Watching Wimbledon Makes Me Remember London

Watching Wimbledon on TV is a summer ritual for me.  The tennis is so awesome, plus the leads, closings and commercial segues of the broadcast always show scenes from in and around London.  "I was there!" I say.  "And I was there - and there - and I rode that double decker!"  whatever.  I did.

This moment (below) was the highlight of my trip to London in 2010.  It's from a journal entry I wrote at the time.  I believe this was one of the most special moments with my daughter - subtle and loving and breathtaking, like her:  

National Gallery, London

Here I am again, lost in the paintings of a museum.  I’m with Mary, though not now. She’s in another gallery somewhere.  We’re at the National Gallery of Art in London and this is my 3rd visit here in three days.  The Gallery is way too heart-stoppingly, hyper-ventingly dangerous that I need to do it in bits - pace myself.  breathe.

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I’m so happy to be here in London with Mary, if even for a short time.  She is studying and I am visiting, and she has taken me to this museum. Her gift to me.

Young Man Holding a Skull

Frans Hals

1626-1628

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Each gallery is paradise - each artist, each painting has an idea for me.  I am caught up in Young Man Holding a Skull (Frans Hals, 1626-28) wondering if it really does look quite modern in its brush strokes and expression, when I hear,

“mom . . . MOM . . . come here.”

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I see Mary’s face now, eyes wide, turned to me like Girl With a Pearl Earring (Johannes Vermeer, 1665, The Hague) . . . art is everywhere. 

Girl With A Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer

1665

The Hague

I go to her where she is standing just inside the next gallery, watching her as she motions me to see what is there, now, right in front of me.  I see.  My breath leaves me.  I look at Mary and want to cry.  

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“Leonardo,” she says. “It’s Leonardo.”

                            

She just knows all that it means to me.  

The Burlington House Cartoon

Leonardo da Vinci

1499-1500