted that although the window was blown out, the photograph of Winston Churchill was left intact.

    And thanks to the Imperial War Museum – © IWM H 36080 © IWM H 36081 © IWM H 36087 © IWM H 36091 © IWM H 36092 © IWM H 36088.

  • London – Westminster – Tate Britain (Portrait of Elizabeth Roydon by Hans Eworth)

    London – Westminster – Tate Britain (Portrait of Elizabeth Roydon by Hans Eworth)

    This painting of Elizabeth Roydon was completed in 1563 when she was aged 40. The artwork was painted by the Dutch-born Jan Eeuwowts, better known in English as Hans Eworth, and there are over 40 paintings by him that have survived. It’s not known for sure, but it may have been that Eworth was the court painter during the period of Queen Mary I’s reign between 1554 and 1558. Roydon was wearing all black as her second husband, Cuthbert Vaughan (1519-1563), had just died in a military engagement in Le Havre in France. She was though later to remarry a final time, to Sir Thomas Golding in 1564.

    This is beyond my art knowledge (as most things are), but the gallery notes that “the present painting is in extremely good condition for its age and, with its very fine brushstrokes, is carried out in a technique similar to that of a miniaturist. The translucency of the paint in the flesh areas means that the freely drawn underdrawing is now visible”.

    The heraldic arms in the corner of the painting were also added later on, for reasons likely related to wanting to prove some heritage line. The Tate acquired the artwork in 1972, when it was bequeathed to them by Miss Rachel Alexander and Miss Jean Alexander.

  • London – Westminster – Tate Britain (A Young Lady by Artist Unknown).

    London – Westminster – Tate Britain (A Young Lady by Artist Unknown).

    It’s not known who painted this artwork (given by the Friends of the Tate Gallery in 1961), which must be annoying as the Tate says that the same artist was thought to have had quite a body of work from the 1560s. It’s thought that the sitter was likely the Swedish-born Helena Snakenborg, later the Marchioness of Northampton, who was to be the chief mourner at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth I.

    The painting is also a reminder of the corset and bodice arrangement that was likely seen as a fashion necessity by women of wealth and prestige at this time. The artwork is from 1569 and, two years later, she married the Marquis of Northampton who was a fair bit older than her. The gallery notes that the carnation behind her ear was likely a symbol of that betrothal.

  • London – Westminster – Tate Britain (A Man in a Black Cap by John Bettes)

    London – Westminster – Tate Britain (A Man in a Black Cap by John Bettes)

    This is the oldest artwork in the Tate’s collections, painted by John Bettes (?-1570) in 1545. It’s not known who the sitter was, other than he was aged 26. Bettes was a court painter for King Henry VIII, so likely to have worked with Hans Holbein the Younger and records note that Catherine Parr paid Bettes for several of his paintings in miniature.

    The background was painted with smelt, a blue pigment, but this has over the centuries turned brown. Which isn’t ideal, although some Holbein’s paintings of King Henry VIII have avoided that fate and have retained their blue.

    It’s only through this painting that anything at all of use is known about John Bettes, as he wrote on the back of the artwork “done by John Bettes, Englishman”. This, along with the 1545 date on the front of the painting, meant that a few other artworks could be credited to Bettes as well. His son, John Bettes the Younger (?-1616) also became an artist who worked in London.

    The Tate acquired this artwork in 1897 and it’s oil painted onto oak.

  • London – Westminster – Victoria Railway Station

    London – Westminster – Victoria Railway Station

    Just photos, but this is a snapshot of Victoria railway station in August 2020, so when things are meant to be back to some sort of normality. They’re clearly not, with fewer passengers and most food outlets are still shut…..

  • London – Westminster – Lord Moon of the Mall Closed

    London – Westminster – Lord Moon of the Mall Closed

    The Lord Moon of the Mall has closed this summer, the only JD Wetherspoon outlet in the country that I knew that had a pub sign with the face of Tim Martin on it. I had thought that this was an odd size for a Wetherspoons as it’s quite small, but I’m surprised they gave up on it given its prominent location on Whitehall.

    The pub is becoming a McMullen’s operated venue and it appears that they actually purchased the freehold a few years ago in 2015. I assume that JD Wetherspoon have done a deal to move out for a reasonable cost as McMullen’s believe that they can make money by operating the site themselves, although I suspect that might be a challenging trading environment given how small it is.

    The building was the former banking hall of Cocks, Biddulph & Company and was used as a bank until 1992, when Barclays Bank moved out.