Here are some of my favorite artwork's from the gallery! Of course they are just pictures from the internet since photography was not allowed :) But I did get a little book of all the artwork so I can teach my kids about them someday! :)
Jan Van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride, 1434
This one was my absolute favorite because of how much detail there is! Before we left we learned about all of the symbols and their meanings from this painting so when I actually got to see it in person and know what they meant it was so cool! This painting was not very large but it was extremely detailed! Jan Van Eyck used oil paint and painted bright colors. This painting was showing their marriage and the roles of men and women. A man's role was to go out and work which is why he is closer to the window. And a woman's role was to give birth and do housework, which is why she is close to the bed and their is a small broom on the bed. The woman looks pregnant because it was a trend back then to look pregnant. The dog symbolizes loyalty. The shoes symbolize that their marriage is holy. The mirror represents that God is watching, and around it there are tiny paintings of Christ's life. One lit candle represents the light of Christ. On the wall the artist signed "Jan Van Eyck was here" and he even painted his reflection in the mirror (the guy in the red turban) resembling that he witnessed the marriage. This painting has so many more symbols behind it which is why I love it! :)
Holbein the Younger, The French Ambassadors, 1533
This one was so cool to see in person! It was huge! The guy on the left is Jean (French for John) Dinteville and the guy on the right is Georges de Selve. There was tension between England and France during this time and so the broken string on the lute resembled disharmony. On the very top left corner of the painting (you can't see it in this one but you can in the real one) there a small figurine of Christ on a cross. All the things around them resemble that they are wealthy, educated, and well traveled. I really enjoyed this one because if you stood on the side of the painting and looked up from the ground you could see the skull perfectly! This one was definitely amazing to see in person!
Here are some more of the many paintings I saw :)
Leonardo da Vinci, Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, 1500
Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo, The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, 1475
Carvaggio, Supper at Emmaus, 1601
After wandering the gallery for 2 hours working on our homework assignment and enjoying the art we kinda decided to take a little trip to try and find this one store...well we only had an hour before we had to meet for a group tour so we rushed on the tube to another station and frantically couldn't find it anywhere so we decided it would be best to get back to the gallery so we weren't late. We got back on the tube and made it back safely. We decided it would be our little secret that we left :) haha when we got back we ate at this place called Pret. It was soooo good, probably one of the best meals I've had here! After that we went to the gift shop and then met the group at 2:30 for a tour. Courtney went through the gallery with us and taught us more about the paintings which was would have been nice to have done before we actually looked at them haha but oh well! We got done around 4:00 and headed back to our flat. We went to the grocery store and bought some food. We bought Cheerios, Frosties (which are Frosted Flakes), milk, bread, pasta, Diet Coke, and LOTS of chocolate. Let's just say it's been one of those days ;) haha
We had to meet up with the group at 5:30 to head to the Globe Theatre. It was pouring rain and freezing cold! We got on a train, got to the theatre, and had to wait in a line an hour to get in the theatre. It was so cold that everyone went and got hot chocolate from Starbucks. While waiting in the line we did the Ooompa Loompa work out and the Shakespeare Shake :) Oh the things you can do when you are in London ;) Then we finally got in and it was still pouring. We were right up by the stage, standing, in the freezing cold. It started at 7:30 and so I stood in the freezing cold, dripping wet, and had no clue what they were saying. Shakespeare doesn't really make sense to me haha so we finally left after 45 minutes :)
We got back to the flat and Lauren and I were the only ones there so we turned on music and had a dance party while making dinner :) we weren't really paying attention to the stove and so it boiled over and the stove had lots of "E's" on it so we thought that meant emergency. We thought we were going to start the place on fire! Luckily we didn't and our meal was very good :) Then we got ready for bed and I worked on some homework. I can't believe tomorrow is Wednesday! Time is flying by and I still feel like there is so much to do! Only one more week in London and then I'm off to Brussels!
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