Middle Ages at National Gallery

We won't be starting Awesome History for another month, but we got a great preview at the National Gallery!

I had a little push back from Choclo about going to see a lot paintings, so I decided he needed some focus.



I made a Venn diagram of 3 circles: Religion, Crowns, and Weapons.  We looked for paintings and objects that had any of these three things.

We ended up with loads of each, with quite a few fitting into all three!

The highlight was seeing the chalice of Abbot Suger (the one who really created Gothic Architecture).  To me, this one object is the perfect example of the Middle Ages.

The actual cup is from ancient Rome: carved from a single giant red striped onyx.  It's setting is Medieval gold, delicately worked and set with gems. Truly gorgeous!

We also wandered through some sculpture  galleries.  One of our favorites was this veiled woman.  It's hard to believe that gossamer veil could be solid stone!







Another favorite was this girl reading a book.  The detail!  You can see the fibers in her seat!

 And, of course, a small casting of The Thinker, with our smallest thinkers.