In anticipation of our class this morning I unearthed this photograph of Willy Lott's Cottage. Yvonne said the photo. was better than the actual experience because one cannot actually visit it anymore, as it is used for training purposes. The accompanying 'visitors' centre' one is allowed to visit 'cos they are selling things ! Having manoeuvered ourselves onto a bridge overlooking that bit of The Stour, I was able to have roughly the same line of sight as Constable had. That was fun. Maybe we were a tad to the right of his viewpoint. We stood some five minutes anticipating the arrival of a Hay Wain but no luck, the weather wasn't good enough. I've also noticed by comparing painting and photo. that in the interim, a small building has been demolished, between the side of the house and the river.
Our arrival at the Mechanics was either 5 minutes too late, or half an hour early, because an enormous queue greeted us. Not to worry. We ate OK and our class was 'not bad' this week. The desks are in a rectangle round a projector and we sit at the side, at right angles to the screen and the bloke to my left won't decide whether he wants to lean forward or back, with the result that I can't see, and keep moving position which means that Y can't see, and the bloke next to her etc., etc.,. I mentioned it politely but to no avail. And Y reported the distinct niff of BO from somewhere. Not me - honest !! Also our tutor tried to cover Constable, Turner and Joseph Wright of Derby in under 2 hours - including taking the register and a tea break! Even at a gallop the race-course was too severe.
Picture 2 is, of course, The Hay Wain. Known commonly as one of Constable's sixfooters, because there is a series of Stour paintings. It is probably one of the best known paintings in the country. Appearing all over the place as prints, table-mats, postcards etc. But to actually see it 'in the flesh' is quite an experience. It doesn't have the 'polished' appearance of the work of earlier artists and the brush strokes, and gobbets of paint as deep as one's knuckle, are remarkable. In this country Constable wasn't held in high regard and had difficulty selling his stuff. But the painitng was exhibited in The Salon in Paris and they thought it was great. Both he and Turner had a great influence on Manet and the Impressionists who were to come.David's blog-comment of yesterday about the source of 'vested-interests' and 'bobby Dazzler' were good fun and I e-mailed him the results of my research. Click here for vested and here for bobby dazzler.
Tea-time. Might return. Might not ................................
2 comments:
I think it may be said, without fear of contradiction or arrest, that, in this case, the Constable beats the Inspector.
And I was right, I've remembered, he did! Salmon Rosti DID win the Booker Prize. It was for the autobiographical, migratory, maritime poetry collection entitled:-
'The S.Atlantic Verses'.
Further comment:
‘Hay Wain’ sounds like a sort of Malapropic Geordie greeting, to me (Wye Aye, Hen). Or is that a rather log-tailed suggestion?
Without raked seating it is always difficult for more than a very few persons to have clear sight of a screen. You sound a little disgruntled. Will you persevere and see the course through? Is the pertinent question.
I suppose the definitions you unearthed could be right (and some of the supposed sources are quite similar) but:
I reckon ‘Vested Interest’ could well relate to someone who steals off clothes’ lines? And, I seem to recall that some poachers would carry a powerful reflective lantern which they shone in the eyes of policemen to disorientate them; and that burglars later adapted the idea by recruiting beguiling young women to adjust their suspenders outside the front doors of properties while the thieves effected entry at the rear. Thus, a stunningly attractive woman became known as a ‘Bobby Dazzler’.
What happened to the other picture:
'Oh, the moon shone bright on pretty red thing'.
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