The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant

Victoria here, reporting on several favorite topics all at once: the Queen, the Diamond Jubilee, watercraft, and music…based on the latest issue of BBC Music, one of the magazines I try to read each month.  In the March 2012 issue, The Full Score reports on the line-up for the Thames Pageant, the ten official musical barges which will parade downstream from Hammersmith to Greenwich on June 3, 2012.  How I wish I could be there!!  For more on the Pageant, click here.

A long-ago royal barge

In the first of the musical barges, the Royal Jubilee Bells will announce the parade, in the midst of a thousand other vessels authorized to be on the river that day.  It is reported that more than 2,000 applications to join the eclectic fleet — from kayaks to yachts — had to be turned down to preserve some sort of traffic flow on the river.

Barge Two will carry the musicians of the Academy of Ancient Music performing Handel’s Water Music, composed in 1717 for a river procession honoring King George I.  The familiar music is a favorite of concert-goers worldwide.

                                      Handel in 1733, by Balthasar Denneer (1685–1749)

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was born in Germany and trained under continental masters in Germany and Italy.  He came to London in 1712 and composed dozens of pieces for orchestra, many operas and oratorios, most famously The Messiah, first performed in 1742.

Water Music CD from the AAM

Handel’s Suites of Water Music were first performed on a Thames barge for the entertainment of George I and his guests.  The music was so enthusiastically received that the musicians played them over and over until well into the wee hours.  The AAM will also perform selections from the Royal Fireworks Suite by Handel, composed for George II in 1749, performed as fireworks and illuminations lit up the Thames near the Duke of Richmond’s.

Barge #3 will carry the Herald Fanfare Trumpeters and on #4, the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines will hold forth, heading a group of small vessels which took part in the Dunkirk Evacuation in 1940. 

Her Majesty’s Royal Marine Band in a dry land performance

The Jubilant Commonwealth Choir will be on Barge #5, followed by the Shree Muktajeevan Pipe Band and Dhoul Ensemble on #6.  This group sounds quite fascinating.  For more information, click here.

Shree Muktajeevan Pipe Band and Dhoul Ensemble

Barge #7 will bring an ensemble playing new music created for the occasion by ten prominent UK composers, each taking as inspiration a movement from Handel’s Water Music.

The Mayor’s Junior Jubilee Brass Band will perform on Barge #8. Still to be determined is Barge #9.

On the final musical barge, #10, the London Philharmonic Orchestra will perform favorites from the Proms.

The new royal barge

Since I will not be in London (boo-hoo) for the great event, I am hoping that arrangements have been made to capture the flotilla on the Thames for the rest of us — on a DVD.  [Or could we suggest to BBC America that they take a day off from that predictable cursing chef and the Top Gear nutcases and Dr. No (how many times???) to bring us something we really want to see on June 3?  I fear it is too much to hope for.  Nevertheless, I will keep my fingers crossed.]

For more pictures and all the details, check out the Daily Mail’s article, here.

Tom Sully, Artist Extraordinaire

On March 11, 2012, Jo Manning wrote here of her experiences associated with the current exhibition The Look of Love at the Birmingham (AL) Museum of Art, for which she wrote selections in the catalogue.  She rhapsodized about the talent and charm of Tom Sully, a contemporary artist who has painted several types of miniatures: portraits, eyes, and pets, as well as accomplishments in many other formats.  We wanted to know more about him; what follows is our interview with artist Tom Sully.

Tom Sully: Self Portrait, 2010, watercolor on ivory, 2 7/8 x 2 3/8 in.

Number One London:  You have a very famous great-great-great-grandfather, renowned portraitist Thomas Alfred Sully (1783-1872), who painted Queen Victoria and Thomas Jefferson, among others. How did it affect you having the same name as your grandfather and being an artist as well?

Thomas A. Sully (1783-1872), Lady with a Harp: Eliza Ridgely, 1818
Tom Sully:  As a young man I found Victorian art cloying.  I decided to go to art school in California where few had ever heard of Thomas Sully.  When I arrived in New York afterwards, theories of deconstruction held sway in the art world.  While all my peers were making conceptual art, I turned to illustration for my living, since you still needed to know how to draw for that.  My first portrait commission was from The New Yorker, who hired me to paint a singer performing at The Rainbow Room.  It was then that I took Sully’s Hints To Young Painters down from the shelf and got to work.

Tom Sully: Garland, 2012, oil on linen, 24 x 20





NOL:  Have there been other people in the arts in your family?

TS: Sully’s parents were actors and all his siblings were actors and musicians.  His children painted – the most promising, another Thomas, unfortunately died young.  I’m descended from Sully’s son Alfred, an army general who painted Native American scenes while serving in the Dakotas.  The most recent artist family member of note is Thomas O. Sully, a celebrated New Orleans architect who bridged the 19th and 20th centuries.  His grandfather, the portraitist’s brother, had moved to Louisiana in the early 1800s.  When he wasn’t designing Queen Anne-style Garden District mansions, the architect loved to hunt and fish in the Louisiana countryside. I feel a connection to him when I go into the bayous and swamps to find subjects for landscapes.

Tom Sully:  After Henry Inman, 2011, oil on linen, 15 x 12 in.
NOL: You have painted portraits, landscapes, and other relatively large-scale oil paintings for years. What inspired you to paint portrait miniatures?

TS: In 2001 I saw an amazing traveling exhibition. Love and Loss, American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures, organized by Robin Jaffee Frank at Yale University Art Gallery.  What intrigued me was that these are intimate portraits, full of heartfelt, personal associations. These charged images sustained a current between people otherwise separated by the vagaries of life and geography, the daily routine, or even death. An image of a family member or loved one, small enough to be held in the hand and carried  on your person, can take on the properties of a talisman. When worn, they become a public emblem of affection. The
y were and can still be used today as a catalyst in courtship.  To me, this is portraiture at its best and about as far away from the institutional boardroom portrait as you can get!  The show included a miniature Sully had painted to mourn the death of his mother. Of course, the technique and sheer artistry of these paintings is incredible.  It took me awhile to track down the materials and get up the nerve to work so small. 

NOL:  Do you paint in the traditional technique with tiny stippled dots of watercolor on ivory?

TS: Yes, I use a combination of stippling and hatching, applying small amounts of paint and waiting for each layer to dry before adding the next, gradually and patiently building up richness and depth while achieving a likeness.  A little like the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, this small space becomes your world.
Tom Sully:  Susan Tying Her Necklace, 2011, watercolor on ivory, 2 7/8 x 2 3/8 in.
NOL:  Do you work from photographs or do your miniature subjects pose while you sketch or paint?

TS:  I like to work from photographs that I take myself.  I find photography a useful conceptual tool – we can try out different angles on the face, different hairstyles, clothing, jewelry and lighting until we are happy with the composition in one or more of them.  The photos do not then become “the be all and end all” but what Degas called an “aide de memoire.” While I paint, I improve on the photos.  Sentiment, emotion and empathy continually inform my hand.  My ancestor said, “from long experience I know that resemblance in a portrait is essential; but no fault shall be found with the artist, at least by the sitter, if he improve the appearance”. 

NOL:  How did you learn about the availability of woolly mammoth ivory? 

TS:  My first efforts were on Ivorine, a 20th century ivory substitute, and then vellum mounted on card.  One supplier led me to another until I found someone in Dorset who could obtain mammoth ivory from Siberia where research crews have been finding whole woolly mammoths preserved in the permafrost.  He has since sold his business but fortunately I have a pretty good stockpile.  

Tom Sully: Eric, His Eye, 2011, watercolor on ivory, 3/4 x 5/8 in.
NOL:  What led you to painting eye portraits?
TS:  My interest was piqued by an article about eye portraits that I found in a 1904 issue of The Connoisseur.  When a portrait commission took me to Philadelphia, I was spellbound by the collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  They are surely the most startling and, as portraits exchanged between lovers, the most romantic form of the art.  There is a mystery to eye portraits that I’m unable to explain.  It may come in part from seeing such an arresting image in so small a format – they are usually no bigger than one-half to three-quarters of an inch.  In the Look of Love show currently at the Birmingham Museum of Art, there are stick pins and rings with images even smaller!  In my experience of painting these, people that know the portrait subject immediately recognize them from this one fragment.  I also find that they resonate well with a contemporary art audience.  As I said to my wife one day,  “eye portraits are so damn strange that they may as well be cutting-edge contemporary art!”

Tom Sully: Lucy, watercolor on ivory, 2/2 x 2 1/8 in.
NOL:  We noticed on your website that you also paint dogs.

TS:  I love painting dog portraits.  One need only look at the work of Sir Edwin Landseer to see that dog painting is serious business. Dogs are great to w
ork with since they are less self-conscious than we are.  A British client hired me to paint miniatures of his two bulldogs.  When one of them died about six months later, we realized we had been unknowingly prescient. I painted a West Highland Terrier in Palm Beach who was so poised that she must have been a fashion model in a previous life.
Tom Sully: Solomon, 2006, watercolor on ivory, 2 1/2 x 2 1/16 in.
NOL: What do you charge for a portrait miniature?

 

TS:  I charge $3,000 for a head and shoulders to half-length portrait miniature and $2,500 for an eye portrait.  These prices include the cost of a locket in rose gold, yellow gold or sterling silver.

NOL:  Tell us about your current work?

TS:  I’m currently painting an eye portrait commission for a client in Birmingham, Alabama.  I’m also working on a body of Louisiana inspired landscapes for a show in New Orleans this fall.  I used to live there and began exploring the countryside for landscape subjects during the evacuation from Hurricane Katrina.  The bayou country and especially the swamps, which seem to exist outside of time and civilization, are a great subject for a painter with a Romantic bent.
Tom Sully: Grand Coteau Oak, 2012, oil on linen 22 x 27 in. 
NOL:  What are your upcoming exhibitions?

TS:  Louisiana Reveries: Landscapes by Thomas Sully, October 6 – 31, 2012;
Jean Bragg Gallery of Southern Art, 600 Julia Street, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Tom Sully:  Nocturne in Blue and Gold, 2011, oil on linen 24 x 18 in.

NOL:  Many thanks to you, Tom Sully. Your life and work are fascinating. 
Visit Tom Sully’s website here to see more of his work.
Tom Sully: Night Flight, 2012, oil on linen, 17 x 24 in.

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.

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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. 

God Save the Queen(s)

In this Diamond Jubilee year, it’s perhaps fitting to reflect upon the reigns of both Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria, England’s two longest reigning monarchs. To date, Queen Elizabeth has been on the throne for 60 years and still has a few years to go before breaking the regal record held by Queen Victoria for a reign of 63 years and 7 months (and 2 days).

Naturally, all monarchs begin their reigns upon the death of their predecessor.  
Queen Elizabeth, her grandmother, Queen Mary and her mother, Queen Elizabeth,  the Queen Mother at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI in February, 1952.
However, as is well known, Queen Victoria took her mourning upon the early death of her husband, Prince Albert, to a whole new level.
 The widowed Queen Victoria

To back up a bit, Victoria and her cousin Albert were married on February 10th, 1840, at the royal chapel of St. James, in London.

 Queen Elizabeth and her cousin, Prince Philip, were married on November 20, 1947 in Westminster Abbey, London.

Queen Victoria’s uninterrupted mourning affected all aspects of her life, not the least of which was her fashion sense, as can be seen by the dress above, on display at the Costume Museum in Bath. Queen Victoria stood a mere five feet tall and, as the above dress will attest, seemingly enjoyed her food.

 In contrast, Queen Elizabeth stands at a comparatively statuesque 5′ 4″, eats a bit less and is known for wearing an often bright and always colourful wardrobe.

One thing that Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth have in common is their love for horses and horseback riding. Each began riding early in their lives and continued to ride as long as they were able. Queen Elizabeth is still in the saddle . . . . . 

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee was marked by many celebrations, including, on 22 June 1897, a progress to St Paul’s Cathedral, where a short service of thanksgiving was held outside the building, as the Queen was too lame to manage the steps. Thankfully, Queen Elizabeth is in fine health and a host of Jubilee celebrations will be held throughout the land over the coming months.

The Queen’s 80th birthday portrait, taken in February 2006

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Photo

Queen Elizabeth II’s Official Diamond Jubilee Portrait

Dark Shadows

Anyone of a certain age will recall coming home after school in time to watch Dark Shadows on the telly, which spoke to our generation in a way our mother’s soap operas could not. Many of us were Barnabas Collins fans, including Johnny Depp, who fought for years to bring the story to the big screen. “I do remember, very vividly, practically sprinting home from school in the afternoon to see Jonathan Frid play Barnabas Collins,” the actor says. “Even then, at that age, I knew — this has got to be weird.”

How appropo, as these days anything starring Johnny Depp has typically got to be a tad weird. And directed by Tim Burton, as this film is. And to co-star Helena Bonham Carter, which this film does. She plays Dr. Julia Hoffman. See below. And to feature Depp in wacky make up. Done. See above. And below, in the first photo of Depp as Tonto in the new Lone Ranger movie.

But I digress . . . . . the new Dark Shadows storyline begins in the 18th century, when Barnabas is turned into a vampire by the brokenhearted witch Angelique (Eva Green) and buried alive. The film then flashes forward two centuries, as Barnabas is freed from his tomb and returns to his home and the dysfunctional relatives who now reside there.

Principals involved in the film have given us a less clear vision of what to expect from the film:

“We’re changing it a little bit,” Burton said last fall. “I wouldn’t do it if it felt like it was just doing the same thing. For me, it’s about trying to go back to the original drawings and kind of capture that spirit a little bit more of what the drawings are. It feels different even though it’s a similar story, but we’re kind of expanding it a bit.

Bonham Carter muddled the water even further via the following comment, “It’s very original, and it’s kind of uncategorizable,” she said. “It’s going to be impossible to sell, frankly, because it’s a soap opera, but it’s very, very subtle, I don’t know. We’ll see. It’s a ghost story, but then it’s an unhappy vampire story.”

The film opens in theaters on May 11th, and no doubt the characters will garner themselves a whole new set of fans. If, that is, anyone comes away with a clear understanding of what the film was actually about.

So what’s next for Depp, who has never been one to rest long upon his laurels? The big screen version of The Night Stalker, with Depp playing Kolchak, the reporter in the seersucker suit who keeps running into monsters on his beat, originally played by Darren McGavin. No doubt there’ll be a part for Helena in this one, as well.