Gratuitous Bertie Dog Picture: Acting!

"I'm just saying that, 'Bertie Dog, Bertie Dog, wherefore art thou,' sounds better.  Write it down."

Image: David Garrick with his Wife Eva-Maria Veigel,William Hogarth (1697-1764), c.1757-64, Crown Copyright, The Royal Collection.


Read more about this fascinating painting here.

You know you want to have a Bertie Dog mug, tee-shirt, tote bag or water bottle. You know you do. So, take a look at our online store. 

Mastery of Design: Queen Victoria’s Diamonds, 1858

The Coronation Necklace and Earrings
R. S. Garrard & Co., 1858
Commissioned by Queen Victoria
The Royal Collection

Queen Victoria believed that a monarch should always look the part. Jewelry, she thought (quite correctly) when worn properly was one of the best ways to convey the sense of dignity, grandeur and nobility required of a ruler. The best stone for this was the diamond. Queen Victoria loved diamonds—she enjoyed wearing them. For the Queen, like many of us, diamonds put one in mind of tasteful magnificence. Given Queen Victoria’s diminutive size—she was not even five feet tall—she was quite sensitive about the scale of her jewelry. She desired large stones, but in settings that were appropriate for her stature. Many of the pieces of jewelry that she inherited were remade so that the scale would suit her small frame. Her beloved Prince Albert supervised all of the alterations personally.

By 1853, all of her most exquisite diamond pieces had been remade by Garrards, The Royal Jewelers at the time. In 1856, she was painted by Franz Winterhalter wearing an exceptional suite of diamonds—her favorite. However, in 1857, some minor unpleasantness with the King of Hanover (he felt that the jewels that had belonged to Queen Charlotte should have been rightfully his and not Victoria’s) caused Queen Victoria to have to give up the majority of her diamonds. Not to fear, however. When you’re the Queen, there are always more diamonds to be had. By 1858, Queen Charlotte’s necklace and earrings had been recreated using stones cleverly culled from a variety of sources. Winterhalter painted Victoria again, in 1859, this time wearing her new diamonds.

Winterhalter's 1859 Portrait
British National Portrait Gallery

This necklace is just too magnificent. The earrings aren’t bad either. I’ll just let them speak for themselves. Victoria loved them so dearly, they were the only diamonds she allowed herself to wear during her extended period of mourning. They reminded her of Prince Albert. Of particular note, these diamonds are now known as “Coronation Necklace.” While Victoria didn’t wear them at her coronation, they have been worn at the 1902, 1911, 1937 and 1953 coronations.

Drawing of the Day: George Cooke's Drawing of Albert Chevalier, 1916

Albert Chevalier
George Cooke
1916-17
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This caricature of Music Hall star Albert Chevalier is from the fourth album that the celebrated commercial artist and caricaturist George Cooke assembled throughout his career of recording the faces of the most famous Edwardian Music Hall performers.  This album features drawings from 1910 to 1919.

Originally from Yorkshire, George Cooke specialized in designing illustrated publicity material for performers: flyers, letterheads, posters and newspaper advertisements. Cooke was based at the Grand Theatre for several years.

By 1917 Cooke seems to have moved to London, where he established Cooke’s Publicity Agency at 453 The Strand. Records show that Cooke had considered a move to London, since in May 1906, when he was still in Hanley, a note from him was printed in the variety  magazine “The Performer.” It read:

Phil Ray says my work’s too good for Hanley; I ought to be in London. But I want money to start with. Who’ll give me some! Griff can’t afford now he’s two families to keep. But he wishes me luck. Many thanks, old friend. GEORGE COOKE, Caricaturist, Hanley.

Phil Ray and Griff were both performers whose caricatures feature in Cooke’s albums.

Unfolding Pictures: The Triumph of Harlequin Fan, 1750

Triumph of Harlequin
Fan, 1750
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A beautiful watercolor on kid leather leaf is mounted on carved and pierced mother-of-pearl sticks which are inlaid with silver-gilt foils and yellow gold. This is the “Triumph of Harlequin” Fan and it dates to 1750. It was, most likely, made as a souvenir of Venice’s Carnival.


In the Eighteenth Century, visitors from all over Europe flocked to the Carnival in Venice. Depicted are the distinctively costumed figures associated with the celebrated Italian theatre troupe the Commedia dell’Arte. These costumes were often reproduced for people to wear during Carnival when whole of Venice was transformed into a costumed masquerade.

The painting on the fan leaf is extremely fine and delicate—both front and reverse. Speaking of the reverse, this side shows a naval scene. A tall ship lies anchored by a dark cliff with a glowing sunset behind. It’s decidedly an Italian take on the Eighteenth-Century French art of fan-making.

Mr. Punch of Belgrave Square will be back Tomorrow

Hullo, Chums.

We had an excitin' day, we did.  Seems we lost what the ginger bloke calls our "power."  Dunno why.  I didn't feel weak or nothin'.  Only he says that it's the stuff what makes all them machines he uses buzz and whirr.  So, for some reason, me story ain't gonna be posted today.

Looks as if we got our "power" back as the man is sittin' in his red chair making clickity-clack sounds on that flat box he uses.  I reckon cuz o' that, he'll be able to write me story for tomorrow.

Be patient, chums.  All will be normal again tomorrow and what's more, Fridays is "Mr. Punch" days, they are.  Me favorite day and all.

Slugs and hisses...

Mr. Punch

History's Runway: A Costume from "A Midsummer Night's Dream," 1914

Theatre Costume
1914
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Naturally, some of the most unusual and interesting historical clothing that still remains are pieces which were designed for theatrical use. Here we see a theatre costume of a dress of white crêpe-de-chine. The skirt is stenciled with sprays of pink flowers and weighted with a fringe of tiny silver balls. Cap sleeves, a deep V-neck with a silver lamé infill at the base and gold ball buttons create an ethereal look. The tunic is gathered at the bust with a thin gold cord belt ending in golf briolettes and red beads. A deep macramé fringe, decorated at the top with small red beads completes the outfit.

This costume was commissioned by Harley Granville Barker (1877-1946) who was an established director and promoter of contemporary drama, directing three of Shakespeare's plays at the Savoy Theatre--The Winter's Tale, Twelfth Night (both 1912) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1914). Barker did away with historical costume, inviting his designer, Norman Wilkinson (1882-1934), to create simple stylized period dress without attempting to imitate it.

This gown comes from Barker's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play's mortal characters wore costumes loosely based on Grecian dress while the fairies and ethereal characters wore sparkling costumes to match their gilded faces. Barker's then wife, Lillah McCarthy, played Helena, and for her first scene, she appeared in this dress of white crêpe-de-chine with mauve shoes and red beads. Helena's long blonde wig was adorned with a wreath of flowers.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: Set Model for "The Lady's Not For Burning," 1949

Set Design
London, 1949
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The Victoria & Albert Museum—in addition to the hundreds of thousands of other wonderful items there—has a remarkable collection of theatrical artifacts from costume-pieces to set designs and much more.


Here, we see a set model by Oliver Messel for a 1949 H.M. Tennent production of The Lady's Not For Burning,” The model shows Messel’s proposal for the set of a room in the house of Hebble Tyson, Mayor of the small market town of Cool Clary.

Essentially, a wooden box which recreates the proscenium, it is hung with velvet strips on the inside to indicate where the scrims would hang. The set itself depicts a medieval building constructed from painted pieces of paper and card.

Messel shows a stone floor, Gothic windows and furniture as well as the indication of a spiral staircase and turret on stage left. To the house left, a desk and shelf are stacked with miniature books. On stage right, a birdcage hangs before an open door leading to a passageway. There is also a small wood fire in the foreground.

Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic which he painstakingly based on period examples. Messel worked steadily in ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Later, when his traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, he concentrated primarily on painting, interior and textile design.

This set reads like a medieval painting and his design complemented Christopher Fry’s verse play, “The Lady’s Not For Burning”--Fry's first play to be presented at a West End theatre.

Fry recalled of Messel’s design, “The set was enchanting; the inventiveness of it stays in the mind - the hanging birdcage, the shelf behind Tyson's desk, the way to the garden, the feeling of Spring. It was all a bit grand and ecclesiastical for an impecunious mayor of a small country town, perhaps. But the charm of it, and particularly the space of sky, by sunlight, rainlight and mooonlight, outweighed any such reservations.”