At the end of our Italian travels and before returning home to Vancouver from London what could be a better way to spend a day than by visiting three of my favourite galleries and being re-aquanted with some of my favourite paintings. My love for Impressionism and the Impressionists began as a fifteen year old schoolboy on a school outing to the Courtauld Gallery, so naturally our first stop was to Somerset House where the Gallery now resides.
 
Since this week’s Photo Challenge from The Daily Post asks us to “…share a peek of something — a photo that reveals just enough of your subject to get us interested. A tantalizing detail. An unusual perspective. Compel us to click through to your post to find out more!” I thought I would tantalize you with a selective peek at some of the Courtault’s finest that I photographed that day…
 

…before revealing the paintings in all their glory.

 
Here are their titles with links to some of them for those of you who would like to “find out more”.
 
LA LOGE – Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1874,   THE PASSERS-BY – Raoul Dufy 1906, SELF-PORTRAIT WITH BANDAGED EAR – Vincent van Gogh 1889, LANDSCAPE WITH DEAD WOOD – Maurice de Vlaminck 1906, A BAR AT THE FOLIES-BERGERE – Edouard Manet 1881, ADAM AND EVE – Lucas Cranach the Elder 1526, ROUTE TOURNANTE – Paul Cézanne 1904, THE WHITE BOAT, ANTWERP – Georges Braque 1906, HORSES IN THE WATER – Georges Seurat 1883.
 
Then it was off to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Cézanne Portraits exhibition and a visit with Richard the Third, Queen Elizabeth the First and even the Bard himself, William Shakespeare.
 

Finally, it was time for the highlights of the day at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square:
 

 
Leonardo da Vinci’s The Virgin of the Rocks, 1491, with my favourite sublime portrait of the accompanying angel.
 

Isn’t she beautiful?

And in the same room, Raphael’s magnificent The Ansidei Madonna, 1505…
 

 
…together with Michelangelo’s unfinished The Madonna and Child with St John and Angels, 1497
 

It was quite a day as you can see, and after our Italian holiday what better way to finish than by visiting Room 38 to see Canaletto’s Venice: The Upper Reaches of the Grand Canal with S. Simeone Piccolo
 

 

I hope you have enjoyed peeking over my shoulder on our memorable day London.