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January 2004 |
The Majestic CollectionThe Royal Collection is impressive, historical and thanks to the suggestion of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh the treasures have been displayed in rotating exhibitions in the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, which has been open to the public, since 1962. Originally a chapel, the Queen's Gallery was restored after it was bombed and all but destroyed during the Second World War. The Gallery itself underwent renovations and was again opened to the public in May, 2002 by The Queen. One of the chief purposes of the renovation was to expand the gallery space. There are now seven rooms to display the impressive collection amassed throughout the centuries, reflecting both British and changing world history. The John Nash designed structure was completed in 1831. Originally a pavilion on the south-west corner of the Palace, Queen Victoria had it converted into her private chapel in 1843. Royal Treasuresuntil February 1, 2004
Impressive and imposing Anthony van Dyck's portrayal of Charles I with M de St. Antoine, demonstrates the talent of the noted portraitist. An Antwerp native born in 1599 to a family of merchants. He was the grandson of his namesake, Anthony van Dyck the Elder, who had been a Master in the Painter's Guild of the port city. Given the overabundance of artists in Antwerp the Elder became a successful merchant. By age 10 Van Dyck had become an apprentice to Hendrick van Balen. After a few years he moved to the the studio of Peter Paul Rubens in about 1614. Van Dyck is believed not to have been close to his father and Rubens became somewhat of a surrogate to the young painter. Within a few years, before he turned 18, van Dyck was the chief assistant to Rubens. Briefly, Anthony van Dyck resided in England. Painting for the court of King James VI of Scotland who had become James I of England and ascended the throne of Elizabeth I after her death in 1603. For whatever reasons, Van Dyck remained in London for only a few months, taking a long trip to Italy studying the masters. He was a noted illustrator of religious works but continued to paint portraits. His talent and fame spread and he was invited to become the court painter of King Charles I in 1632. The following year he produced the magnificent Charles I with M de St. Antoine. The monarch was shown riding his horse. Included are royal symbols, such as the crown and crest to the left of the portrait and yet to the right of the King. The figure of the King is imposing on horseback with billowing drapes tossed aside by his entry and the beautiful sky in the background, which naturally serves the purpose of drawing the viewer's eye to the main figure. So powerful is the presence of the King it is to him that his employee looks in the portrait. Charles I was a noted collector but much was lost thanks to Oliver Cromwell's distaste for all trappings of royalty. Charles II undertook to regain much of the artwork and possessions including the regalia upon his ascension to the throne after the dark days of Cromwell had ended. It was Charles I that began what would form the impressive Royal Collection. Approximately 450 works are currently on display in the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace.
King George IV commissioned The Diamond Diadem and it is widely believed to be the most well known piece in the Royal Collection. Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, a then noted jewelers and goldsmith firm created the piece for the King's Coronation in 1820. Queen Elizabeth wears the Diadem in the image used for the coins of the realm. 1,333 diamonds and 169 pearls are in the Diadem and it depicts patriotic symbols in the four bouquets. Rose, shamrock and crystals that alternate with four diamond pave cross patterns. The front of the Diadem is set with a stunning four carat canary diamond. The diamonds are now permanent, a change from the hired jewels when it was originally created. King George used it over his Cap of Estate while traveling to his coronation. The King had requested a crown bearing the afore mentioned symbols instead of the traditional fleur-de-lis. When the Privy Council refused his request he commissioned The Diamond Diadem and included them in the bouquets and wore it to Parliament, beginning a tradition that continues with the reigning monarch.
Jean-Henri Riesener was a master craftsman whose fortunes were closely intertwined with that of the French Monarchy. He apprenticed with Jean-François Oeben who died in 1763. Riesener went on to marry Oeben's widow. Given he was German-born and thus a foreigner according to the French Guild rules, his exclusion on foreigner grounds was immediately addressed by his marriage. His brilliance in adding mechanical elements to his works, such as allowing the movement of the pieces with a simple lever brought him fame and extended his patrons among French nobility. He became the Cabinetmaker to the King. Given his close ties to the French monarchy he was able to outlive the French Revolution by removing the regal emblems from furniture. Fabergéuntil March 7, 2004 The House of Fabergé, imperial jewelers of the Russian monarchs, were masters at their craft but it is their Easter Eggs commissioned by Nicholas II that bring them much of their fame. Neither Gustav nor his son Peter Carl actually created the eggs themselves. Together over their tenures they built Fabergé into a large corporation with hundreds of employees. Peter Carl personally approved all of the designs but it was his handpicked craftsmen that did the actual work.
The Mosaic Egg was created in 1914 and is an excellent example of the craftsman ship and care that went into the production of every piece from Carl Peter Fabergé. The piece is enameled and multi-colored, an art resurrected and perfected by Fabergé. Enamel was popular but the use of color was limited until Fabergé discovered the secret of coloration of enamel done by researching the past technicians of this art. It set him and his jewelers apart from any other at the time. Naturally he kept his technique secret of multi-layering enamel to add different effects whether ripples, stripes or many other creative studies. Most of the eggs contained some sort of surprise and very few were in fact made. This egg was given by Tsar Nicholas II to his wife and the surprise is said to be individual miniature portraits of the couple's five children. Most, luckily, survived the Russian revolution and are in private collections around the world. Several made their way into the Royal Collection thanks to the efforts of individuals such as Queen Alexandra who was a great admirer of Fabergé. It was her son and daughter-in-law, King George V and Queen Mary that added four Fabergé eggs to the Royal Collection, three of which were from the Russian Imperial collection, sold by the Bolsheviks. Another noted Fabergé fan was Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, who collected flower ornaments, boxes and photograph frames, some of which can be found in the Fabergé exhibition.
A striking piece is this jewel encrusted cigarette case made in 1908. Fabergé often depicted Russian historical events on his cigarette cases, particularly battles where the Russians had been victorious. The one above is an example of another favorite theme of Fabergé, animals such as a snake on this particular cigarette case. This case was given to King Edward VII by Alice Keppel and returned to her, by Queen Alexandra, after the King's death. Queen Mary accepted the piece back into the Royal Collection.
The inclusion of the Crown motif identifies the above as an Imperial Presentation Box. Tsar Nicholas II would commission these as gifts. Many of Fabergé's creations were purchased or commissioned as gifts to be given away. Fabergé's creations were useful yet decorative objects such as tableware, cigarette cases, glassware and so on but undoubtedly the House of Fabergé will be forever remembered for their Easter Eggs. The Royal Collection at the Queen's Gallery at www.royal.gov.uk |
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