Finding Stories throughout History

[hollywoodlady]

[thefabulousforties]

Lucille Ball

[thefabulousforties]

Ava Gardner ,1941

[mercedes-deacosta]

[roaringtwenties]

Greta Garbo in ‘The Kiss’, 1929.

[theniftyfifties]

Myrna Hansen, Miss USA ,1953.

[stewartpearson]

Gabrielle Ray, 1909

[babycambridgesus-deactivated201]

[karen-meredith]

one of my favorites!

[royalwatcher]

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge greeted by five-year-old, Mataawhio Matahaere-vieint, with a traditional Maori greeting as they arrive in Dunedin

Source: Daily Mail

[fanofcatherine]

[karen-meredith]

TRAINED and JET BEADED HIGH NECK GOWN, c. 1899. 2-piece black net studded allover with jet beads over ivory silk satin, boned long sleeve bodice puffed high at shoulder, wired revers and small peplum, decorated with bands of black sequins and beads in a pattern of bows and flowers, lace high neck insert, skirt having decorated front panel and back band. Detroit label.

Whitaker Auction House.

[karen-meredith]

SILK BUSTLE DRESS with BEADED TRIM, c. 1880. 2-piece claret satin and taffeta having fringe, buttons and crescent ornament, boned polonaise bodice ruched into back bow, lace collar, underskirt decorated with bands of ruching and pleats, brown cotton lining.

Whitaker Auction House.

[sweetpeapath]

Court dress panel

Place of origin:

France (made)

Date:

ca. 1780 (made)

Artist/Maker:

Unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques:

Embroidered silk satin with silks, velvet appliqué, chenille, metal purl, swansdown

This magnificent embroidered panel was intended for a woman’s Court mantua. It shows the high standard of French needlework and the sequence of decorating and sewing up these opulent formal garments. A length of cream silk satin has had the outline of a panel drawn onto it, which has then been decorated to shape. When cut out and sewn, it would have formed the left side of the wearer’s train at the back of the mantua. The matching petticoat would have been embroidered with the same pattern.

The rich labour-intensive work shows 18th century French embroidery at its most complex. The cream satin ground has pink, mauve and green silk appliqué, folded to create the illusion of swagged fabric drapes. Swansdown, coloured metal threads, chenille embroidery, and small beads of padded satin add further detail and texture. The flowers are cut out of velvet and appliquéd, whilst the leaves and peacock feathers are embroidered.

Courtesy of V&A Collections, UK

[books0977]

A Letter from My Beau. Konstantin Razumov (Russian, born 1974).

Razumov has painted all kinds of subjects, from nudes to landscapes. His bright colours, the smoothness of the skin in his nudes, the expressive features of his characters, distinguish his paintings. Razumov has a vibrant shimmering brushstroke plus a mastery of light and excellent draftmanship. 

[books0977]

La Réponse à la lettre. Jean-Augustin Franquelin (French, 1798-1839). Oil on canvas. Musée du Louvre. Paris.

A young woman hastens to answer the letter from her lover. The woman reading and writing appears to be of high class based on her dress, the interior, and the fact that she has learned to read and write. Perhaps the second woman is a servant, awaiting the completion of the letter so she can mail it forthwith.

[books0977]

Waiting (c.1879-1882). Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917). Pastel on beige laid paper. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

By 1880 Degas was able to accomplish the beautiful details of the hands and slippers with the same brilliance as the varied texture of the feathery tulle and the coarse wooden floor. At the same time, the extreme opposites of black and white in the costumes of the dancer and her chaperone dominate the scene, and they reflect Degas’s adept plays of dark and light.

[karen-meredith]

The Tsarina's Fabergé Clock,

triangular, gold centred by a white enamel dial, with Arabic chapters and openwork gold hands held beneath glass in a half pearl set bezel, its corners enamelled translucent fuchsia over a sunburst guillochage and painted beneath the enamel with dendritic motifs, the edge enamelled with alternating leaves and berries, stoodon two ball feet and supported on a scrolled gold strut.

Chief Workmaster: Michael Evamplevitch Perchin,  St Petersburg,

10. 4cm

Provenance:

Purchased by Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna on  4th December 1901 for 215 roubles.

Exhibited by The Tsarina in the exhibition of Artistic Objects and Miniatures by Fabergé held in March 1902 in the Von Dervise Mansion on the English Embankment, St. Petersburg. The exhibition was sponsored by the Tsarina and held in aid of the Imperial Women's Patriotic Society Schools. Members of the Imperial Family, including the Tsar, Tsarina and Dowager Tsarina lent their personal treasures and it was the first exhibition of Fabergé 's work. The clock was placed by the Tsarina in its vitrine between a pair of Fabergé frames containing portraits of her husband and her daughter Grand Duchess Olga, now in the collection of the India Early Minshall Collection of the Cleveland Museum  of Art and in front of a gold mounted Fabergé book given by the Tsar to the Tsarina on the day of their coronation in May 1896, now in the collection of the Kremlin, Moscow. 

Wartski, 14 Grafton Street

[karen-meredith]

Sapphire and Diamond necklace by Carl Faberge' formed from thirteen graduating clusters of oval, brilliant cut, blue sapphires encircled by rose cut diamonds, joined by rose and brilliant diamond set bows suspending diamond set floral swags supported on openwork galleries set in silver, mounted on gold. 

By Faberge's chief jeweler, Albert Holmstrom, St Petersburg, circa 1908.

This necklace is an incredibly rare work of art by Carl Fabergé. We know that items of jewellery were amongst the most expensive objects you could purchase from Fabergé (the most expensive purchase made in Fabergé's London shop was a tiara). A jewel on the scale of this necklace would have been a very substantial purchase, and few people would have been able to afford it.  It is remarkable that the necklace has survived, as most necklaces were destroyed after the revolution in 1917, when they were broken up by the Soviets, to extract precious and valuable stones. As a result, most surviving necklaces come from European families, because they were either bought outside of Russia, or taken out of the country once they had been purchased.

Wartski, 14 Grafton Street

[karen-meredith]

A Silver Teapot by Robert Garrard,

In the form of a stylised melon with reeded sides, the finial in  the shape of a seed pod.

The teapot is inscribed ‘From Victoria R. Christmas 1876’

Maker’s Mark: ‘RG’ for Robert Garrard London, 1867 (inscription later)

 John Brown became the personal servant of Queen Victoria in 1861, following the death of Prince Albert. The Queen was inconsolable after the death of her much loved husband and she retired from public life, to cope with her grief. Brown became a most valued friend and confidant during this difficult time.

Indeed, it was the closeness of their relationship that caused many rumours. The Queen allowed Brown to address her in a peculiarly informal manner and Victoria’s own children nicknamed Brown ‘Mama’s lover.’ Edward Stanley was outraged when he learnt that the Queen and  Brown shared adjoining rooms, as he wrote in his diary that it was “contrary to etiquette and even decency.”

When Brown died in 1883, it sparked another wave of grief for Victoria (although in this instance, it could not have been as public as her grief for Prince Albert).

Wartski, 14 Grafton Street