Theatres of Life: Drawings from the Rothschild Collection, The Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, London W1, until 27 January 2008
Pop Art Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, until 20 January 2008, Sponsored by Lehman Brothers
Waddesdon Manor, the stately home of the Rothschilds near Aylesbury now managed by the National Trust, is lending for the first time a group of master drawings for outside exhibition. London’s Wallace Collection is the fortunate recipient, and some 75 high-quality drawings (mostly French 18th-century) are currently on display in the basement galleries of Hertford House in Manchester Square. Here is yet another example of the current fetish for subterranean galleries devoid of natural light. Revealingly, it’s the restaurant which is given the prime location upstairs (plenty of light and space), though it’s an oddly airless and not particularly pleasant place to eat. Once again, the priorities of our museums seem topsy-turvy. For culture, see below.
The exhibition consists of two rooms (the catalogue, published by Paul Holberton at £25 in paperback, is far grander than the show), of which the second room is the more interesting.
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