Our first full day in London was mostly occupied with museums.
The National Gallery of Art sits on Trafalgar square. Its an impressive collection which one could spend hours in but two pieces particularly struck me.
The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci was an excellent piece. Though like most of da Vinci’s art it was swarmed by tourist it was still awing. It dates to the late 1400s, da Vinci was commissioned to create this for an altar in Church of San Francesco Grande in Milan.
Portrait of Adeline Ravoux by Vincent Van Gogh though not his most famous on display at the NGA is one of my favorites. It a piece he made one month before his death. Adeline Ravoux was the daughter of the inn keeper whose inn Van Gogh was staying at for a few months in Auvers-sur-Oise. What I like about this piece is it shows Van Gogh’s appreciation for everyone, he would make portraits of everyone no matter their status. Though he was misunderstood he was always kind.
In the afternoon we made our way to the British museum. This museum was over whelming in scale but their were a few things I was particularly drawn to.
First I have to mention the Rosetta stone. On the surface it is an unimpressive etched stone. But it was the key that cracked the code of Egyptian hieroglyphics which opened up the world of ancient Egypt. The stone itself is some sort of decree written in hieroglyphics, demotic, and greek. It was discovered by the French during Napoleons invasion of Egypt and after the French surrender the archeologists refused to handover the stone (at this point its significance was not entirely known). Its unclear how the stone ended up in British hands, there a few unverified stories, but eventually it did so I was able to see it in London
Also at the British museum were a few marble busts of philosophers including the one who started it all Socrates.
