An initial visit today and it was busy. I have re-booked for Wednesday 2nd April.

There was one 'cartoon' on plaster which was two panels on a large scale which I will be looking at closely next time as the drawn elements appeared to be very clearly articulated!

On this first visit I did have an idea that there might be some sculptural references and that the 'flat' surface of gold leaf might be 'interrupted' by painted elements!

What I hadn't anticipated was the gradual inclusion of 'representational' space, sometimes referencing the physical elements of the framing structure.

Duccio
(at the highest point of the Temple)
1308-11

Gano di Fazio
Old Saint, Saint John The Baptist, Saint Peter and Young Saint with a book.
About 1315-18
Marble with traces of polychromy
Museo di San Pietro all'Orto, from the Cattedrale di San Cerbone in Massa Marittima (sala Il inv. 8-11)

Simone Martini
Saint John The Evangelist
1320
Tempera on panel
The Henry Barber Trust, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham (38.12)

Francesco di Vannuccio
Diptych with The Annunciation and The Assumption
About 1380
Tempera on panel
The Mistress and Fellows, Girton College, Cambridge (188[a,b])

Duccio
The Annuncaition
About 1308-11
Tempera on poplar
The National Gallery, London. Bought, 1883

Ambrogio Lorenzetti
The Annunciation
1344
Tempera on panel
Pinacoteca nazionale di Siena, musei nazionali di Siena

Pietro Lorenzetti
The Birth of the Virgin
1335-42
Tempera on panel
Museo dell'Opera della Metropolitana, Siena

I am glad to have gone ahead with attempting 'image capture' today even in the very low light.

I had previously made a mental note that it would probably be a good idea to look at early painting at The National Gallery but I am also aware that further exploration at The Courtauld Gallery will be in order!

Having taken possession of the images here I am aware of connections to other visual heritages around the world that I certainly had not appreciated previously...

Simone Martini
Christ Discovered in the Temple
1342
Tempera on panel
National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery. Presented by the Liverpool Royal Institution 1948 (2787)

The idea that textiles could hold clues to cultural exchange had not really occurred to me but the texts indicate that "Textiles imported from Mongol territories were received with great enthusiasm in Italy. Sienese artists were among the first to represent these precious fabrics in paint."
It follows that other 'visual' material may also have been seen and may have influenced the development of 'painting' at this time.

The form of this 'rug' is certainly familiar. I failed to get the actual details!

Textile fragment with small leaves Late 13th-mid-14th century Silk, with pattem weft of flat gold thread; wett-patterned tabby weave
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund

Nasrid workshop, Iberia
Textile fragment with a geometric design, featuring Naskhi and Kufic inscriptions
Silk; twill-tabby lampas weave
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum

Nasrid workshop, Iberia
Textile fragments with a geometric interlace design, one featuring a mirrored Kufic inscription 1250-75
(both Silk, with pattern wefts of silk and of wrapped gold thread; weft-faced compound tabby (taqueté) weave
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund, 1946
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1927

Turkey (attributed)
Rug With Confronted Animals
14th century
Wool (warp, weft and pile; symmetrically knotted pile Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, Louis V. Bell Fund and Fletcher, Pfeiffer and Rogers Funds, 1990 (1990.61)

A final painting close to the end of the exhibition.

Avignon or Naples
The Adoration Of The Magi
About 1340-4
Tempera on panel
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

I was also intent on looking at the re-hang of the Sainsbury Wing but on the way spotted a Vemeer painting so stopped to view it and the other works in the room.

I got to know the Vemeer at some point but not while at St. Martins just up the road.

The Pieter de Hooch painting is also familiar but I was struck by how focused this painting looked today.

Johannes Vermeer
A Young Woman standing at a Virginal, 1670-1672l
oil on canvas
51.7 - 45.2 cm
Bought by National Gallery 1892

Pieter de Hooch
1629 - after 1684
The Courtyard of a House in Delft, 1658
Oil on canvas
Bought by National Gallery 1871

The re-hang looks good with 'gentle' lighting and plenty of space around the works and for the audience.

I will make a proper visit in due course.