Last September we visited the Queen’s Gallery by Holyrood Palace. On that visit the facility was offered to convert the attendance ticket to one that allowed entry for a year.

Accordingly last week we took the opportunity to take in the latest exhibition there, Masterpieces from Buckingham Place, currently on view until Sep 25. Each of the pictures was captioned with the identity of the King, Queen or Prince who purchased it. Some of the paintings below appear on the Art UK website, others I photographed myself (allowed as long as no flash was used)

Given his fate it is somewhat ironic that Judith with the Head of Holofernes, painted by Cristofano Allori (1577-1621,) was bought by Charles I. Judith’s face in this painting looks remarkably modern to me:-

Artemisia Gentileschi (Rome 1593-Naples 1652) Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura.):-

Andrea del Sarto (Florence 1486-Florence 1530) Portrait of a Woman in Yellow:-

Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden 1606-Amsterdam 1669) Agatha Bas (1611-1658):-

One of the most striking paintings of light in the exhibition was in this other Rembrandt, Christ and St Mary Magdalene at the Tomb. My photograph fails to do it justice:-

Parmigianini (1503 – 1540) Pallas Athene. For some reason this reminded me of the cyclist Laura (Trott) Kenny. Unfortunately my photograph has a reflection of the Gallery’s central light fitting:-

Gaspard Dughet (1615-1675) Seascape with Jonah and the Whale. There is a lightning flash across the upper part of this picture of which I tried to take a close-up, but it didn’t come out:-

Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682) Evening Landscape, A Windmill by a Stream:-

The information card for the above says “a single figure swathed in black walks away from us.” Examining the picture closely two (female) figures can clearly be seen behind the black swathed one! They are brilliantly conjured up too, with just a few dabs of paint. How could the writer of the description have failed to notice them? (Is it perhaps because they are clearly women?)

There is a virtual tour of the exhibition here.

The Queen’s Gallery lies over the road from the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, and close by Holyrood Palace. It has recently been refurbished and styled with a blonde wood.

Art Deco style lamp in niche by entrance to the Queen’s Gallery:-

Lower part of stairwell:-

Upper part of stairwell:-

Stair guard rail:-

Ceiling + Light:-

At the time we visited there was an exhibition of paintings illustrating the lives of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Painting of Scutari Monument at Great Exhibition. (The Great Exhibition is one of my interests so I had to photograph this):-

Similarly this painting by Edouard Hildebrandt of Dumbarton Rock and Castle was a must:-

Information card re painting above:-

The Abbey is now a ruin and has been for some considerable time.

It adjoins Holyrood Palace (or the Palace adjoins it.)

Entrance:-

Information board:-

Interior:-

Pillars:-

Chancel and east window:-

Looking back towards entrance:-

Exterior from north. The remains to the left and in the photo two below are from an even older building. Arthur’s Seat/Salisbury Crags in background:-

Exterior from north-east:-

Exterior from south:-

I realised when I was composing this that I hadn’t posted any pictures of Holyrood Palace from the grounds surounding it other than from the front courtyard, so here are two.

Holyrood Palace from Grounds. Ruins of Holyrood Abbey to right:-

East facade:-

One of the most gruesome events that took place in Holyrood Palace was the murder of David Rizzio.

Rizzio was a favourite of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was thought by some to be too close to, and too much of an influence on, her.

A plot was hatched to kill him and he was duly murdered in front of the Queen.

One of the exhibits in the Palace is Rizzio’s “bloodstain”:-

I remember from my childhood visit to the Palace the story being told that there used to be what was said to be the remains of his clotted blood on the floor but that visitors would chip away at it on the sly to get a piece for themselves to take away. The curators got so fed up with replacing the ‘clot’ that they resorted instead to this red wash on the wooden flooring to mark the spot.

Towards the end of the Palace tour there is a room which contains royal memorabilia.

A display of British decorations (OBEs, CBEs etc):-

The regalia of the order of the Thistle:-

One of Queen Victoria’s dresses. She was not a big woman:-

Many of the rooms in Holyrood Palace are hung with tapestries:-

This room also contained a piano (or spinet or clavichord):-

Stained Glass with Scottish Royal Coat of Arms:-

Dining table:-

Thrones in throne room:-

King’s bedchamber:-

A small chamber:-

The Long Gallery. Another ornate ceiling and many portraits of Stuart monarchs:-

The separate Stuart room also contained many portraits:-

Including James VI*:-

A smaller room further contains portraits of the so-called Pretenders to the throne subsequent to the “Glorious Revolution.” These kings who weren’t, from left to right here, were Prince Henry Benedict Stuart, James ‘VIII and III’ and Bonnie Prince Charlie. The first and third were brothers. Their portraits flank their father’s:-

*James I of England, Wales and Ireland.

As you might expect the Palace of Holyrood House has a fair few elaborate ceilings. Some more elaborate than others. Some of the many paintings and tapestries can be glimpsed in these photos:-

This one had a painting for a centrepiece:-

And there was one ceiling made of wood:-