Today, after discussing the Beggar’s Opera in the morning, our class went to the Sir John Soane’s Museum. Aside from getting a wee bit of heat stroke from waiting in line outside of the very small museum, I really enjoyed it. It’s a really charming building that used to be a mansion, and the man who lived in and owned it, whose name I’m sure you can guess, started a very eclectic collection of art. The pieces range from anywhere from frescoes to Roman sculptures, and even to an Egyptian sarcophagus on the lowest level. The particular reason we went to it for our class is because of the Picture Room, which is exceedingly unique. It is a very small room, no more than 20 feet across either way, completely filled to the brim with paintings, some by Sir John Soane himself. What makes it so unique are its walls, which can unfold to reveal more paintings several times over. Inside the room are many paintings by Hogarth, a propagandist painter who utilized corruption as the subject of his works, hence the museum’s connection to the Beggar’s Opera.

The rooms of the building itself are very charming, and the library in particular was exciting for an old-book lover like myself to encounter; two walls were literally blanketed in books behind glass cases, with most of the books older than the early 1800’s. You obviously aren’t allowed to touch them, but I would be too afraid of damaging them to do it even if I was. There were also several pieces of art incorporated directly onto the surfaces of the building itself. In the selfsame library, the ceiling is partially covered with a depiction of the Greek pantheon of deities. Unfortunately, guests aren’t allowed to take photographs, but I might be able to scan in the postcards I bought when I get back in the states!

For now, I’m tired and interested to see what my Shakespeare class has in store for me tomorrow; out of all the Shakespeare I have read, Taming of the Shrew is my least favorite. It actually borders on hate what I feel for it, which is pretty much the opposite of what I feel for every other of his works! I do have to turn in now, or I’ll be absolutely incoherent for our discussion of Taming of the Shrew, which I want to give the benefit of the doubt. Maybe studying it will help me get past all the misogyny, but it might very well be my least favorite of the plays we see and study. Until tomorrow, good night and happy Fourth!