Hertford Portraits
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Hertford Portraits
Old Blues Day -
I was pleased to locate quickly the row of Hertford Headmistresses in the Dining Hall.
But I was really disappointed. I'd always liked the portrait of the small silvery Miss Craig, but DR's portrait looked rather peculiar. Rather than wear a gown she'd chosen a horrible blue-splodgy dress in which to be painted (not the artist's fault though). The painting expressed nothing of that formidable Presence.
And Miss Morrison! It wasn't even a good likeness - as if it had been painted from a bad photo. I would think that BJM was a brilliant subject to paint - a chance for an artist to find and express the dry humour that lay beneath her implacable disciplined regard.
However, I was able to admire properly for the first time the small Susannah portrait. Hung at eye level in the Museum, it looks as fresh and vibrant as if only just painted. At Hertford it hung over one of the School Hall doors, where you had to look upwards to see it - quite the wrong angle. A lovely painting. And where is the large Susannah portrait?
Perhaps I don't know enough about portraiture to appreciate the representations of DR and BJM?
Had they been well received when each was painted? I'd be interested to know.
Plus - an old relocated friend - the bronze head of Sir Harry Vanderpant, once commandingly at the foot of the spiral stairs to Dining Hall, and at whose venerable head we used to aim the malodorous dishcloth on the way down. Sir Harry's wooden pedestal is now splitting apart, and his head has gone dull and rough. Maybe the dishcloth had kept him polished. Now he lives on another staircase - the one up to the Museum. He needs some care, poor old thing!
Munch
Kerren - what did you think of the DR portrait?
I was pleased to locate quickly the row of Hertford Headmistresses in the Dining Hall.
But I was really disappointed. I'd always liked the portrait of the small silvery Miss Craig, but DR's portrait looked rather peculiar. Rather than wear a gown she'd chosen a horrible blue-splodgy dress in which to be painted (not the artist's fault though). The painting expressed nothing of that formidable Presence.
And Miss Morrison! It wasn't even a good likeness - as if it had been painted from a bad photo. I would think that BJM was a brilliant subject to paint - a chance for an artist to find and express the dry humour that lay beneath her implacable disciplined regard.
However, I was able to admire properly for the first time the small Susannah portrait. Hung at eye level in the Museum, it looks as fresh and vibrant as if only just painted. At Hertford it hung over one of the School Hall doors, where you had to look upwards to see it - quite the wrong angle. A lovely painting. And where is the large Susannah portrait?
Perhaps I don't know enough about portraiture to appreciate the representations of DR and BJM?
Had they been well received when each was painted? I'd be interested to know.
Plus - an old relocated friend - the bronze head of Sir Harry Vanderpant, once commandingly at the foot of the spiral stairs to Dining Hall, and at whose venerable head we used to aim the malodorous dishcloth on the way down. Sir Harry's wooden pedestal is now splitting apart, and his head has gone dull and rough. Maybe the dishcloth had kept him polished. Now he lives on another staircase - the one up to the Museum. He needs some care, poor old thing!
Munch
Kerren - what did you think of the DR portrait?
Last edited by Angela Woodford on Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Susannah
I couldn't see her anywhere, Matt. The large Susannah is really large! Perhaps she's been put in a very high up position.Great Plum wrote:I think the large Susannah portrait hangs (or did hang) in the dining hall...
Munch
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Missing -
The other portrait missing - from the line-up of Headmistresses - is Miss Robertson. It wasn't a very good painting, I didn't like it much. Perhaps she's been hung up somewhere else; high up like the large Susannah!
I wonder what happened to "Girlhood" the bronze head from the Art School?
Munch
I wonder what happened to "Girlhood" the bronze head from the Art School?
Munch
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Re: Missing -
I think it`s been said before - it`s in Court RoomAngela Woodford wrote:The other portrait missing - from the line-up of Headmistresses - is Miss Robertson. It wasn't a very good painting, I didn't like it much. Perhaps she's been hung up somewhere else; high up like the large Susannah!
I wonder what happened to "Girlhood" the bronze head from the Art School?Munch
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There are two portraits of Susannah Holmes, painted by someone Oliver, RA in something like 1826. The full length one hangs in the top rank in Dining Hall, somewhere near the pulpit. The half length one (waist up) is in the corridor in the Museum (when Susan Mitchell was Treasurer, the half length portrait hung in her office).
When I last looked, portraits of all the Headmistresses from Miss Robertson through to Jean Morrison were hanging in Dining Hall, either side of the Hertford organ. Miss West did not want to sit for a portrait.. she did not even want one.. so the compromise was that a portrait was done anyway, from a photograph. Elizabeth Tucker was very pleased with her portrait (done by Juliet Pannett, RA, with whom she subsequently became firm friends). Others of us thought it strange that she seemed to be 'flicking' the school crest with her thumb... I don't know what Jean Morrison thought of hers....but I seem to think that it was not a bad likeness of how she was when she moved the girls down to Horsham.
When I last looked, portraits of all the Headmistresses from Miss Robertson through to Jean Morrison were hanging in Dining Hall, either side of the Hertford organ. Miss West did not want to sit for a portrait.. she did not even want one.. so the compromise was that a portrait was done anyway, from a photograph. Elizabeth Tucker was very pleased with her portrait (done by Juliet Pannett, RA, with whom she subsequently became firm friends). Others of us thought it strange that she seemed to be 'flicking' the school crest with her thumb... I don't know what Jean Morrison thought of hers....but I seem to think that it was not a bad likeness of how she was when she moved the girls down to Horsham.
Kerren Simmonds
5's and 2's Hertford, 1957-1966
5's and 2's Hertford, 1957-1966
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