On the final day of the first half of term, we welcomed as our speaker at Senior House Assembly Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square for the past ten years. Dr Finaldi’s talk focussed on three paintings on view in the National Gallery: Luiz Meléndez’ Still Life with Oranges and Walnuts, painted in 1772, Hans Holbein the Younger’s The Ambassadors, painted in 1533, and Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait, painted in 1434.
We learnt that an x-ray of the Still Life painting had revealed that it had originally been a portrait of King Charles III of Sweden. With regard to the Holbein painting, our attention was drawn to the rich apparel of the figures and also to the strange elongated skull at the bottom of the painting. When viewed from a particular angle, it appeared as a normal skull, thus serving as a reminder that worldly wealth is merely transitory. The Arnolfini Portrait also featured richly adorned characters. Here, our attention was drawn to a tiny detail, where the artist is reflected in a mirror.
There were a great many questions from pupils both during and after the talk. Dr Finaldi ended by exhorting everyone to visit the National Gallery to see the originals of the paintings which had formed the subject of the talk. With Half Term following on immediately from the talk, there will be more than enough opportunity for this!
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