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La Ghirlandata by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1873
La Ghirlandata means ‘The Lady of the Wreath’. The work was painted at Kelmscott Manor, which
Rossetti co-owned with his friend William Morris. The main figure was modelled by Alexa Wilding, an
aspiring actress, while William’s daughter May posed for the angel heads. Apparently May didn’t like
Alexa very much. Rossetti was in love with May’s mother, Jane, even though she was married to his
friend.
We can use all our senses to explore this painting; we can almost hear the musical instrument (an
arpanetta), and smell the flowers, including honeysuckle and roses.
Rossetti described his own painting as “The greenest picture in the world”, and “I believe it is my
very best picture — no inch of it worse than another.” Rossetti also designed the frame for the
painting himself.
Question time!
(remember to start with your first name and age)
Question time!
(remember to start with your first name and age)
Tower Bridge by Uzo Egonu, 1969
Make it stand out
The artist, Uzo Egonu, came to Britain from Nigeria in 1948 and stayed, painting many iconic
landmarks in London, including St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square and Tower
Bridge.
This painting of Tower Bridge captures the fun and exciting spirit of 1960s London. It also is a
mixture of a realistic painting of Tower Bridge and an abstract view of it, making it bend in towards
itself, and creating a circle with the boat underneath the bridge. He also flattens the towers so you
can see at least two sides of them at once. In the corners of the painting he has painted patterns
that are similar to patterned cloth from West Africa.
The techniques that Egonu introduced to his work in 1966 are characteristic of Igbo art traditions
from Nigeria, but here fused with European art techniques. Nigerian art critic, Molara Wood, said “In
combining the visual languages of Western and African art, he helped redefine the boundaries of
modernism, thereby challenging the European myth of the naïve, primitive African artist.”
London’s Roman Amphitheatre
Make it stand out
When archaeologists first found the amphitheatre in 1988 they weren’t sure what it was at first, but
the curved walls made them realise it was an amphitheatre. It was such an important find that the
Art Gallery was redesigned to fit around it so it is preserved where the archaeologists found it.
Even so, archaeologists only uncovered part of the amphitheatre because it was so big. These
include one of the entrances and part of the curved section of the curved arena wall. The arena wall
originally stood about 2.5m high and was topped with metal railings. It was designed to keep the
spectators safe from the gladiator and wild animal fights that went on in the arena. The
Amphitheatre could probably seat between 7000 -10,500 people, out of 30,000 people living in
Roman London. This high wall was probably decorated with a brightly painted red and green wall
plaster.
A room behind the arena wall has grooves cut into the threshold stone and archaeologists believe
these were used to insert the bottom of a sliding trap door. This room may have been used to cage
wild animals appearing at the games. The trap door would be opened from above and the animals
were released into the arena. We know there were bulls, bears and boars, rather than the more
exotic animals that frequently appeared in the games in Rome.
The amphitheatre arena was very boggy, so had wooden drains. Over 2000 years, wood usually rots
away. In the amphitheatre, it survived very well because the area is so wet. Archaeologists have
used the tree-rings on the wood to find out that the amphitheatre was first built around AD 70 and
was repaired right up to the end of the AD 200s. After that the building started to fall down, was
covered with rubbish and earth, and most of the stone was stolen for later buildings in London.
Question time!
(remember to start with your first name and age)
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