Travels With Victoria – Page 8

Walking Around London

Roosevelt and Churchill on Bond Street, since 1995

Victoria here, trying to sort out pictures from my last few trips to London, in an attempt not to feel too sorry for myself because I am not crossing the pond this spring. I found a few shots I thought I’d share, as I don’t think I have posted them before. The sculpture above is frequently photographed with tourists perched on the knees of the men. The bronze figures of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill were sculpted by Lawrence Holofcener. They are located where Old Bond Street becomes New Bond Street in Mayfair.

Charing Cross

This Victorian recreation of the Eleanor Cross was erected in 1865 near the location of the original placed there by King Edward I in the 13th century. It was one of twelve crosses which marked the resting places of the body of his wife, Eleanor of Castile, who died in 1290. She was carried to London for burial in Westminster Abbey over a nearly-two-week period. The Charing Cross stands in front of the railway station of the same name, just off Trafalgar Square. The original position of the Eleanor Cross is now marked by an equestrian statue of King Charles I looking down Whitehall past the site of his beheading.

Not far away is this house, built by Robert Adam, and lived in by several prominent Londoners. Its address is 1-3 Robert Street, in part of the Adam Brothers’ development of Adelphi Terrace.

Nearby and also part of the same neighborhood is the home of the RSA, Usually called the Royal Society of Arts. There website is here. The building, designed by the Adams, is classically beautiful.

Below is the plaque placed on the building. The RSA is still an active part of British intellectual and scientific life with more than 27,000 fellows and frequent programs, many open to the public. Various other societies, such as the Royal Academy of Arts, is an 18th century spin-off (or whatever they called them in those days).

I had not explored this area of London before, between The Strand and the River, sort of between Charing Cross station and the Savoy Hotel. The Adams Brothers built a number of buildings here, culminating in their Adelphi Terrace, an ambitious plan for numerous terrace houses above wharves along the Thames. For various reasons, the development never reached full success and in the 1930’s most of it was demolished to build a large gray (and rather grim) semi-Art Deco building for offices, etc. now known as the New Adelphi Building. A good account, accompanied by a map of the district, can be found here. The drawing below shows what the Adelphi Terrace looked like in its heyday.

Returning to walk down the Strand, I often stopped near my hotel (The Strand Palace, nicely refurbished) for refreshment at The Wellington, named after our Favorite Duke. Located at 351 The Strand, it is a popular spot for drinks, dinner, and post-theatre entertainment.

Continuing eastward I came to Somerset House, a building with an interesting history and a continuing role in contemporary London. In the courtyard below was an installation by the celebrated Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei, who was threatened with imprisonment in his home country for his dissident activities. Hard to distinguish in the pictures is Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads which has also been shown in New York City. The installation recreates 18th century figures near Beijing which were damaged by the British and French during the Opium Wars. Ai’s message accompanies the artwork: “Without freedom of speech there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.”

Somerset House

The present Somerset House was begun in 1776 to designs by architect Sir William Chambers in a neo-classic style. Originally on the bank of the Thames, it was altered and expanded in the Victorian era with the construction of the embankment and several new wings.

In the 16^th century, the north bank of the Thames was lined with the mansions of nobles, and on this site a great house had been constructed for Edward Seymour (c. 1500-1552), 1st Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector during the reign of Edward VI (1537-1553). As uncle of Edward VII (Somerset was brother of Jane Seymour ([.1508-1537]), Somerset tried to impose his will upon an unruly group of courtiers fighting over the spoils of the kingdom after Henry VIII died in 1547. Edmund Seymour ended up on the losing side of court intrigues and lost his head. Somerset House, his mansion, was used to house several queens during the Stuart period, being remodeled over and over again.

Acknowledging the need for a fine public building in London, on the continental model, the government of George III had the old buildings demolished for the huge new structure to house government agencies and offices, learned societies, and parts of the Admiralty; before the river bank was altered in the 19th century, large arched watergates allowed barges and small vessels direct access from the river.

Damage from WWII was repaired in the 1950’s, and various restorations and remodeling continue to the present. For 150 years, until about 2005, the Registrar General of Births, Death, and Marriages in Somerset House was the place one had to go to obtain these records for England and Wales. Also familiar to UK residents might have been the Inland Revenue offices, from 1849 to 2009, now moved to Bush House.

Entrance to the Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House

The Exhibition Room at Somerset House by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Charles Pugin (1800). This room is now part of the Courtauld Gallery.

http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/about/index.shtml

In the 1990’s, The Courtauld Institute of Art and the Courtauld Gallery moved into the section formerly given to the Royal Academy. The website is here. Their very fine collection, particularly strong in 19^th century works, can be viewed today in the same setting as the one in which our ancestors viewed the annual Summer Exhibition.

Above is the staircase to the galleries today. You will be glad to hear that a lift will let you avoid climbing up — or down — all those steps. Or running into the situation pictured below.

Rowlandson, The Stare Case, The British Museum

The RA and its exhibitions are now located in Burlington House, Piccadilly.

Above, workers install a large sculpture in the courtyard of the Royal Academy in 2009. Below, it is completely assembled.

Triton III, by Bryan Kneale, RA, b. 1930

Other recent changes at Somerset House include an open terrace for cafes, art installations, concerts, and displays of dancing fountains; in the winter, this area is a public ice rink, where once civil servants parked their cars. Other public areas show the building’s history and the state barge belonging to the Lord Mayor.

In the view below, the facade of Somerset House is seen on the right and in the distance, the church is St. Mary-le-Strand, which now sits in a traffic island with the street flowing around it.

Another period view of The Strand, with St. Mary-le-Strand

Unfortunately, all my photos of the church appeared to be more of buses, lorries, and autos than the facade, so the one below is borrowed.

The interior of the church is baroque, reflecting the study trip of the architect James Gibbs (1682-1754) to Italy. Gibbs designed churches (e.g. St. Martin-in-the-Fields), hospital and university buildings (Radcliffe Camera, Oxford) and country houses throughout his career.

Just east of St. Mary-le-Strand, The Strand becomes Fleet Street, a stretch less known for art museums and churches than press magnates.

Soon, I will share with you some snaps I took while walking around St. James, London.

Shakespeare's Sisters: Women Writers 1500-1700

At the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D. C., I recently visited a fascinating exhibition entitled Shakespeare’s Sisters: Voice of English and European Women Writers, 1500-1700. The exhibition website is here.

The exhibition began with a famous passage from Virginia Woolf’s 1929 volume A Room of One’s Own: “(W)hat would have happened had Shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister, called Judith, let us say…it needs little skill in psychology to be sure that a highly gifted girl who had tried to use her gift for poetry would have been so thwarted and hindered…that she must have lost her health and sanity.”

In Woolf’s day, little was known about women who might have written — and even published — in Shakespeare’s day. But recent scholarship has brought to light a number of such writers and some of their work is shown in this exhibition.

Georgette de Montenay, Emblemes ou devises Chrestiennes, 1619

Folger Shakespeare Library Collection

Obviously, due to the age and fragility of the books shown, photographs of them were not allowed, and due to the low light level, my photographs of the text panels are sometimes rather dim. Sorry about that, but I thought you’d rather see them as is than not. Refer to the website for the texts.

The exhibition is divided into several sections covering such subjects as Religious Writing, Love and Romance, and Families and Salons. Below, a panel celebrating poetry. In the center is Veronica Franco (1546-1591), a Venetian poet and courtesan.

The portrait of Franco is said to be by Tintoretto. A biography, The Honest Courtesan, by Margaret F. Rosenthal, was the basis of a film about Franco’s life.

The film, titled in the U.S. Dangerous Beauty (1998) starred Catherine McCormick as Franco, Jacqueline Bisset and Rufus Sewell. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the film’s story, but it does emphasize Franco’s writing talents as well as giving sumptuous views of 16th century Venice and its inhabitants.

To my knowledge, no one has filmed a life of Lady Anne Clifford, but her life would be good material for a creative screen writer and director.

A reproduction of a triptych (attributed to Jan van Belcamp) showing Lady Anne Clifford on either side; in the center panel is Margaret Russell, Countess of Cumberland, and George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, with their two sons, is on display.

Here is a closer view of Lady Anne Clifford at age sixteen.

Lady Anne Clifford was raised in the Court of Elizabeth I; she married the Earl of Dorset and later of Pembroke. Not only is she well known for her letters and diaries, she was also a dedicated patron of the arts and literature. She fought for her legal rights to the family estates for almost forty years before she gained success. She was truly a Renaissance woman. Below, Lady Anne at age 56.

Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) wrote about Lady Anne in her study of her family and its great estate, Knole and the Sackvilles, published in 1922, and in introducing her works.

Vita Sackville-West

Sackville-West, close friend and colleague of Virginia Woolf, also wrote a biography of another of the exhibition’s subjects, Aphra Behn (1640-1689). Best known as a playwright, Behn also wrote novels and poetry. Her plays were very popular in the Restoration era theatre in England.

Aphra Behn by Mary Beale

Gravestone of Aphra Behn, in the Cloister of Westminster Abbey, London

The inscription: Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be

Defense enough against Mortality

I recommend spending time on the exhibition’s website, Shakespeare’s Sisters, for many further insights into this fascinating topic: Voices of English and European Women Writers, 1500-1700.

Below, the Folger Shop.

I would be remiss if I did not give the website of the Folger Shop which has wonderful books, catalogues, cards, and assorted items relating to the Woman Writers exhibition as well as to Shakespeare and his era. I highly recommend a visit to the Folger when you come to Washington, D.C. And what’s more: admission is free!

The Folger Shakespeare Library

Near the U.S. Capitol and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., stands the Folger Library, repository of 82 Shakespeare First Folios — the largest collection in the world by far of these precious volumes.

The Folger Library, 201 Capitol St. SE, was the gift to the United States of Henry Clay Folger (1857-1930) and his wife, Emily Jordan Folger (1858-1936). Mr. Folger and his wife were lifelong lovers of Shakespeare and collectors of his works, including First Folios, Quartos, artwork, mementos of performances, and additional material related to the Elizabethan Era and the theatre.

They planned the library as a repository of their collections and as a permanent institution in the U.S. for the scholarly study of Shakespeare and his era and the continuing appreciation of reading and performing his works. Built at a cost of $2 million, the library opened in 1932 with an original endowment of $10 million. The Folger is administered by the Trustees of Amherst College in Massachusetts, alma mater of H. C. Folger.

On the day I visited in March, students were performing snippets of the Bard’s plays and having a hilarious time doing so, under the direction of a professional actress in Elizabethan costume, and before an audience of fellow students, parents and teachers.

Below, a view of the Folger’s theatre, without the gleeful group, but showing all its timbered glory. The theatre is also used for fully staged productions, literary and theatrical awards ceremonies, performances of the Folger Consort, and other activities.

Folger Shakespeare Library, Elizabethan Theatre

The Folger presents many special exhibitions. The one I visited, Shakespeare’s Sisters, was enlightening. I will blog about it soon.

Central to the Folger’s mission is scholarship. Imagine how privileged one would be to receive a reader’s card and be able to conduct research here in the Reading Room. When I visited, we were allowed only a peek at the premises, which are reserved for serious studies. At the end of the room is the immense window depicting the Seven Ages of Man (from As You Like It).

The window, designed especially for the Folger, was executed by the Philadelphia stained glass studio of Nicola D’Ascenzo (1871-1954) in 1932.

Emily Jordan Folger by Frank O. Salisbury, 1927

Henry Clay Folger, by Frank O. Salisbury, 1927

On the exterior of the building, scenes from Shakespeare’s favorite plays are captured in white marble bas relief sculptures. Above, a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Below, Richard III.

Though the Folger’s mission focuses on a writer from hundreds of yeara go and his world, the library’s resources and techniques are decidedly up-to-date. Their website (here) is excellent, worth hours of browsing. Many parts of the collection are available digitally, as described here. Hamnet is their free on-line catalogue. The Folger has blogs, facebook pages, and can be found on itunes, youtube and twitter, among other sites. The Conservation Lab is in the forefront of preserving fragile and delicate materials.

First Folio, Folger Shakespeare Library

In 2011, the Folger sponsored an exhibition “Fame, Fortune, and Theft: The Shakespeare First Folio,” which told many stories of the creation, acquisition, sales and losses of these precious documents. Since the Folger has the world’s largest collection of First Folios (82 at present), it was the perfect venue to explore the topic. First Folios, in case you have forgotten your college Shakespeare facts, are editions of the Bard’s plays published in 1623, which contained many plays never before published. In the world today, just over 230 First Folios are known to exist.

One of many representations of Shakespeare at the Folger

The Founder’s Room

Portrait of Elizabeth I, the “Sieve” portrait

by George Gower, 1579

in the Folger Collection

The above costume replicating the Elizabethan gown in the portrait was worn by actress Michael Learned in the 2003 Folger Theatre production of Elizabeth the Queen by Maxwell Adnerson (1888-1959). Ms. Learned required the assistance of a dresser to put on the costume which weighed more than twenty pounds.

Washington’s warm March weather favored growth in the library’s Elizabethan Garden

Watch for our report on Shakespeare’s Sisters:

Voices of English and European Women Writers,

1500-1700, on display at the Folger Shakespeare Library to May 20, 2012

The Civil War Connection: Lord Palmerston and the Battle of Antietam

I recently visited the Antietam National Battleground in Maryland where the bloodiest day in U.S. military history took place on September 17, 1862. And it has a direct connection to our usual British topics.

Antietam National Battleground, Maryland

On a warm and sunny March day, we drove into the foothills of the Maryland mountains to visit Antietam, well run by the National Park Service. Like many U.S. Civil War battlegrounds, this one is so quiet and peaceful today that it is difficult to envision the carnage that took place almost 150 years ago.

The grounds are marked with many cannons and memorials to the various regiments which fought here on the side of the Union and for the Confederacy (in the south, it is known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, a nearby village).

Maryland State Monument, the only one dedicated

to troops from that state who served on both sides

The calm beauty of the area belies it bloody past. After viewing a film presentation on the battle and its aftermath, we purchased a CD for our car which took us on a driving tour of the principal sites. At each one, we could park and listen to the description, then walk around the locale and talk with the very knowledgeable volunteer guides — who spend their weekends telling visitors about the people who fought here and what happened to many of them. Special thanks to Jim, Marty and Dave who told us so many facts and personal stories.

A future U.S President was among the Union troops. William McKinley (1843-1901), 25th President, was later promoted to the officer corps. His mentor in the 23rd Ohio Infantry, Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893), to become the 19th U.S. President, had been recently wounded and did not fight at Antietam.

Monument to the 15th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry

Skipping ahead to the outcome of the battle, the Union troops prevailed although the losses on both sides were horrendous and crippling. The appearance of a strategic Union victory, however, was said to have caused Lord Palmerston, British Prime Minister at the time, to abandon his inclination to support the Confederacy. Both the British and the French governments declined to take part in mediating the conflict. Some observers — many as a matter of fact — believe that Palmerston was hoping to teach the upstart United States a lesson.

Lord Palmerston (1784-1865) by Francis Cruikshank, 1855

In addition, the success of the Union troops spurred President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation in September, 1862, which freed all slaves living in Confederate states and further contributed to the British decision not to support the Confederacy.

The self-supporting (nail-less) fences

Another noteworthy matter is the role that photography played in popular views of war. For the first time, photographers, foremost among them Matthew Brady, set up their equipment and took photos of the battleground littered with the dead and dying. When these scenes were published, the public was horrified. People were used to seeing engravings (think Currier and Ives) of gallant charges with flags flying, not piles of grotesquely twisted bodies.

Ironically, much of the fighting was done around the Dunker Church, which belonged to a German Christian sect advocating peaceful resolution of all conflicts.

Dunker Church

A Napoleon cannon

The American Civil War was fought with weapons very similar to those used in the Napoleonic Wars. The armies had more rifles, thus more accurate shots. And some of the canons, such as the first ones in the second picture of this post, were rifled as well, which improved their accuracy too. Those just above and below were almost exact duplicates of the cannons used in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo.

A “Napoleon” cannon

Monument to the 50th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

All day the battle raged back and forth among the cornfields, hills and hollows of the area, with each side moving forward and then retreating as the advantage changed from side to side.

Burnside’s Bridge

In the afternoon, at the beautiful old stone bridge over Antietam Creek now known as Burnside’s Bridge, northern troops led by Major General Ambrose Burnside, gained the upper hand, causing the southerners to withdraw. But more fighting followed as fresh troops arrived on both sides.

Late in the day, there was an undeclared truce as both armies tried to comprehend the extent of their losses. Some units had only a handful of their men remaining unhurt.

But wait, it was not only men that fought. As the above ladies who volunteer at the site told us, there were some women among the troops. They managed to pass as men throughout the war, an amazing feat in itself. No one can come up with the exact number but we have the personal accounts of some who recorded their experiences for posterity.

Fittingly, the final stop on the battlefield tour is at the Union Cemetery where many thousands are buried, including a number still unidentified. The cemetery is watched over by the monumental statue of an infantry private, called Old Simon

And as a final comment, the guides told us that President Lincoln was most unhappy that his commander, General George McClellan was so cautious. McClellan did not pursue Lee’s army back across the Potomac and into Virginia. Perhaps, if he had followed up quickly, the war would have been over in weeks or months instead of three more years of fighting.

More than 3,600 died that day, and many more of the additional 20,000 casualties never recovered. Though the result of the battle was a tactical draw, the South failed to defeat the North in the first battle on Northern territory. The North managed to reverse its previous record of mostly losses. Less than a year later, at Gettysburg, the tide of the
war would change in favor of the North.

New York State Monument

For more details on the battle and the upcoming 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, click here.

Christmas Ideas from the National Trust

When you are making up your Christmas list for yourself or for lucky giftees, you might want to take a look at the National Trust’s gift shop.

The historic Blewcoat School on Caxton Street in London is a to-die-for shop you won’t want to miss next time you are in London. But if you can’t quite make it to London this holiday season, shop on line here. There is something for everyone.

If you live in the US and travel to Britain, you should join the Royal Oak, the US support group for the National Trust. It will give you free admission to Trust properties, newsletters and magazines from both organizations, discounts on purchases, and a great deal of satisfaction. I have often shown my Royal Oak membership card at a Trust stately home and received a big cheer from the volunteers. “We love our Royal Oak members,” they always say. Additional perks are invitations to special programs in major US cities by traveling lecturers and authors sponsored by the Trust and the Royal Oak — and some travel tours that sound brilliant. Or if you are in Britain or elsewhere, join the Trust. And memberships make great gifts too.

As you will see on their website, the Trust’s shops have a wide variety of books. The Christmas recipe collection above is on my list, for sure.

A few more selections… of 100’s.

Or you could choose a photo album and fill it with your own snapshots.

As seen in the examples above, the Trust sells magnificent prints, many by renowned photographers, suitable for framing.

The National Trust runs many shops both in cities and on their properties. They are always good for a browse.

Many popular items such as ceramic mugs and pieces of china compete with wonderful lotions and soaps, silk scarves and shawls, umbrellas and even hiking shoes. Here are two more books I covet: