the Victorias: making more Magic-and Legend

. 

What makes magic? 

There is always a secret trick to magic-sometimes magic happens and it becomes legend-as is the case of the life of the furnishings for a room at Elsie de Wolfe's Villa Trianon.

Maybe it was more Alchemy than Magic.

 an advertisement from the Frederick P Victoria & Son archives 

featuring one of a pair of Italian Blackamoors groups from the Villa's Ballroom

It all began when Stephane Boudin of JANSEN made a suite of pieces for a Circus Ball at the Villa Trianon hosted by Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl. On the night of July 2, 1938-with the Lady as ringmaster, the Circus Ball gave way to one of Elsie's many memorable rooms. 

 Oliver Messel painting of Elsie The Ringmaster

 Elsie in center- between Sir George Clerk (at l)  & her husband, Charles Mendl the night of the Ball

  (images from the Campbell & Seebohm book Elsie de Wolfe A Decorative Life)

In order to accommodate the 700 guests for the Circus Ball an entire wing was added to the Villa Trianon. Boudin-the alchemist- created a dance pavilion with green and white stripe "disappearing" walls opening onto the Villa gardens, matching curtains inspired by the Regency- and that was just the backdrop for the special pieces in the room: banquettes, ottomans, circular seating, blackamoors, parasols, lanterns & trees.

 scenes from the original Ballroom at Villa Trianon, above and below

(above images from Andre Ostier, the Elsie de Wolfe Foundation-and the Sparke book)

(The complexities of the relationship between decorator-Lady Mendl to decorator -JANSEN & Boudin, to hostess -Lady Mendl to patron with the funds- Paul-Louis Weiller are another part of the legend-told best in the definitive book ELSIE de WOLFE The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration by Penny Sparke.)


The next magician to possess the JANSEN CIRCUS pieces was the venerable house of Frederick P. Victoria & Son. Frederick Victoria-the alchemist- opened his legendary antique house in New York just a few years before the Circus Ball & today Frederick son's Tony-and Tony's son Freddie-carry on what began in 1933. 
from their site:
Less well known was the fact that early on the company began to also offer full production capabilities to its top clients. These services included bespoke cabinetry, metalwork, finishing and upholstery to achieve the precise, and sometimes ambitious, results desired by its clients. After WWII, both the antique collections and the custom work of the company continued to earn a respected reputation. While clients included well respected families, artists and royalty, the company continued to focus on delivering the finest quality pieces and services, and for at least one client went so far as to keep the client’s actual name from its own workers.

A Conversation with Tony Victoria:

When did Frederic P. Victoria acquire the pieces from Elsie's legendary Villa Trianon pavilion? What were the circumstances of the acquisition? 

TV:The house in Versailles was kept intact for years after she died by I believe a friend. Don’t remember his name. However in the early 80’s the Circus Room was offered for sale in one lot, if my memory serves, in Paris by Maitre Ader, I believe.

I heard about the sale, bought it and shipped all the elements back to my shop on 55^th street.

 images from Frederick P. Victoria & Son of  archives of the Ballroom at their shop

showing the contents of the Ballroom after they were purchased at auction. 

Everything minus the central planter,the planters on either side of the sofa & the “snail” stove behind the sofa, is from Elsie’s Villa Trianon room.

Did you purchase them with a particular client in mind or was it one of those –I just have to have those moments? 

TV: I did not have a specific client in mind. I had heard Elsie’s name since my childhood. She would send these rather bizarre Christmas cards: a photo with her head resting like a sculpture on a small marble pedestal which itself was on usually a mantle piece with writing in white wishing my Father and Mother Merry Christmas. So when it came up, I was drawn to it. Besides, there were so many amusing elements that I felt I could find homes for all of them. And, I did.

Was it frenzied buying as I might imagine it would be today?

 

TV: I don’t remember too much about the auction itself. I don’t believe it was a “frenzied“ affair. Elsie de Wolfe’s name did not have the cachet in France then I don’t believe that is does, especially now, in America.

The room itself was quite expensive for the time, so after that lot I folded my own tent, as it were.

 

image from the Victoria archives

What was the condition of the pieces? What were the banquettes upholstered in? Was there a great deal of restoration to these and other pieces from the room? 

TV: As I remember it all the upholstered pieces were upholstered in white canvas with green trim, a sort of signature combination for her. I did not recover anything, as for the most part everything was in presentable condition.

Freddie mentioned several things about the room in our conversation–the beautiful naturalistic lanterns and also mentioned of “Making that full-round tree for Michael Taylor . It has to have been one of my father's favorite projects.”   

How did you do it? 

Did you make the new one with the same materials-and what were they?

  

TV: As for making the tree for Michael, well one couldn’t say no to him, could one?

Plus he was buying a large chunk of the room, especially the trees which, while amusing, required a certain level of imagination, not to mention courage, to buy. As you know, he had both in depth.

As for favorite project, well I am not sure that I would use that term. 

Certainly it was one of the craziest and most challenging of my career. I have always said that we, the firm, were ready to make anything for anyone. Little did I know that that would include a tree! The trunk was made in solid wood and somehow I was able to cajole my metal fabricator to make dozens of hand hammered leaves which he then affixed to metal stems. We then painted the leaves etc and then bent the stems and placed them we thought in more or less natural positions and groupings.

 (Tony Victoria graciously answered these questions after a story I published on designer Michael Taylor here about the Garden Room he designed for Mrs. Stanley Dollar)  

Frederick P Victoria & Son, Inc. their own blog here

Michael Taylor stories at little augury here

Elsie de Wolfe stories here

Frederick P Victoria & Son stories here

.

footnote: the Delbee Bedroom

.

from our story about the Pierre Delbee entry, a footnote.

Pierre Delbee's intimate bedroom- lined with a deep green silk velvet fabric that is trimmed all round in a decorative tape. The bedroom walls are a canvas for portrait miniatures, bas relief  & other small works of art. The decorative tapes aid in defining these small pieces and serve as a frame of sorts for the various groupings. Try to imagine the walls without the rich color and the tapes-it doesn't work. Part of Delbee's design genius is evident in this somewhat obvious alchemy. What seems a simple idea is an inspired one!

Another note of interest & another simple ploy- the cinnabar lacquer like painted trim that further defines the space. The Chinoiserie lacquer desk is just one of the eye popping treasures Delbee inserts into the room. This piece, according to the definitive book on JANSEN by James Archer Abbott, is "signed by the great ebeniste Francois Rubestuck and dated circa 1766." My favorite piece in the room is the "serpentine headboard, covered in fragments of an antique allegorical tapestry, and surmounted by an array of crucifixes"
( JANSEN, JAA.) The bedcovering is a needlepoint tracery design with  vines and berries entwining 18th century scenes and figures. Though Abbott asserts that the Delbee bedroom was all show with little attention to function. Does it matter? It is just one of the jewel's in this- Delbee's masterpiece of an apartment.

The Delbee reign at Jansen Abbott writes- was to "design rooms for sensory impact"- his own bedroom is a powerful statement of that philosophy.

if you did not read making an entrance, about the Delbee foyer see it HERE.


photograph from  JANSEN by James Archer Abbott.
.

making an entrance

.

One of the most arresting entrances imagined was created by Pierre Delbee of JANSEN, in the 1960s. Finding the perfect balance in making a grand entrance dramatic, without staging, is a fine one. This hall, as it is referred to in The Best  of European Decoration, satisfies.

Five ebony doors, one, seen above were designed by Delbee in ivory, silver, copper and brass. The grey & blue walls are done in Louis XV-style paneling -the ceiling as well, further defining the space.  Black lacquer cupboards, c.1760, fit jewel box like into the corners and are decorated in carved & gilded wood. The classic leopard fabric, likely a velvet, adorns two benches-note the mismatched attitude of the pair.


Nowhere was  Jansen's craft exhibited more brilliantly. The Delbee creation reads beautifully in these color photographs- from the book JANSEN.

As the entry expands we see a much larger space-& its many incarnations. The Entry-now a Dining Room- is hardly recognizable-were it not for the ebony and ivory veneered doors.

Author James Archer Abott, JANSEN, says Pierre Delbee's residence represents the Jansen firm at its most "CHIC, and Eclectic."  Delbee designed for "sensory impact" and this entry would have been no less than heart stopping.

Recreating such a space- impossible. There is a studied singularity about the room. It would seem set-like & the genius of the room would be lost. The best take aways from Delbee are the jewel box impact: the paneled walls, varying color to highlight the moldings, symmetry, punctuating the grey with all the black that can be found, working the ceiling in the same way as the walls & an unhesitating hand.


sources and photographs sited in the text & here, JANSEN and The Best in European Decoration.

.

no longer a Mam'selle

.

But a married lady.

Emily Evans Eerdmans writes an erudite blog, writes books, namely, Classic English Design and Antiques and a favourite of mine- Regency Redux. Emily is working on a book about the one and only Madeleine Castaing. Everyone that follows Emily's blog is bowled over by her wit-especially her wit and wisdom.

Now-what to give her as a wedding present?
No, Money is no object. (it's playlike)
But always a realist-It can not be ridiculously over the top.
So-I asked myself-what would Mme. Castaing do?

I have No idea,

But perhaps she would say-something like

Be brave.
Be bold.
Ah-Be romantic.

Make it wonderful.

I hope this chandelier arrives safely. It will always be a pain to take down, to crate, to move- But it will always Go...

with that Jansen table.

image from here

See Emily's post about the table here
The GIFT: A five light Wedgewood Porcelain mounted Chandelier-from 1st dibs, Carlton Hobbs LLC- The circular shaft, centered by an Etruscan vase, is connected to an inverted dish decorated with a relief of repeating classical figures and foliate motifs, and is centered by an inverted turned knop. The plain cylindrical upturned arms terminating in foliate drip pans. From each arm is suspended a classical amphora decorated in relief with Classical figural and foliate decoration.( and thank you to Carlton Hobbs for not disclosing the price)

Read JUST WED by Emily here
Read Emily's posts about Madeleine Castaing here
1st & 2nd images from Emily here
.