Dusseldorf’s delights: Elector John William

I’d booked an earlier than usual flight into Dusseldorf (working the next day) in the hope of visiting The Museum of Art: Kunstpalast.

Flight confirmed, the Kunstpalast website advised they were closed on Mondays (!)

It was a lovely warm afternoon so I went to Tourist Information and obtained a subway map and street plan and caught the metro to the Alt Stadt. The focal point of the Old Town is the Marktplatz where you'll find the imposing Town Hall (Rathaus)

I made a drawing of the large equestrian statue of Elector* John William II (1658 -1716), which was erected in 1711. He was born in Düsseldorf. 

The Jesuits educated John William, (never a bad thing in those days). and in 1674 he made a grand tour to Italy. Soon after Europe was absorbed in the Nine Years' War 1688–97

And then after  the War of the Spanish succession Johann Wilhelm also received the Bavarian Upper Palatinate.  He died in Düsseldorf and was buried in the St. Andreas Church (a sweet baroque fancy) not far from where this drawing was made.

*He was of those having the privilege of electing the Holy Roman Emperor.

  

Fence & Frost

A lovely lovely fence

A week or so back I was again with cycling chum Ricardo.

We were making our way from Cookham to Maidenhead. The decision was made to go along the Thames Path on the south side of the river, the Berkshire bank. After some fuss we found it. 

And halfway towards Maidenhead we ‘pulled over’ to chat to fellow travellers. Then I spotted this lovely fence. Actually it appeared to be three pieces of ironwork laid against one another. A drawing had to be made.

"Good fences make good neighbours." – a proverb quoted by Robert Frost in the poem "Mending Wall".   

Robert Frost is the closest we get to a local cultural champion here in Beaconsfield. The poet saw the sign of A.C. Frost estate agents when he alighted from the train in 1912. He went on to rent a bungalow in Reynolds Road from Alfred Frost.

A garden in the gallery

The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace has a lovely show but soon to finish!

‘Gardens are where man and nature meet’ is the opening sentence in one of the displays comprising Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden.

This delightfully curated exhibition reveals the way in which gardens have been celebrated in art across four centuries.  Paintings, botanical studies, drawings, books, manuscripts and decorative arts make this a rich experience. My favourite pieces were a pair of sundials, almost ignored by others, desperate to get close to all this gorgeous fare.

We enjoyed works by Leonardo da Vinci, Maria Sibylla Merian and Carl Fabergé, and some of the earliest and rarest surviving depictions of gardens and plants.

The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace - super sundials

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

Since the Orford Ness report several people have been asking to see the photographs taken by Trevor.
Well here is the link!  Click here:)

Stunning pictures and I am hoping to persuade Trevor to make our other trips: Canvey Island, Dungeness, Jaywick and Shotley available this way!

Staging  Posts 

Wigfach: a Romanesque gem

Deep in a valley the 11C gem of St Donat’s,

Another blessing from the Norman occupation.  

A perfect Norman arch leads us up chancel steps,

To acceptable Victorian stained glass.

Outside the sun is high,

Two calvary crosses hallow the churchyard.

Through a small archway,

We come onto a long, broad, grass terrace,
A secret lawn,

Perhaps once the field for jousting?

It lies just below the high battlement of St Donat’s Castle.

Wigfach is a tiny village of twelve cottages close by the Happy Valley Caravan Park, 
situated between Porthcawl and Bridgend in South Wales.