There were still men on ladders in the V&A museum in South Kensington, London, this morning, as the public were allowed into the new Medieval and Renaissance Galleries for the first time. They are still putting the finishing touches to one of the most important medieval collections on display in the country, perhaps in Europe.
The reviews have been exceptional - both the Times and the Telegraph have lauded the galleries with 5* ratings. I visited for an hour and half or so (stolen from writing time) this morning. It was enough to get a flavour of the collection there; I will be back tomorrow for a more in-depth viewing.
First impressions are that the press hype is justified. The Galleries are not just enormous and magnificently stocked, they are also stunningly beautiful. The bulk of the pieces I saw today are Italian C15th/C16th, and there is a clear story to be read among the collection of the relationship between the High Middle Ages and the art and culture of late Latin antiquity.
Individual highlights seen today:
- a stunning silver reliquary of the martyrdom of St Sebastian, by Hans Holbein the Elder, from 1497. A glass panel on the back shows the relic intact within, wrapped in silk. Likely to be shafts of the arrows that did for poor old Seb.
- a processional cross in gold and silver from around 1350, northern Italy.
- a tiny Leonardo da Vinci notebook, with an interactive flick-through terminal next to it.
- a mock 14th-century knightly brass in the floor for kids to take rubbings from
These are just a few of the pieces that caught my eye. I also had a lovely conversation with a lady who lectures in history of art and illuminated manuscripts in the Dorset area. We swapped opinions on the strange beasties of medieval marginalia, and their place in the medieval mind.
Utterly mesmerising. I cannot recommend these galleries highly enough. I will Twitpic a few snaps taken on my Blackberry, and put some better pics up tomorrow.
Canterbury, NY
I have subscribed to the New Yorker for a few years now. (Friday afternoons, I usually take that and the Speccie to the pub. They’re good reading partners, despite the difference in political outlook and tone.)
There’s not a whole lot of good stuff on medieval history covered in the New Yorker, so this week it was with some delight I read this piece by Joan Acocella about Geoffrey Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales. Well worth a look, although I’m afraid the link I’ve provided only directs to an abstract of the much-longer article. You’ll have to subscribe to get the full thing. (Or maybe wait awhile? Sometimes they put stuff up after a delay of a few weeks.)
Poor old Peter Ackroyd, a writer I very much admire, takes a bit of a kicking from Acocella for his free-handed retelling of the Tales. I doubt he minds very much. If he does, he shouldn’t. Granted, the combination of a prose rendition and Ackroyd’s pottymouthed generosity with modern profanity gives his version of the tales a very different feel to the original. The poetry is literally lost in translation. But then, isn’t all poetry? If you want to inhale the spirit of Chaucer, just read the original. Middle English ain’t that hard, and every decent verse edition out there has extensive footnotes to help you along the way.
Ackroyd’s book, as it says quite pointedly in the title, is a retelling. It’s a spirited modern take, and a good introduction both to Ackroyd and to Chaucer.
Anyway, subscribe to the New Yorker, read the piece and have a very Merry Christmas.