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Saturday, December 3, 2011

London Retrospective: Room 55, The National Gallery


Invariably The National Gallery is one of my first stops when in London. The Sainsbury Wing, added in 1991, focuses on early Renaissance Art. This facet of the collection has had a profound affect on my own work since my first visit in 1993.

Within the extensive Sainsbury Wing is the relatively miniscule Room 55. For my partner Shane and I it is the beating heart of the National Gallery. Its most famous inhabitant is Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434 - a fine picture to be sure.  But these are my own favourites:

From top: 
Robert Campin, A Man and a Woman, c 1435
Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, A Man Reading, c 1450
Jan van Eyck, Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) 1433
Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, Portrait of a Lady, c 1464
Rogier van der Weyden, The Magdalen Reading, before 1438