Magnificent Entertainments
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Temporary Architecture for Georgian Festivals
Melanie Doderer-Winkler
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Format: ClothPrice: $50.00
A thoroughly original study of ephemeral architecture and design, Magnificent Entertainments examines the spectacular displays created for large-scale public and private celebrations in the Georgian period. The book focuses on a number of specific occasions - including elegant country fêtes, lavish galas, royal events and historical commemorations - that employed elaborate decorative measures to outshine all other attractions and diversions. It explores the role of leading architects Robert Adam and William Chambers as well as members of the Royal Academy of Arts in creating exceptional party settings for royalty and aristocracy, and adapting well-known public venues for one-night extravaganzas.
The author delves into the materials used for construction and embellishment throughout the period: artful applications of dyed sugar, sand, marble dust or chalk lent lustre and colour to tables and floors, whilst painted scenery and transparencies created from thousands of variegated lamps transformed existing venues into unfamiliar marvels. Spectacular stand-alone firework temples and temporary reception rooms were often crafted of little more than wood, canvas and paint.
Drawing on primary sources including personal letters, diary entries, bills and newspaper accounts, this book investigates how successful these fanciful designs were in creating fleeting moments of delight with lasting impact and popular appeal.
Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Melanie Doderer-Winkler is an art historian and former furniture specialist at Christie’s, London. She writes and lectures about the splendour and pageantry of eighteenth-century entertaining.
'Unlike the ballroom floors embellished with chalk designs that were gradually danced away during an evening, the pleasure of this book lies in it being a lasting record of the evanescent entertainments that so delighted Georgian sensibilities.'—Christies’s International Magazine
'Magnificent Entertainments is the first book dedicated to this interesting subject and it is meticulously researched and illustrated with hundreds of rare, contemporary views depicting long-vanished triumphs.'—Tim Knox, Country Life
‘Doderer-Winkler’s great achievement as an archaeologist of the ephemeral is to bring such events to vivid life from the claims of prints and press releases, eyewitness accounts – and, critically, the bill.’—Christopher Woodward, World of Interiors Magazine
“Lavish illustrations, including original design drawings, conjure up the scale and luxury of these transient masterpieces.”—The Lady
Publication Date: December 10, 2013
Publishing Partner: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
133 color + 100 b/w illus.
