Friends’ Children’s Activity Space Installation

Princely Treasures installation is madly underway. Students from Curtin University have kindly donated their time to design, build and install a Princely Palace for all the little ones to explore right next to the exhibition. This space is free for kids to enjoy, so parents if you’re looking for an angle to convince the kids to come to the exhibition, here it is. This space is open for the entirety of the exhibition but you don’t have to visit the exhibition to enjoy it, come as often as you like. Also as a little bonus, and thanks to the Friends of the Gallery we have a friendly helper facilitating art activities for the mini princes and princesses to enjoy throughout the holidays and over the weekends.

Here’s a little peek into the installation of the Palace as it comes to life…

True vs False

As one may suspect, the truth is often the subsidiary factor or unnecessary detail that turns an amazing tale into something aligned with a school history paper. I love a good story and I love a good false fact. I say who needs the truth all the time; let’s enjoy some fabrications that make history all the more enjoyable…

Kelly (our intern) has intuitively taken the time and researched many of the rumours surrounding the vast facets of courtly life. Our intention here is not to spoil any of the “truths” surrounding these apparent myths but rather to enlighten our avid followers. These are our facts, which may or may not be accurate…. everything is debatable, which I think makes fact claiming all the more enjoyable.



And ps… we’ve included web links under each claim which ultimately prove our “truths” to be undoubtedly factual… or so I like to tell myself. Enjoy!   



Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour
(1721– 64) France, 1758
Oil on Canvas
V&A: 487-1882
©Victoria and Albert Museum / V&A Images





Myth: the breasts of the beautiful Madame Pompadour were used as a model for champagne glasses.  



FALSE



This rumour has been associated with many different famed beauties of the European courts, including Madam Pompadour and Marie Antoinette. In fact, the champagne glass was designed and created in England around 1663, long before these women were even born. (http://www.snopes.com/business/origins/champagne.asp)



Myth: Charles II of Sweden is responsible for starting the longstanding tradition of giving flowers as a gift.

TRUE

Charles II of Sweden introduced the practice of floriography to his court in 1714. The idea was, all flowers had individual meanings, and a bouquet of flowers could convey a secret message to the receiver. The trend spread across the European courts, and the custom of giving flowers has survived today. (http://www.thewitchesalmanac.com/floriography.pdf)

Myth: Marie Antoinette, upon hearing that the French peasants were suffering a bread famine, was famously quoted as saying “let them eat cake.”

FALSE

Although this phrase is often attached to the indulgent French Queen, Marie Antoinette cannot be quoted for the line “let them eat cake”. The phrase has been attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a philosopher and writer who included the phrase in his work ‘confessions’, which were written when Antoinette was only nine years old. (http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/antoinettemarie/a/histmyths4.htm)



Myth: Hairstyles and wigs became so grandiose, the by the 18^th century wigs stood over one meter tall.

FALSE

Hairstyles became more elaborate over the course of the 18^th century, but hair and wigs over a meter tall only appeared in satire. It is believed that hairstyles that tall never came into vogue. Other rumors about women not washing for weeks to preserve their hair, or finding vermin nested in their wigs, are believed to be false as well.

(http://www.marquise.de/en/1700/howto/frisuren/frisuren.shtml)
 



Myth: objects were woven into a Lady’s hair, and at one stage there was a fad for large model ships used to be used as a hairpiece.
 

TRUE





As unbelievable as it sounds, there was a brief fad ignited by the victory of the French Frigate La Belle Poule against the English in the American war of independence. To celebrate their victory, French courtiers would fix a model ship into their hair, the layers of hair acting as the sails for the ship. The fad, although famous, is believed to have only lasted for a few weeks, before the fashionable Parisian courts moved onto more outrageous things. (http://xenophongroup.com/mcjoynt/poule.htm)

Myth: Catherine II the Great of Russia died in 1796, when the toilet she was sitting on collapsed under her.

FALSE

Although Catherine the Great did not die on the toilet, she did have a stroke in her bathroom that proved to be fatal. In fact, Catherine died a few days later, and not in her bathroom. (http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/catherinethegreat/a/histmyths1.htm)



Introduction and a bit about the Victoria and Albert Museum

The tension is palpable and excitement looms in the distance; it’s just three weeks until the Gallery’s second instalment of the Great Collections of the World series. Calm and collected is certainly not an apt description of the atmosphere in the administration building, but would you expect anything less? Perfection is the key and no one here would have it any other way. Perth has, once again, been given the opportunity to prove itself as a city worthy of prestigious exhibitions, exhibitions not shown anywhere else in the country.

Now, I know I may sound a little biased, and yes, I do have a vested interest in this exhibition and in the Gallery itself, but I hope my affection for both will translate in this blog and perhaps some of you will find my ramblings insightful or enlightening? Or not? Feedback and comments are always welcome, and if there are any topics of interest you’d like to learn more about, tell me and I’ll set my eager little interns on the case.

Just a snapshot of how I came to be the author of the Princely Treasures blog. My journey began about a year and half ago as one of these elusive “eager little interns”. Having always dreamt of working at the Gallery, I felt as though my seven years of study and a $26,000 HECS debt had finally served its purpose. And that it has, working here, in the marketing department, I love my job, I love my team and wouldn’t change a thing!

Ok, enough gloating… I thought I’d kick things off with the obvious, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Since I’m sure many of you have already perused our newly launched and undoubtedly informative Princely Treasures website, I thought it more appropriate to tell you some interesting facts that you may not already know…

• It’s original name was the Museum of Manufacturers
• Queen Victoria really wanted to call the V&A the 'Albert Museum'.
• The first Director, Sir Henry Cole, described the Museum in 1857 as 'a refuge for destitute collections'. More than a century later Sir Roy Strong called it 'an extremely capacious handbag'.
• 2.37 million people visited the V&A at South Kensington in 2006, the highest figure ever.
• The worst scandal in the V&A's history occurred in the 1950s when a member of staff was found to have stolen several hundred objects, including a number of swords which he smuggled out of the Museum down his trouser legs.
  (http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/v/v-and-a-150th-anniversary/)

The name alone, Victoria and Albert Museum, has the ability to recall an allure of decadence, monarchist significance, which draws our attention to a world seemingly beyond the grasp of many of us mere mortals. This said, the ideals of this far removed period, 1600 – 1800, highlighted by the Princely Treasure exhibition, are also filled with scandal, treachery and all things seductive. The hidden escapades of the royals and elitists aristocrats make for some interesting readings.

I know, for me, many of the items I’ll see in the flesh will only accentuate my desire to find a porcelain tea-set hidden at the back of an old wardrobe. Then I too, can impress and shock one of those fancy historians on Antiques Road Show. Alas, I can only dream. I know I will still find grand enjoyment in the simple pleasure of being surrounded by such precious, intricate and beautiful things, things that contain a rich sense of history and represent a period of time so foreign to the world I live in today.

Till next time... Renae

Welcome

IMAGE CREDIT

Portrait Bust of Thomas Baker (1606–58)

Rome, c. 1638

Marble

V&A: A.63-1921

©Victoria and Albert Museum / V&A Images

Welcome to Princely Treasures - a blog dedicated to the Art Gallery of Western Australia's upcoming exhibition, Princely Treasures: European Masterpieces 1600 - 1800 from the Victoria and Albert Museum. With the exhibition kicking off in just a few months, the Gallery is buzzing with activity.

A special website is on the way, and tickets to the show will become available within the next month. Watch this space for information about the exhibition, including exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with the movers and shakers who made this event possible.

In the meantime, stay out of the rain, start saving your pennies, and mark it on your calendar: Princely Treasures is coming to you on the 24th of September!

Gianlorenzo Bernini