Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Gala Performance at the Paris Opera, 1855

A Gala Performance at the Paris Opera
Dieterle and Lami, 1855
Commissioned by Napoleon III
Presented to Queen Victoria, Christmas, 1855
The Royal Collection

In 1855, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert traveled to Paris for an official State Visit and were greeted by the French people and Emperor Napoleon III with warmth and opulence. In their honor, a special evening was planned at the Paris Opera which included a sampling of what Napoleon considered the finest of France’s operatic and ballet stars. While Queen Victoria very much enjoyed the architecture of the opera house and was enchanted by their luxurious box, she was less than impressed by the performance itself finding it too long and rather dull.


As a gift for the Christmas of 1855, Napoleon III presented Queen Victoria with an album of paintings which he had commissioned to chronicle their visit to Paris. Among them was this watercolor of their evening at the Paris Opera. The Queen and Prince Albert can be seen entering their box on the right. The architectural portions of this watercolor were painted by the Paris Opera’s scenic designer known as Dieterle. The figures were painted by celebrated French society painter, Eugene Lami.

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

CLICK IMAGE ABOVE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION VIEW

Gratuitous Bertie Dog Picture: Harpo

"Where are Zeppo and Chico?"

Image:  Caroline, Princess of Wales, and Princess Charlotte, Creator: Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) (artist), Creation Date: 1801, Materials: Oil on canvas, Acquirer: Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1819-1901), Provenance: Painted at Blackheath for the Marchioness of Townshend; purchased by Queen Victoria.

Original Image -- Crown Copyright, The Royal Collection.  Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

To learn more about this painting, visit its official entry in the catalog of the Royal Collection here.  I also wrote about this painting of Queen Caroline (when still Princess of Wales) a couple of years ago, and you can read that here.

Go on...buy a Bertie Dog mug, tee-shirt, bag or other nifty thing.  It's not too late for Christmas.

You, too, could have a cup of tea with Bertie. Or, you could wear his picture proudly. Visit our online store to see our range of Gratuitous Bertie Dog products.

Mastery of Design: The Pinecone Brooch, 1960

Brooch
Jean Schumberger, 1960
Tiffany & Co.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This attractive brooch is of a more modern origin than the pieces which we usually examine onStalking the Belle Époque, but it has its roots in the designs of the late Victorian era. Jean Schlumberger of New York’s Tiffany & Co. designed this glittering gem in the form of a pair of pinecones--one is set with emeralds, and the other with sapphires. The pinecones are surmounted with diamond-set leaves.

During his career, Jean Schlumberger (1907-87) worked with Schiaparelli in Paris before joining Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger came by his love of gems naturally. He came from a family of textile manufacturers in Mulhouse (in eastern France). During this time, he grew to love studying combinations of colors and textures. Initially his mother and father urged young Jean toward a career in banking, however, in the 1930s, he began working for as a designer of costume jewelry for the couturier Elsa Schiaparelli in Paris. The Second World War led him to the French army and soon he made his way from England (to where he’d been evacuated) to New York.

Once in the United States, in 1947, he set up a small jewelry business with his childhood friend Nicolas Bongard. Their work quickly garnered much attention and soon Tiffany & Co. invited them to open a design studio and salon within the Tiffany New York store in 1956. To this day, many of Schlumberger’s designs are still produced by Tiffany & Co. and remain among their biggest sellers. 

The Art of Play: The Ebenezer Scrooge Marionette, 1979

Marionette of Ebenezer Scrooge
Frances and Peter Grant, 1979
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Though made in 1979, this marionette puts me in mind of the Victorian puppets made in the Nineteenth Century by the Tiller-Clowes troupe. Here, we see Ebenezer Scrooge. He was made, along with twenty-two others, by Peter and Frances Grant for their puppet production of “A Christmas Carol.” Their Theater of Marionettes toured Britain in 1979 with this production. 

The Grants had a long history of puppetry. They began their company in the 1960s, and, over time made their way across Britain and Europe to the delight of many.

Frances Grant sculpted the bodies of their marionettes. She used obeche, a tropical wood valued for its smoothness and lack of resin. The faces, hands and feet were also sculpted by Frances who employed epoxy resin to create expressive features. Peter Grant costumed the figures and created all the props. 

Bertie's Pet-itations: Oh...Christmas Tree!

Here's Bertie's weekly opportunity to share his ideas for creating our new "Beautiful Age."  Bertie's advice, I'm sure, can be applied to many different areas of our lives.

And, so, I happily hand the computer over to him.


Bertie says:

I'm not sure why, but every year, you drag in those big boxes of fake trees from the sheds and take all those boxes of glass balls down from the really high-up cabinets.  And, then, you somehow put them all together and it all lights up and twinkles.  I don't know why you do it.

But, I like it!  It makes my tail wag.  

(Also, I know eventually those trees will hatch things for me underneath them.)

A Recipe for Punch, Chapter 32

Chapter 32
Fetch It


"Gerry!"  Gamilla stood up.

"What is it, Love?"

"Honey, she's got Vi!"

"That woman does?  Are ya sure, Love?"  Gerard asked.

"Yes."

"Lock the door behind me."  Gerard said.  "Don't let no one but His Grace or one of our own folks in."

"I won't."  Gamilla nodded.  

"I'm gonna come back as soon as I can.  But, I'm gonna send Georgie back to stay with ya.  So..."  Gerard began nervously.

"I'll open the door for him.  Honey, but ya gotta go to Vi."

"Not sure I can find her room."  Gerard shook his head.  "I don't know this place."

"You remember where Miss Lennie's room is?"

"Just down from His Grace's and His Lordship's."  Gerard nodded.

"Go to Miss Lennie's.  They're all in there.  Tell the masters and they'll guide ya to where Vi's and Maudie's room is. Hurry!"

"Has that thing hurt our Vi?"

"I don't know, Gerry."  Gamilla said quickly.  "But, I saw Vi's face.  I saw her screamin'.  That's why ya gotta go."

"Right."  Gerard leaned in and kissed his wife.  "I love you, 'Milla."

"I love you, too.  Now, you be safe.  Come back to me fast and see that our Violet is well."  Gamilla embraced him.

Gerard hurried from the room, waited to hear the click of the lock behind him and rushed to Lennie's suite.  

Once there, he knocked once before entering.  Gerard gasped when he saw Jackson still prostrate on the floor.

"Ah, Gerard."  Mr. Punch looked up.  "I've just dismissed the butler."

"Did ya kill 'im Your Grace?"  Gerard asked.

"Not yet."  Lennie answered for her brother.  

"Where is Gamilla?  Who is with Colin?"  Punch asked.

"Gamilla is in the nursery.  She and Dog Toby are with Colin.  I heard her lock the door behind me.  It's my wish to send George back to stay with her for protection."

"You think a boy can protect them?"  Jackson growled.

Lennie frowned.  "Jackson has just been telling us about another resident of the house.  One that he failed to mention when we arrived."

"The woman that His Grace warned us of?"  Gerard scowled.

"Yes."  Robert answered.  "Gerard is there trouble?"

Jackson  coughed and looked up.  "I hope she murders the lot of you."

"That's enough from you, old man!"  Gerard lunged forward.  

Jackson whimpered.

"You'll leave this house wrapped in calico if you speak like that again."  Gerard growled.

"That's the only way I'll leave."  Jackson hissed.

"Gerard,"  Lennie whispered.  "Don't bother with him.   He is utterly impossible.  Tell us...what's happened?"  

"Well, ya know how...Gamilla, she can see things."  Gerard began.

"Her visions."  Robert nodded.

"She said she saw that woman what Your Grace told us 'bout..."

"Morgana."  Punch said.

"It's got a name?"  Gerard raised his eyebrows.

Punch nodded. 

"Tell your beloved footman the rest, Duke of Fallbridge!"  Jackson howled.

"She's somehow related to me, or so Jackson has claimed."  Punch nodded.  "There's no evidence of that, per se.  Right now, all I believe is that she's called Morgana."

"Well, whatever she's called...she's got Violet.  Only I don't remember how to get to where Vi's room is."

"Violet!"  Lennie gasped.

"I can take you there."  Punch started for the door.

"We shall all go."  Robert followed.  "Come, Lennie.  We're not leaving you."

"What of Jackson?"  Lennie asked.

"He's coming with us."  Robert commanded.

"I thought I was dismissed, you Mary-ann."  Jackson spat, crawling to a spitting position.

"You're dismissed when we're finished with you."  Robert grabbed the old man's arm, pulling him up.

"Surely you must know a way to subdue Morgana."  Punch pleaded.

"I might."  Jackson sneered.

"Well?"  Lennie demanded.

"Why should I tell you?"  Jackson snarled.  "You're nothing!  I take my orders from Her Grace!"

"She's dead, you mad beast!"  Robert shouted.

"To you, perhaps."  Jackson retorted.

"Listen to me."  Robert clutched Jackson by the shoulders.  "How can we subdue Morgana?" Robert shook the man.

"The jar of heads!"  Jackson rattled.

"What?"  Robert shook his head.

"It's downstairs.  It's the only thing to which she'll respond."  Jackson said coyly.

"Fetch it.  Whatever it is."  Punch ordered, "And, then, join us at the old Huntsmen's quarters where you so conveniently put my staff."

"Fetch it?"  Jackson smiled.

"Yes!  Now!"  Robert shouted.  "We don't have time for debate!"

"Yes.  I'll fetch it now."  Jackson nodded.


Did you miss Chapters 1-31 of A Recipe for Punch?  If so, you can read them here.  Come back tomorrow for Chapter 33.

Holiday Viewing: “Scrooge,” 1951

Of all the many film versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, this one, in my opinion, is the best. Produced and directed in 1951 in Britain by Brian Desmond Hurst, the film was originally released under the title, Scrooge. When it was distributed in the United States, United Artists preferred to use the name, A Christmas Carol.

Alastair Sim plays the title character—perfectly. His Scrooge is crusty, but charmingly so, slightly mad and shows us just a little vulnerability beneath his initially hard exterior. Joining Mr. Sim is Kathleen Harrison as Scrooge’s charwoman, Hermione Baddeley and Mervyn Johns as Mrs. And Mr. Cratchit, Michael Hordern as Marley’s ghost, Patrick MacNee as young Marley and Ernest Thesiger as the undertaker. The rest of the cast is also exceptional—each giving performances which seem to have been directed by Dickens himself.

The film differs from the original text a bit. The name of Ebenezer’s fiancée is changed from Belle to Alice and we learn more about her than we do in the book. We get more of a back story into the business relationship of Scrooge and Marley. Scrooge’s charwoman adopts the name Mrs. Dilber when she’s nameless in the book and Mrs. Dilber is actually the laundress. The most notable difference is the inclusion of an explanation for Scrooge’s sour disposition—having apparently been the cause of his mother’s death during his birth. This addition is meant to balance Scrooge’s distaste for his nephew since his beloved sister died during childbirth as well.

These minor changes notwithstanding, the film follows the book relatively well and includes much dialogue straight from the pages of Dickens. What I like most about this film is that it’s so very English. It’s an English film about an English book made in England and actually shot in and around London. This is something that just can’t be replicated. No special effects, no amount of dialogue coaching, nor any scenic trickery will ever be able to match that.

Another enjoyable aspect of the film is the soundtrack. The music was composed by Richard Addinsell who added traditional English music to his dramatic score. Included in this assortment is “The Ballad of Barbara Allen”—a song which I’ve always loved (as you already know).

If you’ve not seen it, you must watch this film sometime this Christmas season. If you have seen it, watch it again. It’s available on DVD and, surprisingly, on Blu Ray. Many of the DVD copies come with the 1989 colorized version of the film. To that, I say, “Humbug!”

Here's the whole film...