Marleybone, The Wallace Collection, and Ian McKellen

Tuesday October 15 was the first day we had in London with more sun than cloud.  Only a five minute rain shower late in the afternoon.  High of 17C.

I took a picture from the bedroom window of Virginia Gardens, the lovely small park across from our Airbnb, which is on Virginia Road.

View from our flat

The outside of the building with our flat.  We are on the second floor (3rd floor in Canada).  Our Airbnb has the top balcony of the part of the building with the wood panelling and the middle two windows on the red brick part.  Our bedroom window has the blind half way up.  Quiet street and building.

We took the Tube to Bond Street and briefly checked out South Moulton Street, where there was quite a turnover in shops.  There were some great street furniture and colourful flags on the street.

South Moulton Street

We then crossed Oxford Street and started walking up Gee's Court and St. Christopher's Place (a very small alley with wonderful shops).  Our plan for the day, was a walk up Marleybone Lane and Marleybone High Street and then a visit to The Wallace Collection, a museum highly recommended by our artist host at the Airbnb.

Entrance to Gee's Court

We stopped at Workshop Coffee for our morning coffee.  Excellent choice.

Inside of Workshop Coffee

Allan giving Workshop the thumbs up

We made a brief stop at the Paul Smith store.  Allan was wearing a Paul Smith sweater he had bought in Dublin.

Allan wearing Paul Smith at Paul Smith store

We stopped at another favourite book store-- Daunt Books.  Its Marleybone branch is housed in a former Edwardian bookshop that opened in 1912.  It claims to be the first custom-built bookshop in London.  The bookstore was renamed Daunt Books in 1990, after being bought by former banker James Daunt.  It is a beautifully designed store.

Daunt Books in Marleybone

We stopped for a quick tuna baguette at Paul, the French bakery.

A quick stop at Paul 

Then it was on to Souli, a lovely café on one of the streets of Marleybone High Street.  It is the only café in the UK that serves Sant' Eustachio coffee which it imports from Rome.  We have fond memories of the coffee from our visit to Rome in 2012.  The last time we were in London, the café was closed.

Allan with his coffee beans and macchiato

Lots of coffee and treats

After some more window shopping, we went to the Wallace Collection.   The Wallace Collection is a national museum which displays incredible works of art collected in the 18th and 19th centuries by the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the son of the 4th Marquess.  It was bequeathed to the British nation by Sir Richard's widow, Lady Wallace in 1897.  It contains 5500 works of art. The collection is displayed at Hertford House, one of the family's London properties in the 19th century.  The Hertford family's association with the property began in 1797.

There are paintings by Rembrandt, Titian,  Canaletto, and Fragonard, and many Dutch masters in the collection along with furniture, clocks and armour, all displayed in sumptuous surroundings.  Among the treasures are an outstanding array of 18th century French art, many important 17th and 19th century paintings, medieval and Renaissance works of art.  It was opened to the public as a museum in 1900.  They are undergoing some outside renovations, so I couldn't get a good photo of the building.

Very recently, the Wallace Collection announced that it will loan works on a temporary basis for the first time in its 119 year history.  A decision was made the other day by the Charity Commission that the bequest did not forbid lending.  This means that new collaborations can be developed with other museums.

We were fortunate that a temporary exhibit entitled Enquiring Mind: Monolo Blahník at The Wallace Collection had been extended until October 27.  The Wallace Collection has long been a source of creative inspiration for Blahník in his shoe designs.  Blahník worked with the curators to select masterpieces from his archive and place them among the Wallace Collection's great works.

The Collection was incredible and we highly recommend a visit to the Wallace Collection.  The Blahník exhibit added another dimension, showing his inspiration from many sources of 18th and 19th century art.

Book cover for the Exhibit

At the entrance were a few drawings of Blahník's shoes-- he starts from drawings for all his designs.

Intro to the exhibit

The first few rooms we entered showcased the

paintings and furniture without Blahník's shoes.

Drawings

Mademoiselle de Chateau-Renaud- Nattier 1755

There were more than 25 rooms on two floors to visit.  Each room had signage.  For example the "Back State Room" would feature Rococo at the time of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour, the "Smoking Room" exhibited paintings and works of art from the Medieval and Renaissance periods, while the "Billiard Room" featured decorative arts under Louis XIV.

More that 25 rooms on two floors

Queen Victoria - Thomas Sully (1783-1872)

George IV as Prince of Wales- John Hoppner 1758-1810

Each room was spectacular

Furniture was a highlight

Blahník's Trellis shoes (2000) (he names all his shoes) sit amidst lush Boucher scenes

Small drawing Room: Commedia dell'Arte-- gorgeous shoe on the table (Margolotta 2013) -scenes of elegant people in the country by Watteau

The Music Party -. A. Watteau (1684-1721)

Wonderful displays of Blahník's shoes under glass cloches.

East Drawing Room- painting in 17th century Antwerp and Brussels

The displays were very clever

Titus, the Artist's Son- Rembrandt (1606-69)

A Dutch Lady M.J. Miervelt dated 1628

Self Portrait c. 1637- Rembrandt

The East Gallery II contained Dutch Pictures: Genre Scenes.

The Lace Maker - Caspar Netscher (1639-84) dated 1664.

Shoes in the "Great Gallery", which was built in 1872 as an extension of the house.  The room has a number of high quality 17th century paintings.

The Great Gallery- very long room

The Lady with a Fan - D. Valazquez (1599-1660)

Rembrandt and Studio- Jean Pellicorne and his Son Casper

Venice: The Bacino di San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore- Canaletto (1697-1768) c. 1735-44

A corner in one of the galleries

Lepanto (Davee) 2003

Miss Haverfield- T. Gainsborough (1727-88)

The Boudoir Cabinet houses the miniature arts of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Shoes placed right in the cabinets- Profumo 1996

They fit in very well

The Fountain of Love- J.H. Fragonard (1732-1806)

Shoes under The Swing - J.H. Fragonard

The Oval Drawing Room contained many Bouchers and Fragonards from the late 18th century

We spent a couple of hours at the Wallace Collection.  It was a real revelation---clearly the 1% lived extremely well in the 18th and 19th centuries.  The collection has a large number of outstanding paintings and it is well worth a visit.

It was getting to be dusk as we left the museum.  We wandered down Oxford Street and Regent Street into the theatre district.

Lovely light on the buildings on Regent Street

Beautiful evening

We had tickets to see Ian McKellen at the Harold Pinter Theatre.   We stopped for a small bite next door at Yori, a buzzy Korean spot.

At Yori-- they brought some appetisers and we had a spring onion pancake

Outside of the theatre

The play was a real tour de force.  McKellan, who just turned 80, was on the stage from 7:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. with only a 20 minute interval.  He read from Lord of the Rings, talked about getting into the theatre and the early regional theatre Companies he was part of.   He also talked about his contemporaries- Judi Dench, Albert Finney, Maggie Smith etc.  In the second act, he went through most of Shakespeare's plays with witty commentary on the plays generally and the roles he took on.   It was a wonderful event - totally sold out.  I think we got the last two tickets together when we booked earlier this week.

After the interval, he walked down one of the theatre aisles to the stage

Last scene- emerging from the box which held all his props

Last speech

In the lobby collecting donations for actors

We took the tube back to our 'hood.  We had been hoping to grab a bite at Smoking Goat where we ate the other night, but the kitchen closed at 11:00 p.m.   We settled for burgers at Hoi Poloi at the Ace Hotel, about a five minute walk from our flat.

I had a mushroom burger with avocado and Allan had a cheeseburger

It was a wonderful day in London.  Wednesday will be our last full day in London, before we head to Paris on Thursday.