Rubies, diamonds and naked ladies in the sand dunes

The Royal Opera Arcade is nowhere near the Royal Opera House.  Even Londoners are confused when they stumble across this peaceful, beautiful passageway  next door to the Sofitel Hotel between Pall Mall and Charles II street in St James - a full 10 minutes walk from the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.  Just around the corner on Haymarket is Her Majesty's theatre. This was once the Royal Opera House and, in its new incarnation has, appropriately enough, contracted "The Phantom of the Opera" to play there for, what may well turn out to be, eternity itself. I'll devote a post to this, the oldest shopping arcade in London,  next week but for now, here's a quick look at a wonderfully sensuous evening at the La Galleria Pall Mall last Thursday.

The Edinburgh auction house, Lyon and Turnbull had brought a private collection of Sir William Russell Flint watercolours to the gallery in advance of their April 30th sale in Edinburgh.  For good measure they had thrown in a wonderfully eclectic collection of jewelry and, best of all, they were letting visitors to the opening trying on any piece they chose. Here on the left,   is Catriona Macpherson from the Pall Mall Art Advisors wearing  a ruby and diamond necklace. And here is my wrist displaying, probably for the first and last time in its life, a bracelet of gold diamonds.

Once I'd stopped playing with the jewelry,  I wandered around
Sir William Russell Flint's utterly happy, sunny watercolours of sultry half-naked women on idyllic beaches or bathing in provencal fountains or dipping their feet in an Ardeche stream.
Flint always wore a jacket and tie to paint and sat at his desk. This methodical, rigorous man produced painting after painting filled with the delight of living and glowing with the joys of summer.