Forde Abbey, in Somerset, is the perfect example of a living evolving building. It has seen much change in the last eight hundred years and is still very much alive as a family residence and an example of our national heritage. There was probably a building here before the Cistercian monks arrived in the twelfth…
Medieval Wall Paintings in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire.
Last week we visited the village of Kelmscott and found the wall paintings in St George’s Chapel. The church, a modest limestone building from the fourteenth century, standing quietly beside the Thames meadows is one of the most atmospheric small churches in the county. Its simplicity is part of its charm: a building that has…
Kew Gardens, The Palm House and Art Galleries
Last week we visited Kew Gardens. This was not our first visit but we concentrated on the Palm House this time as it will soon close for a major refurbishment. Decimus Burton and Richard Turner unveiled this astonishing iron‑and‑glass cathedral of the tropics in London in the 1840s. Even now, the great curving ribs overhead…
The Istanbul Modern
Istanbul is a city we have been meaning to visit for years and we finally arrived a few days ago. But what to write about. The architecture of the old city is amazing from the Byzantine Hagia Sofia to the seventeenth century Blue Mosque. But I have chosen the Museum of Modern Art a few…
Sandro Botticelli and The Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus could be regarded as one of the most iconic paintings in Western Art, but is not without controversy. I have chosen it as my painting of the month for January for a number of reasons. Firstly it is also iconic for its representation of a new beginning; Venus appears from the sea at…
White Box Art Channel 