AP Art History Hunting: England

Art Visit Guide shared with me this wonderful resource: a FREE room-by-room guide for the British Museum. I do not love audio/in person tour guides because they often pushed you through a predetermined pace and do not allow you to experience the art at your own leisure. This guide erases that; it is all the expertise of an in-person guide with the ability to structure your visit as you wish. It’s a FREE resource, but you do have to fill in your email to get access.

Most of the art in this post is in the British Museum. We can have a whole conversation about why London, specifically the British Museum has so many pieces from the 250 (and I do have a lesson for that in my Classical Worlds Unit for a lesson called “Who Decides What we See in Museums?”). It should go without saying, but just because a museum owns a piece does not mean it is always on display.

Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament)

You can get a good view of the Palace of Westminster from the Westminster Bridge across the Thames River (where my photo was taken), but you can also visit inside. However, I’m an idiot and I accidentally bought tickets to the Westminster Abbey, not Palace of Westminster. I don’t regret visiting the abbey (a must do!), but you can buy a ticket for both. And, of course, the abbey and house of Parliament are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cost to look from the outside is FREE, but there are lots of booking options with a range of prices & lengths of tour times – CLICK HERE.

The National Gallery

The Arnolfini Portrait
The Tête à Tête, from Marriage a la Mode

Stonehenge

You can technically see Stonehenge for FREE by not entering the official archaeological site, but that’s dumb. Pay the money to help preserve heritage, plus it gets you into the museum too. We paid £20 (but there’s lots of other options for families/groups/VIP). The museum is open daily 9:30am – 5:oopm (last entry at 3:00pm). Stonehenge is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with a stone circle in Avebury.

Derby Museums and Art Gallery

It is probably not a surprise that some art from Joseph Wright of Derby is located in Derby, England. This museum has the piece A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery (and others) from the famous British artist from the Industrial Revolution.

British Library

Manuscripts are very delicate and therefore often not on display. The folios from the Bibles moralisées in the curriculum are split between two museums: the Dedication page is owned by the Morgan Library in New York City while the Scenes from the Apocalypse page is housed in the British Library. The British Library also owns the following manuscripts:

Golden Haggadah
Lindisfarne Gospels

Breamore Estate, Hampshire

I have not seen this museum, but it’s in a historic estate with a historical agricultural museum and expansive gardens. There is a tour of the house you can sign up for, but the general estate is open from 2-5pm Tuesday-Thursday & Sun. I feel like doing the tour would make the history of the house come to life more, but I haven’t had the experience myself.

Spaniard and Indian Produce a Mestizo

British Museum

The British Museum is FREE but, last I checked, you needed a timed entrance ticket to visit. The general opening times: 10:00 am-5:00 pm (Friday 10:30 pm); sometimes there are bonus hours during summer. I am probably missing some 250-adjacent pieces from the British Museum. I find conflicting information about the specific Jade cong from the 250; if it is in a private collection or the British Museum, but the British Museum does have a room on Chinese jade so you might be able to see a similar piece. And I’m pretty sure “the” Shiva from the 250 is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, but British Museum has another one.

Jade cong
Standard of Ur from the Royal Tombs at Ur
Last judgment of Hunefer, from his tomb (page from the Book of the Dead)
Helios, horses, and Dionysus (Heracles?), Parthenon, Acropolis
Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja)
The David Vases
‘Ahu ‘ula (feathered cape)
Navigation Chart
Staff God
Moai
Lintel 25, Yaxchilán
Summer Trees
Benin Bronzes

Additionally, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford also has an ‘ahu ‘ula cape, but not THE one from the 250 (it is however, the one I saw). I want to take a moment to highlight the Pitt Rivers Museum because that museum is light years ahead of all the other “imperial museums” (cough cough British Museum, Louvre, Met, Pergamon, etc.). They have rewritten many of their exhibit labels to discuss the problematic historic nature of displaying the art of “others.” For example, they have returned all the shrunken heads to their rightful tribes and instead of putting a new exhibit in that case, they left it empty to talk about the issues of taking and displaying sacred body parts! The museum is FREE, but I definitely donated because I want to support that kind of conversation in museum studies.

Wallace Collection

The Wallace Collection has one of my favorite pieces, The Swing, and generally a lovely collection of Rococo art. It is FREE, but when I was there The Swing was part of a special exhibit called Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts, in which I had to pay but totally worth it! The museum opening times are 10:00am – 5:00pm daily.

Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

Even though I spent 3 weeks in Oxford for a summer program the Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza (#81) was not on display during that time; manuscripts are very delicate and therefore not consistently on display. However, the libraries are a must see and they are gorgeous.

Tate Museum

Marilyn Diptych
The Swing (After Fragonard)
Shibboleth
Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds)

If you teach AP Art History you know why this list above is both technically true and untrue at the same time. Although, Shibboleth was made for and always at the Tate Museum (because it was a crack physically put into the ground in the Turbine Hall), it has since been filled in. There is a picture of the original art piece in the Drawings and Paintings Room. Secondly, Sunflower Seeds was a temporary exhibit in the Turbine Hall at the Tate Museum; however they had a smaller permanent exhibit there. I really enjoy this page with an interview with the artist. The Tate Museum, which showcases modern art, is FREE and it is open daily from 10:00 am-6:00 pm.

Victoria & Albert Museum South Kensington

I saw the “sister” of the Ardabil Carpet in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (which the photo above is from). To be honest, I am not sure of the difference between the two carpets but I am sure if I looked into it (which I haven’t) their patterns are probably different. The V&A has a great article with video on the carpet & careful conservation: CLICK HERE. The museum is FREE and opened daily 1o:00 am-5:45 pm.