Friday 29 September 2017

Remembering: The Treasure Houses of Britain: 500 Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting November 3, 1985 – April 13, 1986 / The National Gallery of Art


 The Treasure Houses of Britain: 500 Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting
November 3, 1985 – April 13, 1986

East Building, Upper Level and Mezzanine (35,000 sq. ft.)
This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 700 art objects from more than 200 country houses in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland illustrated 500 years of British collecting from the 15th century to the present. 17 period rooms were constructed to display the objects. This was the largest and most complicated exhibition undertaken to date by the National Gallery. Gervase Jackson-Stops, architectural advisor to the National Trust of Great Britain, chose paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez, Anthony van Dyck, Canaletto, and John Singer Sargent; sculpture by Praxiteles, Canova, and Henry Moore; furniture by Kent and Chippendale; Meissen, Sèvres, Chelsea, and Oriental porcelain; and drawings, tapestries, jewelry, armor, silver, and other decorative arts.

Organization: Jackson-Stops structured and selected the exhibition with Gaillard Ravenel and Mark Leithauser. Ravenel, Leithauser, and Jackson-Stops designed the exhibition to reflect each period of collecting, and Gordon Anson designed the lighting.

Sponsor: The exhibition, organized in conjunction with the British Council after 6 years of preparation, was made possible by a grant from Ford Motor Company, special funding from the 98th Congress, indemnities from Her Majesty's Treasury and the United States Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and by British Airways.

Attendance: 990,474

Catalog: The Treasure Houses of Britain: Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting, edited by Gervase Jackson-Stops. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.

Brochure: The Treasure Houses of Britain: Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting, by Gervase Jackson-Stops, edited by William J. Williams. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1985.




A GALA FOR 'TREASURE HOUSES OF BRITAIN'
By BARBARA GAMAREKIAN, Special to the New York Times
Published: October 31, 1985

Members of the British aristocracy are here by the score to celebrate the largest exhibition ever held by the National Gallery of Art: ''The Treasure Houses of Britain.''

An extravagant start for almost two weeks of festivities surrounding the show, which opens to the public Sunday, took place tonight in the new Georgian-style ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Given by the hotel's owner, John B. Coleman and his wife, Virginia, the black-tie dinner dance honored the owners of ''The Magnificent Seven,'' the most-visited stately homes in England.

The owners and their houses are the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough of Blenheim Palace; Lord Montagu of Beaulieu; the Marquess and Marchioness of Tavistock of Woburn Abbey; Simon and Annette Howard of Castle Howard; Lord and Lady Romsey of Broadlands; the Earl and Countess of Harewood of Harewood House, and Michael and Vibeke Herbert. Mr. Herbert is the chief executive of Madame Tussaud's Ltd., owner of Warwick Castle.

The occasion, said Mr. Coleman, was ''a thank you'' to the lenders for their support of the National Gallery exhibition. For the gala, Mrs. Coleman wore a strapless scarlet Scaasi ball gown, and she, Mr. Coleman and Lord Montagu received the guests, announced by one of England's renowned toastmasters, Ivor Spencer. The menu for dinner was all-American: pumpkin soup, roast loin of veal stuffed with oyster dressing and cranberry and apple brown betty.

Among the guests were an assortment of American ambassadors, Cabinet officers and members of Congress as well as Susan and David Brinkley, Carolyn and Michael K. Deaver, Buffy and William Cafritz, Kathleen and Henry Ford 2d, and Jo Anne and Donald E. Petersen. Mr. Petersen is chairman of the Ford Motor Company, corporate sponsor of the ''Treasure Houses'' show.

Other guests included Evangeline Bruce in black velvet; her houseguest, the Duchess of Devonshire, in gray-green watered silk, and Bonnie Swearingen in an emerald Ungaro dress, worn with an emerald choker and earrings.

''It's an incredible schedule,'' the Duchess said. ''They have us running and busing.''

The idea of maintaining and insuring the future of privately owned country houses by opening them to the public - ''the stately home business,'' as the Marquess of Tavistock phrased it - was originated by the 13th Duke of Bedford in 1955. ''It was my father who took up the idea of opening up these homes to paying visitors,'' Lord Tavistock said.

The appellation ''The Magnificent Seven'' was ''thought up'' by the seven families ''as a marketing device,'' said the Duke of Marlborough, whose ancestral home, Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, was visited by 380,000 people last year.

''We pool our ideas and our resources and use a joint leaflet,'' the Duke said. ''Every cent goes back into the business. It is a real challenge these days to keep these large homes going for the future. We consider ourselves to be custodians of the national heritage.''

But much of the talk was of the exhibition itself, which had been visited earlier in the day by a number of the lenders.

''I had expected a marvelous show, but it's beyond anything that I had anticipated,'' said Simon Howard, whose Castle Howard in Yorkshire starred in the televised dramatization of ''Brideshead Revisited.''

Lord Montagu, who called the exhibition ''a dream come true,'' said: ''I've been talking with Carter about this for more than seven years.'' He was referring to J. Carter Brown, director of the National Gallery.

Jerome Zipkin said, ''You need about a half-dozen trips to see it all.'' Mr. Zipkin, who was returning to New York on Thursday morning, added, ''I'm coming back for the big number,'' referring to the White House dinner on Nov. 9 for the Prince and Princess of Wales, patrons of the exhibition.

Lord Tavistock, who has lent several dozen objects to the show, including Antonio Canova's marble ''The Three Graces,'' said: ''It is an amazing experience to go around and see things that belong to you in the middle of a collection of works of art that is second to none in the world. We British have been magpies for centuries, and we are still at it - my wife and I just bought a painting in Tennessee, so we brought over 33 objects for the show, and we are going home with 34.''

Mr. Brown had suggested to a number of the British guests that tiaras might be appropriate for the American festivities. But Lady Tavistock arrived in Washington tiara-less.

''It is all because of my crazy idea,'' said her husband. ''I thought a case of tiaras would look unusual in the exhibition and suggested it to Carter, and he said, 'What a great idea -can I borrow a couple of yours?' So Henrietta's tiaras are locked up in a case at the National Gallery.''

No matter, said the Marchioness: ''Traveling with a tiara is such a performance. Your hair has to be woven into them, and I wouldn't think you would be able to find a hairdresser here who knows how.''




Wednesday 27 September 2017

On 26 September the fifth Daniel Marot lecture, organized by foundation Daniel Marot Fund in collaboration with foundation the Dutch interior, will take place in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam / VIDEO: Chatsworth House | Great England house | Home of Dukes of Devonshire Doc...



Jeeves was there yesterday:
On 26 September the fifth Daniel Marot lecture, organized by foundation Daniel Marot Fund in collaboration with foundation the Dutch interior, will take place in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

On the occasion of the first lustrum, the Duke of Devonshire speaks of " Chatsworth, the history, the present and the future of an English country house




Tuesday 26 September 2017

Lady Lucan found dead at London home after being reported missing


See also: 
lord lucan : my husband, Mon 05 Jun 2017 ITV / VIDEO: Lady Lucan Lady Lucan: I'm 'deeply sad' my marriage caused the nanny to die / Lord Lucan’s death certificate granted after more than 40 years

 Lucan ITV: week starting 7 December, day and time to be announced

 Lucan TV Reviews ."I suppose it's not 100% impossible that Lord Lucan is watching too"



Lady Lucan found dead at London home after being reported missing
Aristocrat whose husband famously vanished more than four decades ago has been found dead in Westminster

Wednesday 27 September 2017 01.30 BST Last modified on Wednesday 27 September 2017 03.05 BST

Lady Lucan, whose husband famously vanished more than four decades ago, has been found dead at her home.

Police forced entry to the 80-year-old’s property in Westminster on Tuesday afternoon after she was reported missing, and found her unresponsive.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said: “Police attended an address in Westminster ... following concerns for the welfare of an elderly occupant. Officers forced entry and found an 80-year-old woman unresponsive.

“Police and London ambulance service attended. Although we await formal identification, we are confident that the deceased is Lady Lucan.”

Police said her death is being treated as unexplained but is not believed to be suspicious.

Her son, George Bingham, the 8th Earl Lucan, told the Daily Mail: “She passed away yesterday [Monday] at home, alone and apparently peacefully. Police were alerted by a companion to a three-day absence and made entry today [Tuesday].”

Lady Lucan, formerly Veronica Duncan, was one of the last people to see her husband John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, alive before he disappeared.

He vanished after the murdered body of Sandra Rivett, nanny to his three children, was found at the family home in Lower Belgrave Street, central London, on 7 November 1974.

Even though he was officially declared dead by the high court in 1999, Lucan has reportedly been sighted in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand, and there are even claims that he fled to India and lived life as a hippy called “Jungly Barry”.

The same night as his disappearance, the attacker also turned on Lady Lucan, beating her severely before she managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby pub, the Plumber’s Arms.

Lucan’s car was later found abandoned and soaked in blood in Newhaven, East Sussex, and an inquest jury declared the wealthy peer the killer a year later.

Roger Bray was the first journalist on Lord Lucan’s doorstep the morning after the dramatic events unfolded, and wrote one of the first newspaper reports about the mystery.

Derrick Whitehouse, head barman at the Plumber’s Arms, told Bray that Lady Lucan “staggered” in and said: “I think my neck has been broken. He tried to strangle me.”

The barman said Lady Lucan was “just in a delirious state” and added: “She just said ‘I’m dying.’

“She kept going on about the children. ‘My children, my children,’ she said. She came staggering in through the door and I gave her all the assistance I possibly could. I’ve only seen her in here once before.”

Whitehouse told Bray that Lady Lucan had “various head wounds” that were “quite severe”, adding: “She was covered in blood. She’d been bleeding profusely when she came in.”

Earlier this year, Lady Lucan, formally named Veronica, Dowager Countess of Lucan, gave a TV interview in which she said she believed Lord Lucan had made the “brave” decision to take his own life.

Ahead of the hour-long documentary interview called Lord Lucan: My Husband, the Truth, Radio Times magazine shared some of what she had told director Michael Waldman.

She said: “I would say he got on the ferry and jumped off in the middle of the Channel in the way of the propellers so that his remains wouldn’t be found – I think quite brave.”

During the ITV programme, she spoke of her own depression and her husband’s violent nature following their marriage in 1963.

Describing how he would beat her with a cane to get the “mad ideas out of your head”, she said: “He could have hit harder. They were measured blows.

“He must have got pleasure out of it because he had intercourse [with me] afterwards.”

Monday 25 September 2017

ANTÓNIO SÉRGIO ROSA DE CARVALHO ( Jeeves / Tweedland ) by MisjaB.



GENTLEMAN FROM PORTUGAL
António Sérgio Rosa de Carvalho was born in Lisbon (1953). Because the love of his life he moved to the Netherlands for years now. He is an architectural historian and writes public papers for Público, a Portuguese newspaper, as well. Besides that, he’s the founder of Tweedland, The Gentlemen’s Club. A club of like-minded. In this club, one is not allowed to speak about money and business.

COMMUNICATION
The first time I met António Sérgio was during a TweedRide in Amsterdam. On that summer day, he was not wearing tweeds but a summery seersucker suit. António Sérgio: “Fashion and apparel are nowadays seen as appearance, but it is much more than that. Clothing is a form of communication. It is a symbolic framing. All attributes are a strategy to align with yourself.”
Een echte gentleman: António Sérgio Rosa de Carvalho

BE YOURSELF
Clothing has nothing to do with power games, it’s not just appearance. It is important that your inner is in accordance with your appearance. That is also an important difference between a dandy and a gentleman. I love style and quality, style is the DNA of your identity. Oscar Wilde has said it nicely:“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken’

SECOND HAND
‘Today I’m wearing a Colbert by Cordings.  It’s a good quality’ mid-season fabric. I bought it on Portobello Road in London. In Amsterdam, Tommy Page’s shop is my favorite. To me, accessories like braces and ties are very important. I wear only second-hand clothes. And in our home, there are many second-hand items that we have saved.”
Een echte gentleman: António Sérgio Rosa de Carvalho

GENTLEMAN
“I regret very much that many people are polite in private and committed to quality. But they have been stopped to maintain these codes in public. But let’s be optimistic, maybe that will be beneficial again.” When ready with photographing, António Sérgio insisted to accompany me to the nearest tram stop. It started to rain, but he took his umbrella. He maintained it above my head. What a kind man he is, a real gentleman!







MisjaB published a very complete and kind profile article about JEEVES
(António Sérgio Rosa de Carvalho). Thanks Misja. Was a great pleasure to meet you. JEEVES