The Culture Concept Circle » Romantics

James Boswell, cherished companion and observer of history

Carolyn McDowall — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:00:21 +0000

London during the second half of the eighteenth century was a place where extremes met. It was full of things to do and see, of people and, of excitement. It was all about poets, painters and polite society. It was also at the heart of affairs both great and small. A young, impressionable, and opinionated budding poet Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784) wrote that London was the place where

… falling houses thunder on our head,
and here a female atheist talks you dead
prepare for death, if here at night you roam,
and sign your will before you step from home.

A man of some influence in eighteenth century polite society, Dr Johnson could be brutish and witty. Based on his ditty, he believed it was far better to be ambushed by thugs, diddled by lawyers and buried under yards of rubble than talked to death. Why we know so much about him is because of a biography written by James Boswell (1740-1795) The Life of Johnson. This expansive work is considered by many scholars one of the most important and influential biographies ever written about one of the most distinguished ‘men of letters’ in English History, Samuel Johnson is remembered best for compiling the first definitive English dictionary.

James Boswell came from an aristocratic Scottish family. From 1758 he wrote an astonishingly frank and self probing Journal. When he was 18 he ran away to London in the spring of 1760 and had a fateful meeting with Dr. Johnson. It took place on the 16 May 1763 at Tom Davies Bookshop in Russell Street. They became instant friends with eventually Johnson calling him ‘Bozzy’. By all accounts Bozzy was a handsome fellow, with an engaging character and great deal of charm evident in his portrait by George Willison (featured) painted during the early summer of 1765. The biography of Johnson records the first conversation between Johnson and Boswell

Boswell: “Mr Johnson, I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it”
Johnson: “That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help”

Dynamic-Duo-Rousseau-and-Voltaire

By outstandingly gatecrashing himself into literary circles James Boswell managed to introduce himself, during extended travels on the continent from 1763 – 1766, to two of the eighteenth centuries, and history’s most important civil liberty protagonists. They were a dynamic duo, the self styled wit Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet), and political philosopher, educationist and author Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Writing at Paris in the 1760′s Rousseau, originally from Geneva, drew attention to the informality of the dress of English gentlemen and the relative liberty they enjoyed under the British constitution. In England young English gentlemen were abandoning convention and wearing a riding coat, a mode of dress that reflected his roots were essentially with the land.

Rousseau wanted to change the traditional attitude of the French aristocrat hoping that all men, like him, would discover true happiness if they were in closer contact and communion with the earth. In France he wanted to reflect a commitment to change by adopting a simplicity of manners and modesty.

The idea, put forward at a time in France when the majority of men still powdered, painted, wore jewels, shimmering silks, and/or slippery satins, didn’t quite take hold and many were quite appalled by the suggestion. However it would become a reality following the Revolution and its aftermath, proving Rousseau a visionary. By then, however, it was just too late for many who instead had quite literally lost their heads. James Boswell returned to England from his Grand Tour in February 1766 accompanied by Rousseau’s mistress. Three years later he married his cousin Margaret Montgomerie with whom he had six children.

Samuel_Johnson_by_Joshua_Reynolds

In 1773 Boswell and Johnson shared a tour of the Hebrides. Boswell published an account of their journey in 1785, including a description of Johnson merrily swinging a broadsword and wearing traditional Scottish garb. He and Johnson had an extraordinary friendship and he was both a diligent companion and enlightened observer of history in the making.

Dr Samuel Johnson, the subject of Boswell’s most famous work, lived in the streets just off The Strand, which had been part of a route to Silchester, a village in the English county of Hampshire, in Roman times. During the Middle Ages the Strand linked the City of London with the Royal Palace of Westminster. The south side of the street was lined with mansions with their own river entrances. Property developers moved in during the seventeenth century knocking down the derelict mansions replacing them with much humbler tenements.

By the early nineteenth century on moonless nights the area was dangerously dark with beggars, thieves and prostitutes hanging about. Mugging had become so commonplace it was hardly worth mentioning, except as it affected trade. Shopkeepers and coffee houses constantly complained to the City Marshal that ‘their customers are afraid when it is dark to come to their houses and shops for fear their hats and wigs should be snatched from their heads or their swords taken from their sides or that they may be blinded, knocked down, cut or stabbed’.

Distinguished painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) images of Dr Johnson confirm the validity of the astonished reactions of contemporaries when meeting him for the first time. Reynolds, like Boswell was a huge admirer. He said of Johnson ‘he qualified my mind to think justly. No man had, like him, the faculty of teaching inferior minds the art of thinking’…and of his virtues the most distinguished of them was his love of truth’. It was this basic quality of guide and mentor, even more than the stimulus of his ferocity and wit, which was most admired and valued by his contemporaries.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, self portrait

Joshua Reynolds infused his portraiture of the time with an unprecedented sophistication, intelligence and dignity and his paintings proved popular. Not the first favourite of the court, he became the first President of the Royal Academy and London’s most fashionable painter, a part he embraced with alacrity; most of his contemporaries believing he was the outstanding leading painter of their day.

He recognized that if painters were to be treated as more than mere artisans or servants instead of changing their practices (although this was important) he hoped they would develop a justification to make their artistic endeavours acceptable to other creators, collectors, connoisseurs and patrons.

His ideal painter was a master of theory, as well as practice. A painter therefore had to ‘stand in need of more knowledge than is to be picked up off his palette’. Basically singlehandedly he wanted to extend the view of the observer and bring about a revolutionary refinement of taste.

Because of Reynolds efforts a separation grew between commercial artisans and academic painters. From 1769 through to his retirement in 1790 each year at the Royal Academy’s prize giving Reynolds delivered his Discourses, a group of fifteen lectures in which he attempted to establish the credentials for British Art, for that of being as important as a corpus of paintings. He defined the hierarchy of artists pointing out whatever aesthetic values he felt they needed to embrace, laying down a path he thought other painters should follow him if they were to become artistic inheritors of the renaissance. When Reynolds (self portrait) died polite society offered him homage; at his funeral, before his interment in St. Paul’s Cathedral, forty two mourning coaches attended the cortege followed by nearly fifty carriages filled with nobility and gentry.

For much of James Boswell’s life his father despaired of him. He didn’t follow his father’s profession and practice law, preferring his writing above all. However he did became 9th Laird of Auchinleck, but in the end his years of enjoying the good life finally caught up with him.

Manuscripts written by him were discovered in 1927 and 1930 in two different country houses and sold to American interests. They have been published by Yale University Press as proof of his literary industry and integrity. Today his name has passed into the English language as terminology. To be ‘Boswellian’ means to be a constant companion and observer.

Acclaimed Scottish physician and writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) honoured his fellow countryman and writer Boswell in his works. His celebrated detective Sherlock Holmes said ‘that talent instantly recognizes genius’ and referred to his own cherished companion and observer, Dr Watson, as ‘my Boswell’.

Carolyn McDowall, September 2010

Romantics and Revolutionaries, Red the colour of Passion

Carolyn McDowall — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 22:50:44 +0000

Ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle said ‘The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law’

The early nineteenth century in England, Europe and America was a period of extraordinary political change, of revolution, scientific discovery, dazzling artistry, literary excellence, military milestones, political and social scandal. From the dandyism of Beau Brummell to the romantic exploits of Don Juan from the abolition of the slave trade to Catholic emancipation, from revolution to the romantics, this was an age that had an engaging cast of characters. The disappearance of the powdered wig in the early 1790’s marked a revolution in polite society and in London wild hairstyles exploded onto the Regency scene. They included the central curl, crimped or cropped locks of long, lanky and languishing dukes and dandies.

This is a period dominated by men so it seems most appropriate to start by viewing the dashing portrait of Spencer, 2nd Marquess of Northampton painted by Scottish portrait painter Sir Henry Raeburn and exhibited at the Royal Academy at London in 1821. Born in 1790 by the time he was 30 Lord Northampton was a respected connoisseur of the arts and literature, particularly poetry. As President of the Royal Society in 1838 he worked tirelessly, with British politician William Wilberforce, to ensure the abolition of the slave trade as well as campaigning for law reform. His portrait by Henry Raeburn, one of the era’s distinguished painters is a fine example of the new style of portrait ‘realism’. Its bold, simple approach reveals an enduring structure of both character and experience.

The subject himself is a man history may not have celebrated very much. However in his own quiet way he contributed to its growth, intellectually, socially and practically. There is an intensity that leads us to believe the Marquess is a vividly romantic personality, a quiet brooding style of hero. His pose is very contained. His hands folded. The tightly wrapped cape creates an enclosed silhouette, one that lends dramatic effect to the white of his collar and cravat as well as the brilliant red of his cloak lining. If we had to choose a colour that epitomizes the period of historical events that encompasses the time span of our romantics and revolutionaries from 1760 – 1830 it would have to be ‘red’, the colour of passion, which not only symbolises romantic love but also revolutionary blood.

Red was London’s most favoured colour. It was the colour of Roman tiles that paved the houses of first century Londinium, and the colour of the original wall surrounding London, which was built from red sandstone. It was used to make crosses on the doors of houses in the Middle Ages when plague invaded households. It was worn by Henry VI and his nobles when they made a triumphant entry into London in 1432 and the warring factions of York and Lancaster were united when Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York. This union was symbolized in the Tudor rose, which flaunted both red and white petals.

The pensioners at Chelsea Hospital all wore red, and still do. It was the colour of the royal mail box that allowed fast and easy communication between friends and foes and, eighteenth century maps of London marked street improvements and indicated the areas of the ‘well to do’ or wealthy, in red. Most of all for Londoners red was the metaphor for the great fire, the formative event in London’s life, which set in concrete London’s identification with the colour red.

From the buckets you filled with water to quell the flames, to the engines the firemen used and the coats they wore, everything was red. Paradoxically, the greatest effect the great fire of London had was to promote the advancement of science. The Royal Society established in London in 1660 prompted members to find ‘scientific’ or ‘objective’ causes for such violent events so that such pestilences and conflagrations might be averted in the future.

The era of romantics and revolutionaries is also all about the continuing themes from ancient Greece and Rome for that of liberty, religion and justice. Liberty was the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or force; freedom from captivity or slavery; and of the political, social and economic rights that belong to citizens of any state, or to all people.

It was then, and is now, the most potent of all western ideas and ideals and its theory should be constantly challenged. It was also about elevating creativity as a means of critical authority. Many wanted to free art from those who wanted to put rules in place to restrict its production. It sought to validate strong emotion as an authentic source for an aesthetic experience, providing new ways for people to perceive the nature, beauty and creativity of the world they lived in.

It was about the poets and their poetry, the philosophers and their thoughts, the playwrights, the authors and their words as well as the fashions, passions and perceptions of London and its people. Authors like Jane Austen and her family, who lived during this time, more than likely fell into a category of middling people, a term coined by literary wit, social commentator, and son of England’s first Prime Minister Horace Walpole. On his return from the continent in 1741 he said “I have before discovered that there was nowhere but in England the distinction of being middling people. I perceive now that there is peculiar to us middling houses; how snug they are”

During the eighteenth century in England a new class of people emerged, the country gentry. They actively supported the ruling and upper classes by cultivating an ambience of politeness, a keen, though delicate sensibility, which was always balanced by displaying a great deal of practical common sense.

Their gentrification was reflected in how they dressed, dined, performed and were entertained, in a fine selection of social settings. They rotated from the socially competitive atmosphere of London’s elegant drawing rooms to the cheerful gaiety of Bath’s assembly’s room and onto the more robust attractions of popular coastal resorts like Brighton, which were after 1792 also frequented by the Prince Regent and his entourage. They strove for aesthetic perfection urged on by their awareness of the ‘antique’, while striving to emulate the ideal – classical perfection. The classical ideal flowed over into the landscape and small temples, originally designed as refuges from the hot Mediterranean sun, became focal points of beauty set as they were in a natural setting ordered from the centuries famous gardener, Capability Brown.

For centuries in Europe Continental monarchs ruled absolutely, whereas in England, for both good, and not so good reasons, the King’s council had over the centuries gradually circumscribed monarchical power by parliamentary institution.

In response to a ‘glorious revolution’ that deposed his wife Mary’s father, King James II, who threatened to restore Catholicism in England, William of Orange negotiated with Parliament to succeed to the throne of England and rule jointly with his wife. They acknowledged that their power came from legislature rather than from any divine right. They confirmed and guaranteed freedom of speech and religious toleration in England and the 1689 Bill of Rights they signed exercised a great deal of influence in America during its fight for independence.

By the last forty years of the eighteenth century the English system of government with a controlled monarchical head, two houses of parliament and a voting system had gained the admiration of most, liberal minded European philosophers and considered great thinkers. However, if you read accounts of the parliament of the day it seems a wonder democracy managed to flourish at all.

A Swiss Pastor, who bribed his way into the House of Commons with a bottle of, undoubtedly red wine, reported ‘that Members of Parliament wore no special dress and…came in boots and greatcoats and kept their hats on.’ Scandalous behaviour.

Many an MP ‘lay prone upon a bench eating oranges or cracking nuts during a debate’. Bad speakers were laughed out of the chamber while good ones were heard in ‘perfect silence’ and approved of by calls of ‘hear him’. Real democracy in action for the pastor was a frightening thing. He was completely horrified by much ‘open abuse ‘ and the rude remarks that its members indulged in. He did testify later however ‘that the lowest and meanest members of society take an interest in everything of a public nature, whether high or low, rich or poor. It was to be admired that a carter, commoner, ‘nay an Englishman has his rights and privileges defined and knows exactly what is going on as well as his King or the King’s ministers’.

Noted French author of Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694 – 1778), after a short spell in the Bastille for daring to challenge a French nobleman, lived in England from 1726 to 1729 where he was totally astonished by its people’s many freedoms. He found it completely amazing that Englishmen were able to virtually say and publish what they liked without fear of prison or exile; he was further astounded there was no torture or arbitrary imprisonment; and that noblemen and priests were not exempt from certain taxes.

In England he discovered it was the poor who enjoyed exemption from taxation, whereas at the same time in France it was the rich. On top of all of that he discovered that different religious sects were allowed to flourish. Protestant non conformists were allowed to gather in their own places for worship and become teachers etc.

They were subject to swearing certain oaths and declarations that they would not act against the crown or Parliament but they took that in their stride. Any further restrictions in place for Roman Catholics were finally removed in England by 1829. The wider expertise and experience Voltaire gained while in England meant his works and ideas became the embodiment of the European ‘enlightenment’. Although he died some time before it, he irrevocably laid the foundations for a French revolution in the minds of his peers.

The so-called Enlightenment is one of those rare historical movements that managed to name itself. Certain thinkers and writers, primarily in London and Paris, believed they were far more enlightened than their compatriots. So armed with only their own self confidence they set out to enlighten everyone else.

They believed human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and build a better world. Their principal targets were religion (embodied in France in the Catholic Church) and the domination of society by a hereditary aristocracy (Europe and England).

Up until the eighteenth century on the Continent, as well as in England, the Court had been the main centre for high culture. It was less a set of discrete works of art than a unique phenomenon shaped by circles of conversation and criticism that were conducted by its creators, distributors and consumers.

The superiority of any court was clearly visible in the architecture of its magnificent buildings, the woven designs of its precious tapestries and the exquisite collections of its paintings. They provided a backdrop for the high drama surrounding monarchs and their reign. However without a proper stage it was difficult to perform the traditional rituals of power and eventually the court could only serve as a cultural focus for arts and literature as long as it was large, visible and fashionable filled with courtiers, hangers on and admirers.

Artist and designer Charles Le Brun had depicted Louis XIV on the ceiling of the Hall of Mirrors as a person, rather than a deity, but any good intentions Louis had in his youth and middle age, from time to time, were swept away in the sadness of old age and his revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

This document, formerly put in place by Henry IV the Great in 1598, had granted religious toleration to the people a policy that had proved beneficial to France’s economic growth during the early part of Louis’ reign as the majority of artisans, who worked to produce the trappings of his reign, were Protestant. (Huguenot).

The court of Louis the self-styled Sun King at Versailles, during the most fruitful time of his reign, had fulfilled everyone’s expectations mainly because Louis himself uniquely and cleverly managed its private and its public face concealing many of its faults and its sexual license behind a heroic façade.

This was in direct contrast to England, where in the second half of the seventeenth century, the Whig junto, a self-appointed committee with political aims whose members constantly surrounded and supported the King, gradually assumed positions of power distributing the resources of the crown in the form of places, pensions and perquisites and further circumscribing the power of the monarch.

This would mean that by the second half of the eighteenth century the King at London was being treated as a human being. Once that had happened something quite unique began to take place. High culture, an integral aspect of the court began to move out of its narrow confines and into other diverse spaces within London becoming an attribute of the people.

From palaces to coffee houses, to reading societies, debating clubs, assembly rooms, galleries and concert halls over the next 60 years high culture became a partner of commerce. Art, literature, music and theatre was transformed into thriving and popular endeavours and enterprises.

That the first two Hanoverian Kings George 1 and George II disliked England and its people was really neither here nor there. Before leaving to take up residence in England the first George calmed his Hanoverian subjects fears of the English chopping off his head by saying ‘I have nothing to fear – for the king killers are all my friends’.

By the time of the succession of the George II to the English throne in 1727 when asked to describe the character, habits and customs of the English a visiting Swiss Protestant, César de Saussure tackled the subject bravely in letter seven of his collection now entitled A Foreign View of England when he said…

…‘I do not think there is a people more prejudiced in their own favour…they look on foreigners in general with contempt and think nothing is as well done elsewhere as in their own country’ and he continued endeavouring to justify their self satisfied and smug attitude, ‘certainly many more things contribute to keep up this good opinion of themselves, their love for their nation, its wealth, its plenty and its liberty’.

The Georgian era in England began on horseback and ended in a railway carriage. As to the countryside, where its majority nearly 6 million people lived it was still, according to a contemporary description, a country of ‘champion fields, sprawling common, waste and woodland‘.

In reality the marshland, bogs and moors were all very treacherous places and much of the land under cultivation was still tilled as in medieval times. In the north the country was mostly barren due to the poverty of the soil, impassability of the mountains and scarcity of population and the roads, well they were truly vile. It is understandable that a man might spend his whole life and never go further than the village market.

The gurus of taste and style considered the fine arts, painting and sculpture, addressed the so called Pleasures of the Imagination individually, collectively and corporately. Everyone wanted to experience great emotions of taste and become a voyeur of the interiors of city and country houses. Remarkably, with the right introductions, these could began to be arranged to suit your purpose.

Archibald Alison, a Scottish retired cleric of the Church of England, first coined the phrase the pleasures of the imagination. Like many others of his generation he indulged himself by writing elegant fragments and well turned sermons. He seemingly enjoyed a pleasant country life in Shropshire and Hampshire, prior to moving back to Edinburgh in 1800 to benefit his son’s education. Alison was just a one person who was part of a large movement of people, a groundswell inspired by the works of enlightened writers such as Voltaire. They were all busily expressing their own views through writing essays, hoping they would influence the leading figures of the so-called European enlightenment.

To understand why this movement became so influential during the eighteenth century, it is important to revisit sixteenth century French Humanist Michel de Montaigne who asked a single question over and over again in his essays: “What do I know?” By this he meant that we have no right to impose on others dogmas, which rest on cultural habit rather than on the understanding of an absolute truth. Powerfully influenced by the discovery of thriving non-Christian cultures in places as far off as Brazil, he argued morals may be to some degree relative. ‘

Who were Europeans to insist Brazilian cannibals, who merely consume dead human flesh instead of wasting it, are morally inferior to Europeans who persecute and oppress those of whom they disapprove? This shift toward cultural relativism, though based on only a scant understanding of newly discovered races of people would continue to have a profound effect on European thought right through to the present day.

Just as their predecessors had used the tools of antiquity to gain unprecedented freedom of inquiry enlightened thinkers used examples of other cultures to reshape not only their philosophies, but their own societies. This line of thought paved the way for the justification of a French Revolution. If we cannot be certain our values were God-given, then we have no right to impose our ideas by force on others. Inquisitors, popes, and kings alike in this train of thought had no business enforcing adherence to particular religious or philosophical beliefs and it is one of the great paradoxes of history that radical doubt was necessary to arrive at a new sort of certainty, one that was labeled scientific.

In the second half of the eighteenth century a good scientist wasn’t just dabbling with test tubes or looking at the sky. He willingly and patiently tested all assumptions as he was challenging traditional opinions with an aim at coming closer to the truth.

The strength of science then maybe at its best when it is aware of its limitations, when it is aware that knowledge is always growing and always subject to change – never absolute. By our retired cleric’s way of thinking knowledge depended on evidence and reason. Archibald Alison’s Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste were published in Edinburgh in 1790 and were destined to impress many men of both refinement and cultivation.

When King George II died in October 1760 his 18 year old son George III came to the throne. He was the first Hanoverian monarch to be born in England and speak English at court as his first language, (not French as his father and grandfather).

As we can imagine patriotic fervour on his succession new no bounds. Huge crowds welcomed the young King’s bride Charlotte of Mecklenburg to England and cheered them both at their coronation to the resounding sounds of the German composer George Friderick Handel’s fabulous composition Zadok the Priest, originally composed for his father and traditionally performed since during the sovereign’s anointing.

And all the people rejoic’d, and said:
God save the King! Long live the King!
May the King live for ever,
Amen, Allelujah!

The times were briefly helped by a fine summer whose good harvests came from orchards whose trees were heavily laden with fruit and they became symbolic of a nation at ease. This was a moment that felt right for a new King, new projects and new adventures. And, at this point England’s high society considered itself the most civilised in Europe.

George III’s family, as it grew up in the public eye, setting an example for that of a life of domestic felicity, which was taken as a model of propriety by the population at large.

This was a great change from George I and George II’s horrendous examples. George 1 had divorced his wife on a trumped up charge in 1694, locking her up for life in the fortress castle of Dahlen in Hanover. Their only son, later George II loved his mother and hated his father and his father hated him…in fact the first two George’s both reputedly ‘hated their sons’. George II treated his wife Queen Caroline abominably; he was rude, snubbed her constantly, fell into vile rages and expected her to treat his mistresses with great civility, and to keep the peace she obliged him.

A great contrast to his role models George III was a thoroughly modern man. He lived very cosily in the snug bosom of his family. He was the first ‘middling people’s monarch who distinguished his private residence from his public office.

He and the Queen retired early, forbade their daughters to read romances and offered his equerries barley water as a refreshment. He openly condemned his aristocratic subjects for their lack of piety, as well as exceedingly lax morals. Poor George he was constantly lampooned by the press and the cartoonists at Punch for penny pinching sententiousness, which meant they were inclined to moralize more than was merited or appreciated.

George III was, by all accounts also stubborn and obstinate although described as a good man but a bad king. He attempted a style of personal rule, which did not really work. In his day political parties were thought of as ‘factions’ that needed reconciling rather than opposing ideologies. His father and grandfather set a precedent by favouring the Whigs. However for George III that would have been quite unthinkable as he believed the monarch had to remain apolitical to offer his best advice.

No monarch however since the Restoration of Charles II was greeted with such popular enthusiasm and affection by his people. The Duchess of Northumberland, one of the Ladies of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte wrote in her diary about his first speech ‘Went to the House of Lords, much crowded to hear ye King’s speech. The Crown like to fall, sat down on his nose and misbecame him greatly. He faulter’d a little at first but afterwards spoke like an Angel’.

Early in his reign, George III like most of his subjects, enjoyed delightful diversions and amusements. He became a patron to musicians, painters, the theatre, the opera and less frequently, to men of letters. However the value of his royal patronage did not lie in the rewards it gave but on the social cachet which could be parlayed into rich commissions. In short the British monarch operated as a private patron now, not as a national one and this was a great change.

There was clearly a motif to this act and its aims were very simply laid out in a long dedication in 1762 by Lord Kames in his Elements of Criticism to George III. pardon me but shortened here so we don’t doze off.

The Fine Arts have ever been encouraged by wise Princes, not simply for private amusement, but for their beneficial influence in society…and it ends... the Fine Arts; riches employed, instead of encouraging vice, will excite both public and private virtues.

Lord Kames believed culture was important as a means of controlling and legitimating commercial society. A cynic might say that he saw the pursuit of art as a means of justifying an accumulation of wealth. However in defining the fine arts in relation to the world of commerce, not the realm of kingship, he was endeavouring to make his point.

By mid century London was the largest city in Western Europe with 750,000 inhabitants. (Edinburgh at the same time had 57,000 and Dublin 90,000). It offered a different quality of life. Nowhere else in Britain was so urban; no other city so exciting and so sensationally shocking!.

Variety, energy, noise, colour, enthusiasm – you could go for a walk and gape at the antics of the beau monde out for an evening’s fun at Vauxhall, Gardens, which occupied about 12 acres across the Thames from Westminster Abbey.

Class distinction did not apply at Vauxhall and fashionable ‘men of the ton’ thought that while it was slightly scary it also seemed very glamorous. Meanwhile rascals, ruffians, pimps and prostitutes saw it as a place where they could earn a lucrative living, and did so.

Those who were neither haute nor bas, but somewhere in the middle found that it was definitely a place of excitement, and to coin a real Georgian phrase, a great gaze. There were wonderful walks, through triumphal arches, erected in 1752 so you could enact your own Roman odyssey. There was something for everyone at Vauxhall.

Musical Bushes were a great lark. As you strolled by they emitted music, due to a band concealed in a nearby hole in the ground. Sadly when it rained the hole filled with water and this happend so often that finally it had to be abandoned.

At Vauxhall the orchestra after this experience preferred to play Handel’s popular Water Music on the dry stage of the Rotunda, where concerts of songs, sonate and concerti lasting four hours were frequently given.

You could also go up the river to Ranelagh Gardens where the Rotunda there was thought by contemporaries to compare favourably with the Pantheon at Rome. That much admired relic of antiquity had survived the centuries and was inspected by every Grand Tourist during the eighteenth century. Its London copy was a place where everyone promenaded about to see and be seen and the great English writer, critic and renowned conversationalist Dr. Samuel Johnson said Ranelagh produced ‘an expansion and gay sensation’ such as he had never experienced anywhere else before.

It certainly must have been wonderful to be in London when, on June 19^th 1764, the remarkable child prodigy from Austria 8 year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a concert playing his own compositions on the harpsichord and organ. The young genius and his father and sister stayed in London for just over one year, not departing until 17 September 1765. While residing in Chelsea at London the young Mozart wrote a set of sonatas K10 – 15 dedicating them to Queen Charlotte for which she sent him fifty guineas.

An account of their first appearance on the 28 May 1764 relates how Wolfgang together with his father and sister spent 3 hours with the King and Queen, who treated them so warmly they could not believe they were in the ‘presence of the king and queen of England’. ‘What we have experienced here surpasses everything’ his father reported in a letter home. A week later Wolfgang, his father and sister were walking in St. James’s Park when the King and Queen drove by. Again they were astonished, that while differently dressed, the King and Queen actually recognized them. The King, from all accounts, threw open the carriage window and put his head out of the window laughing out loud while greeting them ‘ both with his head and hands’ wrote the elder Mozart, particularly Master Wolfgang. They were given 24 guineas for performing privately for George, Charlotte, the family and friends.

On the 19^th May they spent a further four hours with their majesties performing for a small group that included two princes, the brother of the King and brother of the Queen, receiving another 2 guineas on going away. On the 5th of June the King gave a benefit. He placed before the young genius a selection of pieces of music by Bach, Carl F. Abel, a virtuoso viola da gamba player and composer who had arrived in London in 1757, as well as works by Handel. This concert was most fashionably patronised and very profitable and Mozart, it was reported, played all the selections on the King’s organ in such a manner that everyone was enchanted. Wolfgang also accompanied the Queen in a duet playing an air and then brilliantly improvised on one of Handel’s airs, playing a melody so beautiful that it astonished everybody.

Carolyn McDowall © The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

Love Jewellery – Regency to Revival

Carolyn McDowall — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:55:15 +0000

Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love …Socrates (469 BC-399BC)

Juliette Recamier by Jacques Louis David, a lady who only ever wore pearls

English architect and artist James “Athenian” Stuart literally walked from England to Athens in 1719 to learn Latin, Greek and to study Italian and ancient Roman art and architecture. During his journey he met nobleman, amateur architect and artist Nicolas Revett, who was on his Grand Tour of the Continent. They returned to England together. Sponsored by the London Society of Dilettanti, a convivial dining society that by the middle of the eighteenth century had gained an influential hold in cultural matters, they traveled back to Greece with others to draw and record its ruins.

Returning to England in 1755 they published their findings in the ground breaking Antiquities of Athens, which was produced in five lavishly illustrated folio volumes from 1761 – 1816. This pioneering work’s influence was central to the establishment of the Greek revival (Neo-classical) style, which became a dominant force in architecture influencing the decorative, performance arts and high society in France, England and America. Everything about Ancient Greece was aligned with everything considered fine and fashionable and its influence would have a profound effect well into the 20th century.

Juliette Recamier and her fabulous baroque pearl earrings

Following the Revolution in France (1789–1799) fashions all over Europe changed from flounces and frills, to simple styles inspired by the classical costume on the much admired sculptures from Ancient Greece. The very beautiful Mme Recamier, the wife of a prominent banker favoured a form of dress made from flimsy materials that was often worn wet to imitate the costume on Greek classical statues. She used to greet visitors to her home in muslin classical array with bare feet and flowers in her hair. She would invite them to come and view her boudoir, which became the most famous bedroom in Paris in the neoclassical style. It would be hard to imagine anyone refusing Juliette Recamier considered one of the great beauties of the day and renowned for always wearing pearls, never diamonds.

Many cultures revere the pearl. For the ancient Greeks they were a symbol of love and marriage. Muslims enclose the faithful in Paradise within a pearl. Christians believed the pearl represented knowledge and truth and should not to be cast heedlessly before those not worthy. In short, at least for a time pearls became a metaphor for rarity, purity and virtue.

Jewellery was seldom worn, following the revolution in France, apart from pendants of cruciform design set with semi precious stones. In various forms the Maltese Cross was the badge of many well-known orders, including the British Victoria Cross and Order of Merit, as well as the German Iron Cross.

The Maltese Cross was a symbol of the Knights of St John, given to those who had demonstrated acts of valour. The beautiful cross depicted is made from Carnelian, a gemstone much admired and used by Roman women in their jewellery during the first century.

Despite its ups and downs the Church in England was always a stronghold for man in times of material and spiritual trouble. Its tower was a lookout and its bell rang out the news whether good, or bad . In 1760 George III had come to the throne and though noble was not fashionable, but intensely pious. He set an example for those who considered themselves of good breeding and by the end of the century they were nearly scared to death and back into church by the French Revolution.

His reputed madness did not help and there was many other factors that led to a groundswell for a return to religion in England. This revival of the desire to become serious Christians ultimately led to the so-called Oxford Movement (1833-1845) and restoration of the practices of the Church Catholic in England.

Emma, Lady Hamilton, Dame of Malta by Johann Heinrich Schmidt

The Reign of Terror confirmed everyone’s belief that atheism and a total disregard for the rights of property had led to such an appalling state of affairs in France. So it is not altogether a surprise that something like the Maltese cross would become popular as a piece of jewellery at this time, especially when it was awarded to Lady Emma Hamilton who was the mistress of Admiral Horatio Nelson.

Emma was acknowledged by all the most powerful people in the land to be not only very beautiful but also a determined strong minded woman and she used her liaison and ability to mix in high society well. It enabled her to send food and money to the starving people of the island of Malta.

The Latin Cross can be found on coins, monuments and medals. It was a pagan symbol for millennia before the foundation of the Christian Church. It also became popular at this time carried by more people than any other religious talisman.

In Scandinavia this style of cross was considered magical known for bringing good luck and diverting evil. Depictions have been found on Bronze Age stones being used as a destructive hammer by Thor, the God of Thunder and War. It was also considered a symbol of the earth, its points representing north, south east and west and has been found as far apart as in China and Africa.

Rock carvings with images of the cross have been interpreted as a solar symbol and alchemists throughout the centuries believed it represented air, earth, fire and water. Others believed it symbolised health, fertility, life and immortality or the union of heaven and earth, spirit and matter and the sun and stars.

Elizabeth Bennett wearing a modest cross as proof of her virt

A Topaz Cross

During the revolution in France some aristocrats managed to escape to other countries, including England where Christian ladies of innate sense and sensibility, such as Jane and Cassandra Austen favoured wearing the cross.

Jane Austen’s brother bought topaz crosses for his sisters going without to give them to them. Topaz is much more precious than citrine another gemstone, which it is often mistaken for. The best quality has a lively characteristic suffused with peach hues, much like the example here.

Sacrifice for love is entirely in keeping with a Christian understanding of perfect love, which makes no demands and seeks nothing for itself. This characteristic abounds in so many of the people in Jane Austen’s life and novels.

It was entirely appropriate Elizabeth Bennett would be wearing a cross when she first met enigmatic hearthrob, Mr Darcy aka Colin Firth. We can well understand Mrs Bennett’s excitement on hearing of Darcy’s marriage to her daughter Elizabeth when she says ‘What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have’ . However we can only imagine the love jewellery Darcy gave Elizabeth when they did get together because sadly Jane Austen didn’t choose to enlighten us.

Early 19th century gold ring set with seven emeralds in foiled closed-back settings. courtesy Ann Schofield Antiques, Sydney

Travel on the roads improved after 1793 with the installation of turnpikes, which meant the road users paid for the upkeep of the roads. Mr. Darcy could travel fifty miles of good road in a little more than half a day’s journey to the great country houses and their interiors providing a sensational backdrop of classic order for on centre stage, according to Jane Austen’s novels, was social folly.

Jane Austen’s novels of young women ‘fighting the battles of the heart to win the prize of marriage upon the field of courtship’, belong as much to her times as do the list of battle honours won by those involved in the war campaigns. Throughout the eighteenth century the ring remained one of the most significant of all love tokens, its unbroken circle reinforcing a message of commitment to marriage and the happy couples eternal regard, one for the other.

Some had the addition of coloured stones spelling out a term of endearment. Each stone had a meaning … emerald for love… turquoise for forget-me-knots, ruby for passion and so forth. Owners at this time also re-modelled old jewels to accommodate newly acquired gemstones and it is more than likely that Elinor from Sense and Sensibility went to Gray’s in Sackville St to carry on “the exchange of a few old-fashioned jewels of her mother”.

The ideal jewel to complement high waisted opaque dresses with puffed sleeves needed to be simple, geometric and flat and pendants were exceedingly popular.

This superb example uses almandine garnets in deep shades of red that glint with fire and light. Set into rose gold and backed by foiling to add refaction, this is a shape rarely seen and available in the first thirty years of the nineteenth century.

Garnets fitted into the craze for archaelogical jewellery as they had been popular with all ancient Mediterranean civilisations particularly Egypt, Greece and Rome. January is a garnet in birthstone and it is also the sign of Aquarius in the Zodiac. The word garnet comes from ‘granatum’ the pomegranate, because the gem colour was supposed to be the same as that of pomegranate fruit, which has a bright purplish red flesh.

Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1806

The coming to power of Napoleon Bonaparte as Consul, and later Emperor of France would change not only the political and social scene in the western world but also the world of costume of which jewellery was an integral part.

Novelist, dramatist, satirist, philosopher and brilliant letter writer Denis Diderot (1713-1784), during revolutionary times, became the moral philosopher and apostle of the Enlightenment. His dictum that the function of art was to make ‘virtue adorable and vice repugnant’ meant that Ancient Rome became a symbol for the revolutionary protest.

During this period Napoleon was a student in Paris and grew personally very passionate about the history of ancient Rome. All the images of his leadership in France prove he embraced and projected this knowledge of history through the use of the iconography and symbolism. Added to his innate understanding of public relations and his own brilliant marketing techniques means that all the images of him portray him as a successful, powerful leader.

Napoleon Bonaparte lived in a masculine society, which valued friendship. He was attracted to strong men of courage, who spoke their minds and came from all backgrounds.

Jean Baptiste Isabey designed the costume and regalia he wore at his coronation on 18th May 1804. His portrait depicts him seated on a massive throne covered in Roman ornamental devices. His feet are on a pillow symbolising his newly obtained nobility and the lofty heights he had now risen.

On his head is a splendid gold laurel wreath in the Greek taste. as worn by Roman Generals during a military triumph. Each leaf represented a military victory to his credit. So great was the weight of this ornament when it had been completed it was necessary to prune it in order to make it more practical for use.

He is holding in his hands two uniquely French sceptres purpose built for his coronation. The gold rod in his left hand is surmounted by a surviving medieval ivory ornament of the ‘Hand of God’ in a blessing gesture meant to represent the ‘hand of justice’. (Roman Generals in charge of provinces throughout Roman Empire dispensed Justice).

In his right hand is another of the few surviving pieces of the medieval French crown jewels currently on display in the Louvre. The gold rod is over five feet long surmounted by a lily supporting a small statuette of Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne undisputed ruler of Europe in the eighth century.

The magnificent Regent diamond, previously worn by Marie Antoinette, was set into the handle of his coronation sword. His undergarment of white silk was extravagantly embroidered with gold thread as was the incredible velvet gold embroidered coronation robe he wore. It was scattered with Imperial bees, his personal symbol of industriousness.

Empress Josephine

Napoleon was besotted with his lovely wife, the widow from Martinique who had won his heart and he loved giving her presents. He had married Rose Josephe Tascher Beauharnais in 1794 giving her a ring engraved ‘to destiny’. He told her “I don’t like your name; from now on I will call you Josephine.” His love letters described her as ‘the moving spirit of my life’ revealing the passionate side of his nature. A letter dated December 1795 states ‘a thousand kisses, but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire’.

A c1810 French diadem of gilded metal, set with agate and onyx cameos of classical heads V & A Museum London

Josephine’s jewellery, and that of Napoleon’s family, was more than impressive and recorded in Jacques Louis David’s famous painting of the coronation. Her tiara was given to her in love by Napoleon and worn at her coronation in 1802. It has to be one of the most beautiful objects of the period and was made from platinum and set with 1040 diamonds weighing in all about 260 carats and she wore it in love and pride.

Napoleon sisters also wore superb jewellery that he gave to them in brotherly love, as he believed love needed to be practiced, not just written out. (Where did men with these thoughts all go?)? Josephine’s favourite diadem was made of shell, gold, pearls, precious and semi precious stones and set with superb cameos, carved from a single shell.

Elizabeth Conyngham

The fashion for deeply carved cameos increased soon after Napoleon’s Italian campaign of 1796. Many of these were of ancient Greek or Roman origin and were set in all sorts of jewels such as tiaras, necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

In England by the beginning of the nineteenth century the yearly calendar was divided by six months at home, four months in London and a month or six weeks in Bath or some other such watering place, with a month set aside for travelling.

George, Prince of Wales, Regent of England, later George IV, scandalised the nation with his reckless and lavish living habits.

He gave an impressive diamond riviere to his mistress Elizabeth, Lady Conyngham, who reputedly received gifts of jewels valued at the time in the region of £80,000.

From this period onward brilliant cut diamonds were set in open mounts, although smaller stones or rose diamonds continued to be set in closed mounts for some time. Only a small number of diamond jewels of this quality survive in their original closed settings.

A Diamond Riviere

Queen Victoria's Diamond Necklace and Tear Drop Earrings. The necklace has 25 cushion shaped brilliant cut diamonds set in silver and gold. The largest stone weights 11.25 carats.

Jane Austen left the world on the brink of unprecedented change, which would intensify with the ascension of Queen Victoria to the throne in 1832. Jewellery design between 1820 and 1840 followed the evolution of fashion and technical innovation.

The generous décolletages of 1830′s ball and evening gowns encouraged a fashion for large collars worn about the shoulders, rather than around the neck consisting of rich and elaborate arrangements of diamonds and precious coloured stones or gemstone clusters connected by chains

By the 1830′s long chains were being worn in large numbers and in a variety of ways around the neck, across the shoulders, tucked into the belt or pinned on the corsage. When Queen Victoria came to the throne in England as a young girl of 17 she became an important influence on fashion.

Prior to the death of her Prince Consort, Albert (1861) she wore jewels in great abundance and the intimate jewels of sentiment he gave her became greatly favoured. He was extremely fond of designing jewellery for her and she documented this in her diary.

‘My beloved one gave me such an unexpected present, a wreath- made to match the brooch and the earrings. It is entirely his own design and beautifully carried out. The leaves are frosted gold, the orange blossom of which porcelain and four little green enamel oranges, meant to represent our four children’.

Brooch in the form of mistletoe sprig, the leaves enamelled green, the berry in the form of an amorino head, is carved of moonstone. By Carlo Giuliano, C.1880 Anne Schofield Antiques, Sydney

Victorian 18ct gold necklace with five round and four heart-shaped pendants each set with a central gemstone, the initial letters of each spelling the name 'Constance': citrine, opal, nephrite, sapphire, tourmaline, amethyst, nephrite, cabochon (garnet) and emerald. Anne Schofield Antiques, Sydney

The new wealth acquired by the middle classes around the middle of the century and the easier supply of precious metals guaranteed by the discovery of gold in California and Australia had a positive influence on the jewellery industry and it flourished, especially in the second half of the century.

Victorian sentimentality has been the object of much disparagement by historians but it is entirely in fitting with the times.

Large floral pieces created a glamorous display on grand occasions but could also be dismantled into smaller, more wearable elements, such as brooches. Floral jewellery made a touching gift of love or friendship. It could also convey symbolic messages.

In The Language of Flowers, first published by Mrs Burke in 1856, the lily of the valley signified a return of happiness, while the convolvulus could have a number of meanings – from the bonds of love to repose or even extinguished hope.

A typical gift from a groom to bride was a brooch in the form of a flower bouquet. Each individual flower had its own meaning.

Foiled rock crystals, pearls and garnets set in enamelled gold c1840 V & A Museum, London

Basket of Flowers Brooch

The rose was sacred to Venus and a symbol of love. It carried no fewer than 35 related interpretations, depending on its variety and whether it was in bud or bloom. The pansy, stood for ‘think of the giver’, second only to the rose. Mistletoe represented a kiss, ivy was an emblem of fidelity and marriage and daisies stood for innocence.

Chatelaine of blue jasperware and cut-steel beads with a plaque and pendants, Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd., Etruria, ca. 1780-1800. Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Women throughout Europe in the nineteenth century were set a fine example of devoted love by Victoria, whose children married into many of the European monarchies. They subsequently became guiding spirits of many influential homes.

No longer shackled by official duties, ladies stamped the events of the day with their passion for love and elegance. This era has often been called, rather disparagingly, the Age of Housekeeping, and no object of jewellery reflects that sentiment more than the Chatelaine

Worn in the daytime at a woman’s waist attached to a belt early examples have attached to them a seal, a watch, keys, scissors, thimble case, notebook and so forth. although I am not sure how many were given in love.

Popular since the seventeenth century many were extremely stylishornamented with enamelling, beads, beaded tassels, cameos, and rarely semi precious stones.

Sometimes during this period you would find them set with classical medallions made of the beautiful blue jasperware by that very talented Mr. Wedgwood. As the century wore on they became more utilitarian and by that time there was once again a mounting interest in archaeology.

Gold Earring 5th Century BC British Museum London

Ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan Jewellery was now coming to light, unearthed from great archaeological sites in unprecedented quantities. The variety of jewellery found was evidence of great creativity and imagination with an outstanding richness of design, composition, weight and decoration and throughout the rest of the nineteenth century jewellers would eagerly seek to replicate them.

None were more beautiful than the articles of jewellery produced during the Hellenistic Age between 323 BCE (death of Alexander the Great and end of the Greek Classical period) until about 27 BCE (BCE=Before Christ Event), were unearthed and being made of gold, were in superb condition. No longer shackled by official duties, ladies stamped the events of the day with their passion for love and elegance.

Lady of the School of Ornament from Punch

A marvellous satirical sketch of a young lady, or English devotee of the High Classical School of Ornament which appeared in the British weekly magazine of humour and satire Punch on 15th July 1859 reflects just how difficult all these ‘ancient’ ornaments were to wear and an amusing edited extract from Punch to accompany it makes the point clearly.

‘My dearest Maude
You know that the Randoms have just returned from their long residence on the Continent, and I am longing to tell you that I spent a day last week with Imogen Random, who kindly showed me her jewel casket. O Maude! How I wished for you to share my excitement….the letter is very large and it goes on…

…Imogen, however confided to me (I am sure I am committing no breach of trust in imparting it all to you dear) that the only drawback to her classical arrangements is her very small and diminutive stature…the weight of her gladiator’s necklace is positively distressing to the collar bones; her hair is visibly diminished since she took to wearing Greek daggers and Roman pins, both of which are so pretty and so antique, … and her poor little ears suffer martyrdom with the weight of her favourite earrings, exquisite flying figures of Victory, which are supposed to be constantly whispering joyful tidings of new conquests…and it ends…employ every art with your Papa to induce him to bring you and Flora to the Eternal city where we go, that you my have the inexpressible happiness of shopping at Castellani…

…’ continued

Read the 4 Installment Series in Chronological Order

Love Jewellery – Rome to Renaissance

Love Jewellery – Restoration to Revolution

Love Jewellery – Regency to Revival

Love Jewellery – Romantics to Retro

EVOLUTION OF ART, DESIGN & STYLE Course Outline

Carolyn McDowall — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 06:33:00 +0000

The Culture Concept Circle’s comprehensive course of study the Evolution of Art, Design & Style contains sumptuous imagery and beautiful music.

The course traces humankind’s journey from antiquity to the modern age by surveying the evolution of painting, sculpture, architecture, interiors, gardens, music and much much more.

It includes the intimate world of the fashionable from classical antiquity to the courts of Europe and on to the founding cities of America and Australia today.

All eras and epochs are examined with respect to intellectual, philosophical and spiritual ideas, other cultural influences and social change. The four segments of the complete course are entitled

1 Civilised | 2 Classic | 3 Cultured | 4 Creative

• Each segment contains 10 sessions in two parts 20 – 30 minutes duration

Each segment is available for purchase in podcast, ebook and video format for as little as $1.99.

Videos = accompanied by beautiful music and imagery. Can be watched on your Computer, iPhone or iPad. Nearly an hour of video for less than $5 five dollars
Podcast = two episodes each approximately 20 – 30 mins long (see Product FAQ)
eBooks = can be read on your computer, on your Kindle, iPad or other eBook reader. Sumptuous colour images illustrate each session

Civilised – Days 1 – 10 are now available click here

Classic – Days 11 – 20 are now available click here

1 CIVILISED – At the Beginnings of Art

Day 1 – Cradle of Civilization
The survey begins with an overview of the emergence of ancient societies and their progress discussing the development of architecture, gardens and costume. We highlight the ancient Egyptians who were pioneers in the art of adornment, especially the creation of jewellery.

Day 2 – An Arcadian Ideal
Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322) said ‘the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance’. He noted temples, sculpture, and paintings reflected the individual tastes of their creators and patrons, an idea that opened the way for their being considered ‘works of art’ rather than just religious ritual or political images.

Day 3 – Precincts of Power and Glory
The advancement of classical disciplines under Roman rule, highlighting the reign of first century Emperor Augustus. We discuss the treatise of architect Marcus Pollio Vitruvius and what it reveals about Roman design and construction. Caught in a time warp, Herculaneum and Pompeii have today revealed a great deal of fact about living and lifestyle in Ancient Rome.

Day 4 – Conversion, Cornerstones and Civilized Life
We discuss what defines a sacred space in any culture, creed or religion and examine a wealth of imposing buildings, including the development of the Gothic style in architecture in France and England starting with the Abbot Suger in St Denis at Paris. We discuss how the civilizing energies of the Anglo Saxons in England received an enormous boost by the arrival of Christianity and how the victory by the Normans at Hastings would change the face of civilized life.

Day 5 – At the Meeting of Heaven and Earth
Constantinople was sited on the Bosporus its waters dividing Asia from Europe. There the heritage of the classical world was preserved and developed in the Byzantine Style. When transposed to Russia and Venice it was intertwined with European Gothic architecture to create a unique style.

Day 6 – Mosaics at Ravenna – One Part Only
Originating in Ancient Greece to ornament floors of domestic buildings, mosaics became a technical tour-de-force when practiced by Roman artisans. At the Church of San Vitale in the City of Ravenna the finest examples from the Byzantine Empire are conserved. They reflect its beliefs and concerns prior to its decline.

Day 7 – Paradise Found
The creativity of the people of Islam had no peer in the European mediaeval world. The idea of paradise translated into an earthly garden, which anticipated the heaven to come. The Moorish gardens of Spain would have considerable influence on the development of western art forms and cloister gardens when encountered by Crusaders. Back in Europe the conception of the ‘inner and ‘outer’ spaces of medieval gardens often combine in one tale so that imaginary adventures can take place both in the enclosed secret garden as well as outside in woods and meadows where nature is in awesome control.

Day 8 – Threads of Destiny
Woven textiles are a transmitter of both wealth and status and a measure for the development of a society from its primitive or early beginnings in ancient societies. By the second half of the fourteenth century tapestry and needlework had both become a highly important aspect of England and Europe’s societies and economies. We discuss the so-called Bayeaux tapestry, important medieval woven textiles, including the six Lady and Unicorn tapestries. We look at the traditions associated with embroidery, highlighting Opus Anglicanum, or English work.

Day 9 – Choirs, Châteaux & Courtly Love
The European medieval mind concerned itself with the soul, harmony and music as major aspects of the kósmos, the order of all things and nature. Music, while being associated with entertainment and frivolity, became a form of communication vital to inner well-being. Medieval engineers in France produced a wealth of imposing buildings as glittering symbols of power Splendid new chateaux provided settings for celebration and troubadours spread ideas associated with courtly love, marriage, virtue and femininity.

Day 10 – Precious Cargoes from Cathay
In the Far East we find the cultural catalyst of China. The development of Chinese ceramics began eight thousand years ago with the crafting of hand-moulded earthenware vessels. China dominated its neighbours, its influences eddying strongly to Europe, originally through the Near and Middle East. We survey Chinese ceramics from the Neolithic period to the Ming Dynasty and discuss a growing western passion for blue and white porcelain and the diversity and skill associated with producing such wares.

Days 1 – 10 – BUY NOW

2 CLASSIC
Artists & Artisans

Days 11 & 12 – Italian Renaissance
The rediscovery of ancient texts in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Europe changed perceptions and a new group of accomplished architects and artisans who collectively ushered in a new era in art, design and style. Central to that development was the emergence of the artisan as a creator, an artist who was sought after, supported and respected for his erudition and imagination. The Villa represented, in architectural form, the cultural ideal of rural life and its frescoed interiors and gardens provided the setting for undisturbed intellectual and creative activities, leisurely conversation with friends and the delights of contemplating the natural and cultivated landscape in different seasons and conditions.

Days 13 & 14 – The French Renaissance – Three Parts
François 1 dazzled Europe with the sophistication of his court and Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci [1452-1519], former festaivolo at the court of Milan became his ‘Master of the Entertainments’. Following his son Henry II’s untimely death devastating religious wars ensued until Henry IV [1553-1610], the Great, restored France to peace, strong monarchy and stable government. He set about reviving an interest in learning, the arts, as well as rending great public works including the stylish Place Royale (des Voges) in the fashionable Marais district. We will discuss some of the superb chateaux of the Loire and the contribution of two women of influence Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici.

Day 15 The Tudors – In the Name of Progress
Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485, and during his reign ideas that were part of the intellectual life of the Renaissance in Italy would be introduced by Count Baldassare Castiglione a special ambassador to the court from the court at Mantua. His son Henry VIII wanted to outshine the princes of Europe and had the means and innate taste to do so and he set about it with great gusto.

Day 16 The Tudors – In the Name of Progress Part 3
Henry VIII’s son Edward succeeded him as a minor but died before his majortity and the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey lost her head to Bloody Mary, who lasted only five years. When his daughter Elizabeth 1 came to the throne with a new vision for hope in place with a monarch, who had herself suffered and survived a great deal to succeed, a building boom began. This is an age that admired the grotesque among the beautiful.

Day 16 The Stuarts – Divine Right of Kings – Part 1
Under the rule of Mary Queen of Scot’s son James 1 (1566 – 1625) uniting the kingdoms of England, Scotland, Wales and northern Ireland would be a major development, both politically and economically. We examine the works of architect Inigo Jones whose career was interrupted by the demise of Charles 1 [1600 - 1649] who lost his head with the arrival of Cromwell, the Commonwealth and the newly found preference for functionalism.

Day 17 – Dutch Simplicity, Sobriety and Sensuality
The northern and southern Netherlands [today's Holland and Belgium] was united under Spanish rule until 1579 when a sense of national pride influenced the nature of art including still life. Collectively the works of such as Rembrandt, Rubens and their contemporaries reflect a seventeenth century community of solid, commonplace people supporting a society in which corporate effort for the public good was rewarded by a booming economy.

Day 18 – The Dream Team – Parts 1 & 2
In seventeenth century France Paris was becoming a sophisticated city when the Superintendent of the King’s Finances Nicolas Foucquet, conceived and completed the quintessential French country Chateau Vaux le Vicomte designed by his ‘dream team’ architect Louis Le Vau, designer Charles Le Brun and gardener Andre le Notre.

Day 19 - The Dream Team Part 3
Louis XIV set about renovating his father’s hunting lodge at Versailles seconding the talents of Foucquet’s ‘dream team’ to create a building project that ultimately influenced the evolution of all the arts in the western world. Louis Le Vau was succeeded on his death at Versailles by Jules Hardouin Mansart (1646-1708) nephew of Francois Mansart and his pupil, who added amongst others the superb Galerie des Glaces. Its interior was to become Charles le Brun’s triumph.

Day 19 – The Stuarts – Restoration – Part 2
Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660. The Great Plague and Great Fire changed the face of London and architect Sir Christopher Wren was given the task of re-designing London. Due to Charles’s influence England embraced the fashionable ‘Baroque’ style predominant at the French and Dutch courts.

Day 20 – England and its Great Treasure Houses
King James II threw the Great Seal of England into the Thames and fled England when Dutch Protestant rulers William and Mary of Orange claimed the throne of England. Around 1688 some of the grandest architectural gestures in England occur, including Chatsworth, a country palace wholly detached in plan and style from current practice and Castle Howard ‘a classical arcadia crowned by a classical dome’, which was created from the ‘bushes, bogs and briars of Yorkshire’.

Days 11 – 20 BUY NOW

3 CULTURED – Romantics, Reformers & Revolutionaries

Day 21 – Porcelain – Medici to Meissen, Chantilly to Chelsea
For centuries English and Europeans admired the translucent porcelain wares from China. They did their best to copy them in the tin glazed earthenwares of their cultures. Experimentation at Florence in Italy, Chantilly in France and Chelsea at London produced soft paste objects of beauty and desire. However the invention of hard paste porcelain at Meissen in Saxony (South East Germany) in the first decade of the eighteenth century changed the economies of Europe forever.

Day 22 – The Art of Pleasure is a Serious Business
In France during the reign of Louis XV [1710-1774], the ‘Well Beloved’, and the influence of his mistress, the delightful Mme. de Pompadour, a love for informality was reflected in fine art, interiors, porcelain, silver and sculpture. The style known as Rococo writhed its way into popularity. This was an age that cultivated taste’.

Day 23 – Palladian’s vs. the Goths
In England a passion for classical architecture and a perfect landscape spawned a proliferation of handsome villas some of which came complete with aesthetic ruins. Inspired by a renewed literary interest in the Middle Ages, the Gothick style emerged led by eccentric trendsetter parliamentarian Horace Walpole, with the help of his friends. It was Chinoiserie however that would become the ultimate outcome of a preference for pagodas, porcelains and personal priceless possessions passionately pursued.

Day 24 – Neoclassical Style in England
Scottish architect Robert Adam transformed the English prevailing Palladian fashion in architecture with a series of ‘romantic elegant variations on diverse classical originals’. Robert’s collaboration with cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale, significant artists and renowned trades people meant that a very high standard of both design and workmanship was achieved in architecture and interiors.

Day 25 – Neoclassical Style in France
In France Louis XV’s architect Jacques Ange-Gabriel embraced the new classicism with his rendering of the extremely elegant Petit Trianon at Versailles. In its facade he espoused a return to rigour and austerity of style. We also examine the designs of architects Jacques Germain Soufflot and Claude Nicholas Ledoux, neo classical furniture and furnishings, highlighting that of Georges Jacob and Jean Henri Reisner

Day 26 – Creative Trendsetting Tradesmen
Skilled potter, Josiah Wedgwood established his factory at Staffordshire in England and called it Etruria. There he produced his most famous wares and patterns, including the famous Frog Service for Catherine the Great of Russia and the elegant black basalt pieces that included a copy of a Roman Vase. His contemporary, Mathew Boulton, became the world’s first industrial entrepreneur. His manufactory at Soho in Birmingham employed some 700 or 800 persons producing a wide variety of silver and ormolu goods.

Day 27 – Regency England
The Prince Regent in England led fashionable society and a great change from that of refined French and classical taste to exotic Eastern flavoured style furniture and objet d’art. From the alleys and garrets of Grub Street to behind the scenes at Drury Lane and Covent Garden to life upstairs and down we examine London and England’s place on the world stage at the turn of the nineteenth century. It presents an enigma – an elegant society that was in reality drunken and dissolute while appearing successful, excessive, cultured and civilized.

Day 28 – Romantics, Reformers & Revolutionaries
In the first thirty years of the nineteenth century many European countries attained political maturity and this led to a romantic movement in painting, literature and music. Napoleon Bonaparte emerged as a hero of the French revolution and his letters reveal the complexity of his nature. He took many of the world’s foremost scholars to Egypt where they re-discovered this most influential of cultures and changed the course of history.

Day 29 – Beidermeier
Short lived from 1815 – 1830 this style came about following Napoleon’s rout and the re-drawing of the map in Europe. It represented a sense of hope for the ever expanding middle classes who were searching for simplicity, perfection and function combined with form, beauty and harmony. Every corner of the main living area was devoted to the pursuit of a happy and leisurely pastime reflecting the personal taste and functional needs of an industrious family

Day 30 – Great Ages of English Furniture 1660 – 1830
During the reign of the Stuart and Georgian Kings of England the furniture landscape changed a great deal. Four great timbers Oak, Walnut, Mahogany and Satinwood were used effectively, while exotic timbers flooding from expanding trade, provided visual relief. The role of the joiner from medieval times was surpassed by that of the cabinetmaker. He was a new age craftsman of consummate skill in new techniques such as dovetailing, different styles of veneering, marquetry, parquetry, japanning and lacquering. Shapes changed too, while upholders now worked with cabinetmakers to add comfort to convenience.

Coming March 2012

4 CREATIVE – Courage & Conviction

Day 31 – The New Rome
America, Lady Liberty, Land of the Free and Brave. Is this the new Rome? We examine the architecture of freedom; highlighting that powerful advocate of liberty Thomas Jefferson, who, as a ‘silent member of Congress’, drafted the document that delivered America, its independence. We discuss his passions, pursuits, trip to Paris and building his dream house Monticello.

Day 32 – In the Name of Progress
During the reign of Alexandrina Victoria (1819-1901) Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and from 1876 Empress of India, a rise in wealth and status was possible through expanding trade. Great leaps forward in science and technology enabled former merchants, tradesmen and people from virtually all walks of life to amass vast fortunes overnight and build great houses to match.

Day 33 – The Cottage Orneé
The Great Exhibition of 1851 showcased English achievements to the world with a bewildering array of style choices. However it was the simple cottage orneé by the sea, or in the country, that stole all hearts becoming an enduring image for that of a peaceful English rural idyll and was transposed to the English-speaking world.

Day 34 – Master and the Disciples
The predominant Gothic revival style led by Augustus Welby Pugin was the choice for those seeking to associate themselves with intellectual or artistic learning and academic correctness. Pugin became a master of the style, which sprang out of England and ingratiated itself on its colonies via many of his disciples including John Loughborough Pearson at Brisbane in Australia, where the last Gothic Revival Cathedral in the world was completed in 2008.

Day 35 – The China Trade
Let us now…travel into Cathay, so you may learn something of its grandeur and… treasures said Marco Polo at the turn of the fourteenth century, inspiring the notion China was a land, unlike any other, one that found fertile ground in the western mind. By the nineteenth century the so-called China Trade was in earnest with England, Holland, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, France, Australia and America all involved.

Day 36 – Meditating on Modernism
In the late nineteenth century Europe and England was a melting pot of ideas about art and morals, beauty and truth, man and nature, aesthetics and socialism. A whole new coterie of protagonists believed beauty should be expressed through science, trade and industry using exciting new materials and the very latest technology.

Day 37 – Land of the Free
The Stock Market crash of 1929 became the great divide between the inheritance of European design and the onset of American design. A democracy based on man’s individualism meant renewing his relationship with nature, eloquently expressed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright for a client ‘who loved the beautiful site…and…liked to listen to the waterfall’. He cantilevered their house over cascading water, echoing the style of the rock ledges that supported it.

Day 38 – Culture in the Colonies
When in 1788, New South Wales was founded the Gothick style was established in England demanding an emotional, rather than intellectual response in the viewer. Adapting to the new climate was a challenge for all and there were many influences on the development of Australian dwellings, including ‘the golden decade’, when the aspirations of great pastoral landholders and merchants were realized in great Greek classical revival mansions.

Day 39 – Federating the Future
By the turn of the twentieth century in Australia new styles of architecture and interiors reflected a desire to, not only keep abreast of the times in Europe, but also the equally influential America, who heralded the promise of better things to come. We will examine how Australia’s historical, social, economic and geographic conditions impacted on design and style up to and including both world wars.

Day 40 – The World – A Crucible for Change
In the last 50 years architects have designed and built some of the most interesting buildings in the world. We discuss significant buildings around the world designed and developed since World War 11 and contemplate the future of design development on a global basis as creativity and culture come together with new technology to imagine a whole new world environment.

Coming November 2012

Sydney Cr. Phillip Black said when he completed the course ‘Now I don’t just look I see’.

JOIN US AND THE WORLD WILL NEVER LOOK QUITE THE SAME AGAIN

For further Course Information click here

Course Outline © The Culture Concept 2011
Written & Presented: Carolyn McDowall
On Line Producers: Carolyn McDowall & Paul McDowall

The Culture Concept Pty Ltd ABN 61 125 381 991

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