We stopped off at Lichfield Cathedral which bizarrely we have never been to: much of it medieval, but more of it the result of highly sensitive Victorian restoration, begun by Sydney Smirke and continued by Gilbert Scott and his son, John Oldrid.

The west front looks as it did in an engraving by Britton, but the statues by the portico are by Mary Grant and the rest by a local nineteenth-century workshop:-

There is a wonderful Victorian screen designed by Gilbert Scott and executed by Francis Skidmore of Coventry between 1859 and 1863:-

More good Victorian statues in the choir:-

Good Minton tiles in the choir:-

And a reredos with more Victorian carving, this time by John Birnie Philip:-

We are staying the weekend in the middle of deep woods in Ingestre Pavilion, a small folly on an estate in mid-Staffordshire, where Capability Brown landscaped the park for the second Viscount Chetwynd, MP for Stafford and an Irish peer.   The pavilion itself was apparently constructed by Charles Trubshaw, a local mason-architect who was undertaking work at Ingestre in 1752.   By 1802, everything behind it had been demolished, so it was left to Philip Jebb, a Catholic and a Kingsman, to add an octagonal room behind:-

I am devoting a second post to Lichfield Cathedral’s tombs.

A commemorative bust of Samuel Johnson was done by Westmacott in 1793:-

So was the monument to Andrew Newton, with standing woman and accompanying children:-

Also in the South Transept is a commemorative monument to the Officers of the 80th. Regiment of Foot by Peter Hollins:-

In the South Choir Aisle is an early monument by Francis Chantrey (1814) to the daughters of Canon Robinson:-

And in the north Choir Aisle a powerful Epstein memorial to the evangelical Bishop Woods who was a great tennis player and used to walk round his diocese:-

We went to the new opera house at West Horsley last night.   I am incredibly admiring of Wasfi Kani’s astonishing achievement in raising the money and constructing a large-scale opera house from scratch in the green fields of rural Surrey and am glad to see that this year the exterior is not breeze blocks, but decorated brickwork to match (or at least emulate) the amazing brickwork on the façade of the house:-

After lunch, I was taken on a tour of the nether regions of Somerset House – the rabbit warren of rooms and corridors underneath Pennethorne’s West Wing which used to be occupied by the recreation facilities of the Inland Revenue, including their snooker room and rifle range, and is now occupied by a myriad of small businesses and start-ups, studios for fashion designers, with technical facilities attached:-

One of the great things about the Summer Exhibition is the ability to show works of art in natural daylight.   This year prints are being shown in the Sackler Galleries and the space looks particularly beautiful, restored to its pristine form and allowing the prints a greater individuality, slightly less densely hung.   I just hope that visitors will find their way up there:-

I show a couple of other galleries, too, V hung by David Mach:-

And VII hung by Phyllida Barlow:-

When we were in Lisbon, we went to see Joana Vasconcelos in her immense industrial space down by the docks:-

Over lunch, she mentioned that she was making preparations for showing in the Summer Exhibition.   She was invited to show work by Grayson Perry and her large floating fabric sculpture dominates the Octagon as one enters in a way that very much reflects the spirit of the exhibition as a whole:  freely creative, colourful and full of unexpected surprises:-

Like half of Britain, I was glued in front of the television last night watching the third episode of A Very English Scandal as it went out live.   I have found that absolutely everybody has a view on it – generally about the awfulness of Thorpe, his appalling hypocrisy, dishonesty, and general smarminess, so beautifully and persuasively enacted by Hugh Grant,   So, it was a pleasure to sit next to someone tonight who knew Thorpe in the House of Commons before he was outed and remembered him only for his charm, compassion and generosity to a fellow MP, even of another party.

We had the private view for The Great Spectacle this evening, our survey exhibition of the last 250 years of an exhibition which each year was jam packed from floor to ceiling with works of art.

The only thing I was allowed to photograph was the fascinating ephemera in a long display case in the Reynolds Room (now painted blue).

A season ticket for one of the students, dated 1808:-

A bundle of correspondence relating to the exhibition (do we throw nothing away ?) during the 1830s:-

A season ticket from 1876:-

And the luxury edition of the 1881 handbook:-

It’s Non-Members’ Varnishing Day today when those who have had work accepted into this year’s Summer Exhibition come to process down Piccadilly, attend a church service in St. James’s if they feel so inclined, eat strawberries and cream, meet friends, and admire the works on display.   This year they are greeted by banners in Piccadilly by Grayson Perry and a huge work by Anish Kapoor in the courtyard like a majestic space station:-