Moscow Treasures: Arkhangelskoye Estate

Arkhangelskoye is a beautiful estate located about 30 min away from Moscow. It was originally built by
Galitzines in 1703 and was later purchased by the Yusupov family, who owned it from 1810 up until the Revolution of 1917. The grounds are really gorgeous and are somewhat reminiscent of Versailles. In front of the palace is a regular park with neo-classical statues sprinkled here and there. The park leads to a sanitarium built in 1930, and down the slope from it there is a lovely prospect on the Moscow river and more extensive park grounds.

It's very unfortunate that the palace and most of the buildings there are in a dreadful state of disrepair. The palace is undergoing renovations and there are only three small rooms open to the public. The grounds, however, are divine and very peaceful. As we went on a weekday, there was hardly anyone there, and we could stroll among the shrubs and sculptures undisturbed by shrieking children or bustling tourists.

The Grand Palace of Arkhangelskoye

One of the main rooms in palace. Most of it is closed for restoration.  

Arkhangelskoye gardens

The Colonnade, the tomb of the Yusupov family. No one is actually buried in the tomb. Today it's used for performances and exhibitions.    

The Moscow river

Catherine II monument 

The church of Archangel Michael. This church gave the name to the estate. "Arkhangelskoye" means "Archangel's".   

That's me in front of the Small Palace known as "Caprice". 

It's definitely a great place to visit. You can check out their site here (sorry, only in Russian).    

Keep it Cool: Historical Fans

As we've been hit by quite a heatwave, what's a girl to do but to break out her secret stash of fans. The advantages of fans are numerous: you can keep yourself cool, add another accessory to your outfit, or let someone special know what you think about them.

Take this Horrible Histories' lady for instance. She knows how useful a fan could be:

The wonderful thing about fans is that they come in all shapes, sizes and color schemes. You can always find the perfect one to compliment your outfit.

So I leave you today with a collection of my favorite fans. I defer a post about the language of the fan to a later date.

Fixed fan, straw embroidery on green silk with wooden handle, 1740, England via LACMA

Folding fan, ivory and paper, 18th century, Spain via the Met Museum

Calendar fan, silk leaf printed and painted, wood and ivory handle, 1774, France via Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Brisé fan, ivory, paper and tortoiseshell, 1790–1820, France via the Met Museum

Folding fan, pierced and painted ivory, 1710-20, China for Dutch market via Cooper-Hewitt

Brisé fan, ivory, 1800s, China via the Kyoto Costume Institute

Folding pleated fan, only 17.8 cm tall and 33.6 cm wide, 1805-1810, France via Cooper-Hewitt

Brisé fan, ivory, metal and oil paint, 1800-1810, France via the Met Museum

Edouard Moreau fan, paper, parchment, paint, mother-of-pearl, metal, 1860–75, France via the Met Museum  

Fan, 1830-60, silk and tortoiseshell, France via the Met Museum  

Fan, graving colored with gouache on paper, with painted wooden sticks, 1830-1840, France via Victoria and Albert Museum

Fan, silk and ivory fan painted with roses, 1845 via Museum of the City of New York

Fan, paper, ivory, metal and glass, 1860s, America or Europe via the Met Museum  

Folding cockade (circular) fan, vulcanized rubber and silk ribbon. 1860s, United States via Cooper-Hewitt

Fan, mother-of-pearl, silk, gouache and metal, 1880-1900, America or Europe via the Met Museum  

Fan, wood, paper, wool and silk, late 19th century, French via the Met Museum 

Fan, painted silk gauze and bobbin lace leaf, with mother-of-pearl sticks and guards, 1890-1900, France via Victoria and Albert Museum

L.(?) Boillaty fan, paper, silk, lace, mother-of-pearl and gilt, late 19th century France via the Met Museum 

Fan, paper and wood, 1903, France via the Met Museum 

Fan, 'L'OCCIDENTALE', vellum; pochoir of woman holding flower in scene with ocean and mountain; illustrated by Paul Iribe, 1911 via the Kyoto Costume Institute

Fan, 1910-1920, France via the Met Museum

Fan, mother+of-pearl and silk, 1920, France via the Met Museum

Fan, silk and celluloid, 1925, France via the Met Museum

Fan, paper, wood and metal, 1925, France via the Met Museum

Fan, synthetic, feather and metal, 1925-1935, European or American via the Met Museum

Shulton, Inc. fan, paper, 1939 American via the Met Museum

Fan, plastic and cotton, spring/summer 1989, France via the Met Museum

Which of these do you like best? Or do you have your very own favorite fan? Let me know!  

Pre-Raphaelites in Moscow

If you're a fan of Pre-Raphaelite art and you happen to be in Moscow this summer, you're in luck because
the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is hosting some of the greatest works by the Brotherhood. The exhibition, dubbed "Victorian Avant-garde", is quite spectacular. The space is not large, just one floor, but it has most of the greatest masterpieces and a few lesser-known works from Tate and a few private collections.

I saw it last week and was blown away. An online image or a picture in a catalog could never come close to the brilliant colors, the scope and the beauty of the original paintings. The details are remarkable. And some paintings are so life-like that it's almost eerie.

Here are a few of my absolute Pre-Raphaelite favorites:

"Huguenot Lovers on St. Bartholomew's Day" by John Everett Millais, 1852 

St. Bartholomew's Day in 1572 was the date of a massacre of French protestants known as Huguenots. Roman Catholics, who were doing the killing, would wear white armbands to signal to each other where their own allegiance lay. The context makes the somewhat trite image of a young couple embracing very poignant. The painting itself is vivid in color. The girl's face is so realistic you almost expect her to turn around and look at you. Her dress usually looks plain black in reproductions, but it's actually covered by an intricate design that you can only see on the original.

"Christ in the House of His Parents" by John Everett Millais, 1849-50 

The painting depicts Jesus as a child in the home of his carpenter father Joseph. The little boy bringing in water is probably John the Baptist, while the elderly woman removing the nail from the board is most likely St. Anne. Unlike most religious paintings, this one lacks all exaltation. Everything looks simple to the point of poverty. I also like the painting because of a scandal it caused. When it was first exhibited people were outraged by this depiction of Jesus, his family and their environment. Most critics couldn't stomach that the Lord and Savior would spend his childhood in poverty and obscurity.

"Ophelia" by John Everett Millais, 1851–1852 

This painting seems to have become the official "face" of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. It depictions Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet in the process of drowning herself after her father had been murdered and she had lost her mind. It's quite interesting that drowning Ophelia has become one of the favorite go-to subjects for various artists. Considering that the scene is never shown on stage, but instead is related by Hamlet's mother; artists have a morbid fascination with her suicide. I like it for reasons of personal vanity. I have been told that I look a little like her. (Not sure whether "hey, you look like an insane drowned woman from a play" is really a compliment or an insult)

"The Vale of Rest" by John Everett Millais, 1858-59
 

Speaking of morbid, this is by far my favorite Pre-Raphaelite painting. Why? I don't know. Maybe because it's just so darn mysterious. Who are these nuns? Why is one working and the other one is just sitting there? Why is she looking out of the canvas? What does she want? Whose grave is it? Why do I exist? It's just a lot of unanswered questions. The original painting is magnificent. The background looks so realistic that you can't quite believe that it was created with paint and a brush. And I do like the haunting gaze of the nun at rest.

"Sidonia von Bork" by Edward Burne-Jones, 1860 

The only non-Millais painting (do you see a pattern here?) that I count among my favorites is this one by Burne-Jones. Sidonia is a witch from a Gothic romance where she is a typical femme fatale, scheming, plotting and killing. The romance was popular among the Brotherhood and they produced several works based on it, this one included. What I found astounding was the work is very small, about the size of an A4 or a little smaller. Sidonia's snake dress seems to have inspired Miranda Richardson's gown from Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow".

So what's your favorite Pre-Raphaelite painting?

You can see these, and many other works, at the Pushkin Museum until September 22nd . Or, for the lucky ones who live in London, most of these painting are kept at Tate Britain.

BBC Recreates the Netherfield Ball

To celebrate the bicentennial of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, BBC decided to recreate one of the pivotal moments in the book, the Netherfield ball. The ball, held by Mr. Bingley, becomes the venue for our Lizzy Bennet's many embarrassments and misunderstandings.

Every savage can dance. Source: BBC News

The hour and a half Pride and Prejudice: Having a Ball documentary with Amanda Vickery and Alastair Sooke is a wonderfully detailed recreation of the food, fashions, manners and dances of the Regency. While a lot of this is not ground breaking material,  for anyone who wants a crash-course in Regency fine living or looking to understand the nuances of Jane Austen's writing, this program is the perfect place to start.    

Food 
The food at a 1813 ball would have been highly ornate and grand. But to our modern sensibilities it would have also looked slightly disgusting. My favorite weird food was the whole chicken with legs and head, beak and all, still in place and a jello with about six little crayfish inside.

Whole chicken was quite a delicacy. Source: BBC News 

Fashion     
Regency fashion, unlike our contemporary duds, was not mass produced. Most dresses were made at home or with the help of a seamstress. That would have meant that at a ball one would see a much broader range of fabrics, patterns, flounces and styles than one could possibly find at any modern party. The individual style of the wearer would be that much more visible. And so good or bad taste would be that much more important.

All  dressed up and ready to party. Source: BBC News

Lighting 
Fun fact about candles during the time is that they were sold by length. There were four hour or six hour candles. So just by looking at the candles the guests would know how long the party was going to last. The rich could afford beeswax candles that gave off more light, while the poor had to be content with tallow candles that were made of animal fat and smelled foul.

Beeswax candles - a real status symbol. Source: BBC News

Dance 
Balls in period films often look like stately affairs, with lots of slow, pristine gliding around the rooms. But most English country dances actually involved a lot of complicated steps and quite a bit of jumping and prancing that would leave even modern professional dancers slightly out of breath. What's more, some dances were so complicated that special paper fans were available with little cheat-sheets on the back, that showed the music and the steps that one had to follow.

Are they feeling warm or trying to memorize dance steps? Source: BBC News 

You can watch the the whole documentary here. Or visit the BBC website for more fun facts and mini-documentaries.

Treasures from Aleksei Bakhrushin Theatre Museum

While in Moscow some weeks ago, I took the time to do something I have always wanted to do. I visited A. A. Bakhrushin Theatre Museum. Aleksei Bakhrushin was a businessman and philanthropist who amassed a pretty remarkable collection of theatrical memorabilia. His house, a lovely brick building in faux-Slavic style, and collection were later turned into a museum dedicated to the history of theater in Russia.      

A.A.Bakhrushin Theatre Museum

Some great vintage theater posters. The top three are forThe Scarlet Flower, The Firebird and The Stone Flower. The two below are for Snowmaiden and Şüräle. And the two below that are Koschei and The Sleeping Beauty.    

One of the main halls of the museum housed an exhibition Study of Garden dedicated to flowers, nature and gardens in theater, opera and ballet. They had a lovely collection of prints and I killed my camera's battery in this room trying to capture all of them.  

Marie Taglioni in La Sylphide 

Fanny Elssler as Florinda in the dance La Cachucha by Achille Devéria
Le Diable boiteux by Gide, directed by Coralli
The Paris Opera, Paris, 1836  

The Pearl costume sketch by K. F. Valts
The Miraculous Pearl by Riccardo Drigo
Bolshoi Theater, Moscow, 1890s

The Pearl has to be my favorite costume sketch. I am simply entranced by the mechanics of that skirt. How does it stay up? Does it make it difficult to dance? Shouldn't it be called 'The Clam', not 'The Pearl'?

François costume sketch by A. I. Charlemagne
The Queen of Ice by Marius Petipa
Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg, 1865

Bettli costume sketch by A. I. Charlemagne
The Queen of Ice by Marius Petipa
Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg, 1865 

Camellias costume sketch by A. I. Charlemagne
The Queen of Ice by Marius Petipa
Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg, 1865 

Bellflower costume sketch by A. I. Charlemagne
The Queen of Ice by Marius Petipa
Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg, 1865

Bird woman costume sketch by F. L. Sollogub
Unknown Play, 1880s 

Water fairy costume sketch by F. O. Schechtel
The Golden Apples by Edmond Audran, directed by M. V. Lentovskiy
The New Theater (Maly Theater), Moscow, 1884

The second wicked stepsister costume sketch by O. N. Polikarpova
The Scarlet Flower, directed by E. Medvedev
Collection of The Puskin State Museum of Fine Arts, 2010  

The merchant costume sketch by O. N. Polikarpova
The Scarlet Flower, directed by E. Medvedev
Collection of The Puskin State Museum of Fine Arts, 2010 

The Scarlet Flower is the Russian version of the Beauty and the Beast story. And, incidentally, my favorite fairy tale. So I was especially excited by these fun and colorful costumes. I think these were made for an opera. I only wish I could have seen the show itself.        

Fancy spyglasses that double as key chains, snuff boxes and perfume bottles

During the 19th century theater boom in Russia novelty spyglasses became very popular. They were usually richly decorated with ivory, mother of pearl and rhinestones.          

A cast of Marie Taglioni’s foot and her dancing shoe

Marie Taglioni was a renowned Italian-Swedish ballet dancer who is probably most remembered for her role in La Sylphide which was created for her. Taglioni was very popular during her stay in Russia, so much so that a cast of her foot was made to show how neat and petite it was - Victorians clearly prized narrowness and smallness in feet. 

Modern recreations of 18th century male stage costumes, paper, 2011

Modern recreations of 18th century female stage costumes, paper, 2011

There were several rooms dedicated to different periods in theater history. The two costumes above are from the 18th century room. These masque costumes were quite impressive, considering they are made out of paper. I wish they had a few more of them.   

A model of an 18th century stage

The model above was great in its detail, but really too far to take a good look at. I do love the staircase and the hall with the columns that seem to be mashed together from two very different productions.

A model of the Maly Theater, Moscow 

I was told by one of the ladies working at the museum that this model has a pretty fun history. Originally, they thought that the model was simply one of the Maly Theater building from the outside. But once, when it had to be moved, it cracked and fell apart into two pieces. They thought that it broke, but it turned out that it just had a secret lever that opened it up to reveal a detailed model of the inside of the theater.  

I certainly wish my camera hadn't died as quickly. There were a few very nice costumes, not to mention many, many, many more prints and illustrations. I certainly intend to make another trip to this museum next time I'm in Moscow.

You can see the Bakhrushin Theatre Museum website here (unfortunately, only in Russian)