Personal Blogs

It was all aboard for a 2-day 'mini-cruise' from Hull on the P&O ferry to Rotterdam recently, which gave the chance for an assortment of past-module glimpses. 😃

We were on the 'Amsterdam trip' which meant a 90min coach journey from the port - no stops, but a chance to revisit some mental images of early modern Leiden, which featured heavily in A223.

We didn't overburden ourselves with Amsterdam sights - as our time was limited and we had coffee and beer to drink - but had a flying visit to the Rijksmuseum. The dedicated Van Gogh museum was fully booked, so we made do with a couple of pictures from the 'highlights' tour for a trip down A111-memory lane.

First, inevitably, a self-portrait...

Self-portrait
Vincent van Gogh, 1887

'After hearing from his brother Theo about the new colorful French painting, Vincent moved to Paris in 1886. He soon tried out the French style on a number of self-portraits. He did this primarily to save on the cost of a model. Here, he painted himself as a fashionably dressed Parisian, with loose, rhythmic brushstrokes in striking colors.'

Then a beautiful dose of high intensity yellow and a chance to get up close and personal with those brushstrokes and paint blobs...

Wheatfield
Vincent van Gogh, 1888

This painting struck me as a great image for 'chlorosis' - think she even has a rather greenish tinge! This was a direct link back to the pluralist medical community of the early modern module.

The Sick Woman
Jan Havicksz. Steen, c. 1663 - c. 1666

Faint from fever, the young woman rests her head on a pillow. Is she perhaps lovesick? Is she pregnant? To find out, a quack would put a strip of his patient’s clothing in a brazier to smoulder – the scent would disclose her secret. Jan Steen here presents such a charlatan making a diagnosis. His old-fashioned attire characterizes him as a comic character.

Finally (said it was a flying visit) a canalside beer was strategically chosen to allow me a photo of some early modern religious 'toleration'  - just to the right of the restaurant is an example of a Dutch 'huiskerken'. A site for Catholic worship, acceptable to the Protestant population, as long as it appeared on the outside just like a residential dwelling. No time to explore the preserved interior, Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic Museum), but need to have some reason to justify a return trip! 😃

Thought I'd share another fascinating York building that picks up on some aspects of the A223 module chapter covering the theme of religious (in)tolerance in the early modern period.

This is the frontage of the Bar Convent that stands just outside the walls of the city by the Micklegate Bar. The openly religious building on the left is a 19th century addition, built at a time when the catholic school which it housed could be openly acknowledged. The 18th century frontage was however designed as a grand, but entirely secular, town house (1786-9) - with nothing to indicate the interior.....

...which contains this beautiful chapel. 

Apparently the dome was designed to be entirely invisible from outside view. 

The convent was established in 1686 as the basis for a catholic school - with the chapel being being built in the 1770's. By that time the convent must have been an open secret within the city, but not something that could be too publicly visible.

The chapel also contains a gruesome reminder of 16th century religious persecution - in the form of a sacred relic, the preserved hand of St Margaret Clitherow. Margaret was the wife of a York butcher and lived on the Shambles, which is probably York's biggest tourist trap after the Minster (almost no-one notices or explores the house, which is now a religious shrine - too busy looking for Harry Potter merchandise!! 😂) When accused of harbouring catholic priests (she had been imprisoned previously for failing to attend protestant services) she refused to enter a plea and so was 'pressed' under rocks until she died. 

If you're ever in York, do think about checking out the Bar Convent as it's a hidden gem - it has an excellent museum and exhibition.