September 2007

Captain Cook – The Art of Exploration

Report by Maralyn Sharpe

At the September meeting of the FARNHAM DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS SOCIETY, the lecturer, James Taylor, Former Curator at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, talked on Captain Cook – The Art of Exploration.  The lecture gave insight into Cook’s life, his expeditions and the artists and scientists, who accompanied Cook on his three voyages, and their accomplishments.

Cook (1728-1779) was born in Cleveland to a working family and in his youth was apprenticed as a haberdasher, but finding the work unsuitable, he joined a Quaker family who owned collier brigs, shipping coal.  This gave him the incentive to wish to travel further and explore the world and he became a first rate navigator.    Slides of the three portraits of Cook painted during his lifetime were shown.

Cook made three expeditions:  the first in 1768 with a rendezvous at Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus, to assist in solving navigators’ longitude problem;  the second in 1771, to establish if a southern continent existed, now known as Antarctica;  the third in 1779 to establish if there was a northwest passage.  Cook was the first explorer to use the recently invented chronometer, (a clock without a pendulum), which Cook referred to as his trusty timekeeper.

Sir Joseph Banks was the prime sponsor of the expeditions and was instrumental in arranging the inclusion of artists and scientists to record what was observed.  The drawings and artefacts, which were brought back from the expeditions, now reside primarily at three institutions:  The National Maritime Museum, the British Museum and the British Library.

Slides were shown of the drawings of inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, a funeral bier on Tahiti, a canoe on the Society Islands, a Maori chieftain, a kangaroo, numerous plants and flowers, mountains, Funchal in Madeira, and Cape Town.  There were diagrams of paddles, canoe hulls and other tools used by the local people as well as meteorological observations.  Detailed notes were kept of all that was observed, including notes of aboriginals and their language.

Cook eventually met his death on his final voyage at the hands of natives in Hawaii.  His wife survived him and lived to be 94 dying in 1835.  His achievements in navigation, particularly the mapping of New Zealand and Australia, led to a greater understanding of the geography of the world.

Frances Ashworth, the Chairman, welcomed members to the new season and listed the names of the new Committee members.  New fire regulations are in place for future meetings.  The NADFAS Review featured an article on Kate Siebert, past Chairman, in her new role as NADFAS’ Overseas Representative and FDFAS was mentioned for its media award for its website.  The New and Waiting List Members’ coffee morning is on 2 October in the Cellar Bar at 10.30 am.  Bookings are now being taken for the Study Day on 28 November, the Visit on 6 November and the tour to Romania from 31 May to 8 June 2008.  All news and items of interest to members are on the website and noticeboard.

 

Visit to KEW PALACE and HAM HOUSE, RICHMOND

Report by Vicky Jackson

The sun was shining but there was an autumnal nip in the air as we set off for a day long trip to Ham House and Kew Palace. All went well until, just before Ham House, an immovable removal van made it a little more exciting as driver Reg edged the coach past it with about six inches to spare. A feat accompanied by a round of applause.

The façade of Ham House is impressive but we were all intent on the promised coffee and biscuits in The Orangery. The biscuits were the biggest we have ever seen – a good four inches across and about half an inch thick. Most of us could only manage half.

Once inside the imposing hall of Ham House – lots of black and white marble flooring and huge portraits by Lely and Kneller - we were divided up into groups of ten and off we went in different directions.

Our tour started downstairs in the enfilade added on to the original building to provide his and hers suites with a dining room in the middle. We were immediately taken by a portrait of the young and slender Miss Elizabeth Murray who acted as chatelaine of the house for her mother whilst her father was in France as a result of the Civil War. Sadly, as Miss Elizabeth Murray grew in importance – Lady – Countess – Duchess – so did her girth as witnessed by her portrait in the upstairs gallery.

Amazingly, the house remained in the same family from the 17th to the 20th century – 1947 to be precise - when the house was handed over to the National Trust and the artefacts were handed over to the care of the Victoria & Albert. Gradually, though, these are being returned to the house and positioned exactly where contemporaneous inventories said they were placed. Since nothing was ever thrown away (though occasionally sold to cover debts) there is a wealth of beautiful things to admire such as Japanese chests and a delectable oyster-veneered writing desk to the totally practical such as chamber pots.

Upstairs one room was set aside to house some of the textiles found in the attic. Amongst them some exquisitely embroidered cushions and an amazing dressing table with matching enormous circular brushes all the better for removing wig powder from your clothes.

Also on this floor was a breathtaking long gallery with elegant ladies on one side and equally elegant chaps on the other all set off by black panelling enlivened with gilt. Best of all, though, was a tiny jewel box of a room lined in emerald damask which housed a collection of miniature portraits – one by Hilliard. We all could have spent an hour there but all too soon we were into the coach and off to Kew Palace.

After a quick lunch we made our way to Kew Palace – its presence shouting out against the green of the trees since it is painted the most brilliant terracotta you have ever seen. Quite a contrast to the immediate interior which is a rather dreary shade of grey. The first thing to greet you is the wax head of George III as made by Madame Tussaud herself no less. In another similar room there is a delightful letter sent to one of his daughters, a porcelain musical instrument and some of the King’s scientific musings/ Most intriguingly, high up on the panelling is a Photostat and note to the effect that it has just been discovered that portraits lay underneath all that grey paint.

The dining room was laid with a dinner plates in various styles each one printed with a quote from the period – my favourite being ‘He was only wanting of one thing – TALENT’. The doll’s house was duly admired before passing on to another room where portraits were projected on to the walls whilst ‘Queen Charlotte’ gave a commentary on her life in England and introduced her fifteen children. This device was used several times throughout the house to good effect.

The first floor rooms were decorated according to the colour schemes originally used as defined by minute core samples of the paintwork, remnants of the original designs – most notably the Greek key pattern and bright turquoise paintwork in Princess Elizabeth’s bedroom and contemporary records. However, the piece de resistance was the living room with its huge harpsichord and stunning curtains which were described as ‘scarlet’ in the original inventory but were more bright vermillion. Fortunately, an example of the original fabric was found in the Waring and Gillow archive completely unfaded since it had been hidden from sight for nearly 200 years.

The second floor rooms have been left unrestored to show how the house was constructed. There wasn’t time to play on the computer to discover more about the house, but I did wander around the rooms where the other Princesses lived and came upon a sad little remark from one of them, who reported that they went from room to room gathering up the things they did not want to leave behind when they had to leave following the Queen’s death and their father’s removal to Windsor Castle. Saddest of all was a jacket which belonged to the King just before his death. It was covered with food and wine stains and his footman had tried to sell it. Nothing changes, does it.