24 August 2024

I was meeting a friend for lunch in Edinburgh and had an hour to spare. I popped into the National Gallery to visit some of my friends. It is a beautiful building – spacious, gracious and full of priceless treasure. It is remarkable that it is all free for our enjoyment and inspiration.

I began with Constable’s ‘The Vale of Dedham’ – the river Stour, leading us along the valley to the village of Dedham. And there, in the distance but right in the centre of the painting is the church tower, unmistakable symbol of our indelible Christian heritage.

My next port of call was David Wilkie’s historical painting about the May Fair at Pitlessie which is just down the road. His father was parish minister. During worship, the son would secretly make sketches of the congregation. These were eventually incorporated into this painting. It is literally living history!

‘The Skating Minister’ followed. I never tire of it and marvel that Scotland’s most popular and most recognisable painting is of a Church of Scotland minister in such a playful pose. Like the Pitlessie Fair in 1804, the late eighteenth century Skating Minister challenges some of the Calvinistic views which darken Scotland’s ecclesiastical past.

Our Vermeer is complemented for the moment with ‘Woman Standing at the Virginal’ which is on loan from the National Gallery in London. ‘Jesus in the House of Mary and Martha’ is revolutionary. This Jesus doesn’t take sides for at the centre of the painting is Martha’s Sacramental bread, uniting worship and action around the table.

On leaving, I saw  Leonardo da Vinci’s, ‘Madonna of the Yarnwinder’ which had been stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in 2003. I didn’t know it was here. It’s smaller than I imagined. The Christchild sits on Mary’s lap reaching out for the yarnwinder shaped like a cross. Mary raises her hand apprehensively as she remembers the words of old Simeon, ‘Sorrow like a sharp sword shall pierce your own soul also.’

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