Headed for the Royal Academy on Friday to deliver my entry for their Summer Exhibition this year, narrowly avoiding a camera crew (ugh) who were hanging around outside 6 Burlington snagging hapless artisic grannies for a pithy quote.
Chore over, swung by Tate Britain for their Van Dyck exhibition. As anyone who knows me will know, I have a real soft spot for that royal Stuart big hai-moustache-and-lace-collar look, so this was a treat for me. It made me have to go home and watch Restoration.
The thing I love about Van Dyck is that all his people look like real people. I’m aware that sounds silly: of course they’re real people. Charles I in particular was very real. It’s hard to chop the head off someone insubstantial.
What I mean is, they all have unmistakeable personality. It’s not just a soulless rendition: if the sitter is bored, they look it: if they were a little nervous, they look it: if they were amused, they defintely look it. It’s a talent I really wish I could emulate…that and his ability with folds in cloth.
However, art may have to wait for a bit, as I’m concentrating on doing a few little updates to my website (it’s embarrassing, working with the web as I do, that I haven’t updated it more often).
