25 Apr 2021
HUSSEY BY NAME: Museum founder John Bowes’ father fell deeply in love with the married Sarah Hussey
In the latest of her regular columns, Dorothy Blundell takes a sideways look behind the scenes at The Bowes Museum where she is a volunteer
REGARDLESS of whether you believe in things that go bump in the night, the stories of a family’s long dead ancestors can make for entertaining reading.
If nothing else, they breathe life into the dusty pages of history.
Like the story from 300 years before museum founder John Bowes was born, when Janet Douglas, wife of John Lyon, the 6th Lord Glamis, was burnt at the stake after being accused of witchcraft by King James V of Scotland. Although clear that the accusations were false, the king had Janet, along with her family and servants, tortured until she “confessed”.
20 Apr 2021
Hitting the headlines this week:
A charity which has helped thousands of elderly and disabled people across the dale for more than 20 years is being wound up
Cockfield Parish Council may have to write off almost £5,000 it paid for work which was never carried out
Whorlton Parish Council faces a large bill after abandoning a legal battle with the owners of the village pub
A newly-opened artisan hub in Barnard Castle has seen a huge demand for space from local artists and makers
The use of Barnard Castle s Richardson Hospital as a Covid-19 vaccine centre has raised its profile, according to the friends group
28 Feb 2021
SINT AND SINNER: Above, St Jerome in the Wilderness, by Andrea Solario
In the latest of her regular columns, Dorothy Blundell takes a sideways look at the collections of The Bowes Museum where she is a volunteer
LONG before he met Joséphine, John Bowes was buying paintings. In 1830, aged 19, he made a brief Grand Tour of the continent and acquired his first painting, the Temptation of St Anthony. By 1844 he had bought 57 artworks, ranging from Italian pre-Renaissance to Dutch 17th century, as well as some 15th century art.
One of his purchases of 1841, and displayed in the religious picture gallery in The Bowes Museum, is St Jerome in the Wilderness, by Andrea Solario, one of the most talented pupils of the great Leonardo da Vinci.
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15 Feb 2021
MEDIEVAL SELFIE: St Luke Drawing the Vigrin and the Child, attributed to the workshop of Dieric Bouts the Elder
In another of her occasional columns, Dorothy Blundell takes a sideways look at the collections of The Bowes Museum, where she volunteers
SELFIES are not a new concept. Painters through the ages often did self-portraits and some went further, showing themselves at work.
Take this (sort of) medieval selfie of a 15th century Netherlandish artist (pictured right). Its title: St Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child.
It is attributed to the workshop of Dieric Bouts the Elder (c1400-1475), in other words, Bouts’ apprentices.