If I could choose just one painting from the National Gallery
I think it would have to be Vuillard's La Cheminée
(foot of page, right) ; a simple, relaxed looking painting
of the mantelpiece in the room of house he rented for the summer
of 1905 in Normandy.
On our mantelpiece we have a ceramic bottle/vase
with a fish design which Danny Gregory bought for us in Jerusalem;
a ceramic chaffinch which I say I once bought for
Barbara at Marie Jordan's gallery (now closed), Newmillerdam, but
which she says she bought for me; a candle holder lamp
that we bought at Skala Potamia, Thassos, and a collage
by Barbara Regent, an artist friend in New South Wales.
 The
pot on the hearth (right) has less exotic
origins, it came from a bargain shop in the Ridings Centre, Wakefield,
but it's none the worse for that.
Our fireplace was constructed from local brick,
from Nostell, by a bricklayer called Peter from Middlestown. It's
a work of art in itself.  |
