In 1592 Lord Howard of Effingham commissioned a series of ten tapestries to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish Armada (he was Lord High Admiral at the time). In 1616 he sold them to King James 1 for £1,628. By 1660 the tapestries had moved to the Royal Palace of Westminster, where they hung in the then House of Lords Chamber. Two hundred years later, on 16th October, 1834, a fire destroyed many of the Palace buildings, including the tapestries.
However, a complete record of the tapestries had been made a hundred years earlier in a series of engravings published in 1739. And in about 1850 a painting of “The English Fleet pursuing the Spanish Fleet against Fowey” (below) was commissioned.
More recently, in the current century, a generous donor has contributed to the creation of five more canvases so that a full series can now again be seen in the Prince’s Chamber in the House of Lords.
Whilst on the subject of art, there is an interesting new project “Art Everywhere” which has invited the British public to vote for their favourite paintings. Copies of the top 50 will be put up on Billboards around the UK during August. Literally, watch this space!
What on Earth will all that expenditure
on ‘closed-history’, by all those highly-paid Bodies and Individuals
[Culture, Media and Sport, Parliament, Government and Politics, Art, Art Everywhere, House of Lords, Prince’s Chamber Tapestries staff and other costs, plus? ]
do, to
A. Better conserve this Earth-One’s Life- and Techno- Supports ? and
B. Establish the urgently and longest-term necessary Sustainworthy civilisation, both Globally and ‘Britainly-Spainly’ ?
Looking a mite more “unfinished-historically” at this “permanent-record” domain,
we see no tapestries even being started to
currently-celebrate and longterm-commemorate
1. the Defeat-Already-Irreversibly-Achieved-By-Human-Civilisations,
of Mother-Earth;
2. the practically Lockstep Death-By-TenThousand-Crucifixions,
of RealGod[Himself].
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I do not wish to staple to that the English folklore saying
“The Devil makes work for idle hands”
but I would certainly now have to uphold some iota of duty to hold such wisdom ready, at the edge of whatever Table.
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The best “Art” advice I ever heard was from a Jungian analyst:
“Paint your most recent dream, even as a begun-quick-sketch on A4 paper, and tack it to left hand side of your wall so that tomorrow you can add alongside it tonight’s dream;
and you will start discovering some otherwise ever-hidden Truths, at least about your own Life and “Maker””.
(Dr Joan Mackworth 1955 at Withymead, nr Exeter).
I think I’ll be giving Joan’s advice a more serious “go”,
now that “tapestries” are too expensive for me
and don’t seem to be paddling Parliament in a positively-sustainworthy direction either.
How does a person choose a favourite?
It would be impossible to do that as so many are masterpieces in their own category. Where do you find the one and only in the long list between Vermeer and Freud, or, Titian and Modigliani?
This is am impossible task. Utterly unfair.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://themorningflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/jan-johannes-vermeer-the-lacemaker-painting.jpg&imgrefurl=http://themorningflight.com/culture/vermeer-this-is-religious-art-he-paints-people-at-worship/&h=980&w=854&sz=186&tbnid=23-fVP12daXN-M:&tbnh=88&tbnw=77&zoom=1&usg=__lC74h36dLQn2P86g8LG9Bnt8EkE=&docid=lyMvzUAyxx4-wM&sa=X&ei=a3DuUavKO6ag0QWPtoD4DQ&ved=0CIgBEPUBMA8&dur=3402
To this genius:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.anglonautes.com/ill_paint/ill_paint_freud_self.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.anglonautes.com/ill_paint/ill_paint_freud_self.htm&h=1554&w=961&sz=352&tbnid=7mzImDX-2b3LtM:&tbnh=86&tbnw=53&zoom=1&usg=__HpSqe9KWPhFhk98pG2BUyhmX5Pg=&docid=-NE9jrn_y1-2_M&sa=X&ei=BXHuUf2PGMyp0AXMyIGIDg&ved=0CFsQ9QEwDg&dur=15458
Or:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Titian-salome.jpg/220px-Titian-salome.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titian&h=268&w=220&sz=15&tbnid=zzSJKnUdlMCmwM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=82&zoom=1&usg=__0WlYzMjRCu3Zjp7QQZF82Siyz2I=&docid=F5J-0h9opi3RBM&sa=X&ei=xnHuUd-PC-OO0AXvh4GIDg&ved=0CE0Q9QEwAw&dur=8416
And:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://uploads3.wikipaintings.org/images/amedeo-modigliani/portrait-of-lunia-czechowska-1918.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/amedeo-modigliani/portrait-of-lunia-czechowska-1918&h=2265&w=1817&sz=375&tbnid=SCj-di_saZXxJM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=77&zoom=1&usg=__R9R8JAv1s_pbLCULk3-YD7osxVw=&docid=N67nYdhadal8PM&sa=X&ei=h3LuUeu5IMSe0QWtr4CIDg&ved=0CGwQ9QEwCg&dur=2975
What, in brief, are such art-works as the above actually stirring us to do better ?
including maude’s easy-to-dip-into online Gallery ?
What are they actually catalysing us into self-and social- changing-for-the-better ?
Do they not still feed us fat as ‘voyeuristic couch-potatoes’ ?
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I give the works all the credit due,
but must still ask:
What are our Educators doing to connect the various ‘spirits’ of these works
to our ‘hands-on-saving-of-this-perishing-Earth’ ?