12 January 2016

Drawing Tuesday - Museum of London

My choice of subject was this "pottery graveyard", laid out under the floor. I drew some little sections onto luggage labels (why? because they were in with my pencils) and then set to work on the entire thing -
 adding a couple of these "committee staffs" from the mid 19th century at the last moment -

and then adding a background at home -

With some time to fill, I added two of the civic committee wands, which are in the same case as the badges for the livery guilds. Below in the case are badges; they were introduced in 1768 for identification - or perhaps for pomp and glory? It's the livery guilds who elect the Lord Mayor of London (not to be confused with the Mayor of London) -
 These wands are from the mid 19th century -
On the left, the wooden shaft is painted with the words: 'The Rt Honble Francis Graham Moon Lord Mayor 1854 Jas Anderton Esq Secretary'. The museum website reports of the third from left, "The staff is related to the presentation of the freedom to Prince Albert on 28 August 1840. The London magazine, charivari, and courier des dames: a Proteus in politics, a chameleon in literature, and a butterfly in the world of bon ton recorded in 1840: 'Prince Albert has received the freedom and clothing of the Fishmongers' Company. Rather "scaly," we should say'."
Sue S had been in the cauldron room - (snap! - been there, done that, compared our results...)
 A closer view of Sue's wooden forms and their shadows -
As she said, it's easy to get lost among them. And there certainly were a lot of shadows, shifting with the change of light from the large-screen video.

Joyce' mermaid from the golden state coach -
The coach was commissioned in 1757 for the Lord Mayor's show, which still happens every year in November. At our previous visit to the museum, in November, the coach had been removed for re-use. The coach is a perfect example of Rococo extravagance; its decoration includes both mythological and real creatures from Neptune and Tritons to sheep and lions.

Marina found the auroch (these wild oxes are now extinct) - and some medieval keys (and much more) -
Among Sue M's "trophies" was the graffiti'd wall of the gaol -
Mike's pages included the lift from Selfridges, which was installed in the department store in 1928 and designed by Edgar William Brandt, a French ironworker. It was removed in a refurbishment in the 1970s -
Janet B was pleased to find two horses (attached to the Lord Mayor's coach) that stood still long enough to be drawn -

1 comment:

Kathleen Loomis said...

I was scrolling down and when the photo with the red background came into view I thought "a red picket fence!!!" and even after figuring out what it was really a photo of, I could still only see the picket fence. For some reason this has made me very happy this morning.