Tales of the City - The Birmingham Pre-Raphaelites

 

It had been months since I'd met Nikki in Birmingham and I was giddy with excitment when I got dressed on Tuesday morning.

With the weather still feeling very summery I thought I'd give the Anokhi maxi dress I'd scored from Vinted last week another outing, this time with an All About Audrey wrap top, a cord cap I'd bought from the Monsoon sale a few years ago and, of course, my beloved Phoebe Anna Traquair Arts & Crafts pendant. 

Although the station looks abandoned in the photo, the 9.50am service to Birmingham, New Street was rammed. I bumped into swimming regulars, Norma and Gordon and we managed to get seats together and were so engrossed in our chat that the 22minute journey seemed even faster than usual. 

At New Street I paid my respects to Ozzy, the mascot from the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He roared and blinked his eyes in approval. 

Nikki arrived within a couple of minutes and we headed up the road to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. The last couple of times we'd visited it had been closed to the general public due to school trips but on Tuesday the doors were open. 

Hello Lucifer, you gorgeous creature! 

First stop was the magnificent Edwardian Tearooms. Our pots of camomile tea (me) and peppermint (Nikki) were huge, which was just as well, we had a lot to catch up with.

 Birmingham has the world's largest collection of art and design by the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and their followers in the world. Selected from their impressive archive, the museum's four newly refurbished galleries feature over 60 paintings, sculpture and stained glass panels from artists including Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, Ford Maddox Brown and Katie Bunce. 

Here's a few of our favourites....

Beauty Receiving the White Rose From Her Father - Joseph Edward Southall

Ariadne on Naxos - Joseph Edward Southall

Changing the Letter - Joseph Edward Southall 

Beauty And The Beast - John Dickson Batten

Musica - Katie Bunce

New Lamps for Old - Joseph Edward Southall

Fiametta - Arthur Joseph Gaskin 

Hope Comforting Love in Bondage - Sidney Harold Meteyard

Sigismonda Drinking The Poison - Joseph Edward Southall

Portrait of Anne Elizabeth Baker - Joseph Edward Southall

Stained glass panel, Dante & Beatrice by Florence Camm

A Lady Holding a Rose - Emma Sandys

La Donna Della Finestra - Dante Gabriel Rosetti 

Medea - Frederick Sandys

 Morgan le Fey - Frederick Sandys

Prosipine - Dante Gabriel Rosetti

The Backgammon Player - Edward Burne Jones

The Death of Sir Tristran - Ford Maddox Brown 

Elijah and The Widow's Son - Ford Maddox Brown

Cordelia At The Beside of Lear - Ford Maddox Brown

The Travelling Companions - Augustus Leopold Egg

The Long Engagement - Arthur Hughes

Work by Ford Maddox Brown

 The Blind Girl - John Everett Millais

 The Last of England - Ford Maddox Brown

 

Valentine Rescuing Sylvia - William Holman Hunt

As You Like It - Walter Deverill

 The Young Poet - Arthur Hughes

The Proscribed Royalist - John Everett Millais

 By marked contrast, the gallery was also showing Brummie comedian, Joe Lycett's Everything Must Go exhibition. A bit of a shock to the system after the intricacy and beauty of the Pre-Raphaelites but the schoolkids absolutely loved it.

Source

As regular train users we both giggled at his "See It, Say It, Swordfish", a daft take on the tannoy announcement.

 

Lunch, as usual, was chaat attack and Indian Summer IPA at The Indian Brewery. 

It didn't disappoint!

After another beer we said our goodbyes to boss, Marni and walked back to Birmingham New Street to catch our respective trains home.

Back at home I had time to try on the beautiful kantha riding jacket Nikki had given me and it fitted perfectly.

Thanks for a fabulous day, bab, see you soon!