GR8 USE OF TXT BUT NOT GR8 CAUZ

Delighted to see the National making use of QR codes but saddened by the use case.

The National's QR code was real easy to  use; seamlessly making link from the real to the virtual world and back again. I scanned the code using an app on my iPhone almost by return I was presented with a text  message screen ready for me to text 'POUSSIN' to the short code 70880 so no need to type in the number. Making it no problem  to donate £5 via my iPhone to the cause - raise £4M  of the £14M required to ‘save’ Poussin’s Extreme  Unction (Final Anointing) for the Cambridge’s  Fitzwilliam Museum and the nation as it was a 'national treasure'.

Extreme  Unction (Final Anointing)  [1638 -1640]

But I have to ask WHY? Couldn’t the National loan one of it’s 16 (sixteen) Poussin’s to the Fitzwilliam. In doing so free the £4M to fund some contemporary - local or international - art to inspire and enrich.

Yes, Posssin is important  but the nation has enough of his works,  in fact it is awash with Poussin’s paintings.  Poussins  can be found in Cambridge (they have one already so why be greedy?) Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Liverpool  as well as in the collections of a number of Dukes.

So the nation is not short of a Poussin or two including several quintessential - 'national treasure' - Poussins  for example A Bacchanalian Revel before a Term 

A Bacchanalian Revel before a Term [1623-28]

So any artist in search of Poussinian education or inspiration  can easily seek out good examples of his characteristic painting style:

• Linear frieze and triangular compostions
• Use of primary and complimentary colours
• History painting composition with its roots in the Renaissance work of Michelangelo and Raphael   
• The painting’s narrative is revealed  thru gesture, body movement, hand and eye co-ordination
• History or the Bible as the inspirational basis for each painting 

Just as so many artists have done  including David, Ingres, Cezzanne and even Picasso  in times past.

So, to conclude great to see this use of  'new technology' making the link from the real to virtual world  but let Extreme Unction go and use the money raised to help fund contemporary art we have enough Poussins!