Sudley

At last Sudley Art Gallery is opened following its restoration. It looked much the same as it was 3 years ago when I last visited, but there were improvements as well and it was lovely to see it busy with people.

The house was lived in by the Holt family, who were largely philanthropists. George Holt earned his money and became rich as a shipping merchant, and believed that people such as themselves should use their wealth to enrich and make easier the lives of those less fortunate. This tradition was carried on by his daughter Emma. Emma ran charitable enterprises from the estate and bequethed both house and its collection of paintings to the City of Liverpool when she died in 1944.

What is fabulous about this house is the fact you are wandering round what is effectively a property furnished much as it was when the Holt family lived there. The painting collection is fantastic, and strongly favours British artists of Holt's time. I've selected a couple of my pre Raphaelite favourites, however, this is just a very small sample of what you will find there:

'Landscape - Hampstead'

by Sir John Everett Millais

'The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple'

by William Holman Hunt

'Angel Playing a Flageolet'

by Edward Burne-Jones

As regards the rest of my life today, restarted back at the gym - watch this space - don't want to get too ambitious and cocky just yet, and got some pc maintenance to do, which I may do tonight or I may not, so hopefully if I do , I'll be back blogging on here soon.

Tomorrow sees me back National Trust volunteering at '59 Hope Street' The Photographic Studio of Edward Chambre Hardman which I'll tell you about some time. And slowly I'm gathering ideas about the peripherals I want to add to my blog.