Brooch of silver, diamonds, emeralds and a ruby
England, 1755
The Victoria & Albert Museum
Here, we see a brooch, made of silver which as been set with brilliant-cut diamonds. It takes the form of a dove carrying an olive branch in its beak with emeralds for leaves, a ruby for an eye and diamonds as feathers.
The brooch was made in 1755 in England and was altered in the Nineteenth Century. This comes from the glorious collection that Dame Joan Evans bequeathed to the V&A.
The ease with which “Lola” identifies herself belies the confusion in the soul of this young, French “Dance Hall girl” (to phrase her profession gently). Lola is a lost soul. She’s in love with an ideal—a strapping blond sailor who left her alone with a child to raise in the French coastal city of Nantes. Lola is not without her amusements. She takes delight in the simplest things—adding some fringe to what seems to be her one, rather brief, costume, having a nice glass of wine, leaving her son unattended at night, and taking American sailors to bed. Lola’s not a prostitute, per se. She doesn’t get paid for her company. Sure, she gets whiskey and cigarettes and an increasingly large collection of toy trumpets for her son, Yvon, but that’s not legal tender. She’s got a good heart under all that fringe. She’s not really “Lola.” That’s just the name she adopted for the stage. She’s really Cecile—a sweet French girl whose heart has been broken.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Nantes, Roland Cassard is having an equally difficult time. He just can’t find himself interested in anything. He doesn’t care about his job—which he promptly loses. He doesn’t care about his music anymore. He craves adventure—something he finds in books, and he craves love. He fondly remembers a girl from his childhood—Cecile. When Roland stumbles across Cecile as the newly-transformed Lola, he thinks that this might mean his life makes sense. But, alas, this is a French film. So, no. What follows is an interesting tale of broken hearts, yearning, jewel smuggling, amorous sailors, peculiar dancing, and youthful angst.
Lola marked the directorial debut of the celebrated Jacques Demy and also serves as the first entry of his beloved trilogy which includes Les Parapluies De Cherbourg, and Les Desmoiselles de Rochefort. While the latter two films are strictly musicals set to lavish scores by Michel Legrand, Lola is, as Demy described, “a musical without music.” Legrand provided the orchestral themes—music which was adapted for Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. The character of Roland Cassard played by Marc Michel, appears as a lead character in “Parapluies,” taking the story of Lola to Cherbourg along with his own theme tune.
Anouk Aimée plays Lola and gives what could be a very one-note character a considerable amount of depth and subtle emotion. She’s nicely matched with Marc Michel who delivers a similarly brave performance.
This film is something of a New Year’s tradition with my family. It would be odd not to ring in the New Year without our favorite French stripper and her many loves. Of course, the film is in French, but you don’t really need to read the subtitles to know what’s going on. It’s incredibly interesting to watch, and, if you’re a fan of Jacques Demy, a must-see film.
The Music Party Philippe Mercier, 1733 Crown Copyright The Royal Collection Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Philippe Mercier, painter and librarian to the Prince of Wales from 1728-1738, often sketched and painted scenes of daily life at the royal residences. This scene of a music party from 1733 shows a typical day in the life of the Royal Family of the Eighteenth Century. Here, we see Frederick, The Prince of Wales playing the cello. He is accompanied by his sister, Princess Anne, playing the harpsichord. Anne had been taught by Handel himself and by all accounts was just as skilled a player as he instructor. Also with them are Princess Caroline on the lute and Princess Amelia who reads aloud from a book of Milton’s poetry.
This painting was criticized for a number of reasons. First of all, Frederick’s love of playing the cello was considered unseemly and not appropriate for a man of his station. Similarly, the princesses are attired in costumes which were considered common and not the stuff of royalty. Still, Mercier argued that he depicted the scene as it actually happened.
One of three versions of this same scene, the other two, painted after this one, show the sitters in a more opulent outdoor setting and in costumes which were generally considered to be more fitting to their royal dignity.
This stunning pair of earrings of enameled gold is set with brilliant-cut diamonds, rubies, and pearls. Chances are, these earrings were most likely adapted from pendants from a matching necklace which is still in existence in the Victoria & Albert Museum. This is evidenced by the fact that the central stones are not of equal size and probably came from pendants mounted a different locations on the necklace.
Though the design of these earrings is decidedly Indian, the construction is most likely European, particularly French. French jewelers and English jewelers alike tried, for awhile, to emulate the look of the Indian jewelry which had been so admired at the 1851 Great Exhibition.
Indian jewels of the era were characterized by their rich appearance—a look that was achieved by combining enameled gold with heavy settings of pearls and dense patterns of thinly cut colored stones.
Once a year, I allow myself some shameless plugging. And, so, here it is.
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The front of this handsome greeting card from 1894 depicts a girl in French Revolutionary costume, with a bicorne hat, blue coat and pink skirt. The card is printed with the words:
"A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND ALL."
This card is signed "With Julia's love to dear Amy Xmas /94.” It comes from a collection of cards given to the V&A by the mother of the “Amy” in question—Amy Piercey (b. 1882). The card was printed in Germany for export to the English market.
