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WORKING STRAW
lady diana cooper (at left), painting by Pissarro
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Showing posts with label Lady Diana Cooper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lady Diana Cooper. Show all posts
if I may say so
.
I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent,
except toward the things which were sacred to other people.
Mark Twain
photograph of Lady Diana Cooper in the Belvior Castle Chapel
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Lutyens at Play
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that the revered architect Sir Edwin Lutyens & the Never Land Peter Pan would ever cross paths seems unlikely-but there is more than just a passing connection. Lutyens and J.M.Barrie-creator of Peter, the lost boys and the Darling children- were friends. The original sets for the Barrie play were designed by Lutyens.
Lutyens delighted in designing Queen Mary's Doll House and included a toy theatre staging Peter Pan- of course. Lady Sackville admonished him for giving more attention to it than to an important commission he had just received for a new headquarters for the Persian Oil Company (from the LUTYENS TRUST) The Doll House project commenced in 1920 and was completed in 1924. All in miniature with nothing left undone, working plumbing, electricity and titled books- their text written out in full.
Lutyens Nursery in the Queen's Doll House
Lutyens was known for his energetic nature, his raucous humor and puns. Lady Diana Cooper said 'Duff and I would give up anything if Ned Lutyens was free for lunch-he was such fun.' E. V. Lucas wrote about him in The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House: ‘...His friends were legion; his mind was electrically instant to respond to any sympathetic suggestion; he never broke his word; he never let you know if he was tired; and with it all he was out for fun.’(from the LUTYENS TRUST) He charmed, he vexed and he always captivated children. His designs found free reign for whimsy in New Delhi in the nursery at the Viceroy's House. His constant doodlings resulted in a child's delight of chandeliers for the nursery at Viceroy House- Angels in Prayer and Children Fishing.
that Lutyens own children did not delight in his company is quite impossible. There is something of the child in all of us & as Albert Einstein said:
The Luytens Trust here
Lutyens Furniture here
Windsor Castle here
.
.
that the revered architect Sir Edwin Lutyens & the Never Land Peter Pan would ever cross paths seems unlikely-but there is more than just a passing connection. Lutyens and J.M.Barrie-creator of Peter, the lost boys and the Darling children- were friends. The original sets for the Barrie play were designed by Lutyens.
The nursery was a big square room, with a gay frieze round the walls
of nursery tale pictures and jungle animals. There was a bathroom
leading out of it, and the playroom was next door. The window
to which the strange boy had come had never had bars across as
most nurseries do. Wendy's bed was nearest the fire, which had a
brass fireguard set round it. The boys were on the other side of the
room, and over each bed there was a night light fixed to the wall.
The story goes that the Darling children's nursery-described by Barrie, was modeled after the Lutyens children's own nursery at Bloomsbury Square. Apparently the British architect's genius lay in many directions, including a love for and a special affinity with children. He let his creativity soar when designing nurseries: a circular nursery- so no child would be sent to stand in a corner, secret windows, & checker board floors laid out for nursery games.
Queen Mary's Doll House
Lutyens delighted in designing Queen Mary's Doll House and included a toy theatre staging Peter Pan- of course. Lady Sackville admonished him for giving more attention to it than to an important commission he had just received for a new headquarters for the Persian Oil Company (from the LUTYENS TRUST) The Doll House project commenced in 1920 and was completed in 1924. All in miniature with nothing left undone, working plumbing, electricity and titled books- their text written out in full.
The Queen's Library
Lutyens Nursery in the Queen's Doll House
Doesn't this Lilliputian nursery seem just perfect?
Lutyens was known for his energetic nature, his raucous humor and puns. Lady Diana Cooper said 'Duff and I would give up anything if Ned Lutyens was free for lunch-he was such fun.' E. V. Lucas wrote about him in The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House: ‘...His friends were legion; his mind was electrically instant to respond to any sympathetic suggestion; he never broke his word; he never let you know if he was tired; and with it all he was out for fun.’(from the LUTYENS TRUST) He charmed, he vexed and he always captivated children. His designs found free reign for whimsy in New Delhi in the nursery at the Viceroy's House. His constant doodlings resulted in a child's delight of chandeliers for the nursery at Viceroy House- Angels in Prayer and Children Fishing.
light bulbs
-as egg yolks
-as egg yolks
-as bait off fishing lines
&
-as celestial stars in orbit.
-as celestial stars in orbit.
Sir Edwin & his family
photographs from the Lutyens Trust here
that Lutyens own children did not delight in his company is quite impossible. There is something of the child in all of us & as Albert Einstein said:
The Pursuit of Truth and Beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted
to REMAIN CHILDREN all our lives-
The Luytens Trust here
Lutyens Furniture here
Windsor Castle here
.
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decorating on the dark side
.
there are rooms- and then there are dark rooms- not of the photographer's sort- but the living, dining, bedroom kind.
Dark colors do work- a coffee, a plum, a black, Yes, black has its place. No matter the naysayers. I wrote in a post about some of the rooms Lady Diana Cooper decorated- her first as a young girl was black.
The first room she decorated on her own was her bedroom at the family's ancestral Belvoir Castle. She must have been very much as she( at left) is drawn in this National Portrait Gallery work by her mother Violet-(on the right, a self portrait) Duchess of Ruthland - an accomplished artist.
Here- she describes the room:
He gave me a narrow four-poster bed. for my now room at Belvoir, which was to be painted black. The bed was upholstered in red damask. An alcove was scooped out of the wall for my jug and basin and painted by me with stylised sea waves...The black walls were hung with swags of everlasting flowers a la Crivelli. The table and chair were Savonarola-esque and the window, granite fireplace and coalbox solid Victorian. There were four coloured reproductions of Madonnas in gold Italian frames and the candlesticks from Florence, regilded... I thought it was beyond compare, but greatly feared criticism. My mother never damped our taste-she who had so influenced it.
My money collected for months, went on church candlesticks (cheap because the gilt had come off, which I could later home-gild-myself with gesso, size, gold leaf and a burnisher), tassels and braids, anything to make my new room at Belvoir more like Carpacccio's idea of St Ursula's.
So- now you have adjusted to darkly painted rooms, and read with the details the 14 year old Diana lavished on her first interior decoration- She referenced Art, shopped well & took on diy.
a Sister Parish- deep Prussian Blue Living Room
Now-what do you do when you find your own young ones wanting to decorate on the dark side? My experiences with most children & teenagers in decorating rooms has been exceptional. Two clients called me in specifically to work with their children directly- No input from the parent- Perfect projects resulted. In most cases a parent works through the details of a room with me for smaller children and then later imput comes from the parent and teen. One teen Lady wanted to channel an Anne Boleyn room. I was willing- I was even into it. Unfortunately, she had Anne's temperament too-and we all know how Anne's story ended-same story with the room.
A recent trip to a plumbing & fixture showroom with a client and her Lady 5 year old-proves the point- Children can be taste makers at an early age. So just know. Lady She asked to show me the sink and fixtures she favored -
I follow her to the most perfect in the showroom. Inside a special display- in black I might add - I found Lady 5 standing at a Czech and Speake vanity with fixtures. I had to agree. We've also discussed tubs, tile, paint colors and fashion. She has good taste & at some point her Mother will cut her loose to decorate her own room I have no doubt.
What happens when IT happens?
think of Purple? as PLUM.
Brown? as COFFEE.
Black? as MIDNIGHT.
Sit them down your Aesthete with ART- give them research to do before they paint or decorate.
Have them ask why?
How will their DREAM ROOM look ? Have them find their inspiration.
Not a literal translation. No copying- it's not creative or cost effective-
But It will Inspire & that's what you want to do- Remember Diana's words:
more of Carpaccio's work here
more of Crivelli's work here
Mile's Redd here
David Hicks here
.
design by David Hicks
there are rooms- and then there are dark rooms- not of the photographer's sort- but the living, dining, bedroom kind.
Dark colors do work- a coffee, a plum, a black, Yes, black has its place. No matter the naysayers. I wrote in a post about some of the rooms Lady Diana Cooper decorated- her first as a young girl was black.
Portrait of a young Diana by James Jebusa Shannon
The first room she decorated on her own was her bedroom at the family's ancestral Belvoir Castle. She must have been very much as she( at left) is drawn in this National Portrait Gallery work by her mother Violet-(on the right, a self portrait) Duchess of Ruthland - an accomplished artist.
Here- she describes the room:
He gave me a narrow four-poster bed. for my now room at Belvoir, which was to be painted black. The bed was upholstered in red damask. An alcove was scooped out of the wall for my jug and basin and painted by me with stylised sea waves...The black walls were hung with swags of everlasting flowers a la Crivelli. The table and chair were Savonarola-esque and the window, granite fireplace and coalbox solid Victorian. There were four coloured reproductions of Madonnas in gold Italian frames and the candlesticks from Florence, regilded... I thought it was beyond compare, but greatly feared criticism. My mother never damped our taste-she who had so influenced it.
My money collected for months, went on church candlesticks (cheap because the gilt had come off, which I could later home-gild-myself with gesso, size, gold leaf and a burnisher), tassels and braids, anything to make my new room at Belvoir more like Carpacccio's idea of St Ursula's.
Carpaccio's The Dream of Saint Ursula, 1495
Carlo Crivell's Renaissance Saints with intricate fabric details
So- now you have adjusted to darkly painted rooms, and read with the details the 14 year old Diana lavished on her first interior decoration- She referenced Art, shopped well & took on diy.
a Sister Parish- deep Prussian Blue Living Room
an incredible bedroom at Blake's Hotel in London
Created by Anouska Hempel
I wonder if Anouska Hempel was inspired by Crivelli as well?
Now-what do you do when you find your own young ones wanting to decorate on the dark side? My experiences with most children & teenagers in decorating rooms has been exceptional. Two clients called me in specifically to work with their children directly- No input from the parent- Perfect projects resulted. In most cases a parent works through the details of a room with me for smaller children and then later imput comes from the parent and teen. One teen Lady wanted to channel an Anne Boleyn room. I was willing- I was even into it. Unfortunately, she had Anne's temperament too-and we all know how Anne's story ended-same story with the room.
A recent trip to a plumbing & fixture showroom with a client and her Lady 5 year old-proves the point- Children can be taste makers at an early age. So just know. Lady She asked to show me the sink and fixtures she favored -
I follow her to the most perfect in the showroom. Inside a special display- in black I might add - I found Lady 5 standing at a Czech and Speake vanity with fixtures. I had to agree. We've also discussed tubs, tile, paint colors and fashion. She has good taste & at some point her Mother will cut her loose to decorate her own room I have no doubt.
What happens when IT happens?
think of Purple? as PLUM.
Brown? as COFFEE.
Black? as MIDNIGHT.
Sit them down your Aesthete with ART- give them research to do before they paint or decorate.
Have them ask why?
How will their DREAM ROOM look ? Have them find their inspiration.
Not a literal translation. No copying- it's not creative or cost effective-
But It will Inspire & that's what you want to do- Remember Diana's words:
My mother never damped our taste-she who had so influenced it.
more of Carpaccio's work here
more of Crivelli's work here
Mile's Redd here
David Hicks here
.
a bit gritty another one
.
It might not have been the first modern bath, but according to the Country Life archives- It was the prettiest by far in 1920. The address 90 Gower Street, belonged to Lady Diana Cooper. Her mother, the Duchess of Rutland was the artist of this Chinese paper used in the bath above. The Lady remembered :
'We took a tracing of a Chinese paper at Belvoir and together on ladders we painted the white trees and birds and cages and butterflies on a pale green ground. It had a marble perspectived balustrade and ,as at Belvoir, a marbled dado. The bath was hidden in a lidded coffer marbled to match. There was a large sofa, a pretty fireplace and gilded looking-glasses...All the floors were carpeted white to the walls. I felt like a queen in a fairy story and could not ask for more...'
this bedroom from Belvoir featured on the Timothy Everest site here seems to be the paper Diana and the Duchess worked from. What one can do with a little ingenuity and a family Castle. (here)
.
It might not have been the first modern bath, but according to the Country Life archives- It was the prettiest by far in 1920. The address 90 Gower Street, belonged to Lady Diana Cooper. Her mother, the Duchess of Rutland was the artist of this Chinese paper used in the bath above. The Lady remembered :
'We took a tracing of a Chinese paper at Belvoir and together on ladders we painted the white trees and birds and cages and butterflies on a pale green ground. It had a marble perspectived balustrade and ,as at Belvoir, a marbled dado. The bath was hidden in a lidded coffer marbled to match. There was a large sofa, a pretty fireplace and gilded looking-glasses...All the floors were carpeted white to the walls. I felt like a queen in a fairy story and could not ask for more...'
this bedroom from Belvoir featured on the Timothy Everest site here seems to be the paper Diana and the Duchess worked from. What one can do with a little ingenuity and a family Castle. (here)
.
religiously
.
My usual day- amongst my books reading,
at the moment- Off on a jaunt to New York.
reading
The Rainbow Comes and Goes, The Light of Common Day, and Trumpets from the Steep. the three volumes compiled in Autobiography by Lady Diana Cooper
Wish her Safe at Home by Stephen Benatar
read religiously everyday- a few favourite blogs, read them for me while I am away-
Frederick Childe Hassam The Room of Flowers
My usual day- amongst my books reading,
at the moment- Off on a jaunt to New York.
reading
The Rainbow Comes and Goes, The Light of Common Day, and Trumpets from the Steep. the three volumes compiled in Autobiography by Lady Diana Cooper
Wish her Safe at Home by Stephen Benatar
read religiously everyday- a few favourite blogs, read them for me while I am away-
enlightening everyday
Art & Beauty
Klimt
Childe Hassam
Van Gogh
Christen Købke
visually stunning-
Photography & An Artist's Soul
St Tropez
Helga da Silvia Blow
Lapo Elkann
Lacroix
the most indepth articles- People, Places
Paris
Jean-Louis Deniot
Dodie Rosekrans
Tatiana Sorokko
.
Lady Diana Manners, a love letter
to Lady Diana Manners
...I find
that I miss you
most inconveniently
and the thought
of not seeing you
at champagne time
is as exasperating
as it would be
for the moth
to miss his candle
of an evening.
-Alfred Duff Cooper
photograph of Lady Diana Manners by E.O. Hoppe, 3 years before her marriage to Alfred Duff Cooper.
ad pages from Duke University Library here
Lady Diana & the cabbage
little augury follows something and happily--- down the rabbit hole WEEEE! go.
this time (you're late! you're late!), it is- Cooking with Lady Diana Cooper-
I do not profess to be skilled at cookery. No, No.
Did the Lady?
this recipe- I guess- IF the Lady in question cooked- must have been one of her stock in trade ones.
I imagine my incredible childhood music teacher to be on the same culinary
skill level as Lady Diana.
My lady- FRANCES- How DIVA-ine!
I love her still.
Many hours at the keyboard we spent... In conversation- sharpening my social skills, discussing fashion, city matters-(gossip)-Oh yes---&----I played the piano too. Basically, I graduated with HONORS from the Frances Critcher Wright School of Deportment. (but I digress- not shocking)
one of Lady Frances' Recipes I favor- Quick Tomato Aspic
the charming blog- Joanna's Food shares Lady Diana Cooper's SPICED CABBAGE recipe HERE .
Diana Cooper's Spiced Cabbage
1/2 a white cabbage, shredded or use a whole JANUARY KING CABBAGE (my note- a wonderful semi-savoyed heirloom dating back to Victorian England ,the French also claim it)
4 tbsp sesame oil
one small onion, chopped
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
good pinch of caraway seed
salt
Heat the oil in a large pan, and gently fry the onion and caraway. As it starts to brown, add the cabbage. Cook as if it was a stir fry - keep it moving, and when it's done to your liking, add the vinegar and salt to taste.(from Joanna's Food blog)
Perhaps
One day, I will share the two ingredient La Frances Aspic recipe with you.
& NO,
I can not imagine Lady Diana doing this either-
But here IT is in -Cecil Beaton's divine black and white.
They say Cecil could get his subjects to do anything.
&;
I would bet My life My Lady Frances never ever milked a cow.
.
this time (you're late! you're late!), it is- Cooking with Lady Diana Cooper-
I do not profess to be skilled at cookery. No, No.
Did the Lady?
this recipe- I guess- IF the Lady in question cooked- must have been one of her stock in trade ones.
I imagine my incredible childhood music teacher to be on the same culinary
skill level as Lady Diana.
My lady- FRANCES- How DIVA-ine!
I love her still.
Many hours at the keyboard we spent... In conversation- sharpening my social skills, discussing fashion, city matters-(gossip)-Oh yes---&----I played the piano too. Basically, I graduated with HONORS from the Frances Critcher Wright School of Deportment. (but I digress- not shocking)
one of Lady Frances' Recipes I favor- Quick Tomato Aspic
the charming blog- Joanna's Food shares Lady Diana Cooper's SPICED CABBAGE recipe HERE .
1/2 a white cabbage, shredded or use a whole JANUARY KING CABBAGE (my note- a wonderful semi-savoyed heirloom dating back to Victorian England ,the French also claim it)
4 tbsp sesame oil
one small onion, chopped
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
good pinch of caraway seed
salt
Heat the oil in a large pan, and gently fry the onion and caraway. As it starts to brown, add the cabbage. Cook as if it was a stir fry - keep it moving, and when it's done to your liking, add the vinegar and salt to taste.(from Joanna's Food blog)
Perhaps
One day, I will share the two ingredient La Frances Aspic recipe with you.
& NO,
I can not imagine Lady Diana doing this either-
But here IT is in -Cecil Beaton's divine black and white.
They say Cecil could get his subjects to do anything.
&;
I would bet My life My Lady Frances never ever milked a cow.
.
by Lady Diana Cooper, some Rooms
Diana in Trompe l'oeil
from The Englishwoman's House
Lady Diana Cooper amongst the Trompe l'oeil panels in the Dining Room of her London home
image above and below from Rooms
Their Bits of finery : feathers, a decidedly familiar looking garden hat, playing cards, a lucky horse shoe, portraits and replicas of the famous Offering of Diana and Diana the Huntress adorn the Dining Room walls. A discussion of these panels at Emily Evans Eerdmans blog clarify the artist to be Martin Battersby-around 1951 for the Coopers' French chateau in Chantilly.
(the settee appears in the Maugham decorated room above)
from The Englishwoman's House
image above and below from Rooms
Their Bits of finery : feathers, a decidedly familiar looking garden hat, playing cards, a lucky horse shoe, portraits and replicas of the famous Offering of Diana and Diana the Huntress adorn the Dining Room walls. A discussion of these panels at Emily Evans Eerdmans blog clarify the artist to be Martin Battersby-around 1951 for the Coopers' French chateau in Chantilly.
the young Diana painted by Ambrose McEvoy.
a Hall into Drawing Room
from the ROOMS book, photograph by Derry Moore
from the ROOMS book, photograph by Derry Moore
Excerpts from The Englishwoman's Bedroom, Derry Moore photographer, Alvilde Lees- Milne-editor
~ by Diana Cooper (who better ?), penned most eloquently and poignantly all her words in quotations and italics-
"I think I will write about bedrooms, of which I have had quite a number in my long life. It is the room most houses to which I'm the most attached-offering repose, sleep, privacy, or receiving of friends, clustered or singly, round a bed in which I weightless lie."
Drawing Room- Little Venice London
photograph by Derry Moore
The Drawing Room
portrait of a young Diana by James Jebusa Shannon
(see it top right hanging above)
"I spent more time in bed because I developed a muscular disease which lasted me three or four years. Stairs were forbidden, so my next bedroom was about as beautiful as reception-room as you could hope to find: mirrored walls, massively but delicately garlanded with chains of metal-gilded flowers... At lunchtime being carried into carried to my mother's ed next door... I was cured by the age of eleven and lost my sensational reception bedsitter."
the Elizabeth Saloon at Belvoir
Louis XIV style Matthew Wyatt ceiling
"Black painted wall, a scooped alcove washing basin, self painted to look as if under water, with a stone cockleshell (protruding) to hold the soap and sways of 'everlastings' in little bunches, and the narrowest, highest, reddest four-poster to the ceiling."
from The Bystander,1906
image here
painted just after her marriage to Duff Cooper in 1919
Duff and Diana Cooper
British Embassy in Paris
As the Second World War ended, she was off to Paris as the Ambassador's wife-finding her bedroom there to be quite the thing. It was restorative-after she added the bath-a tented affair-in a space just outside the door. She did recover a few pieces of the crimson silk chairs in the fully swathed bedroom, reputed to be that of Pauline Borghese.
image from Emily Evans Erdmans here
"The bedroom itself was sensational-walls, curtains, screens, sofas and chairs all of the same crimson red silk and a vast bed crowned at all but ceiling height by an imperial eagle and supported by retour d'Egypte figures "
Lady Diana Cooper
photographed by Cecil Beaton at the British Embassy
From the Borghese bed it was off to Chantilly- and a bedroom with a view-
"I looked south onto well-tended grass sloping down to an important lake, fed by an even more important cascade. No traffic, no tourists- only woodland groves, peopled by beautiful silent statues."
"I came home after about ten years,alas! alone, and found myself a house I would exchange with no other in the best of all quarters- Little Venice-whose bedroom, whence I scribble now, I still find the room of the rooms in the house I like best with forest trees in the garden, a big bed and tiny dog-still, and as always a refuge."
A little hall
the walls covered in silk , intaglios and candle sconces
(see link of similar)
Diana's small elegantly papered bath
Lady Diana's Bedroom full of small drawings and photographs
photographed by Derry Moore
A delightful photograph of Lady Diana ensconced in her bed, surrounded by photographs, paintings, many books, telephone & on her bedside table- a tantalus and document box create a command post effect. There must be a sort of compact and very red lipstick on that table as well. The bed hangings are an exquisite lace finished off in an exotic looking fabric on the canopy
.
"This is my life today and nearly every day and has been since I lost my independence- independence being my faithful little mini car, which I am too old to drive. Thus one comes back to one's beginning, but without independence or agility and with failing senses-consciously worsening instead of the unconscious bettering from earliest childhood."
Lady Diana Cooper with her tiny little dog
photograph by Bernard Lee Schwartz 1977
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