The Magna Carta

Today hubby, the boy, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I went to the Legion of Honor Museum to see The Magna Carta.  It is on loan from Bodleian Library in Oxford, England and it is one of four surviving manuscripts.  It is on a sheet of parchment hand inscribed in Latin  with a green wax seal of William Marshal the elder, a guardian of the boy King Henry III, who was then in power.   The writing on the document was so small it was hard to read even if you knew how to read Latin.  Interesting seeing it.  There were binders on a nearby bench that translated what the document said but we didn't get a chance to read it.  It basically says that no man can be imprisoned without due process. 


We also saw the Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave.  She paints and manipulates paper, she forms trompe l’oeil masterpieces of elaborate dresses inspired by rich depictions in early European painting or by iconic costumes in museum collections around the world. The dresses looked like real dresses.  I don't know how she got the paper to look like real lace.  It was amazing.  A lot of work goes in to those dresses.  She must spend hours painting the paper to get it to look like fabric then shaping it into dresses.

We had a nice lunch in the museums cafe.  Hubby, the boy and I got a yummy pulled BBQ pork sandwich that came with vegetable chips which were really good. The Legion of Honor has  nice views of the San Francisco skyline although today it was a little hazy.  It also has a view of the Golden Gate Bridge through the trees.