Edinburgh Galleries

View of the Forth of Firth

We spent the better part of the day in the National gallery and the History Museum. The Gallery had a showing of Symbolist painters that focused on landscape, from Van Gogh to Kandinsky. I noticed that groups did not hover around the Van Gogh's, Monet's (no, I didn't realize he was a Symbolist either) or Gauguin's like they do in the States. Must just be a phenomenon there. It was nice to see works and artists unfamiliar to me. The galleries were large and bright, too. A second show was the watercolor works of Giovanni Battista Lusieri (1754–1821). Lusieri was one of very few Italian artists to use watercolor as a primary medium. I was astounded at the meticulous detail, precision and control of the medium in the works. They were primarily of Naples, Rome, Sicily, and Greek ruins. He was the draftsman for Sir John Elgin and many of his works were lost at sea when Elgin returned to England. Quite a few of the works were unfinished and one could see the process Lusieri employed. Every leaf, rock, blade of grass was first drawn in with pencil then ink.
The permanent collection was also extensive. What remains in my eye was Sargeant's Lady Agnew of Lochnaw. Stunning. Coming in close behind we're Titian's Venus Rising from the Sea, a Raffael Madonna, Canova's Three Graces.
We walked up the hill to Old Town hunting the History Museum. along the way we stopped for lunch at Porto and Fi. We wanted to see some of the artifacts from Scotland's birth. Most notable were some of the Lewis Chess Set, a 20' pike, and some renaissance wood panels.
We had dinner tonight at The Larder Bistro. Wayne had venison and I trout as well as starters and dessert....way too much. It was fun. We were snug in a back room with gay Scots. They really are a happy, joking lot.
No pictures today.