Twelfth Night Matinee 22nd March 2017; Vanessa Bell

2^nd March 2017 – a Matinee performance of Twelfth Night

Vanessa Bell at Dulwich Picture Gallery

It was a strange afternoon, weatherwise. I walked to the underground station in pouring rain; I emerged by the Thames in bright sunshine. I walked across the river by the footbridge from Charing Cross Station, the next bridge downstream from Westminster. Then along the Southbank, with its confusing proliferation of concrete modernist buildings, to one of the biggest of them – the National Theatre.

There was a matinee performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, beginning at 2pm. Forty minutes or so into the first half, the terrorist atrocity was perpetrated about ½ mile away, in Westminster. The show went on.

Dulwich and the Queen's Picture Galleries - David Wilkie and Winifred Knights

Dulwich and The Queen’s Picture Galleries – David Wilkie and Winifred Knights

One day in Dulwich, the next in Buckingham Palace (art gallery annexe). In Dulwich, the exhibition devoted to the rather marvellous Winifred Knights, whose small oeuvre of masterpieces is readily appreciated by the un-knowledgeable visitor. In the Queen’s Gallery, paintings by Scottish artists owned by the monarch – mainly 18^th and 19^th century works.