Over the October half term a group of budding Oundle School artists and historians travelled to Amsterdam.
Pupils, George Elborne (18) and Flora Kilpatrick (18) commented, “Amsterdam is a city of many delights and our visit began being treated to a tour of the old city from the comfort of a canal boat, after which we had hoped to see the grandeur of Amsterdam’s sunset-lit Royal Palace, only to be disappointed by a child’s fun-fair blocking the view!”
T
he next morning, the group were given time to sketch the beautiful Vondelpark, although we somewhat impeded by hordes of runners taking part in the annual marathon through the park. Later, they visited the infamous hiding place of Anne Frank; a sombre experience. However visiting Rembrandt’s house raised their spirits as they were able to understand, and dissect his works (ably assisted by audio-guides).
George and Flora added, “The penultimate museum visited, to whet our appetites for the Titan that was the Rijksmuseum, was the Van-Gogh museum; a wonderfully curated place.
The final day of assimilating the art of Amsterdam art took place in the Rijksmuseum and standing in the entrance, it felt like we had bitten off more than we could chew trying to see it all in just one day. All twenty six of the group scattered for six hours of artistic time travel, and came out the other end blown away; everyone had their stories to tell of artworks they had discovered, from triptychs to Halo-esque canons (it’s a video game).”