London

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="835" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/national-gallery-ext-.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-1198" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/national-gallery-ext-.jpeg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/national-gallery-ext--300x167.jpeg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/national-gallery-ext--1024x570.jpeg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/national-gallery-ext--768x428.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



When was the last time you visited the <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National Gallery</a>? I&#8217;m pretty sure I haven&#8217;t visited since 2022, which is pretty embarrassing to admit &#8211; but I think that&#8217;s quite often the way with London&#8217;s more famous set pieces isn&#8217;t it? With so much culturally available in the city, it takes something new and extraordinary to send you back to a place you may have visited multiple times in the past as a child, London local and even perhaps as a parent.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="775" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio-martyrdom-of-saint-ursula-1610.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1151" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio-martyrdom-of-saint-ursula-1610.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio-martyrdom-of-saint-ursula-1610-300x233.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio-martyrdom-of-saint-ursula-1610-768x595.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, 1610. Intesa Sanpaolo Collection, Gallerie d’Italia Naples © Archivio Patrimonio Artistico Intesa Sanpaolo / photo Luciano Pedicini, Naples</figcaption></figure>



<a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/the-last-caravaggio" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Last Caravaggio</a> opens at National Gallery from Thurs 18 April to 21 July and it might well be the prod you need to revisit Trafalgar Square&#8217;s artistic gem. In a small, intimate, darkened room, the National Gallery&#8217;s existing Caravaggio masterpiece Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist has been twinned with the 1610 The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula &#8211; on loan from Gallerie d’Italia, Naples, and back in the UK for the first time in 20 years.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="843" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Michelangelo-Merisi-da-Caravaggio-Salome-receives-the-Head-of-John-the-Baptist-about-1609-10.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1150" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Michelangelo-Merisi-da-Caravaggio-Salome-receives-the-Head-of-John-the-Baptist-about-1609-10.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Michelangelo-Merisi-da-Caravaggio-Salome-receives-the-Head-of-John-the-Baptist-about-1609-10-300x253.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Michelangelo-Merisi-da-Caravaggio-Salome-receives-the-Head-of-John-the-Baptist-about-1609-10-768x647.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist, about 1609-10</figcaption></figure>



The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula is the last canvas Caravaggio ever painted before he died in mysterious circumstances en route back to Rome, convinced he was about to be given a papal pardon after years on the run for an infamous murder. It tells the story Ursula, the virgin martyr famous from the Middle Ages, who chose death rather than to marry outside her faith to a Hun. Her martyrdom, as Caravaggio imagines it, takes place in a crowed space, the lone female figure surrounded by soldiers, with an interplay of hands &#8211; innocent and guilty &#8211; across the canvas and the light and dark of his chiarascuro also acting as a metaphor between Ursula&#8217;s purity and the shady souls around her.



Caravaggio often used his own image as a character in his paintings, and you&#8217;ll find him here too, ghostly pale, open mouthed (minus the facial disfigurements from a knife attack some years back), looking past Ursula to the light &#8211; a witness to her death, perhaps even complicit.



Unless you&#8217;re a forensic studier of Caravaggio, you&#8217;ll probably want to move on from this bijou exhibition after fifteen minutes or so, but of course by now, you&#8217;re amidst the the glories of the National Gallery. If you love modern art, a new work by Bridget Riley, Messengers, is on the public stairway on the lead up to the Caravaggio room though I have to admit it didn&#8217;t move me partiularly (sorry Bridget).



There have been some other exciting recent loans to the National Gallery collections that are worth a diversion &#8211; Van Gogh&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-portrait-of-adeline-ravoux-the-innkeeper-s-daughter">Portrait of Adeline Ravoux, the Innkeeper’s Daughter</a> and <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-landscape-with-ploughman">Landscape with Ploughman</a> and Pissarro&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/camille-pissarro-late-afternoon-in-our-meadow">Late Afternoon in our Meadow</a>, all in Room 43, close to the Caravaggio in Room 46; and also El Greco&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/el-greco-the-entombment-of-christ">The Entombment of Christ</a> in Room 10. But of course there are 2300 works to choose from at the National Gallery so wherever you like to rest your gaze, you&#8217;ll find something you love.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="847" height="1024" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Van-Gogh-National-Gallery-847x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1154" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Van-Gogh-National-Gallery-847x1024.jpg 847w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Van-Gogh-National-Gallery-248x300.jpg 248w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Van-Gogh-National-Gallery-768x928.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Van-Gogh-National-Gallery-1271x1536.jpg 1271w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Van-Gogh-National-Gallery.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 847px) 100vw, 847px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Van Gogh&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-portrait-of-adeline-ravoux-the-innkeeper-s-daughter">Portrait of Adeline Ravoux, the Innkeeper’s Daughter</a> </figcaption></figure>



A bit of a post-note: there are a few watering holes at the National Gallery. Muriel&#8217;s on the ground floor to the right of the entrance is a light, bright option or self-serve, but I can recommend moving through it to <a href="https://www.ochre.london/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ochre</a>, the refurbed main, posher restaurant which takes walk-ins.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1099" height="707" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/421921466_17969239610678930_25790944651773492_n.jpg" alt="ochre restaurant national gallery london " class="wp-image-1195" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/421921466_17969239610678930_25790944651773492_n.jpg 1099w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/421921466_17969239610678930_25790944651773492_n-300x193.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/421921466_17969239610678930_25790944651773492_n-1024x659.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/421921466_17969239610678930_25790944651773492_n-768x494.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1099px) 100vw, 1099px" /></figure>



Expect crowd-pleaser mains like burgers (£21)and chicken schitzels (£28) along the likes of pan roast chalk stream trout with honeycomb tomatoes, samphire basil and lemon vinaigrette (£28, pictured below &#8211; delicious) or Devon crag linguine (£28). 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="2000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Ochre-trout-dish-National-Gallery-London.jpeg" alt="chalk stream trout with tomatoes and samphire in ceramic bowl " class="wp-image-1193" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Ochre-trout-dish-National-Gallery-London.jpeg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Ochre-trout-dish-National-Gallery-London-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Ochre-trout-dish-National-Gallery-London-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2024/04/Ochre-trout-dish-National-Gallery-London-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



Given entrance to the National Gallery&#8217;s priceless treasures is free, treat yourself to lunch &#8211; it&#8217;s only polite to celebrate your good fortune in style.



<a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/the-last-caravaggio">The Last Caravaggio</a> is at The National Gallery from 18 April – 21 July.

First look: ‘The Last Caravaggio’, The National Gallery

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