Small Regency metamorphic furniture

The 1963 Bulletin of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art noted a little-known London inventor, George Remington, took out a 14-year patent on a globe table in Dec 1807. A few months later, the rights to produce his invention were bought by cabinet makers Morgan and Sanders Co.

English globe writing desk, c1810, Morgan & Sanders.

This company had produced a working model of Remington's patent by 1809, when their first article appeared in the Ackermann's monthly Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics. A more complete description of this model was published in the  Ackermann’s Repository in Feb 1810. This second article called the model Pitt's Cabinet Globe Writing Table in honour William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806). He was the British politician who'd been the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at 24! He remained in office, on and off, until his death in 1806 and was famous for leading Britain during the great wars against Emperor Napoleon and his French armies.

Morgan & Sanders were already known as specialists in the field of metamorphic or multi-purpose furniture, producing a wide range of items that included armchairs and tables which converted into library steps or beds. I have examined this phenomenon before in the blog. What made the globe metamorphic? From the outside the piece looked like any other terrestrial globe. But when opened, the secretaire was complete with a series of small drawers and compartments, neatly designed and tucked out of sight. The writ­ing slope was also neatly designed, tilting upwards when in use but otherwise inset flush into the desk. 

The secretaire fully opened (top) and half opened (below)

Note the writing slope set flush into the table top, the pigeon holes and drawers

At a time of ongoing war in Europe, it seemed sensible to market this globe to army and navy officers; senior officers needed fully functional furniture that could be easily transported. But the Regency era (expansively defined as 1795 on) was also a period fas­cin­ated with mechanical science and besotted with world globes. Thus I cannot rule out the idea that the globe was designed for middle class families who simply needed elegant library furniture.

Some auction houses described the globes as Biedermeier in taste and Viennese by materials. At least one globe-shaped work table was auctioned as a Biedermeier piece, made in Vienna in the c1815-1820 era. Apart from the fact that the names Morgan and Sanders London were not inscribed on the lock plate with their patent number, what made the auctioneers believe it was Viennese?

Two factors need attention: date of manufacture and materials used. As Biedermeier was hugely popular between 1815 (Congress of Vienna that ended the Napoleonic Wars) and 1848 (onset of European revolutions), the dates might be just about be right. But possibly it was the maple veneer, bird's-eye maple, fruitwoods and ebonised wood that sounded Viennese. Britain’s globes would have been made from mahogany and satinwood.

The name of a Viennese craftsman, Josef Danhauser, was mentioned in a few auction catalogues. Was he a follower of Morgan and Sanders’s metamorphic furniture? Imitation was very common in the world of the arts, but we would need to know who came first with the globes – Morgan and Sanders in London or Danhauser in Vienna.

A globe-shaped work table

In all the globe furniture, the external design remained relatively constant - the globe shaped body had brass ribs with quadrant shaped doors, four bold downscrolled gilt OR ebonised legs, on brass feet that could be plain OR winged and clawed. The lower section of the globe sometimes had two drawers, built so flush into the mahogany that they cannot be seen in the photos.

But once opened, the space could have been intended for very different purposes - as a secretaire, a sewing table or a work table. The internal elements were naturally designed to suit the user and his/her purpose. A hinged writing and reading slide would not, for example, have been placed in a sewing box. Parquetry brickwork decoration would have been more attractive in a work table; in a secretaire, cedar lined pigeon holes would have been more useful.

To give an indication of size and value, Sotheby’s Amsterdam globe was 118 cm high and 90 cm diameter (Apr 2006 auction). At the Feb 2013 auction, Christie’s globe was slightly smaller - 109cm in height with a diameter of 84cm. This second globe realised £37,250 or USA $57,000.

Luton Hoo was built for the 3rd Earl of Bute by the neo-classical architect Robert Adam, starting in 1767. The magnificent new house soon became the perfect site for stunning Regency furniture. Two years after Sir Harold Augustus Wernher 3rd Baronet died in 1973, the house's treasures were sold off by Sotheby’s in London. Sotheby’s catalogue makes for important reading about Regency furniture. Readers might also like to locate B Austen’s article, Morgan & Sanders and the Patent Furniture Makers of Catherine St, in Connoisseur, vol. CLXXXVII, #753, Nov 1974.

** I have seen plenty of George III mahogany knife boxes before, but examine a pair of George III mahogany revolving cylinder cutlery boxes auctioned by Thomas Coulborn in Sutton Coldfield. Attributed to Thomas Chippendale the younger (1749–1822), they wrote that the use of the lion head above a pilaster terminating in a lion’s foot was consistent with the designs of a number of the leading designers of the Regency period. Amongst Thomas Sheraton’s later drawings in his Dictionary and his Encyclopaedia, readers saw revolving elements in bedside commodes with similar inlay and mechanical design. 

Mahogany knife boxes 1805, opened (left) and shut (right)

They are 60 cm high

Unfortunately the location of the actual designs for these amazing items remains unknown. But the success of their invention was undisputed; clearly created to cause delight in both their mechanical ingenuity and their great architectural presence, the knife boxes embodied the victorious spirit of Regency design. The revolving central section of graduated tiers of cutlery racks and the lifting lid were not literally metamorphic, but the viewer would not have been able to tell what the knife box was, once the doors had been shut and the lid had been lowered. 

Odessa: cultural architecture protected

Venice’s Teatro San Cassiano became the world's first public opera house in 1637. Soon, in the C17th & C18th, Central European opera houses had to be financed by rulers, nobles and wealthy people who used patronage of the arts for their own grand reputation. So the Russian Opera House in Odessa must have been a wonderful sight in Russia. Officially it was said to be at the intersection of history because it’s between Tchaikovsky Lane and Langeron St, while facing Richelieu St and de Ribas St. Each personality contributed to Odessa’s development. The first opera house, which opened in 1810, burned down in 1873 and reopened in 1887, was in Vienna Baroque style, an immediate city landmark. Performances included opera, ballet and concerts.

Opera House front

Opera House, National Academic Theatre

The National Academic Opera-Ballet Theatre was built in 1884-7 by Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner & Hermann Helmer. The grand Viennese Baroque style was the first one built in Novorossiysk Port on the Black Sea where electric lighting and central heating were used.

What famous people were associated with the Odessa’s Opera House area? Count Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron (1763-1831) was born into a noble Parisian family. He was one of many French émigrés in Russian service, having his first war experience in the America’s War of Independence. He then served at Caracas and Saint Domingo in 1782-3, before being promoted in the French army to Colonel of the Armagnac Regiment in 1788. Langeron joined the Russian Army besieging the Ottoman Fortress of Izmail in 1790. He was awarded a Golden Sword for Courage, and he remained in the Russ-ian service for life. 

Armand du Plessis, 5th Duke of Richelieu (1766-1822) was born in Paris, a royalist who enlisted in the Kingdom of France’s army after the start of the French Revolution (1789). de Richelieu entered the Queen Marie Antoinette's Regiment of Dragoons in the storming of the Versailles Palace (1789). He became an officer of the Russian Imperial Army, and a Duke upon the death of his father in 1791.  He had a deep knowledge of economics and diplomacy, and promoted the role of trade for the nation's wel-fare. Under his regime, the discount bank, exchange, insurance company, customs district, commercial court & quarantine facility proudly grew. [The Duc's father had been a representative of the Kingdom of Spain to the Kingdom of Naples until 1816 and then an officer in the Russian Imperial Army 1772].

This may have helped him get appointed Governor of Odessa (1803-14). In Richelieu's governorship, he received royal permission to establish locally funded educational institutions in Odessa. de Richelieu's greatest claim to fame was establishing the  Richelieu Lyceum in Odessa in 1817, located on the corner of modern Langeron and de Ribas Sts.  Richelieu was supported by the newly created Ministry of Education (1802) and the National Educational Statutes (1803). In 1804 2 educational institutions were founded as Richelieu Lyceum in 1817, was a private institution of learning where the students were drawn primarily from the aristocracy and wealthy merchant families. Richelieu Lyceum became an institution of higher education and basis for today’s Odessa National Uni. 

French was the only academic language until 1820, when Russian lecturers joined the Lyceum and taught in Russian. Duc de Richelieu was the Governor of Odessa (1803-14), dying from cholera in 1831, and buried in Odessa’s Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin. 

He returned to France as a peer in the Bourbon Restoration (1814-30). Odessa became part of Ukraine in 1920 when the Red Army integrated it into the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. And the Odessa Opera House was encircled by historically significant sites. The Auditorium was decorated in the playful late French Rococo. The ceiling, painted by Franz Leffler & restored by Mikhail Zandin after 1925 fire, was divided into 4 segments: medallions from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Winter's Tale and Twelfth Night. In the centre the large chandelier was beautiful.

The Opera House in Odessa endorsed their political, educational and cultural ambition, and social position. Walk down Richelieu St and see the gorgeous front view of The Opera House, then de Ribas St and Tchaikovsky Lane, and the façade faces Langeron St. José de Ribas was Governor of Odessa (1794-7), José de Ribas (1749-1800), Louis de Langeron (1763-1831) and Duc de Richelieu (1766-1822) were political leaders of late C18th and early C19th.

Holy Assumption Cathedral

The area surrounding the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre is rich in cultural institutions, protected by UNESCO. National Scientific Library (1829) in Pasteur St was the first public library in Ukraine. Its opening marked the beginning of the foundation of public libraries in all cities of Russian Empire. Today it is the leading socio-cultural centre in Ukraine and the research, methodological and coord-ination centre on library science, bibliography and document management. And see Odessa Literary Museum, Odessa Philharmonic and Musical Comedy Theatre. 

The area also features other cultural heritage sites, although some were recently attacked. Holy Assumption Cathedral in Odessa, founded in 1855 is one of the largest churches in southern Ukraine. From 1936 on it was the cathedral church of the Odessa diocese. It was consecrated by the ​​Archbishop of Kherson and Odessa. The 2-storey church was built at the expense of the merchants Jacob and Nikolai Cherepennikovs according to the project of the architect L. Otton. The height of the temple together with the bell tower is 56 m and the capacity is 5-6 thousand parishioners.

The temple consists of two sections: upper and lower, with three altars in each. The lower church was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas, its southern chapel in the name of three Saints: St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom.

Odessa National Research Library was the second public library in Russian Empire, founded in1829. Five millions books, periodicals, documents. This museum of old books is an architectural monument in its own right.

National Research Library

Medical University Library

Archaeology Museum

Stolyarsky Music Lyceum

rebuilt after WW2 bombing

Wiki

The stage door to the Opera House in Odessa is on Tchaikovsky Lane. The service entrance is at the back of the opera house. Pyotr Tchaikovsky was born into a Russian noble family (1840-93) composed first symphonic piece, an overture for Aleksandr Ostrovsky’s (1823-1886) drama, The Storm, which many critics considered to be his best symphony (1877-8) premiere of final opera Iolanthe (1892) visited and performed as conductor of his works in Odessa (1893). He died in St Petersburg.

A half of my family lived next to Odessa, but I promise I will never claim these cultural treasures for my grandchildren :)

Frank Lloyd Wright's MANY women

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was born in Wisconsin. His Welsh preacher grandfather, Richard Lloyd Jones, crossed the Atlantic in 1844 with his wife and children, settling in a fertile part of the Midwest near Chicago, a landscape with a lasting influence on Wright's work. Wright's apprenticeship with prominent Chicago architects served him well. In 1889 at 22 he married, designed and built a house for himself and wife Catherine Kitty Tobin in Oak Park, a new outer suburb. It was fine example of the Arts and Crafts style, but soon key signs of Wright's taste showed through. In 1893, he was sacked and set up his own practice; he extended the house to serve his growing family, studio & office.

 

 

FLW with cape, cane and hat

Architecture Here and There

Wright's designs became more experimental eg elongated, open-plan Prairie Houses of the era. And he began to wear broad-brimmed hats, red-lined cape & cane. Wright & Kitty had 6 children, but he left the children to Kitty's care.

In 1903, Wright designed an Oak Park house for Edwin Cheney, and soon fancied Edwin’s wife, Mamah Cheney, a modern intellectual feminist. They fell in love, although Wright had been married for c20 years. Often they drove through Oak Park, but the gossip meant Wright's wife refused him a divorce, and Edwin Cheney refused one to Mamah.

Frank and Olga driving around Oak Park together

Instagram

Wright worked with the Prairie Style, esp re single-family houses. Alas Wright was not getting large commissions for commercial or public buildings. In 1909 Wright & Mamah Cheney travelled to Europe, leaving their spouses & children. What drew Wright at 42 to Europe was the chance to publish his work portfolio with Ernst Wasmuth so they went to Wasmuth Berlin’s offices. Wright remained in Europe for a year and then Cheney granted Mamah a divorce. Kitty still refused to grant one to Frank! 

Taliesin, Wisconsin

Wiki

Wright returned home in Oct 1910 and persuaded mum to buy him land in Spring Green WI, near mum's Welsh Lloyd-Jones family. Then in 1911 the couple returned and began to build a flowing bungalow in Helena Valley WI, the Taliesin theme coming from his mum's side: Taliesin in Welsh mythology was a poet, magician & priest.

Tragedy struck in 1914. Wright was working in Chicago when Cheney lunched with her 2 children & estate workers. Domestic servant Julian Carlton poured acid around Taliesin’s livingrooms, locked the doors, set the house afire and axed 7 of the 9 diners: Cheney, her children and 4 workers. Carlton survived the acid but died in gaol. Wright was devastated. 

In 1922 Kitty gave a divorce, although Wright had to wait a year until marrying his 2nd wife, Maude Miriam Noel, sculptor/architect in Nov 1923. But morphine addiction soon saw their marriage failing. In 1923 Frank's mother Anna Lloyd Wright also died. Meanwhile they travel led together to Japan, where Wright was commissioned to build the Imperial Hotel Tokyo by 1923. He threw spent years building the elegant hotel where workers were surprised to see the US architect arrive in velvet suits. Wright visited Japan often, and assimilated many ideas there.

In 1924, separate from Miriam but not divorced, Wright met a mystic dancer from Monte-negro Olga Hinzenburg at a Russian Ballet in Chicago. This new exotica joined the Taliesin household, a place where Wright's workers lived in a hippy community, growing their own vegetables & making music together. Olga and her child had followed her husband to Chicago seeking a divorce.

The couple moved to Taliesin in 1925 with Olga pregnant. Wife #2 Miriam was deranged & jealous, with drug-fuelled explosions, and misfortune restruck. In Ap 1925, an electrical fault from crossed wires caused a fire and destroyed the house. It was insured for  rebuilding but not to cover the loss of Wright's c$1 mill. art collection. His home was ruined and he was broke, yet he rebuilt the living quarters Taliesin III.

After his daughter’s birth in Dec 1926, another scandal broke: when Miriam heard about the birth and tracked Olga to the hospital, demanding to see HER HUSBAND'S BABY. Later she had Wright arrested. Olga's ex-husband sought custody of his daughter. Also in 1926, Wright and Olga were accused of violating the Mann Act which prevented immigrant prostitutes arriving, and were arrested in MN. Miriam competed with Mamah's ghost AND with Wright's tough mother. And she created a serious fight when the next woman came along. In a rush of litigation, she hurled accusation at Wright, accusing Olga of being an Undesirable Alien. Miriam tried to own Taliesin, pursued the couple to Calif, had them arrested, harassed them by phone and smashed their house. She finally agreed to the divorce IF Wright paid her! The charges were dropped.

Wright designed summer estate Graycliff, Wright & Miriam Noel's divorce was finalised (1927) & Wright moved in architectural history. The International Style a la Le Corbusier had arrived in America and middle-aged Wright seemed tired! For a while he tried working in LA where his son Lloyd had a successful practice. There he designed Ennis House, and Hollyhock House, a huge site for an oil heiress. 

                                   

L-R: Kitty, Mamah, Miriam, Olga

booksaremyfavouriteandbest

In 1928 Wright and Olga married, inviting paying students to Taliesin to study Wright's holistic designs. By 1932 a small group enrolled & created Taliesian Fellowship. In this alternative education, the architect expected his men to work in fields, cook and listen to Bach & Beethoven. Apprentice Austrian Rudolph Schindler described Wright in a letter to architect Richard Neutra as inconsiderate.

The Taliesin project helped support the family in the Depression. It also led to some of Wright's most important commissions, including Fallingwater (1937) the exquisite house built over a Pennsylvania waterfall for Edgar Kaufmann. Fallingwater revived Wright's career, and during the last 25 years of his life he designed as many buildings as his early busy period. He was Guggenheim Museum N.Y’s architect, the most memorable, organically round building. 

In 1937 he bought acres in Paradise Valley AZ near Phoenix and built a desert camp for students. And Wright's winter home near Phoenix that was particularly beautiful; he called the open-plan house in Scottsdale AZ Taliesin West. The winter home & desert laboratory are now headquarters of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and a major attraction for fans. Olga served as Foundation President for 25+ years and protected her husband's architectural work. But his buildings preserved as historic monuments, not living architecture. Only with increasing interest in low-energy, low-impact buildings were the two schemes relevant again: both his homes were designed to be cool in summer & warm in winter without mechanical ventilation.

As interesting as Wright's women may have been, they were exciting largely BECAUSE they were involved with Wright. Yet while he designed charming C20th buildings, do fans know about the axe murders, madness, drugs, endless women and fires? Since his death at 91 in 1959, there have been writings examining the cultish community Wright built. And to preserve the work the School of Architecture Wright now runs accredited BA, MA courses and summer school. 

Falling Water, 1937

fallingwater.org

The Taliesin arrangement helped support the family in the Depression. It also led to some of Wright's key commissions, including Fallingwater (1937) the exquisite house he built over a water fall in Pennsylvania for Edgar Kaufmann. Fallingwater revived Wright's career, and during the last 25 years of his life he designed as many buildings as he had in the busy period from 1893-1911. He was architect of the Guggenheim Museum N.Y, the memorable organically round building in a city of straight lines. But it is Wright's winter home near Phoenix that was the most beautiful. In 1937, he bought hundreds of acres in Paradise Valley and built a desert camp where his school could relocate for the cold months of the year. Taliesin West's open-plan living quarters were furnished like a tent.

His belief in the value of creative work continued under Olga, after Wright's death. But  Wright's reputation suffered for decades, with the teaching at Taliesin regarded as eccentric and his buildings preserved as historic monuments, not living architecture. However with increasing interest in low-energy, low-impact buildings, schemes like Taliesin and Taliesin West are relevant again: both Wright's homes were built using local materials and were designed as cool in summer & warm in winter without mechanical ventilation.

The private life of a public man is always fascinating. Wright needed challenging, attractive women and his relationships were essential to his work. In any case, the architect's genius always won through! Wright raised selfishness to a fine art - he was prepared to sacrifice others, except for those he currently deemed essential.  Even Wright's #1 wife, mother of 6 of his 7 children, got short shrift in life. 

Beth Shalom Synagogue PA, 

FLWright's only synagogue 1954

The Forward

However interesting & decisive Wright's women may have been, the unavoidable fact remains that they were interesting largely as far as they were involved with Wright. Yet architecture remained in the margins of these books, something Wright was off doing while his women desired. While Wright de-signed some of the most beautiful C20th buildings, his personal life was problematic. Now read Marcus Field who told of axe murders, madness, drugs, endless wives and redemption. Since his death at 91 in 1959, there were biographies, memoires and exposés examining the cultish community Wright built.

To preserve the work, School of Architecture Wright runs accredited BA and MA courses and a popular summer school. 

Panama Canal: corruption or poor science?

Europeans dreamed of a Central American canal for ages; even Pres. Ulysses Grant sent 7 feasibility expeditions. As tra­v­­el and trade in the Western hemisphere increased, a canal became essential. To sail from the At­l­­an­tic to Pacific, ships went around treacherous Cape Horn taking c21,000 ks (New York-San Francisco)

The isthmus separating Gulf of Panama

from the Caribbean Sea

     

In Feb 1881, driven by patriotism and capitalised by mainly small in­vestors, the Panama Company began work on a canal that would cross the Col­ombian isthmus of Panama and unite the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans. This can­al would make its stockholders rich, just as the Suez did for its investors. Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-94) showed the tiny cross-Panama rail­way had made $7+ million in 6 years although building that rail­road HAD cost 6,000+ lives.

Even though he had little financial expertise, De Lesseps handled prom­oting and money-raising for the canal project. His enthusiasm for the pro­ject, and his faith in technology, att­racted many stockholders. Frenchmen keenly invested because public loans were backed by the French gov­ernment, thus a patriotic public service.  

French share certificates

signed by de Lesseps

When work started in 1881, digging progressed slowly but st­ead­ily. The French contr­ol­led modern equipment, from locom­ot­ives to tug­boats & dredges, while their crew was made mostly of West Indian & Indian lab­ourers. De Lesseps, who’d visited Pa­nama only in the dry season, disregarded the rain warnings of men who knew Pa­nama in­tim­ately. Now his crew discovered imp­as­sable jungle, tor­r­ential rain, ins­ects, sn­akes, swamps, hell­ish heat and smallpox. In 1881 the Fr­ench recorded 60 deaths from disease. In 1882 deaths doub­led. In 1883 420 died mainly from malaria and yellow fever, but the Co. of­ten fired sick labourers to reduce medical costs. Doctors at the French hos­p­ital at An­con worked hard but 3 out of 4 men hospitalised there died.

Ch­agres River crossed the canal route 14 times! De Lesseps' decid­ed to dam and divert the river, ignoring eng­in­eers’ advice re the impossible task. But in the rainy season, this River rose to a monst­rous torrent that swept everything aw­ay. Chest deep in mud, the Fr­en­­ch force contin­ued. The rain and Chag­res often de­st­royed what en­g­ineering and hard labour won; mudslides buried men, sup­p­lies, mach­ines.

In 1887 Gustave Eiffel agreed to build Panama Canal's locks. This was his biggest contract AND the riskiest. So he was gr­ant­ed major financial advantages and solid guarantees, all­owing him to collect his profit as soon as the work began.

When the Canal Co failed in Dec 1888, French investments were lost and Panama meant fraud; c$287 m had been sp­ent, 50 million cubic ms of rock were moved, 11 miles of canal dug & 20,000 men killed. The money end­­ed and shareholders voted to dis­s­ol­ve the Co, placing it in legal re­ceiv­er­ship.

The wor­th­less Canal Co. stock made investors fur­ious, demanding the Fr­en­ch government conduct an 1893 Inquiry which named many individuals and in­stitutions. The br­ibes, slush funds and in­fl­uence ped­dling also pr­oved that many legis­l­ators were involved!! Key fin­an­ciers Baron de Reinach and Cornelius Herz allegedly gave bribes to targets. The public claimed that the VERY REA­SON for their con­fid­en­ce, government back­ing of loans, was the key factor in the crisis. And although some culprits were impr­is­oned or fined, de Rein­ach died before he was sen­tenced. Ferdinand & Charles de Lesseps, and Gust­ave Ei­f­fel, were sentenced to (non-enforced) prison terms. Herz fled to Eng­land. Eventually the burden was born ONLY the c800,000 French citizens who saw their investments eliminated.

So President Roosevelt took up the cause. In 1901, Roos­evelt passionately spoke of the Panama Canal to Congr­ess. In 1902 the U.S agreed to buy rights to the French canal property and equipment for c$40 mill and U.S Dept of War began negotiating a Panama treaty with Colombia.

When Colombia slowed negotiations, Roosevelt & Panam­an­ian bus­iness int­er­ests collaborated on a revolution las­ting br­ief­ly. Colombian soldiers in Colón were each brib­ed $50 to down arms; USS Nashville cruised off the Panaman­ian coast in supp­ort. In Nov 1903, the nation of Panama was born.

The U.S took control. Americans had written the Pan­amanian Constit­ut­ion in advance, after a payment of $10 million se­cured a canal zone and rights to build. The pro-canal lobbyist Phil­lipe Bunau-Varilla, instal­l­ed as Pan­amanian minister to the U.S., signed a treaty favourable to US in­t­erests. The $40 million given to J.P Morgan for distribution to French stockholders faded amid rumours of larceny.

The Americans' first year in Panama (1904) replicated the French disast­er. The chief engineer, John F Wallace, developed no action plan; the food was putrid and living conditions abysmal. Disease struck, 3 out of 4 Am­ericans went home, and Wallace soon followed. The Americans had poured $128 useless millions into the swamps of Panama.

Clever John Stevens took over, he who’d built the Great Nor­thern Railroad across the Pacific NW. He ultimately saved the troubled canal with a new plan i.e a well-housed, well-fed, disease-free labour force. Dr William Gorgas, who’d earlier eradicated yellow fever in Havana by killing mosq­uitoes & sanit­ation. Workers drained swamps, swept ditches, pav­ed roads, instal­led plumbing and sp­rayed pesticides. Towns rose with housing, schools, churches, shops and halls.

Pres. Roosevelt visiting the Canal

1906, PBS

After 9 months of Capitol Hill lob­bying, the push for Roosevelt’s fav­oured Lake and Lock Canal succeed­ed and the canal's engineering was ch­ang­ed. Stevens planned to dam the Chagres to create the vast Gat­un Lake in Panama's interior where a series of locks could raise ships from the Atl­antic side to the level of the lake. The boats could cross the lake, then de­scend by another set of locks to the Pacific. This plan was near­ly iden­tical to one proposed by French engineer Godin de Lépinay in 1879 when M de Lesseps promoted his sea-level plan. With sanitat­ion complete, gig­an­tic steam shovels scooped tons of earth, and railroad cars ran on double tracks, dumping tailings on the Chagres dam.

By Dec 1905 yellow fever had been eradicated. In Nov 1906 Roosevelt happily visited the canal. In Feb 1907, Chief Engineer Stevens resigned and Col. George Goethals, an Army engin­eer who built lock-type canals, quickly took over.

First ships ready to test the Canal, 1913

At Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side, workers poured concrete for a wall 8' wide, 12' high and 133 miles long. They built cul­v­erts/rail­­road tunnels to channel water from Gatun Lake into the locks. Pitt­sburgh's furnaces roared as 50+ mills, foundries and mac­hine shops chur­ned out the metalwork. There were lost equip­ment and deaths, but progress!

In May 1913, steam shovels broke through the Culebra Cut and the last cement was poured at Gatun locks. The Chagres filled Gatun Lake, and en­g­ineers prepared for the canal's first trial run in Sept. The  end was near! The Panama Canal opened officially on Aug 1914. Sadly just as German troops were driving across Belgium to Paris.

A cruise ship sails down the completed Canal

Many thanks to PBS 

Canadian history, Hudson’s Bay Co and furs

The C17th fur trade became a major commercial growth in Nth Am­erica, due to Eur­ope’s dem­and for beaver hats. Two French trad­ers pl­an­ned a trad­ing com­pany to reach the inland via Hudson Bay and to gain access to the int­er­ior fur resources. Af­ter not win­n­ing French sup­­port, they went to Prince Rupert in Britain in 1665 where Rup­ert sw­ay­ed cousin King Charles II, mer­ch­­ants and noble men to back the ve­n­ture. Two ships were sent mid 1668 and the royal charter for Rup­ert’s Land. Hudson’s Bay Co./HBC was pr­o­claimed May 1670. The Gov­ernor and Co. of Advent­ur­ers of England received ex­clusive trading rights in Hud­son Bay Terr­it­ory.

Original charter of the HBC, declared in 1670

HBC shareholders at Annual General Court Meeting elected a Governor and comm­ittee to organ­ise fur auctions, order trade goods, hire workers and arr­ange shipping. The London-based Governor set all the basic polic­ies implem­ented in Rup­ert’s Land, using annual reports, journals & accounts supplied by the Bay of­f­icials. 

Prince of Wales and Eddystone, Hudson's Bay Co. Ships

Canadian Encyclopaedia

After trapping beaver pelts when they reached their best quality (win­t­er), Indigenous Peoples trav­elled to the trading posts in sum­m­er. These traders were middlemen, bringing furs from inland communities and trad­ing furs for manufactured goods eg tools, guns, text­il­es, food.

In 1713 France agreed to England’s claim to Hudson Bay with Treaty of Utr­echt. For 60 years, the HBC erected posts largely at major rivers flowing into the bay. This hesit­ance to establish posts in Rupert’s Land all­owed comp­et­itors to out­do the HBC by travel­l­ing into the in­ter­ior to trade with Indigenous peoples. In return, ind­igenous trad­ers extracted greater ret­urns for their furs. 

 

Timber wolf fur sales, Fur Harvesters Auction in North Bay, Ont.

CBC

Until 1763 HBC struggled with the French for control of fur trades in south­ern Rupert’s Land, and naval battles erupted on Hud­son & James Bays. In the Treaty of Paris 1763, the Montreal overland trade network was taken by the British. By 1774 HBC trade had been undercut enough that the Governor designed an aggres­s­ive policy of inland expansion, be­ginning with building facilities on the Saskatch­ewan River.

Intensive competition with the North West Co. spil­l­ed beyond Rup­ert’s Land into the Pac­if­ic slope, combining economic conflict with occasional physical viol­ence. In 1821 the parties merged, and the British Parlia­ment extended the Co.’s monopolies to include the N.W Territories.

Bringing together the different business traditions of the North West Co. and HBC required changes in the new Co’s administrative structure. British North America was divided into trading depart­ments and dist­r­icts. District managers met annual­ly in depart­mental council meetings presided over by the Governor in North Am­erica, Sir George Simpson. Th­ese coun­cils passed reg­ul­ations governing local trade, det­er­mined work­ers’ deployment and established the log­is­tical requirements. The offic­ers also had a vested interest since they shared in the profits, accord­ing to the 1821-71 deed polls. But Sim­pson had considerable power, and the London Governor overruled local decisions. Post-merger, the HBC closed many unprof­itable trading posts, adv­ersely damaging Indigenous groups whose survival relied on fur.

After 1821, independent free Métis traders at the Red River Colony opp­osed the Co’s monopoly rights, which had been renewed in 1838. The issue ended in the famous 1849 Sayer Trial, where Métis man Pierre-Guillaume Sayer was tried and convict­ed of trading with Indigen­ous groups, violating the Co’s legal privileges. The court’s decision to free him effectively opened the trade of Rup­ert’s Land.

To standardise trade between posts, HBC introduced the Made Beav­er as the currency (1857). All furs were valued according to the equivalent of one prime male beaver skin. Hud­s­on's Bay Co. fur trade im­pacted on Indig­en­ous peoples, many of whom ab­andoned th­eir life-styles and economy, and relied on Europ­ean manuf­ac­t­ured goods for survival.

Although the Co.’s primary concern remained the fur trade, it increas­ingly provided government for settlers in Red River Valley and Vanc­ouver Island. Only in 1849 did Britain grant­ the Van­couver Island col­ony to the HBC, to be used as an agricultural sett­lement.

During the Fraser Gold Rush in 1858, the mainland colony of British Co­l­umbia was created out of New Caledonia. Governor James Douglas was requ­ir­ed by the British govern­ment to resign his HBC commission before bec­om­ing Governor of BC. Thus the Co. began to relinquish its colonial res­ponsibilities. It was then Canada’s growing expansionist movement saw the ann­exation and settlement of the NW as essential to Canada’s future.

Expansionists portrayed the HBC as delaying Canada’s growth; they cl­aim­ed that to protect its fur trade interests, the HBC had proclaimed that the NW was a barren waste­land, unsuited to agricultural set­tlement. But this belief was challenged by reports of the Palliser and Hind expedit­ions in 1857-60 which encouraged westward British settlement.

In 1863, International Financial Society bought control in HBC, signal­l­ing a shift in the Co: most new shareholders were less interested in the fur trade than in real estate and economic development in the West. Negotiations held with the Colonial Office and with the Can­adian government DID result in selling Rupert’s Land to Can­ada in 1870. In the agreement the Co retained title to the old trading lands.

Fur trader in Northwest Territories, in the 1890s

Wiki

See the post-1870 growth. By retain­ing large land­holdings on the prair­ies adjacent to its posts, many of which were loc­at­ed in growing ur­ban centres, the HBC became a most im­portant dev­el­opers in western Canada.

As Prairie economic development accelerated post-1870, the Co. expanded retail business with settlers. Initially most of this act­ivity occurred at its trading posts. Since it differed from the trade with Indigenous groups, separate sales shop accounts were kept. Then the HBC’s retail and whole­sale divisions emerged, with outlets separate from fur trade. In 1910 the Co was divided into 1]land, 2]fur & 3]retail. In 1913 HBC helped build new retail shops, recog­nising that this had a greater fut­ure potential than land and fur sales. The first of the 6 stores op­en­ed in Calg­ary and the last in Winnipeg in 1926. From 1965 the shop em­braced the short form of its name, The Bay, and its logo featured the B. And its historic coat of arms nodded to its rich role in Canadian history.

Hudson's Bay Montreal, department store chain acquired by HBC in 1960.

 In 1970, 300th year in HBC history, the Queen formally transferred it from U.K to Canada, with new headquarters in Winnipeg. The Co. owned 239 dep­art­ment stores in Canada and U.S then. But  after failing to secure new financing or buyers, the historic 355-year-old retailer permanently closed its last doors in 2025 and completed liquidation.

Thank you to Canadian Encyclopedia

 

Kroyer's loveliest art in France & Denmark

Kroyer, Hip, Hip, Hurrah! 1888, 
Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden

Impressionism was at first a French art movement, starting in the second half of the C19th. Impressionist techniques included visible, thick brush strokes of pure colour, creating a vibrant effect, and capturing the essence of the subject matter rather than focusing on minute details. Impressionists often painted outdoors to capture the effects of sunlight on their subjects, favouring natural poses and domestic scenes, creating a sense of freshness and normalcy. Even after thousands of artists from other nations flooded into France to learn from the Impressionists, these artists took French Impressionist techniques back home with them.

Peder Krøyer (1851-1909) was a Norwegian born lad who moved to Copenhagen for school and then studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. In his 20s, Krøyer travelled widely in Europe. While  in Paris, Kroyer was particularly impressed by the Impressionists who were already making a name for themselves - Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas and Sisley. Kroyer spent his formative years travellng in France from 1877-81 but then he had to go back to Denmark in 1882, where his taste for Impressionism stayed with him.

Kroyer, Artists' Luncheon at Skagen, 1883,
Granger Collection, New York

The group of Scandinavian artists formed an art group in Skagen at the tip of Denmark’s Jutland in the 1880s-early 1890s. I wonder what the rather conservative fishermen of this remote fishing village thought about the big city artists, with their alcohol and their women. Anyhow, because of Kroyer’s experience as a well travelled, well trained artist in French taste, he became leader of the Skagen community. His work during the 1880s was fresh, often showing a peaceful life on the beach, often celebrating art with all his artist friends, usually with food and drink at hand. Consider for example The Artists' Luncheon 1883. Here you can see the Skagen artists eating a convivial, boozy lunch at Brøndum's Hotel. His art was also influential.

Denmark does not have a hot climate, so I wondered why so many paintings had summer picnics, summer outdoor lunches and summer walks on the beach. The answer was that Kroyer divided his time between a holiday home in Skagen each shortish summer and his flat in Copenhagen where he worked on his large commissions each longish winter.  So see his famous works depicting local fishermen working along Skagen beach, including Men of Skagen setting out for night fishing (1884) and Fishermen hauling nets North Beach, Skagen (1883), which highlighted the tough Danish conditions and physical labour of coastal life.

Fishermen hauling nets North Beach Skagen, 1883

Wiki

Anna Ancher and Marie Krøyer on Skagen beach, 1890s,

Private collection. Wikimedia

I am very loyal to my favourite artists. And now another Kroyer painting has grabbed my attention and I need to annouce my newest Favourite Painting Of All Times. At least for now! Hip, Hip, Hurrah! 1888 is a large work that is in the Gothenburg Museum of Art in Sweden. The painting shows members of the guild of Skagen Painters, socialising as they were wont to do, in the open gardens. For me, Hip, Hip, Hurrah! is typical of the work produced by the Skagen Painters, focusing as it does on the play of light in the rather limited landscape. Gothenburg Museum asks people to compare Hip, Hip, Hurrah! with Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, and in both composition and subject matter. And another comparison. Hip, Hip, Hurrah! had many of the same people we saw in Artists' Luncheon at Skagen 1883.

Summer evening at Skagen - painter and wife,1899

Artvee

Because the 1888 work took some years to paint, Swedish art collector Pontus Fürstenberg bought the painting before it was completed. Fürstenberg later donated his treasure to the Gothenburg Museum of Art, where it remains today.

The film PS Krøyer - What A Life! was made in Denmark in 2008. I have not seen the documentary so my summary comes from MUBI. Krøyer was the undisputed centre of the Skagen painters. He was famous; lionised and married to the most beautiful woman in Copenhagen. The film was a tribute to an artistic prodigy whose excellence brought Danish art to an international level. Krøyer brought a whole new way of life to Skagen; as the artists’ colony was created, so the party could begin. Everybody wanted to go there. Hip Hip Hurrah! became the symbol of the two decades of happiness and unity in the 1880s-90s.

Only when his mother’s insanity started to manifest itself did Krøyer's beautiful life start to unravel. His wife left him and with her, the foundation of his idyllic existence disappeared. But he had to live on. Fortunately he had steady, loving support until the very end. Kroyer died in 1909.

**

I went on a history cruise in the past and loved it. Avalon Cruises’ special interest trips have lectures and cultural activities on board that relate to the towns that art buffs love. In deference to Kroyer I would most like to spend time on the “Seine River Cruise” that leaves Paris, sailing to Vernon, for a guided visits to Claude Monet’s gardens at Giverny. On to Joan of Arc’s historic Rouen, where the excursion is to the Normandy land­ing beaches. There is an optional excursion to the Impres­sion­ists’ coastal town of Honfleur. In the medieval town of Conflans, visit  Vincent van Gogh’s gateway to Auvers-sur-Oise. In Paris see Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Opéra, Madeleine, Champs Elysées and the Eiffel Tower.  Enjoy a cabaret show at Toulouse Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge. The 8-day cruise leaves Paris regularly throughout April-August.

Old Harbour, Honfleur

Honfleur was where Monet, Courbet, Dubourg, Boudin, Bazille, Corot, Sisley and others painted. It was also the home of Musée Eugène Boudin.

Map of France and Denmark

note Honfleur to Skagen to Copenhagen 

Tolpuddle Martyrs tried to save workers

6 English farm labourers who were sentenced in March 1834 to 7 years’ transportation to an Australian penal colony for organising trade-union activities in Tolpuddle Dorset. Leaders George & James Loveless created a Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers’ lodge during the national wave of trade-union activity in 1833–4. The Whig government, alarmed at working-class discontent, arrested the Tolpuddle labourers for administering unlawful oaths: Loveless brothers, James Hammett, James Brine, Thomas Stanfield and his son John. Actually their crime was combining to protect their miserable wages. Convicted and sentenced by a hostile judge and jury, transportation was brutal.

Shire Hall was Dorset’s courthouse until 1955

inc 1834 trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs

Shire Hall, Dorset

From smoky, stinking cell below Dorchester's Court, the convicts were taken in chains to the Portsmouth prison-hulks. Hulks were condemned ships, holding 500-600 prisoners who were given coarse convict clothing and heavy irons riveted to their legs. Disease was rampant; cholera, dysentery and smallpox swept through the packed masses, resulting in tragic deaths in such fetid ships. 5 of the men were shipped in vile conditions to NSW where they were assigned as convict labour to landowners. George Loveless was too ill to travel after trial but by Ap 1834 he was declared fit and soon sailed to Tasmania.

poster, what year?

Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum Shop

Each Martyr described his experience of transportation in the Horrors of  Transportation. George Loveless wrote: “To enumerate the various miseries and evils which prisoners are subjected to, from landing in the colony until their death, is dreadful in the extreme. James Brine wrote: “I was employed to dig post-holes, and having walked so far without shoes, my feet were so cut I could not put them to the spade. I got a piece of an iron hoop and wrapped round my foot to tread upon, for six months. I went without shoes, clothes or bedding, and slept on the bare ground”.

Yet in U.K the men became popular heroes! There was an immediate public react-ion across the country, esp in London, where there were large demonstrations. The government largely ignored popular sentiment, and it was not until Mar 1836 that the sentences were remitted. News of the punishment spread and the UK fledgling unions knew their existence was under attack. They had to overturn the sentence and win the right to organise. Unknown to the 6 farm workers in Australia, their case was being taken to Parliament and onto London’s streets.

As news of the sentence spread, the young trade union movement organised a re-lease campaign. In Mar 1834, there was a meeting called by the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union at leader of the Grand Consolidated Union Robert Owen’s planning. 10,000+ people arrived! The agitation spread and The London Central Dorchester Committee formed to campaign for the pardon. A huge rally was held Ap 1834 when c100,000 people met near King’s Cross London. Fearing chaos, the Government took strong control: Lifeguards, Household Cavalry, detachments of Lancers, 2 troops of Dragoons, 8 battalions of infantry and 29 cannons were mustered. 5,000+ special constables were sworn into this “armed camp”.

By 7am protesters gathered by trade union stewards on horse. A grand parade with banners marched to Parliament. Citizens lining the streets & crowding the rooftops cheered. At Whitehall the petition, carried on unionists’ shoulders, was taken to the Home Sec Lord Melbourne’s office. He hid and didn’t accept the petition! The Government resisted, but agitation for the men’s release mounted. MPs questioned Parliament often; petitions came with 800,000+ signatures.

By mid 1835, 10 months after arriving in penal colonies, conditional pardons had been granted by Home Secretary Lord John Russell. But Russell was premature; legally a convict could not be conditionally pardoned under 4 years. The mail between Whitehall and Sydney & Hobart caused confusion and delay.

Book by Doc H Evatt, 1937

federal parliamentary leader of Labour Party

MP Wakeley presented 16 petitions to Parliament! The Tolpuddle men refused to accept conditional pardons and the Government finally agreed in Mar 1836 to a full pardon. By the King! Months passed before orders to free the men reached the Australian authorities but the farm workers would be coming home from penal colonies as free men!!

Few sent to the penal colonies ever returned, because they died OR couldn’t afford the journey home. The Martyrs didn’t return home until years after the infamous Trial. George Loveless was the first to arrive back in the UK in June 1837, welcomed by the London Dorchester Committee. George slipped quietly into Tolpuddle where he wrote The Victims of Whiggery, a strong statement against bad employment practices, and the profits went to the families.

James Loveless, James Brine, Thomas and John Standfield sailed by ship in Sept 1837. They were delayed in New Zealand as the ship took timber onboard, so exactly 4 years post-trial, the ship anchored in Plymouth Sound. People flocked to greet them from the quay and they were taken to an Inn before moving to the prominent local trade unionist James Keast’s home. The Committee of Trades organised a public welcome in March in Plymouth’s Mechanics Institute. The men went by coach to Exeter where another public meeting was held. They stayed in Dorchester at an inn with new clothes, then went to London for a grand Easter dinner at White Conduit House with c2,000 people.

James Hammett was the last returnee, arriving at New House Farm in Aug 1839. He was given a public welcome in Sept at the Victoria Theatre/Old Vic. Hammett did not write his experiences; he was the only one with a criminal record pre-arrest and he fell foul of the law in NSW. He remained in Tolpuddle, quitting farm work to become a builder’s labourer. His life story only emerged in 1875 when he was honoured by the Agricultural Labourers’ Union leader. 

Tolpuddle Martyrs plaque London Ontario, 2014

Wiki Commons

The London Dorchester Committee raised funds with public support to buy farms leases in Essex for the returning men. Five still campaigned for working men’s rights, supporting the Chartist movement. They organised a Chartist association in Greensted, based on The People’s Charter: 1. Manhood Suffrage 2. secret voting 3. MP payments 4. Annual Parliaments and 5. Equal electoral districts.

The Greensted Vicar in Essex preached against the Chartists’ activities, saying: the foundations of decent society were being undermined; paternal order where all knew his proper place had to be restored. He alerted the Home Office. Essex Standard said “George Loveless, instead of quietly fulfilling his station, is still dabbling in the dirty waters of radicalism and publishing pamphlets to keep up the old game”. Pressure from landowners forced the others to seek lives in Ontario Canada, as farmers.

Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, Wiki

Portland stone sculpture in front by Dagnall, 2001

Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum was a library in Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Memorial Cottages, built 1934. The library had a collection of historical documents & collectables but in time, a display telling the Martyrs' story made it into a Museum about workers’ rights, trade unionism and human freedoms.