Following on from the earlier post about the Lady Lever Art Gallery I thought I’d share just a few of the pictures with you.
One of William Holman Hunt’s several, possibly many, pictures of the Scapegoat. In 1969 (I can remember than, it’s yesterday I have a problem with) I went to an exhibition of Hunt’s work at the Walker Art Gallery. This picture was on loan from The Lady Lever (which at that time wasn’t part of National Museums Liverpool) and I fell in love. The exhibition was one of the first really important exhibitions I attended which made a big impact on me. This is possibly why I have always had such an attachment to the Pre-Raphaelites. That and the fact that I am an incurable romantic at heart. 
Years ago friends had a Cottage in Wales called Paradwys (Welsh for Paradise). And it was. One of the pictures they had on the wall was Sarlem painted by Sidney Curnow Vosper (1866 - 1942). At the time I had no idea of its name nor how famous it was. A few years later I happened to see a print of the picture in a shop in Llangollen. I bought it. It has been with me ever since and is part of my ‘musical pictures’. I then knew its name but not its painter nor how famous it is. Until last Monday! As CJ and I went to climb the stairs to one of the upper galleries there was a painting behind a curtain. On drawing back the curtain there was the painting I had loved so dearly all these years. In real life. The real thing. Thrilled didn’t begin to express how I felt.
There is the whole story on the website but I shall quote the first paragraph. “ 'Salem' is a painting of a small Baptist chapel in Cefncymerau, Llanbedr, near Harlech, North Wales. The chapel was built in 1850. Vosper often visited the chapel when he holidayed in the area. Because of this painting, Salem is perhaps the most famous place of worship in Wales. The painting has become a Welsh icon, much like Constable's 'Haywain' or Yeames' 'And when did you last see your father' have become English ones.”
I could, of course show many pictures that I would love to share with you but I’ll just show a couple more.
I cannot recall ever seeing this picture before and Riviere is not an artist with whom I am familiar either but this picture certainly evoked feeling.
I’ve included this picture, Bubbles, partly because it is by Milais but principally because, in our house we had a collection of The Bibby’s Annuals (which, much to my surprise has no entry in Wikipedia, but which were very large format books published annually by Liverpool company J Bibby and Sons) and a large gloss copy of it appeared in one of them.
Bubbles, originally titled A Child's World, is a painting by Sir John Everett Millais that became famous when it was used over many generations in advertisements for Pears soap. During Millais' lifetime it led to widespread debate about the relationship between art and advertising.
