The Spring Road Trip Part I: Winterthur "Downton Abbey"

Having forgone our usual winter travels due to questionable weather, during spring break week we took a road trip to the Brandywine and Bucks County areas.
Our first stop was Winterthur in Wilmington, Delaware, where they are currently displaying costumes from the television series "Downton Abbey". While not a fan of the show, the exhibit was wonderful for its context and historical accuracy, particularly in comparing British versus American "aristocrat" lifestyle, particularly as it was lived by the DuPonts at Winterthur.

 

Judging by the women attending, however, most simply wanted to gush over the clothing of the various ladies in the show.
Apparently the show is drawing large attendance, and is very good for Winterthur, both financially and for making more people aware of this treasure of a museum.


As usual, we also went on the reserved tours through the period rooms at Winterthur. These are small group tours (limited by the close confines, and the small elevators), so you really get a close look at many of the items, since you will be in rooms where things are not "roped off". We were the only two people on our final tour, and since we had been so often and had seen all the rooms at one point or another, our guide did a free-form tour, just taking us wherever we wanted to go and see whatever was particularly interesting to us. So, I used this opportunity to revisit some old favorites, and at the same time, still kept finding things I had never noticed before.

Currently in the main galleries there is, in addition to their regular collection displays, a group of painted tinware. This shows the history and use of painted tin in America, and includes a grouping of reproduced items by the late Elaine Dalzell, a member of the Historical Society of Early American Decoration.

 

Another project arrives

This mirror came home today (honestly, they follow me like puppies). What attracted me to this one was the bands of composition oak leaf and acorn ornament applied to wooden strips so that it would be raised above the surface the cove.  Here we are probably seeing the transition from the Empire to the Victorian.

 

 

 

 Amazingly, almost everything was intact and original, with the exception of three of the shell form corner ornaments. These will be easy to replicate.

 

 

 

 

The original tablet is in poor condition, with paint loss and a crack. Even if intact, it is not particularly attractive, so I will probably not replicate this one, but find another design that is appropriate to the period of the mirror.

 

First steps, as usual, will be disassembly and evaluation. Will post again when work progresses.

 

Framing a Vue d'optique Print

These "vue d'optique" prints, usually perspective views of city scenes, were a late 18th century version of a 3-D viewer. Of course, they weren't actually seen in 3-D, but when presented in a device with a setup of mirrors (hence the reversed title) and lenses, the viewer had the impression there was something special. Remember, this is in the days before any kind of electronics or cameras! And since these were done prior to color printing, these black and white engravings were hand-colored to make them even more realistic.

 

Note: I forgot to take my photo before putting glass over the frame and mat, leading to not only reflections, but having to skew angle to avoid worse. Things are actually straight and even.

 

Since they were produced in large numbers, scenes are numerous, and they are a 200 year old print category that was so plentiful, interior decorators used them by the dozen in the mid-20th century, not only framing them, but sometimes pasting them on screens, etc. They are still affordable today, but I hope worthy of a bit more respect.

For this one, "Vue du Ponte de la Concorde", I made a frame with applied composition ornament at the corners. After gesso and gilding, it was toned and distressed to match the age of the print.

Back to the Workshop

After a brief fling with spring-like weather, the cold has returned, sending me back to the warmth and comfort of my workshop (AKA: the cellar of doom). My attempts at organization are bearing fruit, and projects are getting worked on, and in fact, some of them actually finished!

 

Some of these have been hanging fire for quite a while, so any progress is welcome. The pair of mirrors below were purchased several years ago, and since the work was not for a customer, the priority was pretty low. So, they came out of storage, they are now lovely, but alas, back in storage (at least for the time being). More about the restoration process can be seen here.

Snow Birds

The feeder by the sunroom window has been active (as it usually is when I throw a few handfuls of seeds on the snow). The small birds (finches, I think) gather to feed, and just my shadow in the window is enough to spook them.

There are a number of cardinals about. The female was picking up food, and she doesn't look happy about it.

 

The male was hiding in the bushes, so I had to take the shot through another window (with a screen), so it isn't as sharp..

 

 

This appears to be a robin. I didn't realize they hung around over the winter. These are tough individuals to be making it through the weather we have been having.

Finally some Gold!

Gilding is impressive, but actual gilding is usually a small percentage of the time spent on a restoration job. Most of the effort is in stripping, scraping, gesso application (and sanding, sanding and more sanding). So actually getting to put the gold leaf on an object feels like getting to have dessert.

See progress of this project here.

Snow Day!

It's Saturday, and flurries were predicted, but instead this soft, fluffy snow has been coating everything since this morning. No wind, no sound outside - sounds trite, but yes, like a Christmas card.