Conspicuous consumption

Earlier in the week to Hampton Court, mainly to see an expensive dress, now attributed to Elizabeth I, having served as an altar cloth in Herefordshire for many years. See reference 1. With our last visit having been around six months ago, noticed at references 2 and 3.

Fungi on the back lawn. Or is it a mushroom?

A bright sunny morning and I thought that Cortana did quite a good job on the rather ragged mushroom on the back lawn. Not such a bright morning for the commuters of Hampton as there was some blockage on their line - which meant that the car park at Hampton Court station was only about a third full. Which meant that we could choose our spot.

Over the river to find that work had started on the ice skating rink which seems to be de rigueur for any self respecting attraction at this time of year. First proper stop was the Tilt Yard café and we were able to admire the fine autumn colours on the way. Also to talk to a gardener in the rose garden about the box pests of reference 4 and his story was that lots of spraying seemed to do the trick. Which may well be, but a lot of his box edging seemed to have been replaced by lavender, which seemed to do well enough.

Unfortunately, the café was having a makeover and we had to make do with tea from a machine. And still no maids of honour.

The rainbow portrait of Good Queen Bess

From there into the palace proper to see the dress. With the exhibition consisting of a room with low lights containing the restored dress material - perhaps a couple of square meters of it in the middle, supported by various displays and display cases around the walls. Including the original of the picture snapped above, in which Elizabeth is wearing the very dress, or at least one very like it. It seems that she had lots of dresses - thousands even - but very little of them has survived - which makes this piece of rather faded embroidery important.

We learned something of the business of fancy embroidery for the rich, including its support by pattern books, with the one on display opened at a page containing coloured pictures of two wild flowers, produced by one Jacques le Moyne in 1586 (reference 6) and said to live in the British Library, who subsequently denied all knowledge of it. The pictures were said to be woodcuts, so we presumed that each copy of the book had been coloured by hand. And I was able to track le Moyne down at the DPLA of reference 5.

Engraving of an alligator hunt after a water colour by le Moyne

Assuming it is the same chap, he seems to have put in quality time in Florida, with DPLA holding lots of stuff either done by him or copied from his work.

Wrong page from what I think is the right book

All in all, an interesting display. Even more so for BH, something of a needlewoman herself.

From there to inspect the long water which was looking well. From there to the river end of the herbaceous border, calmed down from its summer glory for its winter rest. And so onto the privy garden, via the tubbed oranges and lemons.

A tubbed orange, rather pale in the way of an orange from Tenerife

The privy garden was looking very well, and most of the box edging looked OK. But the large fish in the round pond seemed to be well down, with there only seeming to be three or four of them.

Back into the palace, to make our way to the pie shop in the old kitchens.

Face mounted hinge one

Face mounted hinge two

On the way coming across some of the face mounted hinges we had come across in the state rooms on previous occasions - with the modern fashion being for edge mounted hinges, near invisible when the door is shut. But I imagine that, given that one could do it with the door shut, fitting face mounted was easier than fitting edge mounted. Plus, another opportunity, not taken up here, for conspicuous consumption, with more and more elaborate hinges.

Once the door to the apartment of Mr. J. R. Daniel

The door snapped above, and the evidence of much alteration over the years, led to speculation about what the palace was used for after it was more or less abandoned as a royal palace in the middle of the eighteenth century. Subsequent investigations suggested that a lot of the out-buildings were let out, possibly to trade, while a lot of the in-buildings were used as grace and favour apartments for distressed aristocrats and such like. With much rebuilding and refurbishment going on over the years to accommodate the shifting needs of this shifting population. And then by the end of the nineteenth century, the place had become a major tourist attraction for the people of London. Including all kinds of accessory facilities like public houses, restaurants, dance halls and so on. Some talk of improprieties after dark. Perhaps Versailles went through the same evolution? Or was that more like Somerset House, occupied by sober and serious civil servants?

The pies were served by rather well-spoken young men and we wondered about work experience for some local public school. Unfortunately the mash that came with the pies was almost cold and I forgot to stop the gravy, also almost cold and in any case quite unsuitable for a chicken pie. We have enjoyed these pies in the past, so this was not their best effort.

More fakery

Interested on the way to the Cumberland Gallery to inspect the trompe l'oeil plaster work to one of the stair wells, painted onto something like canvas and then stuck onto the walls in the way of wallpaper. A clever and expensive bit of work, but presumably not as expensive as the real thing would have been.

A corner of a Canaletto

Into the Cumberland Gallery itself, where we were pleased to find that the set of Canaletto's were back on display, even if various other old friends had gone missing. 12 views, taken over a period of years, spaced out along the grand canal. Next time I will have to take my Fleximap of Venice to help me along, but in any event a fine set. It would have been even better had there been room to hang them all at eye height, rather than in two rows, with the upper row a bit high for viewing comfort. In the meantime I offer a corner (snapped without flash, not having realised that cameras were not allowed at all), which impressed for the quality of the unobtrusive glass and for the quality of the line work of the buildings, particularly the church in the middle.

Last stop was to see the Rubens noticed at reference 7, where I was fascinated with his rendering of the central, white flesh - next to which Pythagoras looked very dull (to the left). Also struck by the fruit being impressive, but not very realistic. The grapes, for example, looked almost translucent, a clever bit of painting, but quite unlike any grapes that I have seen. The only downside of this fine painting was the lighting, our finding it impossible to find any one place where one could see all of it. Perhaps that is what comes of putting large paintings in rooms which have not been attended to by the lighting engineer, a trade which is perhaps every bit as complicated as that of the sound engineer.

And so home.

Reference 1: https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/the-lost-dress-of-elizabeth-i/#gs.h6qxl4.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/hampton.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/02/fake-60.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/08/caterpillar-control-episode-1.html.

Reference 5: https://dp.la/.

Reference 6: La clef des champs - Jacques le Moyne - 1584.

Reference 7: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/01/texture-nets.html.