A Room with a View

I work in the real estate development world, and assist getting projects on, in our case, multifamily or apartment living, from the drawing board to the groundbreaking shovel entering the vacant land. It's fun, especially when I am working with the architect, reviewing plans, making suggestions.

Recently, I noticed an article about 18th Century housing, which included a drawing of a cottage and a first floor plan. It was interesting, mentioning rooms such as lobby (entry), drawing room (den), parlor (living room), book room (library) and music room. There is a huge kitchen and a larder (pantry). There is no drawing of the upstairs included which contained the bedrooms, I'm sure. By the way, the "drawing room" was originally called the "withdrawing" room, a space in which one could retreat. In these times, the owner of the house, his wife, or a distinguished guest who was occupying one of the main apartments in the house could "withdraw" for more privacy. Today we have our den, or "bonus" room, or study where we can watch tv, surf the net, listen to endless downloads of iTunes, or read.

 

A great deal of description is given to the room colors, which is still important by today's standards.

I looked into the concept of the bath, and find that there was a clear distinction between bathing for health and relaxation, and washing for reasons of cleanliness. Generally, washing meant the cleaning of face and hands, presenting a neat exterior appearance. No wonder there was such an emphasis on perfume! haha! So, there might be a wash basin and pitcher in the bedroom for that purpose. A bath where the body was submerged in water was mostly for preventative health maintenance. Many books refer to going to Bath, in England, for "the waters". Bath was a resort destination, kind of a spa, by today's standards.  

There are two predominant styles of house from the period. The first is Georgian, named for the English kings of the era, and adopted by the American colonists. They had a long axis running parallel to the street with symmetrical fronts, a middle entry with 2 side windows on each side.

The other style is Federal, named for two Scottish brothers who where architects and interior designers. It has a finer style with more detail, and Palladian influence. Including ornate moldings, sidelights, semicircular windows above doors, decorative classical columns. Red brick is employed a great deal.

But, the cottage I noticed is just that, a cottage. A room with a view, perhaps, but a small place to call home.

A Delightful Afternoon

I had the opportunity last weekend to go to the opera with friends. We saw The Marriage of Figaro, which is a delight! It was a university performance in a small, intimate theatre setting, which in a way, made it all the more enjoyable. We sat close enough to see the actors' expressions. They were having a ball! AND, so were we and the audience. It was a joyful afternoon.

There is something about Mozart's operas....the music, of course, is beautiful. No one can argue about that. But, there is something more. He chose stories about people; the human condition, with all its flaws, its emotions, the daily ritual of living. And, there is no pretense. The story of Figaro could be set in any time frame, and it has been performed as such. Love, jealousy, insecurity, despair, flirtation, passion, forgiveness...timeless themes.

The production is an opera buffa, or comic opera, conceived from a play by Pierre Beaumarchais, written in 1784. Mozart brought Figaro to the stage in 1786, without the real blessing of the Holy Roman Emperor/German King Joseph II. The play was banned in Vienna, because of its licentiousness, but Mozart's librettist managed to get an official approval for an operatic version, and it was a great success.

There is an exchange in in Amadeus that really hits the nail on the head. Up until now, operas were concerned with lofty themes, gods and legends in otherworldly settings. In trying to persuade the Emperor to let him go ahead with Figaro, Mozart exclaims, "Which one of you would rather listen to your hairdresser than Hercules, or Horatius or Orpheus. People so lofty, they sound as if they shit marble."

The point? The point is that we really want to see real life performed, and we in turn can choose the character we relate to.And that is the bottom line of Figaro! We see ourselves, we see our struggles, our joys, our passions, all played out before us.

One of our troupe of opera-goers yesterday, had never been to the opera. When we left, she remarked that she had a wonderful time! What better opera to start with than Figaro! It is funny, witty; there are scenes of deep emotion; there is a happy ending!

Yay!!!

The Toby Jug

When regular tv programming has little to offer, I have started to turn to the H&I network, Heroes and Icons, to see some of the shows that were popular in the 1960's. And frankly, they are good STORIES. They may not feature all the special effects of tv nowadays, but the plots are character driven, and they are kind of addicting. My particular favorites are Combat! which ran from 1962-67, and Twelve O'Clock High (64-67). Combat is in black and white, a WWII drama of those army men who survived D-Day, and are infiltrating into France to eliminate the Nazi threat. Twelve O'Clock features the WWII U.S. army air corps stationed in England, making bombing raids over the channel to France and Germany.

In Twelve O'clock, every so often you see a scene within the officer's club where the men go to relax, have a drink, sing a song. (They are not watching tv, or playing video games! haha). On a mantle above a large fireplace, there is a large ceramic mug that has a face on it. An officer will come in, walk over to the mantle, and turn the mug either face in or out. I was intrigued. I was talking with my brother who is a military buff, and has seen every movie of this kind. He explained to me about the mug, and I looked it up! Ahh! there is a connection with the 18th Century.

The mug is called a "Toby Jug" and refers to a ceramic pitcher, formed in the shape of a person. The name "Toby" is illusive, but these pitchers became a popular art form in England in the 18th Century. They were usually used in pubs as a water pitcher.

The Staffordshire potters of the 1760's are credited with their development. The Toby Jug is sometimes called a Fillpot or Philpot. Sometimes the person it depicts is seated in typical 18th Century attire, with tricorne hat, pipe in hand, etc, but  often it is just the head, and some part of the hat, for example, forms the handle.

Some folks say the name Toby came from the character in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Sir Toby Belch, an intoxicated and jovial man.

In the film Twelve O'clock High, the Toby is one depicting Robin Hood, and plays a pivotal role as it was a way to alert the crews of an upcoming mission, without outsiders knowing what was about to take place. The Toby in the film was made by Royal Doulton, circa 1947. Based in fact, RAF flyers from WWI used to "turn the Toby", a mission code, which was later adopted by the flyers in WWII.  

I am a military buff too, and now I want one of those jugs. I have been looking on line but there are none to be had, even a replica. I found one at auction, but it was way too expensive, and the auction was closed anyway. Well, it's something to keep in mind when antique hunting. meanwhile, if you want to see one, rent the movie! It's really good!

Bye, Bye Frizzies!

I recently saw an article, a historical account, about hair products and appliances. I noticed a strange appliance called the hygrometer, and read that it was developed in the 1700's. I decided to look into this.

It appears that in 1783, a Swiss physicist and geologist named Horace Benedict de Saussure, created the first hair hygrometer. Apparently, it measures humidity of human hair! Horace lived from 1740 to 1799, was an aristocrat, and an Alpine traveler! He also, by the way, founded alpinism, or the art or science of mountain climbing! He even offered a prize for the first scaling of Mont Blanc. He made the third attempt about 1788.

He spent a great deal of time researching the Alps, seeing them as the grand key to the true theory of the earth, giving close attention to the rocks and fossils. He carried barometers and thermometers to the summits of various alpine mountains and estimated the relative humidity of the atmosphere at different heights to gain knowledge of moisture, temperature, strength of solar radiation.

This led to his development of the hygrometer, using human or animal hair under tension to measure changes in humidity. The length change is magnified by a mechanism and indicated on a dial or scale. HIs machine consisted of a human hair eight to ten inches long, fastened at one end to a screw, and at the other end passing a pulley, being strained tight by a silk threat and weight. The pulley is connected to an index which moves over a graduated scale. The instrument can be made more sensitive by removing oils from the hair by soaking the hair with diethyl ether.

And here is the reason for hair products developing and utilizing various serums and conditioners to keep moisture from having an effect on hair regarding styling. Bye, bye frizzies! Thank you, Mr. Sassoon,....I mean de Saussure.

The Bayeux Tapestry

Recently I have become interested in doing some needlepoint work. It has been a long time since I have put thread to canvas; it's enjoyable, but patient work. There are no shortcuts, if you want to have something beautiful and long-lasting when it is finished.

I have been doing some reading on the Battle of Hastings, and had an Aha! moment. Why not reproduce the Bayeux Tapestry?! Well, at least some scenes from it. The original is about 70 meters long! Time will tell if I take this on, but right now, it sounds tempting.

The tapestry depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, involving William, Duke of Orange (The Conqueror), and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England. The climax is the Battle of Hastings. The tapestry chronicals the whole event, and is considered the supreme achievement of the Norman Romanesque period. It survives almost totally intact. It was embroidered with wool - all natural dyed colors, on linen. Along with the scenes are Latin titles. Probably produced in 1070 or there about. Its first reference was in 1476 when it was listed as inventory at the Bayeux Cathedral, in Norman France, and survived the sack of that city in 1562. But then, it was probably put away.

As far as the 18th Century is concerned, in 1724 there is reference to it when Antoine Lancelot sent a report to the  Acadeie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres about a sketch he had received about a work concerning William the Conqueror. He did not know if the sketch was of a sculpture or painting. Later on, a Benedictine scholar found more information, finding that the sketch was from a tapestry! In 1729 the scholar, Bernard de Montfaucon, published drawings and detailed information about the complete work, still at the Bayeux Cathedral.

During the French Revolution, 1792, the tapestry was confiscated as public property and used, of all things, to cover military wagons!!!Thank God, it was rescued by a local lawyer, storing it at his home, until the fighting was over. The Fine Arts Commission, after the Reign of Terror, helped to safeguard it as a national treasure. It was moved to Paris for display at the Musee Napoleon, but when Napoleon abandoned his invasion of Britian, in 1803, the work of art was again taken back to Bayeux where it remains today.