Music

Having had a night disturbed by a painful tooth abscess, my only trip out today was to the dentist.  Although the surgery was closed, the practice owner very helpfully handed a pack of Amoxicillin to me, which should do the trick. I've decided to stay indoors after that. 

At noon, I had a virtual meeting for coffee with my Superlative Walks co-conspirators - Andy, Bruce, Chris and Martin, which was very good for morale.

Since then, I have been listening for the first time to the 1971 album Woyaya by Osibisa - another band that I saw live at the Winter Gardens, Cleethorpes at around that time. My favourite track, for all sorts of reasons, is Survival. 

It was the musical exuberance of Osibisa that prompted me to photograph one of our favourite works of art at home: a signed, limited edition poster for the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee in May 2003. We visited Memphis a few months later and loved the City and above all its lively music scene. Let's hope that is restored as soon as possible.

Rather more gloomy was today's work of art The Portinari Altar by Hugo van der Goes (c1475.) This large triptych is now in the Uffizi in Florence, was painted in Ghent and transported to Florence by ship, by barge and then carried to the Church of St Egidio by 16 men.

It is a nativity scene, gazed-upon by saints and the family of the donor - Tommaso Portinari, a Medici banker working at the time in Bruges. In medieval times, painters were viewed simply as craftsmen who did their employers' bidding. Hugo van der Goes was one of the first of a new breed, who painted according to his own spirit and ambitions. The scene is remarkably sad and gloomy despite the traditional joy of the nativity story. It is thought that van der Goes depicted the subject in a pessimistic way partly because he was suffering from depression and partly because the Burgundian empire, under Charles the Bold, was under threat and soon to be conquered by the Swiss Confederation.