The National Gallery

Quick Run through of yesterday's (thursday's) activities: morning run that took me past most of the theatres we'll be visiting during this program, Waterloo Bridge and Station, the National Theatre, the place the London Phil plays (can't recall the name), the London Eye, the Dali Museum, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey (nice anti-war display there - moving), Parliament, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Strand, back to the Harlingford. Good run and most efficient sightseeing trip of my life


(juggling and fire are cool). Back to the National Gallery - spent some good time looking at Turner, Britain's prize impressionist. I enjoyed his paintings a lot, they put me in a sort of plaintive mood. Monet/Manet/Seurat. Pointillism blows my mind. Special exhibit of a local photographer from Hackney who quotes directly from Old Master paintings in his pictures of marginal populations (squatters, the homeless) and marginal events (bodies found in river, etc.). Very interesting, often disturbing.
Back to the hotel for a quick nap. Got together with Prof. Peck, his wife Ruth, and cellist from Eastman named Erin - we went up to Hackney for sis kabobs and then a production of Aristophanes's Lysistrata. 'True' to the tradition of Greek drama, the male characters wore 4 foot phalluses (phalli?), in a variety of neon colors. Very funny. Bed.

In the 15 minutes I have left on this computer, I want to talk a little bit about a recurring image from the 1500-1600 division at the National. Needless to say, much of the art from this period and in this section of the Museum was devotional in nature - religious subjects and imagery were dominant. In 5 or 6 of the paintings which featured a representation of Christ (Madonna and Child, preaching, crucifixion, piet'a, etc.) there was a figure standing off to the side looking at Christ and pointing heavenward. Often times this was John the Baptist, but not always. The note on the side of each painting commented that this pointing signified the final destination and ultimate purpose of Christ - to return to heaven, having flung wide the doors of salvation by his sacrificial death and resurrection. In the interest of time, I'll say this was trope was infused with the most pathos in scenes of the infant Christ in the stable, with one of the wise men or the infant John the Baptist pointing toward heaven.

I am amazed by the inclusiveness of the Christian narrative, and this inclusiveness has interesting consequences for the Christian understanding of time. Christ's birth is inseparable in the Christian mind from his miraculous rebirth at Easter, which of course brings in the horror of the Crucifixion. It's all tied together, a unified whole. And of course the narrative of Christ's earthly life and the Gospel authors' interpretation of purpose in that life - to redeem the world - is the lynchpin for all of history in the Christian meta-narrative. Interestingly enough,