“More Tales from the City”

James visited Manchester art gallery yesterday (Wednesday) – achieving a full tour this time instead of being turfed out at closing time having only seen a bit of it.

Walking there from the boat there’s always time to appreciate some of the city’s lovely buildings, both old and new.  The relatively new Bridgwater Hall, home of the Halle Orchestra, looks across Barbarolli Square ……..

……. towards the much older, solid and magnificent (I’m not going anywhere soon) Midland Hotel with ………

……. some of its enormous amount of detail being a work of art in itself.

Even the back of the Town Hall is a joy. (There’s a lot of work going on in Albert Square so the front view isn’t so accessible at the moment)

Anyway, Manchester’s art gallery has some very special pieces and there’s always something to ponder over on each visit. Works by Rossetti – this one is “Astarte Syriaca” 1877.  Many of his works feature his friend’s wife Jane Morris ….

….. Joseph Faquharson – (top) “When the West with Evening Glows” 1901 and (bottom)  “The Sun Had Closed the Winter’s Day” 1904.  Lovely Christmas card stuff!

A couple of JMW Turners – this one “Now for the Pointer” and like everything Turner did, has the most amazing light quality.

There was even a Banksy! Known for his graffiti, and tucked beneath a great master, this one’s called “We Love You” and is one of his most famous.  It’s a strange world!

The gallery’s main entrance and staircase is very beautiful and, ……

…… in the very modern part of the building (bolted on at the back), are some lovely Dutch ‘interiors’.  This one is “Kitchen Interior with Man Bringing Fish for Sale”.  It’s a comedy of errors as the maid has done wrong by letting the fish seller in.  The basket of fish has toppled over and spilt the fish on the floor and the cat has taken advantage of all the confusion.  Painted in exquisite detail.

If you have three hours to spare you can watch this very clever digital ‘still life’ with opening, dying and dropping flowers with moving clouds.  James didn’t stay!

Of the sculptures, James appreciated this Queen’s Head made from flowers and cheap trinkets …….

…… and this cast of Rodin’s  “The Age of Bronze”.  The original was cast in 1877 but this was commissioned by the gallery in 1911.

Art aside, we had another terrific end to a great day when friends Pawel and Lewis (nb One thing after another) came aboard for drinks.

Their dog “Edward” is never happier than when he’s on someone’s lap …….

……. and as the evening moved on, and everyone had forgotten about eating, we decided we’d better order in a pizza …….

….. which was followed by cheese and biscuits and a selection of nightcaps.  Pawel and Lewis went back to their boat at about 1:30 in the morning.  A great evening guys!