January Aether Salon

Sunday, January 16 at 2 pm slt
Babbage Palisade & Academy of Industry

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Babbage%20Palisade/254/60/106
and
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Academy%20of%20Industry/2/56/106

An unknown wit defined diplomacy as “The business of handling a porcupine without disturbing the quills.” It stands to reason that the job requires great skill. If one peeks into a diplomat’s briefcase, one might discover some unusual items: a jar of oil to pour on trouble waters, a hammer to pound sense, a rudder to maintain course, along with a cloak of patience, understanding and tact folded neatly on top.

Ah yes, the art of diplomacy. Baron Klaus Wulfenbach Outlander and Frau Lowey, both knowledgeable and talented in this field, will be our speakers this month. Please join us on Sunday, January 16 at 2 pm slt for an insightful presentation and discussion on diplomacy.


Viv, Jed, Jasper, Sera
http://aethersalon.blogspot.com

Archaeology! Edited Transcript

Serafina Puchkina clears her throat to begin
Serafina Puchkina: Welcome, Ladies, Gentlemen, and urchins. Miss Jed, Mr. Jasper, and I are pleased to welcome you to the December Aether Salon, entitled Archaeology! Thank you all for braving the cold winds and walking uphill in 6 feet of snow so you could be with us today.

As you may know, the Aether Salon meets to discuss steam and Victorian topics on the third Sunday of each month, in Palisades and Academy, New Babbage. We are celebrating two years of Aether Salon, and I hope you are all as plum tickled about being here today as I am. A few reminders before we begin: if you are standing in the back, please move forward onto the maze so that you can be assured of hearing the speaker.

Please hold your questions until the end, and as a courtesy to all, please turn off everything that creates lag: all HUDs, scripts, AOs and so on. Please no weapons, tacky holiday lights, or yappy dogs. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Edited and unedited transcripts will be posted this week at http://aethersalon.blogspot.com so you can re-read today’s great fun, peruse transcripts of salons gone by,, and see brilliant photographs of past salons. You are encouraged to join the Aether Salon group and receive notifications of future salon events. To join, click the lower right hand corner of the large brown sign by the entrance. We sincerely appreciate the support we receive from everyone in the community and we thank you all.

Many fine people have contributed to today’s salon: We are grateful to Miss Canolli Capalini of Capalini Fine Furnishings for the wonderful salon chairs. Mr. Jasper Kiergarten for his expertise in creating today’s craft. We appreciate all who have contributed to salon. As a reminder, all speakers' fund jar donations go directly to the speaker. Now I will turn the stage over to Miss Jed for the introduction of today’s speaker. Miss Jed?

Jedburgh30 Dagger: Thank you Miss Serafina. I am honored to introduce this month's speaker. Mr Linus Lacombe comes to us from Steelhead, and has had a very busy 2 years in Second Life. He is an avid role player, and has found himself involved in many of the stories that come out of that country. Linus is often out and about in the Steamlands, attending various social functions and dances. He is also a familiar face in Seraph City, playing the part of the intrepid investigative reporter for the Primgraph. Linus is a writer for the Primgraph and Prim Perfect magazines, and is also cast member of the webcomic Quest for the Golden Prim, playing Professor Andrew McMinn.

In the physical world, Linus has a bachelor's degree in Religious Studies and Antiquities, a master's degree in Religious Studies, and has done doctoral work in Religious Studies, specializing in ancient Mediterranean religion, mostly early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism.

On a personal note, I have enjoyed getting to know our speaker over the course of this year, as a fellow cast member in the Quest, and would like to say thank you for his gracious acceptance of the invitation to speak today. Please join me in welcoming Mr Linus Lacombe to the Aether Salon.

Linus Lacombe: Thank you for the fine introduction, Captain! And I would like to thank you for coming out today! Shall we begin? I shall be speaking of four archaeologists today, who I think played important roles in developing the field during the late 19th century

But first, a bit of introduction. Between the early 19th and the early 21st centuries, archaeology as a field has changed much. What was once a field interested in little more than a treasure hunt for beautiful antiquities has become very much a scientific field. In the early 19th century, early archaeologists still dug into ruins and graves, seeking statuary, jewelry and and other ancient works of art.

Theories were often crude or even racist by today's standards. Take the Moundbuilder Theory, which argued that the burial mounds of North America, with their fantastic caches of artifacts, could not have been built by the indigenous peoples of North America, but were rather from a lost “white” race that “savage” Indians had likely killed off. But in the early 21st century, archaeologists tap into sites with far less invasive procedures, meticulously unearthing artifacts with brushes and trowels, gleaning everything they can, from bits of preserved food to building foundations as well as art objects.

21st century archaeologists seek to learn all they can about the cultures and people who used a particular site. There are a variety of dating methods measuring chemical compositions that can be used on artifacts, in laboratory settings, to determine the age of tools and bones. Too, archaeologists of the early 21st century use computers to organize, illustrate, analyze and disseminate the information and data.

While there are many fascinating people, many important milestones, many key sites that I could talk about today, I am going to concentrate on a few individual archaeologists from the mid to late 19th century, their contributions in the field, and the archaeological sites they brought to the attention of the late 19th century world. ((I hope you all can see the board to my right....it has photos I want you to see!))

So, let us look at four archaeologists that I think are important for developing the field in the mid to late 19th century. I would like to start today with Guiseppe Fiorelli, who began his work at Pompeii in 1860. Fiorelli is the handsome gentleman in my first slide. Quite a dapper gent, I would say. Most of you know what Pompeii is, but I will say that it was a Roman town in Italy that was buried in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in August 79 CE (CE stands for Common Era, which corresponds to AD in terms of dating). Here I have provided a map of the Italian pennensula, showing where Pompeii is located in Italy

The town and its contents were very well preserved in the ash; even carbonized food has been unearthed there. Digs had been happening there for well over a century when Fiorelli took charge of the site. If you are done looking at the map, I have a picture of some of the food that has been found At Pompeii. Here we see a loaf of bread, some walnuts, egg shells....very well preseved!

The Kings and Queens of Naples, who had control over such things, had largely used Pompeii as a quarry, from which was extracted statuary and other artwork used to adorn their royal palace. That was largely in the 18th century

Nimue Vaniva: No sense of their own history?

Linus Lacombe: Sure...they just liked the pretty things in their history...they look nicer in palaces that carbonized bread. What Fiorelli brought to the excavations was systematization and thorough recording. In 1864, Fiorelli came upon the idea of filling with Plaster of Paris the cavities in the ash that were left when bodies buried in the ash decomposed.

Matthew Tammas: It was the thinking of the Age. The British Museum sent hunters to track and kill endangered species so as to preserve specimens for display and study.

Linus Lacombe: When the plaster dried and the surrounding fill was removed, a plaster replica of the body would be left, thus preserving in a unique way the bodies of the city’s inhabitants, as they had fallen in 79 CE.

While macabre, it is an excellent way of preserving a key element of the site. Fiorelli also divided the city up and numbered the parts of the city, and the buildings, bringing order to the site and allowing real study of the city to take place. Because of the groundbreaking methods Fiorelli devised and brought to Pompeii, we know more about everyday life in Pompeii than we do of practically any ancient city. Of course, there is the neighboring city of Herculaneum, well preserved as well. Both were buried in the same volcanic eruption of Vesuvius

Another important archaeologist in the mid-to-late 19th century was German businessman and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890).

Saffia Widdershins: Herculaneum was more middle class. Pompeii was a thriving, bustling port

Linus Lacombe: Exactly, Ms Widdershins

Solace Fairlady: Troy? The Golden Death Mask?

Linus Lacombe: yes...we will be getting to Troy in just a moment. But, here is a picture of Schliemann. Schliemann’s life story is often seen as a romantic one, and he is probably most well remembered for his work with the ancient city of Troy, where battles took place as recalled by Homer in the Iliad. In the 19th century, many thought Troy was likely not a historical city, and its battle not a historical event. Schliemann for one thought Homer had recorded an actual historical event, and he set out to prove that they were real events in Homer's work. Here is a map of Turkey, showing where Troy's ruins are to be found. They are in the extreme northewest corner of turkey, marked here by a blue dot

Based on the work of British archaeologist, Frank Calvert at the site, Schliemann decided that the site, called in Turkish, Hisarlik was, in fact, the site of Troy. In 1868 he submitted a dissertation asserting this, resulting in a PhD in 1869. He conducted a number of archaeological campaigns at Hisarlik in western Asia Minor (modern western Turkey) in the 1870s and 1880s, which he could fund himself. His research there and that of others after him identified the site as ancient Troy.

This slide is a picture of work being done at Troy in Schliemann's day. I do not have a date for it; it was not given. But I think it gives perspective on the size of this undertaking!

Nimue Vaniva: The site was otherwise abandoned?

Linus Lacombe: Yes. Schliemann did not stop there; he also uncovered an ancient civilization known as the Mycenaean culture in Greece. In general, by 21st century standards, Schliemann’s work was “crude and cavalier,” as one textbook author put it, anyway. In his rush to find an historic Homeric Troy, Schliemann dug in a rough-shod manner through upper levels at Hissarlik. Eventually, Schliemann and Calvert parted ways because Schliemann’s approach was so sloppy.

Schliemann also exaggerated the truth at times, throughout his life. In addition to apparently fabricating a dinner eaten with President Millard Fillmore, he made up a story that he and his wife Sofie had themselves recovered a cache of objects Schliemann called "Priam's Treasure." He later admitted to making up the story; his wife was in Greece at the time. However, Schliemann's contributions are important, for he in demonstrated how interpreting the layers of a site (there are 11 of occupation at the site of Troy, for instance) could reveal its deep past and inform archaeologists of the history of a site in various historical periods. That should be 11 layers

Nimue Vaniva: Before and/or after Troy?

Linus Lacombe: Before and after. Up through the Roman period, I believe. He later admitted to making up the story; his wife was in Greece at the time. However, Schliemann's contributions are important, for he in demonstrated how interpreting the layers of a site (there are 11 of occupation at the site of Troy, for instance) could reveal its deep past and inform archaeologists of the history of a site in various historical periods.

Our third archaeologist this afternoon is General Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers, who applied his military experience to archaeology. He insisted upon meticulous field and survey work on the sites he worked. Many of these thorough excavations were done on Roman and Saxon sites discovered on his own estates in southern England. He created site plans and models of the sites he worked, and recorded the exact positions for every object uncovered. As with Fiorelli, he was not concerned with enrichment through retrieving treasure, but with recovering everything, no matter how mundane they might seem. In insisting upon total recording, he was a pioneer. From 1882, Pitt-Rivers was Britain's first Inspector of Ancient Monuments. Perhaps his greatest legacy on paper was his four volume field report on Cranborne Chase (1887-1898), which beautifully illustrates the high standards on which he insisted.

Solace Fairlady: Was he aware of Fiorellis work? Or come to simillar ideas himself?

Linus Lacombe: I do not know if he and Fiorelli were acquainted, but it is hard to imagine that he did not know of Fiorelli's work.
Pitt-Rivers collected thousands of artifacts from sites worldwide, arranging the assemblage chronologically and typologically to show how human artifacts changed and grew in sophistication and style over time. We have already come a long way from treasure hunting, eh?

Pitt-Rivers donated his collection to the University of Oxford, and on its basis the Pitt Rivers Museum was founded in 1884. In the early 21st century, the Museum is a teaching department of the University of Oxford. And there should be a link in materials I provided for the Salon today, directing you to the museum's website.

I would like to conclude today’s presentation with Sir William Flinders Petrie (1853-1942). Petrie, a younger contemporary of Pitt-Rivers, was also a pioneer in performing meticulous excavations. As a teenager, he studied Stonehenge. Like Pitt-Rivers, he collected and described everything a dig would yield, not just ”the goodies.” He developed these methods in his work in Egypt and later in Palestine, beginning in the 1880s. Petrie developed a technique of seriation, to determine the proper chronology of graves in the Naqada cemetery, which is in Upper Egypt. To clarify, seriation is a dating technique based on the chronological order of artifacts and collections of artifacts; artifacts appearing most alike are grouped together in forming the series, and change over time can be detected by professionals who deal with the kinds of artifacts being grouped.

Nimue Vaniva: Is this combined with placement at the site?

Linus Lacombe: Yes...recording where an artifact was found, particularly at what level of occupation of a site, would go hand in hand with such techniques of seriation. Petrie later applied his ideas on seriation to Palestinian pottery, beginning about 1890 at a site known as Tel el-Hesi (ancient name unknown). I have provided here a map of Israel/Palestine showing where in the country Tell el-Hesi is located. Working at Tel el-Hesi, with Fredrick Jones Bliss, Petrie is also important as the first excavator to understand the nature and importance of the ancient tell (a mound where layers of settlements are built one atop the previous ones) in the Near East.

Perhaps Petrie’s most prominent single discovery (1896) was the importance of the Merneptha Stele, then the earliest known mention of the nation of Israel in Egyptian documentation. And this is a picture of the stele...it actually appears a little squat in this picture

In conclusion, let me say that there are many other archaeologists in the late 19th century, who help bring archaeology from its treasure-hunting era toward the meticulous scientific field it is in the 21st century. There were other important innovations in theory and practice contributing to the development of the field, as well. However, I chose to talk about these particular archaeologists today, for to me they best embody mid to late 19th century archaeology’s growing demand for professionalism and the quest to fully unlock what the ground holds of human history. I thank you.

Serafina Puchkina: Are there questions for our speaker?

Darlingmonster Ember: I have one

Serafina Puchkina: Yes, Miss Ember

Ceejay Writer raises her hand and waits her turn.

Linus Lacombe: I shall do what I can to answer your questions or help you find information if I cannot.

Darlingmonster Ember: Men who change a standard like this... was it results or charm or what that might have given them leverage over systems that were in use for so long?

Linus Lacombe: I think there were many factors involved. Science, the humanities, many fields were developing rapidly in this era.

Nimue Vaniva: What drove such development?

Linus Lacombe: Many intellectuals of the era studied in more fields than their own.

Solace Fairlady: Mr Lacombe described them all as pioneers, which suggests there were NO standards operating before them

Rowan Derryth: Oh Mister Lacombe, on that I must add that Petrie was close with the artist & designer Henry Holiday. They put on a Tableau Vivant of Ancient Egypt together for the Healthy and Artistic Dress Union in 1894.

Linus Lacombe: Fascinating, Ms Derryth! Petrie was an Egyptologist, foremost. But he studied Palestine as well, particularly in the 20th century

Rowan Derryth: HOliday introduced him to his wife, an art student he sent to help him with his illustrations.

Ceejay Writer: The plaster casts made of the victims at Pompeii - how are they holding up, any clue as to the expected lifespan of that plaster of paris?

Linus Lacombe: Well, I am not certain what the lifespan is. Preserved propertly, I would think quite indefinitely.

Ceejay Writer: (Having a relative who was a poor planning artist who cast badly mixed cement statues... I naturally wonder). I do hope they last many generations to come.

Linus Lacombe: I think they use a different substance now, not plaster. My sources suggest they use a transparent glass fibre now

KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Herr Branagh asked earlier about the oldest mention of the Israelites, since you said the stela found was the oldest at its time.

Linus Lacombe: I think it depends, Baron....rather a complex question. There is a record of a people invading Egypt and surrounding regions, called the Hyksos. Some think the Israelites could be related to them.

Nimue Vaniva: I thought the Israelites fought them.

Linus Lacombe: I am not aware of that in the historical record. It looks like the stele is the oldest record of the term "Israel" being used.

Rowan Derryth: I wondered if Pitt-Rivers and Petrie knew each other. I would imagine so, but wondered what their relationship might have been, if any.

Linus Lacombe: Oh, yes. Ms Derryth, I have not run accross anything about their relationship in my researches. However, again, it would be hard to believe that they did not interact and know each others' work

Saffia Widdershins: I would think that they might belong to the same clubs ....

Linus Lacombe: It would be fascinating to know if they did, and would make a great paper for an archaeological history course, I think.

Matthew Tammas: I wish to ask.. of those discussed this evening, who do you feel had the gratest impact regarding how modern archaeology is practiced today?

Linus Lacombe: Mr Tammas, I think that is a great question! Of these, I think that probably Pitt-Rivers did.

Matthew Tammas: Quite true. A salon or lodge can be motivation enough to prepare a paper for presentation. Education does not end when we leave our formal schooling.

Linus Lacombe: Further questions?

Nimue Vaniva: Are there as many crossings between science and art now as there was in the 19th century?

Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, clever and intelligent guests. Fine questions for our speaker!

Linus Lacombe: Indeed...fantastic questions!

Serafina Puchkina: Mr. Kiergarten has the craft. Please take your copy. Thank you so much, Mr Lacombe. This has been excellent!

Rowan Derryth: Miss Vaniva, there are currently some fantastic ones.. looks at the Wellcome Museum in London.

Linus Lacombe: I am honored to have been invited, thank you!

Saffia Widdershins: something worth noting - objects collected by Flinders Petrie are in the Pitt Rivers Museum

Nimue Vaniva: Thank you so much. I will become a salon member if all presentations are so well informed.

Linus Lacombe mumbles "broad academic discourse"

Solace Fairlady: A wonderful introduction to the Salon, thank you both Mr Lacombe, and Mr Kiergarten, Miss Dagger amd Miss Puchkina!

Serafina Puchkina: Please join us in January for salon. The topic will be announced later

Saffia Widdershins: The Salons are so fascinating!

Linus Lacombe: I have learned so much by coming to these salons

Serafina Puchkina: That is due to you all, for we have many interesting people here. Thank you all. Jasper, will you turn over contents of the tip jar to Mr. Lacombe?

KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Well-organised, Herr Lacombe.

Linus Lacombe: Fantastic craft, Mr Kiergarten

Saffia Widdershins: Goodbye everyone!

Jasper Kiergarten: thank you for coming

Archaeology! Unedited Transcript

[13:59] Serafina Puchkina: We will begin in a moment
[14:00] Solace Fairlady: Hello Miss |Random!
[14:00] Darlingmonster Ember: oh
[14:00] Darlingmonster Ember: waves to Miss Random
[14:00] Random Wezzog: Hello, Ladies :)
[14:00] Serafina Puchkina: Welcome Baron
[14:01] Rowan Derryth smiles quietly and waves around
[14:01] Solace Fairlady: Hello again, Herr baron!
[14:01] Jasper Kiergarten: if anyone needs a chair, let me know
[14:01] Ceejay Writer: Jasper, I am afraid I need a replacement. An overly large distant relative sat on mine and broke it.
[14:01] Jasper Kiergarten: lol
[14:02] Random Wezzog: Mr, Kiergarten, may I please ahve a chair?
[14:02] Serafina Puchkina clears her throat to begin
[14:02] Serafina Puchkina: Welcome, Ladies, Gentlemen, and urchins.
[14:03] Serafina Puchkina: Miss Jed, Mr. Jasper, and I are pleased to welcome you to the December Aether Salon, entitled Archaeology!
[14:03] Ceejay Writer: That's the trick, thank you Jasper!
[14:03] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you all for braving the cold winds and walking uphill in 6 feet of snow so you could be with us today.
[14:03] Darlingmonster Ember: laughs
[14:03] Daphne Dench: :-)
[14:03] Serafina Puchkina: As you may know, the Aether Salon meets to discuss steam and Victorian topics on the third Sunday of each month, in Palisades and Academy, New Babbage. We are celebrating two years of Aether Salon, and I hope you are all as plum tickled about being here today as I am.
[14:03] KlausWulfenbach Outlander smiles
[14:03] Serafina Puchkina: A few reminders before we begin: if you are standing in the back, please move forward onto the maze so that you can be assured of hearing the speaker.
[14:03] Solace Fairlady: me applauds
[14:04] Solace Fairlady: Congratulations!
[14:04] Serafina Puchkina: Please hold your questions until the end, and as a courtesy to all, please turn off everything that creates lag: all HUDs, scripts, AOs and so on. Please no weapons, tacky holiday lights, or yappy dogs.
Your cooperation is appreciated.
[14:04] Serafina Puchkina: Edited and unedited transcripts will be posted this week at http://aethersalon.blogspot.com so you can re-read today’s great fun, peruse transcripts of salons gone by,, and see brilliant photographs of past salons. You are encouraged to join the Aether Salon group and receive notifications of future salon events. To join, click the lower right hand corner of the large brown sign by the entrance. We sincerely appreciate the support we receive from everyone in the community and we thank you all.
[14:04] Serafina Puchkina: Many fine people have contributed to today’s salon: We are grateful to Miss Canolli Capalini of Capalini Fine Furnishings for the wonderful salon chairs. Mr. Jasper Kiergarten for his expertise in creating today’s craft. We appreciate all who have contributed to salon.
[14:04] Serafina Puchkina: As a reminder, all speakers' fund jar donations go directly to the speaker.
[14:05] Serafina Puchkina: Now I will turn the stage over to Miss Jed for the introduction of today’s speaker. Miss Jed?
[14:05] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:05] Jedburgh30 Dagger: Thank you Miss Serafina. I am honored to introduce this month's speaker. Mr Linus Lacombe comes to us from Steelhead, and has had a very busy 2 years in Second Life. He is an avid role player, and has found himself involved in many of the stories that come out of that country. Linus is often out and about in the Steamlands, attending various social functions and dances. He is also a familiar face in Seraph City, playing the part of the intrepid investigative reporter for the Primgraph. Linus is a writer for the Primgraph and Prim Perfect magazines, and is also cast member of the webcomic Quest for the Golden Prim, playing Professor Andrew McMinn.
[14:05] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:05] Ceejay Writer applauds!
[14:05] Solace Fairlady applauds
[14:05] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:05] Kimika Ying: applauds
[14:05] Rowan Derryth claps softly
[14:05] Jedburgh30 Dagger: In the physical world, Linus has a bachelor's degree in Religious Studies and Antiquities, a master's degree in Religious Studies, and has done doctoral work in Religious Studies, specializing in ancient Mediterranean religion, mostly early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism.
[14:06] Jedburgh30 Dagger: On a personal note, I have enjoyed getting to know our speaker over the course of this year, as a fellow cast member in the Quest, and would like to say thank you for his gracious acceptance of the invitation to speak today. Please join me in welcoming Mr Linus Lacombe to the Aether Salon.
[14:06] Solace Fairlady claps softly
[14:07] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:07] Linus Lacombe: Thank you for the fine introduction, Captain! And I would like to thank you for coming out today!
[14:07] Serafina Puchkina applauds
[14:07] Linus Lacombe: Shall we begin?
[14:07] Rowan Derryth nods eagerly
[14:08] Linus Lacombe: I shall be speaking of four archaeologists today, who I think played important roles in developing the field during the late 19th century
[14:08] Linus Lacombe: But first, a bit of introduction
[14:08] Linus Lacombe: Between the early 19th and the early 21st centuries, archaeology as a field has changed much. What was once a field interested in little more than a treasure hunt for beautiful antiquities has become very much a scientific field.
[14:08] Linus Lacombe: In the early 19th century, early archaeologists still dug into ruins and graves, seeking statuary, jewelry and and other ancient works of art.
[14:09] Linus Lacombe: Theories were often crude or even racist by today's standards. Take the Moundbuilder Theory, which argued that the burial mounds of North America, with their fantastic caches of artifacts, could not have been built by the indigenous peoples of North America, but were rather from a lost “white” race that “savage” Indians had likely killed off.
[14:09] Ceejay Writer: Tsk tsk.
[14:09] Solace Fairlady shakes head
[14:09] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Heh.
[14:10] Linus Lacombe: But in the early 21st century, archaeologists tap into sites with far less invasive procedures, meticulously unearthing artifacts with brushes and trowels, gleaning everything they can, from bits of preserved food to building foundations as well as art objects.
[14:10] Ianone Constantine: Men...
[14:10] Linus Lacombe: heh
[14:11] Linus Lacombe: 21st century archaeologists seek to learn all they can about the cultures and people who used a particular site. There are a variety of dating methods measuring chemical compositions that can be used on artifacts, in laboratory settings, to determine the age of tools and bones. Too, archaeologists of the early 21st century use computers to organize, illustrate, analyze and disseminate the information.
[14:11] Linus Lacombe: and data
[14:11] Saffia Widdershins nods
[14:11] Linus Lacombe: While there are many fascinating people, many important milestones, many key sites that I could talk about today, I am going to concentrate on a few individual archaeologists from the mid to late 19th century, their contributions in the field, and the archaeological sites they brought to the attention of the late 19th century world.
[14:12] Linus Lacombe: ((I hope you all can see the board to my right....it has photos I want you to see!))
[14:12] Darlingmonster Ember: nods
[14:12] Ceejay Writer nods, looking at board.
[14:13] Solace Fairlady nods "Clear as day sir"
[14:13] Serafina Puchkina nods
[14:13] Nimue Vaniva: Nicely displayed.
[14:13] Matthew Tammas nods
[14:13] Linus Lacombe: So, let us look at four archaeologists that I think are important for developing the field in the mid to late 19th century.
[14:13] Pythagoras Gearhead stops and look at the display outside...
[14:13] Linus Lacombe: I would like to start today with Guiseppe Fiorelli, who began his work at Pompeii in 1860.
[14:14] Pythagoras Gearhead: Huh....Well Ill be...
[14:14] Linus Lacombe: Fiorelli is the handsome gentleman in my first slide. Quite a dapper gent, I would say
[14:14] Pythagoras Gearhead dusts himself off and walks in
[14:14] Solace Fairlady waves discreetly to the Professor
[14:14] Linus Lacombe: Most of you know what Pompeii is, but I will say that it was a Roman town in Italy that was buried in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in August 79 CE (CE stands for Common Era, which corresponds to AD in terms of dating).
[14:15] Paracelsus Schonberg waves discreetly to MIss Fairlady
[14:15] Jimmy Branagh: Yeh Oy read about thet.
[14:15] Linus Lacombe: Here I have provided a map of the Italian pennensula, showing where Pompeii is located in Italy
[14:16] Nimue Vaniva: I didn't realize it was so close to Naples.
[14:16] Ceejay Writer leans forward, studying.
[14:16] Linus Lacombe: Quite close, actually, yes
[14:16] Matthew Tammas zooms in
[14:16] Linus Lacombe: The town and its contents were very well preserved in the ash; even carbonized food has been unearthed there. Digs had been happening there for well over a century when Fiorelli took charge of the site.
[14:17] Linus Lacombe: If you are done looking at the map, I have a picture of some of the food that has been found At Pompeii
[14:17] Darlingmonster Ember: nods
[14:17] Serafina Puchkina: Food!
[14:17] Matthew Tammas nods
[14:17] Darlingmonster Ember: cake?
[14:17] Jimmy Branagh chuckles
[14:17] Stereo Nacht: Pizza!
[14:18] Matthew Tammas: oh my, eggs?
[14:18] Solace Fairlady: Such a standard of preservation!
[14:18] Linus Lacombe: Here we see a loaf of bread, some walnuts, egg shells....very well preseved!
[14:18] Daphne Dench: :-)
[14:18] Random Wezzog whispers, "just a little burnt."
[14:18] Matthew Tammas: remarkable.I had no idea.
[14:18] Nimue Vaniva: Do we know what all the dishes are?
[14:18] Ceejay Writer: Amazing.
[14:18] Linus Lacombe: A little carbon in the diet never hurt!
[14:18] Linus Lacombe: Here we see a loaf of bread, some walnuts, egg shells....very well preseved!
[14:18] Random Wezzog grins.
[14:18] Saffia Widdershins: goodness!
[14:18] Wymberley Monday licks her lips and sighs
[14:18] Matthew Tammas: Quite remarkable.
[14:19] Linus Lacombe: The Kings and Queens of Naples, who had control over such things, had largely used Pompeii as a quarry, from which was extracted statuary and other artwork used to adorn their royal palace. That was largely in the 18th century
[14:19] Saffia Widdershins winces
[14:19] Solace Fairlady mutters "Dammit they always find the bodies in the end"
[14:19] Ceejay Writer blinks.
[14:19] Pythagoras Gearhead looks over at Wymberly, and sees a bit of his younger self, and discreetly hands the urchin a cookie
[14:19] Nimue Vaniva: No sense of their own history?
[14:20] Linus Lacombe: Sure...they just liked the pretty things in their history...they look nicer in palaces that carbonized bread.
[14:20] Linus Lacombe: What Fiorelli brought to the excavations was systematization and thorough recording. In 1864, Fiorelli came upon the idea of filling with Plaster of Paris the cavities in the ash that were left when bodies buried in the ash decomposed.
[14:20] Wymberley Monday Nods, Thank'e Mister.
[14:21] Matthew Tammas: It was the thinking of the Age. The British Museum sent hunters to track and kill endangered species so as to preserve specimens for display and study.
[14:21] Linus Lacombe: When the plaster dried and the surrounding fill was removed, a plaster replica of the body would be left, thus preserving in a unique way the bodies of the city’s inhabitants, as they had fallen in 79 CE.
[14:21] Pythagoras Gearhead nods to Wym and continues watching
[14:21] Matthew Tammas: Wow, ghostly echoes of a gruesome death.
[14:21] Nimue Vaniva: Very clever, actually.
[14:21] Linus Lacombe: While macabre, it is an excellent way of preserving a key element of the site
[14:22] Solace Fairlady nods
[14:22] Matthew Tammas agrees.
[14:22] Jimmy Branagh: Oy don't think Oy'd loike me cast layin' aroun' wit' no pants on.
[14:22] Matthew Tammas chuckles
[14:22] Solace Fairlady smiles over at the urchin
[14:23] Wymberley Monday: cough cough Wymberly chokes on cookie
[14:23] Linus Lacombe: Fiorelli also divided the city up and numbered the parts of the city, and the buildings, bringing order to the site and allowing real study of the city to take place.
[14:23] Stereo Nacht: If you were as definitely dead as them, I don't think you would mind, Mr. Branagh! ;-)
[14:23] Linus Lacombe: Because of the groundbreaking methods Fiorelli devised and brought to Pompeii, we know more about everyday life in Pompeii than we do of practically any ancient city.
[14:23] Jimmy Branagh: Well, mybee ...
[14:23] Serafina Puchkina chuckles
[14:23] Solace Fairlady waves over at Miss nacht
[14:24] Stereo Nacht waves back at her friend, with a silent apology for coming too late for formally greet her
[14:24] Linus Lacombe: Of course, there is the neighboring city of Herculaneum, well preserved as well. Both were buried in the same volcanic eruption of Vesuvius
[14:24] Nimue Vaniva: We never hear of Herculaneum.
[14:24] Solace Fairlady smiles and shakes her head to her friend, to indicate no need
[14:25] Linus Lacombe: Another important archaeologist in the mid-to-late 19th century was German businessman and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890).
[14:25] Saffia Widdershins: Herculaneum was more middle class
[14:25] Matthew Tammas: This Herculaneum is new to me.
[14:25] Saffia Widdershins: Pompeii was a thriving, bustling port
[14:25] Linus Lacombe: Exactly, Ms Widdershins
[14:25] Solace Fairlady: O Schliemann!
[14:25] Matthew Tammas is finding this salon very informative.
[14:26] Solace Fairlady: Troy?
[14:26] Solace Fairlady: The Golden Death Mask?
[14:26] Jasper Kiergarten: read a book onthe plight of both cities when I was yong. Has always been a source of facination
[14:26] Linus Lacombe: yes...we will be getting to Troy in just a moment. But, here is a picture of Schliemann
[14:26] Linus Lacombe: Schliemann’s life story is often seen as a romantic one, and he is probably most well remembered for his work with the ancient city of Troy, where battles took place as recalled by Homer in the Iliad.
[14:26] Darlingmonster Ember: my, my
[14:27] Linus Lacombe: n the 19th century, many thought Troy was likely not a historical city, and its battle not a historical event. Schliemann for one thought Homer had recorded an actual historical event, and he set out to prove that they were real events in Homer's work
[14:28] Linus Lacombe: Here is a map of Turkey, showing where Troy's ruins are to be found
[14:28] Nimue Vaniva: Art imitating life -- or not.
[14:28] Pythagoras Gearhead takes a sip from his flask while watching
[14:28] Linus Lacombe: They are in the extreme northewest corner of turkey, marked here by a blue dot
[14:28] Linus Lacombe: In the 19th century, many thought Troy was likely not a historical city, and its battle not a historical event. Schliemann for one thought Homer had recorded an actual historical event, and he set out to prove that they were real.
[14:29] Linus Lacombe: ((sorry...still getting used to this picture viewer. Please bear with me!))
[14:29] Daphne Dench: :-)
[14:30] Linus Lacombe: Based on the work of British archaeologist, Frank Calvert at the site, Schliemann decided that the site, called in Turkish, Hisarlik was, in fact, the site of Troy. In 1868 he submitted a dissertation asserting this, resulting in a PhD in 1869.
[14:30] Linus Lacombe: He conducted a number of archaeological campaigns at Hisarlik in western Asia Minor (modern western Turkey) in the 1870s and 1880s, which he could fund himself. His research there and that of others after him identified the site as ancient Troy.
[14:31] Ceejay Writer: Ooooh.
[14:31] Linus Lacombe: This slide is a picture of work being done at Troy in Schliemann's day. I do not have a date for it; it was not given. But I think it gives perspective on the size of this undertaking!
[14:31] Nimue Vaniva: The site was otherwise abandoned?
[14:31] Darlingmonster Ember: nods, huge
[14:32] Linus Lacombe: Yes
[14:32] Jimmy Branagh: Oy read Mr. Homer's stuff about Troy.
[14:32] Linus Lacombe: Schliemann did not stop there; he also uncovered an ancient civilization known as the Mycenaean culture in Greece. In general, by 21st century standards, Schliemann’s work was “crude and cavalier.”
[14:32] Nimue Vaniva: But it existed.
[14:32] Linus Lacombe: as one textbook author put it, anyway
[14:32] Wymberley Monday: Wonders where Jimmy learn't reading.
[14:32] Linus Lacombe: Yes.
[14:33] Linus Lacombe: In his rush to find an historic Homeric Troy, Schliemann dug in a rough-shod manner through upper levels at Hissarlik. Eventually, Schliemann and Calvert parted ways because Schliemann’s approach was so sloppy.
[14:33] Linus Lacombe: Schliemann also exaggerated the truth at times, throughout his life. In addition to apparently fabricating a dinner eaten with President Millard Fillmore, he made up a story that he and his wife Sofie had themselves recovered a cache of objects Schliemann called "Priam's Treasure."
[14:34] Darlingmonster Ember smiles
[14:34] Nimue Vaniva: A little success can be carried too far.
[14:34] Serafina Puchkina chuckles
[14:34] Linus Lacombe: Too true!
[14:34] Stereo Nacht can't help thinking he might have been a spark... typical! ;-)
[14:34] Linus Lacombe: He later admitted to making up the story; his wife was in Greece at the time. However, Schliemann's contributions are important, for he in demonstrated how interpreting the layers of a site (there are 11 of occupation at the site of Troy, for instance) could reveal its deep past and inform archaeologists of the history of a site in various historical periods.
[14:35] Linus Lacombe: that should be 11 layers
[14:35] Ceejay Writer: that's a lot.
[14:35] Darlingmonster Ember: like a good cake
[14:35] Darlingmonster Ember: layers
[14:35] Linus Lacombe: A cake made of cities.
[14:35] Solace Fairlady smiles
[14:35] Nimue Vaniva: Before and/or after Troy?
[14:35] Daphne Dench: :-)
[14:36] Solace Fairlady: Ah Pitt Rivers!
[14:36] Linus Lacombe: Before and after. Up through the Roman period, I believe
[14:36] Jimmy Branagh thinks "Singularity of focus"
[14:36] Linus Lacombe: He later admitted to making up the story; his wife was in Greece at the time. However, Schliemann's contributions are important, for he in demonstrated how interpreting the layers of a site (there are 11 of occupation at the site of Troy, for instance) could reveal its deep past and inform archaeologists of the history of a site in various historical periods.
[14:36] Eleanor Anderton for some reason is wanting trifle...
[14:36] Linus Lacombe: Our third archaeologist this afternoon is General Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers, who applied his military experience to archaeology. He insisted upon meticulous field and survey work on the sites he worked.
[14:36] Solace Fairlady: Wonderful wonderful museum he created
[14:36] Linus Lacombe: Indeed
[14:36] Saffia Widdershins nods
[14:37] Linus Lacombe: let me go back to his picture
[14:37] Linus Lacombe: there!
[14:38] Linus Lacombe: Many of these thorough excavations were done on Roman and Saxon sites discovered on his own estates in southern England. He created site plans and models of the sites he worked, and recorded the exact positions for every object uncovered.
[14:38] Ceejay Writer gives his picture a small thumbs-up.
[14:38] Nimue Vaniva: The thoroughness of science.
[14:39] Jimmy Branagh: 'ee looks loike a general.
[14:39] Solace Fairlady: He does, doesn't he Jimmy!
[14:39] Jimmy Branagh: Mmmhmm.
[14:39] Linus Lacombe thinks he looks like a president, but that is neither here nor there.
[14:39] Linus Lacombe: As with Fiorelli, he was not concerned with enrichment through retrieving treasure, but with recovering everything, no matter how mundane they might seem. In insisting upon total recording, he was a pioneer.
[14:39] Saffia Widdershins: clearly a splendid chap
[14:40] Solace Fairlady nods
[14:40] Linus Lacombe: From 1882, Pitt-Rivers was Britain's first Inspector of Ancient Monuments. Perhaps his greatest legacy on paper was his four volume field report on Cranborne Chase (1887-1898), which beautifully illustrates the high standards on which he insisted.
[14:40] Solace Fairlady: Was he aware of Fiorellis work? Or come to simillar ideas himself?
[14:41] Nimue Vaniva: I suppose he set the standard for those to follow.
[14:41] Pythagoras Gearhead walks over to get a closer look at the imagery
[14:41] Linus Lacombe: I do not know if he and Fiorelli were acquainted, but it is hard to imagine that he did not know of Fiorelli's work.
[14:41] Solace Fairlady nods
[14:41] Linus Lacombe: Pitt-Rivers collected thousands of artifacts from sites worldwide, arranging the assemblage chronologically and typologically to show how human artifacts changed and grew in sophistication and style over time.
[14:42] Linus Lacombe: We have already come a long way from treasure hunting, eh?
[14:42] Pythagoras Gearhead smirks and folds his arms across his chest
[14:43] Solace Fairlady: As you said sir, with his own estates he had no need of financial reward.
[14:43] Linus Lacombe: Pitt-Rivers donated his collection to the University of Oxford, and on its basis the Pitt Rivers Museum was founded in 1884. In the early 21st century, the Museum is a teaching department of the University of Oxford. And there should be a link in matierials I provided for the Salon today, directing you to the museum's website.
[14:44] Linus Lacombe: I would like to conclude today’s presentation with Sir William Flinders Petrie (1853-1942). Petrie, a younger contemporary of Pitt-Rivers, was also a pioneer in performing meticulous excavations.
[14:44] Solace Fairlady cannot recommend the museum highly enough
[14:44] Linus Lacombe: I hope to visit the museum some day!
[14:44] Jimmy Branagh: 'ee looks loike Steam Santa!
[14:44] Solace Fairlady: You will be in heaven sir:)
[14:44] Linus Lacombe: And here is a picture of Petrie, in his later days
[14:45] Gabrielle Riel smiles at Jimmy
[14:45] Rowan Derryth: Flinders Petrie is my FAVOURITE. I was going to ask about him.
[14:45] Linus Lacombe: As a teenager, he studied Stonehenge. Like Pitt-Rivers, he collected and described everything a dig would yield, not just ”the goodies.” He developed these methods in his work in Egypt and later in Palestine, beginning in the 1880s.
[14:45] Wymberley Monday: Cor, tha' looks like Lord Wymberley!
[14:45] Rowan Derryth: He was also close friends with some of the Aesthetes we met at the last Salon ;-)
[14:46] Serafina Puchkina: oh nice!
[14:46] Linus Lacombe: I could imagine!
[14:46] Linus Lacombe: Petrie developed a technique of seriation, to determine the proper chronology of graves in the Naqada cemetery, which is in Upper Egypt
[14:46] Rowan Derryth smiles and contains herself.
[14:46] Nimue Vaniva: There was a different approach to gaining knowledge then.
[14:47] Linus Lacombe: To clarify, seriation is a dating technique based on the chronological order of artifacts and collections of artifacts; artifacts appearing most alike are grouped together in forming the series, and change over time can be detected by professionals who deal with the kinds of artifacts being grouped.
[14:47] Pythagoras Gearhead smiles and nods.
[14:47] Nimue Vaniva: Is this combined with placement at the site?
[14:48] Linus Lacombe: Yes...recording where an artifact was found, particularly at what level of occupation of a site, would go hand in hand with such techniques of seriation.
[14:49] Linus Lacombe: Petrie later applied his ideas on seriation to Palestinian pottery, beginning about 1890 at a site known as Tel el-Hesi (ancient name unknown).
[14:49] Wymberley Monday Finishs cookie and begins biting nails, giving thought to practical applications of this new idea, seriation.
[14:49] Linus Lacombe: I have provided here a map of Israel/Palestine showing where in the country Tell el-Hesi is located
14:50] Linus Lacombe: Working at Tel el-Hesi, with Fredrick Jones Bliss, Petrie is also important as the first excavator to understand the nature and importance of the ancient tell (a mound where layers of settlements are built one atop the previous ones) in the Near East.
[14:50] Wymberley Monday Takes cookie, and nods to Mr. Outlander, Thank'e kindly, sir.
[14:51] Linus Lacombe: Perhaps Petrie’s most prominent single discovery (1896) was the importance of the Merneptha Stele, then the earliest known mention of the nation of Israel in Egyptian documentation.
[14:52] Linus Lacombe: And this is a picture of the stele...it actually appears a little squat in this picture
[14:52] Jimmy Branagh: When wos th' earliest mention Mr. Linus?
[14:52] Pythagoras Gearhead clenches his jaw muscles remembering his adventures in Egypt and in the north eastern African nations
[14:52] Nimue Vaniva: The language it was written in?
[14:53] Linus Lacombe: those would be Heiroglyphics
[14:54] Linus Lacombe: In conclusion, let me say that there are many other archaeologists in the late 19th century, who help bring archaeology from its treasure-hunting era toward the meticulous scientific field it is in the 21st century.
[14:54] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:54] Linus Lacombe: There were other important innovations in theory and practice contributing to the development of the field, as well. However, I chose to talk about these particular archaeologists today, for to me they best embody mid to late 19th century archaeology’s growing demand for professionalism and the quest to fully unlock what the ground holds of human history.
[14:54] Linus Lacombe: I thank you.
[14:54] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:54] Stereo Nacht: `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[14:54] Jimmy applauds
[14:54] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:54] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:54] Serafina Puchkina applauds
[14:54] Kimika Ying: applauds!
[14:54] Random Wezzog applauds.
[14:55] Rowan Derryth: wonderful!
[14:55] Scottie Melnik applauds
[14:55] Solace Fairlady applauds
[14:55] Eleanor Anderton applauds!
[14:55] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:55] Daphne Dench: smiles and claps!
[14:55] Nimue Vaniva: Excellent.
[14:55] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[14:55] Ceejay Writer smiles and takes a deep breath to help settle all this new knowledge.
[14:55] Ianone Constantine applauds
[14:55] Jimmy Branagh: Thget wos very intersting!
[14:55] Stereo Nacht: A most informative presentation, Mr. Lacombe! Thank you!
[14:55] Serafina Puchkina: Fascinating, Mr. Lacombe.
[14:55] Solace Fairlady: Wonderful discourse!
[14:55] Saffia Widdershins: That was fascinating!
[14:55] Jimmy applauds
[14:55] Solace Fairlady claps
[14:55] Linus Lacombe: Thank you all, most kindly
[14:55] Serafina Puchkina: Are there questions for our speaker?
[14:55] Darlingmonster Ember: indeed
[14:55] Pythagoras Gearhead applauds, then quietly excuses himself
[14:55] Darlingmonster Ember: I have one
[14:55] Serafina Puchkina: Yes, Miss Ember
[14:55] Ceejay Writer raises her hand and waits her turn.
[14:56] Stereo Nacht: Good bye Mr. Gearhead!
[14:56] Linus Lacombe: I shall do what I can to answer your questions or help you find information if I cannot.
[14:56] Darlingmonster Ember: Men who change a standard like this... was it results or charm or what that might have given them leverage over systems that were in use for so long?
[14:57] Linus Lacombe: I think there were many factors involved. Science, the humanities, many fields were developing rapidly in this era.
[14:57] Jimmy Branagh shouts: Hallo Herr Baron
[14:57] Wymberley Monday whispers,"hullo, Jimmy. Wot's up?"
[14:57] Darlingmonster Ember: nod
[14:57] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Shhh.
[14:57] Darlingmonster Ember: thank you
[14:57] Serafina Puchkina: Miss Writer, I believe you were next
[14:57] Nimue Vaniva: What drove such development?
[14:58] Linus Lacombe: Many intellectuals of the era studied in more fields than their own.
[14:58] Ceejay Writer pauses a bit till questions are fully answered.
[14:58] KlausWulfenbach Outlander grins to himself
[14:58] Solace Fairlady: Mr Lacombe described them all as pioneers, which suggests there were NO standards ioperating before them
[14:58] Wymberley Monday Whispers: Would you teach me ta read?
[14:59] Rowan Derryth: Oh Mister Lacombe, on that I must add that Petrie was close with the artist & designer Henry Holiday. They put on a Tableau Vivant of Ancient Egypt together for the Healthy and Artistic Dress Union in 1894.
[14:59] Rowan Derryth smiles excitedly.
[14:59] Jimmy Branagh shrugs
[14:59] Wymberley Monday: nods. Oy'd like ta read about all those places.
[15:00] Linus Lacombe: Fascinating, Ms Derryth! Petrie was an Egyptologist, foremost. But he studied Palestine as well, particularly in the 20th century
[15:00] Serafina Puchkina: how interesting!
[15:00] Linus Lacombe: Have I missed any questions so far?
[15:00] Serafina Puchkina: Miss Writer
[15:00] Rowan Derryth: HOliday introduced him to his wife, an art student he sent to help him with his illustrations.
[15:00] Ceejay Writer: The plaster casts made of the victims at Pompeii - how are they holding up, any clue as to the expected lifespan of that plaster of paris?
[15:01] KlausWulfenbach Outlander raises a hand
[15:01] Linus Lacombe: Well, I am not certain what the lifespan is. Preserved propertly, I would think quite indefinitely.
[15:01] Ceejay Writer: (Having a relative who was a poor planning artist who cast badly mixed cement statues... I naturally wonder)
[15:01] Ceejay Writer: I do hope they last many generations to come.
[15:01] Serafina Puchkina: Herr Baron, I believe you are next
[15:01] Rowan Derryth: Did Pitt-Rivers and Petrie know each other?
[15:01] Linus Lacombe: I think they use a different substance now, not plaster.
[15:01] Rowan Derryth: After the Baron, please.
[15:02] Ceejay Writer: Thank you Linus. :)
[15:02] Linus Lacombe: My sources suggest they use a transparent glass fibre now
[15:02] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Herr Branagh asked earlier about the oldest mention of the Israelites, since you said the stela found was the oldest at its time.
[15:02] Linus Lacombe: The Baron was nex?
[15:02] Ceejay Writer: Oh, interesting. I'll read up on that.
[15:03] Linus Lacombe: I think it depends, Baron....rather a complex question.
[15:03] Pythagoras Gearhead stands outside smoking a cigarette
[15:04] Jimmy Branagh grins
[15:04] Jimmy Branagh whispers to Wym "Oy ask complex questions!"
[15:04] Wymberley Monday whispers: We culd start with the Homer one, almost named me dog Homer.
[15:04] Linus Lacombe: There is a record of a people invading Egypt and surrounding regions, called the Hyksos. Some think the Israelites could be related to them.
[15:05] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: A familiar name.
[15:05] Darlingmonster Ember: aaah
[15:05] Serafina Puchkina nods
[15:05] Nimue Vaniva: I thought the Israelites fought them.
[15:06] Wymberley Monday whispers: Do ye have tha' un still? Book, Oy mean. HOmer.
[15:06] Linus Lacombe: I am not aware of that in the historical record.
[15:07] Linus Lacombe: It looks like the stele is the oldest record of the term "Israel" being used.
[15:07] Nimue Vaniva: Maybe it was the opinion of the gentleman who mentioned it.
[15:07] Wymberley Monday whispers: Like wot?
[15:07] Wymberley Monday: sighs
[15:08] Nimue Vaniva: He was a religion student with a bit of a chip on his shoulder.
[15:08] Stereo Nacht: Tribes fighting sister-tribe happens all the time, in any case.
[15:08] Linus Lacombe: Ms Derryth, I think you had something?
[15:08] Serafina Puchkina: Miss Derryth had a question.
[15:08] Pythagoras Gearhead walks back in to listen to the ending questions
[15:08] Jimmy Branagh smiles
[15:09] Jasper Kiergarten: don't run off without this month's craft at the end of the presentation
[15:09] Nimue Vaniva: Craft?
[15:09] Rowan Derryth: Ah Yes...
[15:09] Rowan Derryth: I wondered if Pitt-Rivers and Petrie knew each other
[15:10] Rowan Derryth: I would imagine so, but wondered what their relationship might have been, if any
[15:10] Jasper Kiergarten: at the conclusion of each Salon, we give a commemorative craft, but after the Q&A is complete :)
[15:10] Linus Lacombe: Oh, yes. Ms Derryth, I have not run accross anything about their relationship in my researches. However, again, it would be hard to believe that they did not interact and know each others' work
[15:10] Rowan Derryth nods thoughtfully
[15:10] Rowan Derryth: I agree
[15:11] Saffia Widdershins: I would think that they might belong to the same clubs ....
[15:11] Linus Lacombe: It would be fascinating to know if they did, and would make a great paper for an archaeological history course, I think.
[15:11] Rowan Derryth: Yes, exactly
[15:11] Matthew Tammas: I wish to ask.. of those discussed this evening, who do you feel had the gratest impact regarding how modern archaeology is practiced today?
[15:11] Stereo Nacht wonders if they may have been ennemies, as much as competitors in a field might be... ;-)
[15:11] Nimue Vaniva: I wish I were still in school.
[15:11] Rowan Derryth: I'm going to keep an eye open for that when I research Petrie
[15:11] Darlingmonster Ember grins watching the academics inspire each other
[15:12] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: One does not need a school in order to write a paper.
[15:12] Linus Lacombe: Mr Tammas, I think that is a great question! Of these, I think that probably Pitt-Rivers did.
[15:12] Solace Fairlady: Quite so Herr baron!
[15:12] Rowan Derryth agrees with the Baron
[15:12] Nimue Vaniva: One may need a class deadline for inspiration, however.
[15:13] Solace Fairlady luaghs "they didn't work for me back then either"!
[15:13] Matthew Tammas: Quite true. A salon or lodge can be motivation enough to prepare a paper for presentation. Education does not end when we leave our formal schooling.
[15:13] Ceejay Writer: An editor's deadline is as challenging. *looks away from Miss Widdershins*
[15:13] Rowan Derryth laughs
[15:13] Stereo Nacht quietly laughs at MIss Vaniva, knowing the feeling...
[15:13] KlausWulfenbach Outlander grins
[15:13] Linus Lacombe: Further questions?
[15:13] Matthew Tammas: Pitt-Rivers. Thank you. :)
[15:14] PJ Trenton: Has anyone been crushed by a trolley while attending a Salon? ;-)
[15:14] Jasper Kiergarten: lol
[15:14] Matthew Tammas: (heh)
[15:14] Rowan Derryth snickers
[15:14] Jasper Kiergarten: not to my knowledge
[15:14] Linus Lacombe: Not I sir!
[15:14] Darlingmonster Ember: smirks
[15:14] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Have they ever jumped the wall?
[15:14] Pythagoras Gearhead looks behind himself, seeing the steamcar derail and...crash into a wall. She blanches and looks back as if it didnt happen
[15:14] Nimue Vaniva: Are there as many crossings between science and art now as there was in the 19th century?
[15:14] PJ Trenton: That was a close one
[15:14] Ceejay Writer: Trolleys are sentient lifeforms, respect them.
[15:14] Rowan Derryth smiles at the question
[15:14] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, clever and intelligent guests. Fine questions for our speaker!
[15:15] Linus Lacombe: Indeed...fantastic questions!
[15:15] Serafina Puchkina: Mr. Kiergarten has the craft. Please take your copy
[15:15] Jimmy applauds
[15:15] Matthew Tammas applauds!
[15:15] Solace Fairlady applauds
[15:15] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you so much, Mr Lacombe. This has been excellent!
[15:15] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[15:15] Random Wezzog applauds.
[15:15] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[15:15] Jimmy Branagh: Thenks Mr. Linus!
[15:15] Serafina Puchkina applauds
[15:15] Stereo Nacht: `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[15:15] Rowan Derryth: Miss Vaniva, there are currently some fantastic ones.. looks at the Wellcome Museum in London.
[15:15] Daphne Dench: smiles and claps!
[15:15] Daphne Dench: Bravo!
[15:15] Daphne Dench: Thank you!
[15:15] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[15:15] Darlingmonster Ember: bravo
[15:15] Linus Lacombe: I am honored to have been invited, thank you!
[15:15] Rowan Derryth claps loudly
[15:15] Matthew Tammas: This was wonderful. Thank you to both the forum and the presenter. :)
[15:16] Ceejay Writer smiles and claps.
[15:16] Darlingmonster Ember: ah
[15:16] Saffia Widdershins: something worth noting - objects collected by Flinders Petrie are in the Pitt Rivers Museum
[15:16] Stereo Nacht: And good evening Herr Baron. I wish I had come in earlier, but got caught up in the minutes...
[15:16] Rowan Derryth: There you go.
[15:16] Nimue Vaniva: Thank you so much. I will become a salon member if all presentations are so well informed.
[15:16] Darlingmonster Ember: it is dinner for me here... I hope to see you Gentles next Aether Salon
[15:16] Darlingmonster Ember curtsies
[15:16] Stereo Nacht: Good night Miss Ember!
[15:16] Linus Lacombe mumbles "broad academic discourse"
[15:16] Solace Fairlady: A wonderful introduction to the Salon, thank you both Mr Lacombe, and Mr Kiergarten, Miss Dagger amd Miss Puchkina!
[15:16] Rowan Derryth: Must go there next time I'm in Oxford!
[15:16] Jimmy Branagh: Noight Miss Ember!
[15:16] Serafina Puchkina: Please join us in January for salon. The topic will be announced later
[15:16] Solace Fairlady bobs a curtsey
[15:16] Saffia Widdershins: :-)
[15:16] Darlingmonster Ember: waves... flits!
[15:17] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you all
[15:17] KlausWulfenbach Outlanderr grins
[15:17] Jimmy Branagh: An' Hoy ta everyone Oy dint say Hoy to when Oy snuck in.
[15:17] Linus Lacombe: Thank you for coming, Ms Fairlady
[15:17] Saffia Widdershins: The Salons are so fascinating!
[15:17] Rowan Derryth: Indeed
[15:17] Wymberley Monday: Wymberley waves too
[15:17] Linus Lacombe: I have learne so much by coming to these salons
[15:17] Wymberley Monday: Very entertainin'
[15:17] Serafina Puchkina: That is due to you all, for we have many interesting people here
[15:17] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you all
[15:18] Jimmy Branagh: Yeh Oy learn a lot comin' 'ere.
[15:18] Pythagoras Gearhead is almost run over by the leaving crowd and acts quickly. He nods to Solace and gets himself outside
[15:18] Stereo Nacht: Good evening M(?) Monday!
[15:18] Serafina Puchkina: Jasper, will you turn over contents of the tip jar to Mr. Lacombe?
[15:18] Random Wezzog: Thank you, Mr. Lacombe. That was very interesting :)
[15:18] Linus Lacombe: I am glad you found it informative, M Wezzog
[15:18] Rowan Derryth: Mister Lacombe... remind me and I can send you a picture of Petrie's Tableaux Vivant ;-)
[15:18] Pythagoras Gearhead: Huh...well...that was educational...
[15:18] Wymberley Monday: I jus' gotta learn ta read.
[15:18] Nimue Vaniva: another smoke?
[15:19] Linus Lacombe: I must do that, thank you Ms Derryth!
[15:19] Pythagoras Gearhead lights himself a cigarette, nodding to Nimue as he acclimates to the weather
[15:19] Jimmy Branagh: Well, Oy gotta run! (Dinner in RL)) Noight awl. Noight Herr Baron.
[15:19] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Hmm. Most of my reading materials are scientific papers and political evasions.
[15:19] Rowan Derryth smiles happily
[15:19] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Gute Nacht, Herr Jimmy.
[15:19] Stereo Nacht: Well, I might as well go back to my task, if I want it finished tonight.
[15:19] Nimue Vaniva: Good evening Mr. Gearhead.
[15:19] Serafina Puchkina: Good night and safe travels
[15:19] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Work hard, Fraulein Captainess.
[15:19] Jimmy Branagh: See ya Wym!
[15:20] Stereo Nacht: Good night Herr Baron, Mr. Branagh, Miss Wezzong, Miss Writer, Miss Dench, Mr. Tammas...
[15:20] Pythagoras Gearhead: (Woa...Did the sim next t us just disappear?)
[15:20] Nimue Vaniva: I've officially joined the group and hope to see many of you again.
[15:20] Solace Fairlady: Be well Miss Stereo!
[15:20] Wymberley Monday: Evenin' ever'one.
[15:20] Linus Lacombe feels a bit parched after speaking, and ambles over for some tea
[15:20] Random Wezzog: Good night, Miss Nacht. :)
[15:20] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Fraulein Monday, I'll see if I can find a book or two for you.
[15:20] Stereo Nacht: And Mr. Lacombe, Miss Widdershins, Mr. Kiergarten, Miss Puchkina Mr. Jervil Mr. Trenton, Miss Derryth...
[15:21] Saffia Widdershins: Goodnight Mis Nacht!
[15:21] Stereo Nacht: (I hope I am not missing anyone!)
[15:21] Linus Lacombe: Good night Ms Stereo!
[15:21] Vernden Jervil: I think you got everyone.
[15:21] Rowan Derryth: Goodnight!
[15:21] Stereo Nacht: Ah, Miss Solace! Sorry! I thought you were gone!
[15:21] Nimue Vaniva: Good night all.
[15:21] Stereo Nacht: Good night my dear!
[15:21] KlausWulfenbach Outlander chuckles
[15:21] Serafina Puchkina: I will post transcripts this week.
[15:21] Solace Fairlady smiles
[15:21] Daphne Dench: Good evening, smile
[15:21] Jasper Kiergarten: thanl you everyone
[15:21] Jasper Kiergarten: thank*
[15:21] Daphne Dench: Can someone tell me how to stand up?
[15:21] Serafina Puchkina: Mr. Lancombe has provided further research information that I will put in the transcript
[15:22] Jasper Kiergarten: just stand
[15:22] Jasper Kiergarten: :)
[15:22] Jasper Kiergarten: and detacht hte chair
[15:22] Stereo Nacht: (Detach the chair!)
[15:22] Jasper Kiergarten: the
[15:22] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Detach first, it's more graceful.
[15:22] KlausWulfenbach Outlander grins
[15:22] Jasper Kiergarten: quite
[15:22] Linus Lacombe: The chairs are great! I use them quite often, when seating is limited.
[15:22] Jasper Kiergarten: excellent presentation Mr. Lacombe
[15:22] Jasper Kiergarten: thank you so much
[15:22] Jasper Kiergarten: especially on such short notice
[15:22] Ceejay Writer: It was well done... and now you can relax, Linus!
[15:22] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: I may have to commission a version for the Consulate.
[15:22] Ceejay Writer: And perhaps get some rest.
[15:22] Linus Lacombe: thank you for having me Mr Kiergarten.
[15:23] Cup of fresh ground coffee whispers: Now THAT I needed!
[15:23] Jasper Kiergarten: most happy sir
[15:23] Daphne Dench: smiles...
[15:23] Daphne Dench: Detach the chair, that was it!
[15:23] Jasper Kiergarten: :D
[15:23] Nimue Vaniva: Mr. Lacombe, I appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share
[15:24] Ceejay Writer: I wish everyone a good evening, and perhaps will see you at another event. *smiles and dissapates*
[15:24] Linus Lacombe: Thank you, Ms Vaniva
[15:24] Daphne Dench: Thank you so much for this instructive presentation. Good evening :-)
[15:24] Daphne Dench: Waves
[15:24] Linus Lacombe: Good evening, Ms Dench
[15:24] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Well-organised, Herr Lacombe.
[15:24] Serafina Puchkina: Good night Miss Dench
[15:24] Jasper Kiergarten: good day everyone!
[15:24] Matthew Tammas: Thank you all for a very enjoyable evening. I must away from you now. Good night, all. :)
[15:24] Jasper Kiergarten: thank you for coming, and see you next month
[15:24] Serafina Puchkina: Good eve Mr Tammas
[15:25] Linus Lacombe: Good night Mr Tammas
[15:25] Solace Fairlady: Mr Kiergarten, you have the craft to hand out?
[15:25] Linus Lacombe: Fantastic craft, Mr Kiergarten
[15:26] Saffia Widdershins: Goodbye everyone!
[15:26] Solace Fairlady: ah there is the box!
[15:26] Nimue Vaniva: thank you again. I hope to see you at another salon.
[15:26] Saffia Widdershins: Hopefully see some of you at Metraverse Arts!
[15:26] Linus Lacombe: Good night, Ms Widdershins
[15:27] Linus Lacombe: oh, Ms Vaniva vanished so quickly!
[15:27] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you Mr. Trenton for taking pictures!
[15:27] Solace Fairlady: Thank you again Mr lacombe, Miss Puchkina and Mr Kiergarten, i look forward very much to January's Salon.
[15:27] Solace Fairlady: I bid you all a very good evening!
[15:27] Solace Fairlady: Herr baron
[15:27] Solace Fairlady bobs a curtsey
[15:27] Jasper Kiergarten: thank you for coming
[15:27] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Fraulein.
[15:27] Linus Lacombe: Thank you Ms Fairlady, for attending

Archaeology!

(Actually we are celebrating TWO years, but who's counting?)

Aether Salon
Sunday, November 21 at 2 pm slt
Babbage Palisade & Academy of Industry

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Babbage%20Palisade/254/60/106
and
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Academy%20of%20Industry/2/56/106

We’ve long been fascinated with ancient peoples. Add in exotic locales, the promise of fame, and wealth, and the result is an irresistible lure for many historians, scientists, and treasure hunters. We are honored this month with the talented Mr. Linus Lacombe who will guide us through the development of archaeology and how it has increased our understanding of past civilizations. Bring your friends and your mummies.

Pack your bags, load up your camel, and join us on December 19 at 2pm slt.

Walking Like Egyptians,
Jed, Jasper, Sera, and Viv
http://aethersalon.blogspot.com

Aestheticism! edited transcript

Viv Trafalgar: Miss Puchkina, Mr. Kiergarten, Miss Dagger, and I are pleased to welcome you to the November Aether Salon, Aestheticism! : We sincerely appreciate the support we receive from everyone in the community, and we humbly thank you all. Many fine people have contributed to today’s salon: we are grateful to Miss Ceejay Writer, Miss Breezy Carver, and Canolli Capalini of Capalini Fine Furnishings for the chairs. Finally, I want to personally thank my most amazing and talented co-host, Serafina Puchkina, who has held up the Salon in its entirety in my absence. Thank you also to Miss Book and Doc O for seeing us into our third year with a rather loud bang last month.

Please hold your questions until the end, and as a courtesy to all, please turn off everything that feeds the lag monster: all HUDs, scripts, AOs and so on; Miss Sera will severely be miffed if there is the hint of biting, bombs or weapons. No mullets, please. The Salon has many great things in store for the months to come. Stay tuned! We're keeping a log of things “overheard at the salon” on aethersalon.blogspot.com just in case you're looking for a good laugh.

If you would like to join the Aether Salon group and receive notifications of future salon events, click the lower right hand corner of the large brown sign by the entrance. As a reminder, all speaker jar donations go directly to the speakers.

I rarely make this plea, but if anyone wishes to support the salon itself, that would be more than welcome. we would have the urchins sing in your honor. You may do so by means of the 'support the salon buttons on the posters outside.' Now, Hang on to your reticules as I welcome my co-host Miss Serafina Puchkina.

Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, Miss Viv. I am honored to introduce this month's speaker. At just under a year old, Miss Rowan Derryth has a busy second life as a writer and proofreader for Prim Perfect Magazine and the Primgraph. She writes a popular column for the Prim Perfect Magazine Blog called "Ekphrasis," which profiles virtual artists and their work.

As owner of RoHaus, a small gallery in Avalon which showcases her private collection, Miss Derryth focuses on works she writes about in her Ekphrasis column. Many works are for sale, with all proceeds going directly to the artist. She has also recently joined the company of the revived Radio Riel Players, and is on the Board of Directors for the Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum which is licensed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

In her physical world, Miss Derryth is an Art & Design Historian, specialized in 19th and early 20th century art, particularly English and Scottish art. She gives many lectures on this subject in both worlds. Please join me in welcoming Miss Rowan Derryth

Rowan Derryth: Ladies and Gentleman, thank you so very much for inviting me here to speak today. Although I am not a citizen of your fine community, I certainly enjoy my visits, and these enlightening salons are amongst my favourite activities in the Steamlands. I feel the topic that I am speaking about today might seem strange, and perhaps even somewhat outlandish at first, but I have a strong feeling that it will appeal to the unconventional and forward-thinking minds that are gathered here today.

I do understand that there is a deep love of machines in this community. Gadgets and devices abound, and I have seen many which not only delight and astound, but are striking in their very appearance. So creative a people will surely understand that what I seek to explore today is not so much a criticism of your fine devices, but more a warning that the dangers of industry must not go unchecked, and run roughshod over the art and beauty of things which are made from the joy and industry of one’s own hands.

The 19th century artist and designer William Morris said: “If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” This quote helped to launch the Arts & Crafts Movement in Britain, which strove to move away from the over-decorated styles of mainstream Victorian society, and to return to the more simplified - and hand-crafted - styles of earlier times, particularly the medieval and Renaissance eras. I've placed some slides to the left of the stage which show some examples of this influence. Alongside his friend Edward Burne-Jones, Morris met and came under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This is a fascinating group of artists with whom I am sure many of you are familiar. If not, I am always happy to chat about them! But today, we must focus on what happens after these artists meet, and after they form what becomes a critically important design firm: Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company, later simply Morris & Co.

In the true spirit of medieval craftsmanship, they formed their own workshop, almost like a guild, and begin working collaboratively on homes, and interiors, including all the furnishings. This is the critically important point - they begin designing these spaces not just so they match, but as a unified whole. By the 1870s, this idea of unified design had taken over artistic communities, even down to the way people dress. However, the underlying philosophy had moved away from the more Utopian ideals of the Arts & Crafts movement, and towards ideas that were considered by some to be decadent, even bohemian. Rather than making art that was ‘beautiful and useful’, some felt that art should have no use; that is, it should only exist to provide pleasure and delight for the senses: Art for Art’s Sake. This is Aestheticism.

[I’d like to interject that I’ve been a very bad art historian and chose not to caption many of the following images as the text is difficult to see here at times, so I took up the space with images. Please IM me after if you’d like to know more about anything unclear.]

Now let’s take a brief look at some notable Aesthetes. First, we must look at the architect and designer E.W. Godwin as an important arbiter of Aesthetic taste. After establishing a thriving practice in Bristol, he moved to London in 1865, setting up shop at 23 Baker Street (not far from where Mister Sherlock Holmes would reside 30 years later!). Godwin wrote a great deal on art and design, calling for a unification of the ‘Sister Arts’; meaning that painting and sculpture should not be viewed as ‘higher’ than architecture, interior design, decorative art, or dress. Morris felt similarly, but it was Godwin who truly pressed this influential point.

An avid collector of Japanese prints, Godwin was among the first to bring Eastern style into the home. His own home in Tite Street, Chelsea - which he shared with his mistress of 7 years, the celebrated actress Ellen Terry - was well known for displaying these prints. The interior tones he employed, yellows and greens, become hallmarks of the Aesthetic Movement, which is perhaps why the Sunflower becomes one of its most notable symbols - alongside the peacock and the lily.

Although perhaps short, Godwin’s relationship with Ellen Terry was an important one, for he began to design sets and costumes for the theatre. He delighted in doing historical research to accurately construct visually authentic scenes. He received much critical acclaim for these, and even wrote books on how to properly stage Shakespearean plays. We can see for example the dress he designed for Ellen Terry here, which inspired the young Oscar Wilde to write some verse when he attended the opening night: For in the gorgeous dress of beaten gold,/ Which is more golden than the golden sun/ No woman Veronese looked upon/ Was half so fair as thou whom I behold...

Rowan Derryth: Godwin ultimately created a line of ‘Anglo-Japanese’ furnishings which became very popular (his later ‘Anglo-Egyptian’ and ‘Anglo-Greek’ lines also did well.) He was very good at combining the look of more traditional English furniture (like Chippendale) with more exotic styles, something which can be seen very clearly in this piece he made with his close friend, the artist James McNeil Whistler, in 1877-78. The construction fuses an 18th century English cabinet with a pagoda, and Whistler then covered it with loosely painted gold butterflies - the butterfly being his own famous signature. He called it "Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Butterfly Cabinet". It also shows influence from the rather extraordinary project he had just finished...

‘The Peacock Room’, from 1876-77. This very entertaining story of its creation is often repeated across the Aethernets, but the version I relate to you here is condensed from the Freer Gallery of Art, where the room is now on display, and which describes this incident most clearly...(call that a citation) *smiles*... "The Peacock Room was once the dining room in the London home of Frederick R. Leyland, a wealthy shipowner from Liverpool, England. It was originally designed by a gifted interior architect named Thomas Jeckyll. To display Leyland's prized collection of Chinese porcelain to best advantage, Jeckyll constructed a lattice of intricately carved shelving and hung antique gilded leather on the walls.” [The collecting of blue and white china by this date was quite the craze!]

[Whistler’s painting] “‘La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine’ — or ‘The Princess from the Land of Porcelain’ — occupied a place of honor above the fireplace. Jeckyll had nearly completed his commission when he consulted Whistler — who was then working on decorations for the entrance hall of Leyland's house — about the color to paint the dining room shutters and doors... Whistler volunteered to retouch the walls with traces of yellow. Leyland permitted Whistler to make that minor alteration... Assuming the decoration of the room to be virtually complete, Leyland went back to his business in Liverpool.” [I am also showing you here famous portraits of Leyland and his wife, who were avid patrons of Whistler until the Peacock Room incident. Read on...]

“In his patron's absence, Whistler was inspired to make bolder revisions. He covered the ceiling with Dutch metal, or imitation gold leaf, over which he painted a lush pattern of peacock feathers. He then gilded Jeckyll's walnut shelving and embellished the wooden shutters with four magnificently plumed peacocks. Whistler wrote to Leyland that the dining room was ‘really alive with beauty — brilliant and gorgeous while at the same time delicate and refined to the last degree,’ boasting that the changes he had made were past imagining... He urged Leyland not to return to London yet, since he did not want the room to be seen before every detail was perfect.” [So basically, Whistler just went and decorated what he wanted, painting all over everything including Jeckyll’s work AND the antique gilded leather, without the permission of the owner. Imagine it!]

“Yet Whistler entertained visitors and amused the press in the lavishly decorated room, never thinking to ask permission of the owner of the house. His audacious behavior, coupled with a dispute over payment for the project, provoked a bitter quarrel between the painter and his patron. Leyland would not consent to pay the two thousand guineas that Whistler wanted: ‘I do not think you should have involved me in such a large expenditure without previously telling me of it,’ he wrote to the artist.”

“Eventually Leyland agreed to half that amount, but he further insulted Whistler by writing his check in pounds, the currency of trade, when payment to artists and professionals was customarily made in guineas. A pound is worth twenty shillings and a guinea twenty-one, so the already offensive sum was also smaller than expected.”

“Perhaps in retaliation, Whistler took the liberty of coating Leyland's valuable leather with Prussian-blue paint and depicting a pair of peacocks aggressively confronting each other on the wall opposite The Princess. He used two shades of gold for the design and highlighted telling details in silver. Scattered at the feet of the angry bird are the coins (silver shillings) that Leyland refused to pay; the silver feathers on the peacock's throat allude to the ruffled shirts that Leyland always wore. The poor and affronted peacock has a silver crest feather that resembles the lock of white hair that curled above Whistler's forehead. To make sure that Leyland understood his point, Whistler called the mural of the fighting peacocks ‘Art and Money; or, The Story of the Room.’”

Amazingly, Leyland kept the room, but Whistler never saw it again. It was eventually dismantled and sold to Charles Lang Freer, which is why it is now in America. However, the incident was famous, and Whistler’s room - and peacock motif - certainly had it’s impact on Aesthetic design. Although he did so out of his own famously pompous will, Whistler was moved to make a unified design whole of the room by this philosophy of Aestheticism. There is so much to say on this fascinating subject, I beg just a bit more of your time to highlight briefly just a couple more examples, for we have not yet discusses a very critical subject when understanding Aestheticism - that of costume.

In fact, debates over dress were a very hot topic in the press. There was much arguing over the corset, that it was unnatural, even dangerous for women. Aesthetes argued that they wanted to see a natural silhouette, not one cinched by a corset and ballooned by crinolines or, later, a bustle. While this debate didn’t extend to the wider public until the 1870s, the artistic community was already practicing alternative forms of dress in the 1850s. Much is thought to have been influenced by the art of the Pre-Raphaelites...

But there were other important society figures - elite bohemians - who were well positioned to influence fashion. Ellen Terry’s first husband was the painter G.F. Watts, who she married at the tender age of 16 (he was in his 40s!). Watts painted this portrait of Terry, called ‘Choosing’, in her brown wedding dress that was designed by the Pre-Raphaelite William Holman Hunt. If only we could see the whole dress! Their union only lasted a year, but in that time she lived with the painter at Little Holland House, South Kensingson, amongst the set we now call the Holland Park Circle.

At the center of this circle were the Pattle sisters, a wealthy Anglo-Indian family who were great patrons of the arts. In fact, many of you know of one of the sisters from the wonderful talk given here by Mister PJ Trenton - the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Her sister, Sara Pattle Prinsep was the hostess at this famous aesthetic haven, which also included her sisters Lady Sophia Dalrymple, Virginia Pattle, and Maria Jackson, who would become the grandmother of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.

The Prinseps were great artistic patrons, particularly to G.F. Watts, who went to stay with them when he fell ill in 1850, then remained there with them for another 25 years! The sisters, largely raised near Calcutta, were described to have ‘adopted a graceful and beautiful style of dress that seemed inspired by the Italian Renaissance… with flowing robes… made of rare Indian stuffs.’ They were described as ‘unconventional’ and as ‘making bohemian respectable.’

Of particular interest is an anecdote which described their social and sartorial interactions:
‘Amongst themselves the sisters talked in Hindustani, and when they met together at one or other of their houses they generally sat up all night in an orgie [sic] of dressmaking, pulling their robes to bits and sewing them up in a new way, or designing and cutting out new clothes, chattering all the time in Hindustani, that seemed to an outsider the language best suited to express their superabundant vitality.’

As early as 1851, Watts painted Sophia Dalrymple, in a flowing white robe, loosely tied about the waist with no corset or petticoats. This was more than a decade before other famous paintings of women in white, such as Whistler’s Little White Girl of 1864, or Rossetti’s Lady Lilith of 1868, and yet this group has not been given consideration in literature on the origins of Aesthetic Dress. We begin to see the models developing for this style of dress: loose and refined lines, made from high quality decorative fabrics in natural tones, embellished, but not necessarily overdone.

We see this style at its height in William Powell Frith’s painting ‘A Private View at the Royal Academy’ (1881). The Victorian Dress at center is contrasted with the tea gowns worn by Aesthetic Ladies at left and right. Some of you may even recognize the tall fellow in the stove pipe hat with the lily in his lapel, surrounded by the Aesthetic ladies. Can you tell me who that is? Here is a hint: he reportedly said “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable, we have to change it every six months.”

Manx Wharton: wilde

Aisling Sinclair: Mr Wilde?

Rowan Derryth: Indeed. And if you can make out the lady just to the right of him in the brown flowered dress, that is again Ellen Terry. Wilde was of course a critical figure in the Aesthetic Movement, even going to America to give lectures on Aestheticism. This was actually funded by the producers of Gilbert & Sullivan’s aesthetic parody ‘Patience’ - in which he character of Bunthorne was said to be modelled after Wilde - as they wanted American audiences to understand the humour. Wilde was met with many mixed reactions, particularly in places like Boston! A gentleman going about in brocaded coats, breeches, silk hose, long loose hair, and sporting a lily certainly raised the eyebrows of those prickly nor’easters!

For those who are fans of Dorian Grey, I encourage you to give the story another read after understanding a bit more about Aestheticism. It is full of sensuous references of which the Aesthetes were fond - flowers, fine fabrics, theatre, and of course, the painting that captures the soul! Also, the preface - which was written AFTER the original serialized version in The Strand Magazine was met with shock - is a wonderful manifesto on Wilde’s views on art. He cautions us to ‘look beneath the surface at our peril’, and ends with that wonderful famous phrase: ‘All art is quite useless.’ This line is often misconstrued to be a slight upon art, but Wilde explained it himself in a subsequent letter: “Art is useless because its aim is to simply create a mood. It is not meant to instruct, or to influence action in any way.” How Aesthetic! These ideas, it must be said, were taken directly from the writings and lectures of Godwin, Whistler, and other notable aestheticians of the day.

Finally, I would like to close today with some examples of Aesthetic Dress from our virtual world. I apologize to the gentlemen that I am focusing on ladies dress so much here, but I shall leave these images of Mr Wilde up for you, and I can answer questions on this at the end. I hope most of you will not mind closely examining the natural beauty of the female figure meanwhile. If I may ask Miss Aferdita to join me on the stage? I will not dissemble: it was a challenge to find a proper Aesthetic Dress. There are many wonderful examples of Victorian dresses out there - in fact I see several examples today! But dresses which adhere to the tenets put forth by the Aesthetes were difficult to find, and in the end I was only able to cobble together two dresses from the separates section of the wonderful Pixel Dolls line.

Miss Tricia Aferdita is wearing would I might call an earlier version of Aesthetic Dress, one inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites. It is inspired by medieval costume, but it still close fitting and in a single piece (in appearance), much like the dress in Millais’ painting of Mariana, seen here - a dress which Millais designed and had his mother construct. Many of the dresses in Pre-Raphaelite paintings are the combination of historical study and Victorian imagination. Mariana is in the Pre-Raphaelite slide to the left

My dress is modelled after the Aesthetic Teagowns of the 1880s. A teagown was of course, originally, a more informal gown which one wore at home, when she was receiving intimate friends for tea. However Aesthetic ladies wore them in public - usually to events like art gallery ‘private shows’. This was of course shocking at first, but as it was done my ladies of status, it was of course accepted, and ultimately adopted by many social climbers.

You may note that both these gowns hug the figure, showing the natural line of the body. The sleeves on my gown are snug, but should not be overly tight to allow comfort and freedom of movement. Puffs of fabric were often utilized to help with this, such as on m lower sleeve. Also important were the choice of sensuous fabrics. Miss Aferdita and I are both in velvet, and my dress also uses a light silk chiffon. Our colour choices of fawn and moss are also more natural than the garish, chemical aniline dyes that many Victorian dresses exhibited.

There are other wonderful designers, though, who seem inspired by the spirit of Aestheticism and alternative modes of Victorian dress. For example, Miss Viv Trafalgar’s Wollstonecraft gown is not only very serviceable, but is named after a wonderful radical reformer, and for this it meets my approval! Also, Miss Terry Lightfoot makes a wonderful dress that is directly taken from the pattern of the designer Walter Crane. However, her versions have been made in a rather gothic black and red, and as well in a ‘Lady Bathory’ - a wonderful white gown spattered in blood. Aesthetic - and dangerous! Miss Trafalgar, are you wearing it? Perhaps you can stand before us too if you are.

This brings me to then end of my talk, and I thank you all for indulging me. I am happy to answer any questions you may have, and hope you have enjoyed yourselves, as well as learned what you might do to make your homes - and lives - ‘Palaces of Art.’ Thank you!

Viv Trafalgar: Thank you Miss Derryth for a very enlightening talk! Thank you Miss Aferdita! If there are questions, please say so and we'll moderate

Rowan Derryth: Again, I realize I didn't say much about gentleman's dress, and can do if people have questions on that.

Viv Trafalgar: Darlingmonster, do you have a question? Please ask it

Darlingmonster Ember: Thank you. Wonderful presentation. The picture of victorians and aethetics mixing. Were the two very at odds socially? Or did they mix a lot?

Rowan Derryth: Well, they are all Victorians... with different styles of dress really. Those who were of an artistic bent, either as practitioners or patrons, might dress in these fashions.

Rowan Derryth: Mister Lacombe?

Linus Lacombe: The gowns you and Ms Afterdita are wearing...they seem reminicent some how gowns I have seen depicted in photos from the 1910s. Is there any validity in my observation?

Rowan Derryth: Hmmm. You mean Edwardian gowns?

Linus Lacombe: I suppose Edwardian...does the period run that late in time?

Rowan Derryth: Well, it is difficult, as the dresses here are of course inspired by several ages... Yes, Edwardian is post-Victorian.. They are somewhat similar, but there is a return to an Empire waist for a time...But you are correct in the line of the dress, and the lack of bustle

Viv Trafalgar: Yes, M. Omegamu?

Mahakala Omegamu: I was wondering if you can explain bohemianism a bit, how the victorians viewed it? how their influence was spread differently than the victorians ( who I'm imagining were just the upper crust of society? )

Rowan Derryth: Ah, good question. Well of course I didn't ahve time to discuss France, but...like anything, if those of a certain class did it, then.. well you could sort of look away. But...though Queen Victoria and Prince ALbert were great patrons of the arts and design... She warned her daughter, Princess Louise... who was a sculptress, and who GOdwin built a studio for... to be careful of those artistic types. You could be bohemian, but you had to be careful how far you took it, like anything. Aestheticism was about the 'Cult of Beauty', but it could certainly lead to decadence. Again, everyone should go read DOrian Grey again or Du Maurier's Trilby

If you are interested in this, the V&A will be doing a major exhibit on Aestheticism in April, and no doubt there will be much at their website. Maybe even an iPhone app... to be modern about it

Darlingmonster Ember: V&A means?

Rowan Derryth: sorry

Viv Trafalgar: Victoria and Albert Museum

Rowan Derryth: You can look up any of the people I've talked about today. There have much in their collection

Viv Trafalgar: Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you to this magnificent crowd for coming today! Please feel free to stay and talk, and sample the comestibles. Mr. Kiergarten would you put out the craft? We've collaborated on a lilly wearable...

Rowan Derryth: Thank you again, this was great fun!

Viv Trafalgar: I hope everyone marks their calendar for next month - the third sunday in December. Thank you one and all who have supported our fantastic speaker this month, and also to those who support the salon!

Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, Miss Derryth, for speaking with us today. Thank you, beloved patrons, for your attendance

Viv Trafalgar: Jasper, will you pick up the speakers fund in a moment and award the contents to miss Derryth?

TAMU Oh: http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/index.html

Rowan Derryth: I'm going to provide the Salonistas with a short bibliography and links for when they post the transcript

Serafina Puchkina: If you wish, join the Aether Salon group. The sign is by the door. You may also contribute to the tier if you would like.

KlausWulfenbach Outlander: It's the left-hand button on the poster bottom.

Viv Trafalgar: bless you Baron and Sera. I am afraid I'll be abroad next month but the salon will be well and in good hands

Serafina Puchkina: I will post edited and unedited transcripts at http://aethersalon.blogspot.com You can also find pictures of today's salon at the above site


For further info:
Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery of Art: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/peacock/default.htm
Cult of Beauty, upcoming exhibit at the V&A: http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/aestheticism/index.html
Whistler: http://www.mr-whistlers-art.info/
E.W. Godwin at the Victorian Web (a great source overall): http://www.victorianweb.org/art/design/godwin/index.html
The Picture of Dorian Gray at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/174

Books:
Charlotte Gere, "Artistic Circles: Design and Decoration in the Aesthetic Movement" (2010)
Elizabeth Prettejohn, "Art for Art's Sake: Aestheticism in Victorian Painting" (2008)

Aestheticism! unedited transcript

[13:59] Viv Trafalgar: Welcome everyone who's just come in!
[14:00] Viv Trafalgar: So many faces, even with Steam Con on. This is wonderful
[14:00] Rommie Serenity: Wearable chairs, quite nifty.
[14:00] Viv Trafalgar: We'll start in just a few moments
[14:00] Jasper Kiergarten: would you like one miss Serenity?
[14:00] Rommie Serenity: I could use the exercise.
[14:00] Rowan Derryth: I'm impaled by a Lily, how poignant
[14:01] Bookworm Hienrichs chuckles.
[14:01] Serafina Puchkina: Welcome Miss Hummingly
[14:01] Rommie Serenity: Spell checker, how I have missed you.
[14:01] Linus Lacombe: Hopefully not a brass and cloisonne lily
[14:01] ChaCha Hummingly: Hello.
[14:01] Linus Lacombe: that would smart
[14:01] Serafina Puchkina: Hello Miss Ember
[14:02] Serafina Puchkina: Welcome Mr Alectoris
[14:02] Bookworm Hienrichs waves to Miss Ember
[14:02] Darlingmonster Ember: good day all
[14:02] Darlingmonster Ember smiles
[14:02] Linus Lacombe: GOod afternoon, Ms DME
[14:02] Jasper Kiergarten: good day
[14:02] Viv Trafalgar grins and clears her throat
[14:02] Viv Trafalgar: Everyone ready?
[14:02] ChaCha Hummingly: Yes.
[14:02] Darlingmonster Ember: nod
[14:02] Linus Lacombe nods in the affirmative
[14:02] Viv Trafalgar: Wonderful!
[14:02] Cyrene Xaron: :)
[14:03] Viv Trafalgar: Miss Puchkina, Mr. Kiergarten, Miss Dagger, and I are pleased to welcome you to the November Aether Salon, Aestheticism!
[14:03] Bookworm Hienrichs shoos people foreward.
[14:03] Bookworm Hienrichs: This isn't a classroom, folks. You won't be called on. *grin*
[14:03] Viv Trafalgar: Yes, miss Book is right! Everyone take a few steps forward
[14:03] Linus Lacombe is shooed
[14:03] Viv Trafalgar: make us look good on the photograveures
[14:03] Queer Hermit shooed
[14:03] Viv Trafalgar: We sincerely appreciate the support we receive from everyone in the community, and we humbly thank you all.
[14:04] Viv Trafalgar: Many fine people have contributed to today’s salon: we are grateful to Miss Ceejay Writer, Miss Breezy Carver, and Canolli Capalini of Capalini Fine Furnishings for the chairs
[14:04] Viv Trafalgar: Finally, I want to personally thank my most amazing and talented co-host, Serafina Puchkina, who has held up the Salon in its entirety in my absence.
[14:04] Linus Lacombe: `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[14:04] Viv Trafalgar: Thank you also to Miss Book and Doc O for seeing us into our third year with a rather loud bang last month.
[14:04] Victor1st Mornington cheers
[14:04] Bookworm Hienrichs coughs and grins.
[14:04] Viv Trafalgar: Please hold your questions until the end, and as a courtesy to all, please turn off everything that feeds the lag monster: all HUDs, scripts, AOs and so on;
[14:04] Viv Trafalgar: Miss Sera will severely be miffed if there is the hint of biting, bombs or weapons. No mullets, please.
[14:04] Cyrene Xaron: Sorry everyone I am slow and clumsy today :(
[14:04] Bookworm Hienrichs laughs.
[14:04] Wildstar Beaumont: greetings Baron
[14:04] Viv Trafalgar: The Salon has many great things in store for the months to come. Stay tuned!
[14:05] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Captain.
[14:05] Blackberry Harvey tucks his long hair up under his hat
[14:05] Viv Trafalgar: We're keeping a log of things “overheard at the salon” on aethersalon.blogspot.com just in case you're looking for a good laugh.
[14:05] Linus Lacombe checks his haircut..."no mullett"
[14:05] Viv Trafalgar: If you would like to join the Aether Salon group and receive notifications of future salon events, click the lower right hand corner of the large brown sign by the entrance.
[14:05] Wildstar Beaumont: greetings all
[14:05] Viv Trafalgar: As a reminder, all speaker jar donations go directly to the speakers.
[14:05] Bookworm Hienrichs waves to the Baron and Captain Beaumont.
[14:05] Linus Lacombe: Good afternoon, Captain Beaumont
[14:05] Viv Trafalgar: I rarely make this plea, but if anyone wishes to support the salon itself, that would be more than welcome. we would have the urchins sing in your honor
[14:05] Wildstar Beaumont: :)
[[14:06] Viv Trafalgar: you may do so by means of the 'support the salon buttons on the posters outside'
[14:06] Viv Trafalgar: Now, Hang on to your reticules as I welcome my co-host Miss Serafina Puchkina.
[14:06] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:06] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:06] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, Miss Viv.
[14:06] Bookworm Hienrichs laughs and applauds.
[14:06] Blackberry Harvey applauds
[14:06] Mahakala Omegamu claps
[14:06] Bookworm Hienrichs: Hello, Miss Sinclair.
[14:06] Serafina Puchkina: I am honored to introduce this month's speaker.
[14:06] Aisling Sinclair applauds
[14:06] Serafina Puchkina: At just under a year old, Miss Rowan Derryth has a busy second life as a writer and proofreader for Prim Perfect Magazine and the Primgraph. She writes a popular column for the Prim Perfect Magazine Blog called "Ekphrasis," which profiles virtual artists and their work.
[14:06] Aisling Sinclair: hello, Miss Hienrichs
[14:07] Serafina Puchkina: As owner of RoHaus, a small gallery in Avalon which showcases her private collection, Miss Derryth focuses on works she writes about in her Ekphrasis column. Many works are for sale, with all proceeds going directly to the artist.
[14:07] Serafina Puchkina: She has also recently joined the company of the revived Radio Riel Players,
[14:07] Serafina Puchkina: and is on the Board of Directors for the Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum which is licensed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
[14:07] Serafina Puchkina: In her physical world, Miss Derryth is an Art & Design Historian, specialized in 19th and early 20th century art, particularly English and Scottish art. She gives many lectures on this subject in both worlds.
[14:07] Darlingmonster Ember: !!!
[14:08] Serafina Puchkina: Please join me in welcoming Miss Rowan Derryth
[14:08] Linus Lacombe: `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[14:08] Serafina Puchkina applauds
[14:08] Tricia Aferdita: ''*·.¸ APPLAUSE ¸.·*``
[14:08] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:08] Aisling Sinclair: .-'`'-. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE .-'`'-.
[14:08] Victor1st Mornington cheers
[14:08] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[14:08] Rowan Derryth: Ladies and Gentleman, thank you so very much for inviting me here to speak today. Although I am not a citizen of your fine community, I certainly enjoy my visits, and these enlightening salons are amongst my favourite activities in the Steamlands.
[14:08] Blackberry Harvey applauds
[14:08] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:08] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:08] Viv Trafalgar applauds
[14:08] Rowan Derryth: I feel the topic that I am speaking about today might seem strange, and perhaps even somewhat outlandish at first, but I have a strong feeling that it will appeal to the unconventional and forward-thinking minds that are gathered here today.
[14:09] Blackberry Harvey looks around...
[14:09] Rowan Derryth: I do understand that there is a deep love of machines in this community. Gadgets and devices abound, and I have seen many which not only delight and astound, but are striking in their very appearance. So creative a people will surely understand that what I seek to explore today is not so much a criticism of your fine devices, but more a warning that the dangers of industry must not go unchecked, and run roughshod over the art and beauty of things which are made from the joy and industry of one’s own hands.
[14:09] Viv Trafalgar nods emphatically
[14:09] Rowan Derryth: The 19th century artist and designer William Morris said: “If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” This quote helped to launch the Arts & Crafts Movement in Britain, which strove to move away from the over-decorated styles of mainstream Victorian society, and to return to the more simplified - and hand-crafted - styles of earlier times, particularly the medieval and Renaissance eras.
[14:10] Rowan Derryth: I've placed some slides to the left of the stage which show some examples of this influence.
[14:10] Rowan Derryth: Alongside his friend Edward Burne-Jones, Morris met and came under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This is a fascinating group of artists with whom I am sure many of you are familiar. If not, I am always happy to chat about them! But today, we must focus on what happens after these artists meet, and after they form what becomes a critically important design firm: Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company, later simply Morris & Co.
[14:11] Rowan Derryth: In the true spirit of medieval craftsmanship, they formed their own workshop, almost like a guild, and begin working collaboratively on homes, and interiors, including all the furnishings. This is the critically important point - they begin designing these spaces not just so they match, but as a unified whole.
[14:11] KlausWulfenbach Outlander nods thoughtfully
[14:12] Rowan Derryth: By the 1870s, this idea of unified design had taken over artistic communities, even down to the way people dress. However, the underlying philosophy had moved away from the more Utopian ideals of the Arts & Crafts movement, and towards ideas that were considered by some to be decadent, even bohemian. Rather than making art that was ‘beautiful and useful’, some felt that art should have no use; that is, it should only exist to provide pleasure and delight for the senses: Art for Art’s Sake. This is Aestheticism.
[14:12] Rowan Derryth: [I’d like to interject that I’ve been a very bad art historian and chose not to caption many of the following images as the text is difficult to see here at times, so I took up the space with images. Please IM me after if you’d like to know more about anything unclear.]
[14:12] Viv Trafalgar: very clear so far Miss Derryth
[14:12] Rowan Derryth: Good
[14:12] Rowan Derryth: And shout if I go to fast!
[14:12] Rowan Derryth: too*
[14:12] Rowan Derryth: Now let’s take a brief look at some notable Aesthetes. First, we must look at the architect and designer E.W. Godwin as an important arbiter of Aesthetic taste. After establishing a thriving practice in Bristol, he moved to London in 1865, setting up shop at 23 Baker Street (not far from where Mister Sherlock Holmes would reside 30 years later!). Godwin wrote a great deal on art and design, calling for a unification of the ‘Sister Arts’; meaning that painting and sculpture should not be viewed as ‘higher’ than architecture, interior design, decorative art, or dress. Morris felt similarly, but it was Godwin who truly pressed this influential point.
[14:13] Rowan Derryth: An avid collector of Japanese prints, Godwin was among the first to bring Eastern style into the home. His own home in Tite Street, Chelsea - which he shared with his mistress of 7 years, the celebrated actress Ellen Terry - was well known for displaying these prints. The interior tones he employed, yellows and greens, become hallmarks of the Aesthetic Movement, which is perhaps why the Sunflower becomes one of its most notable symbols - alongside the peacock and the lily.
[14:14] Rowan Derryth: Although perhaps short, Godwin’s relationship with Ellen Terry was an important one, for he began to design sets and costumes for the theatre. He delighted in doing historical research to accurately construct visually authentic scenes. He received much critical acclaim for these, and even wrote books on how to properly stage Shakespearean plays. We can see for example the dress he designed for Ellen Terry here, which inspired the young Oscar Wilde to write some verse when he attended the opening night:
[14:14] Rowan Derryth: For in the gorgeous dress of beaten gold,
[14:14] Rowan Derryth: Which is more golden than the golden sun
[14:14] Rowan Derryth: No woman Veronese looked upon
[14:14] Rowan Derryth: Was half so fair as thou whom I behold...
[14:15] Darlingmonster Ember: ..sighs..
[14:15] Rowan Derryth smiles romantically
[14:15] Rowan Derryth: Godwin ultimately created a line of ‘Anglo-Japanese’ furnishings which became very popular (his later ‘Anglo-Egyptian’ and ‘Anglo-Greek’ lines also did well.) He was very good at combining the look of more traditional English furniture (like Chippendale) with more exotic styles, something which can be seen very clearly in this piece he made with his close friend, the artist James McNeil Whistler, in 1877-78. The construction fuses an 18th century English cabinet with a pagoda, and Whistler then covered it with loosely painted gold butterflies - the butterfly being his own famous signature. He called it "Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Butterfly Cabinet". It also shows influence from the rather extraordinary project he had just finished...
[14:15] Serafina Puchkina: how lovely
[14:16] Rowan Derryth: ‘The Peacock Room’, from 1876-77. This very entertaining story of its creation is often repeated across the Aethernets, but the version I relate to you here is condensed from the Freer Gallery of Art, where the room is now on display, and which describes this incident most clearly...(call that a citation) *smiles*...
[14:16] Darlingmonster Ember: grins
[14:16] Rowan Derryth: “The Peacock Room was once the dining room in the London home of Frederick R. Leyland, a wealthy shipowner from Liverpool, England. It was originally designed by a gifted interior architect named Thomas Jeckyll. To display Leyland's prized collection of Chinese porcelain to best advantage, Jeckyll constructed a lattice of intricately carved shelving and hung antique gilded leather on the walls.” [The collecting of blue and white china by this date was quite the craze!]
[14:17] Rowan Derryth: [Whistler’s painting] “‘La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine’ — or ‘The Princess from the Land of Porcelain’ — occupied a place of honor above the fireplace. Jeckyll had nearly completed his commission when he consulted Whistler — who was then working on decorations for the entrance hall of Leyland's house — about the color to paint the dining room shutters and doors... Whistler volunteered to retouch the walls with traces of yellow. Leyland permitted Whistler to make that minor alteration... Assuming the decoration of the room to be virtually complete, Leyland went back to his business in Liverpool.”
[14:17] Rowan Derryth: [I am also showing you here famous portraits of Leyland and his wife, who were avid patrons of Whistler until the Peacock Room incident. Read on...]
[14:18] Rowan Derryth: “In his patron's absence, Whistler was inspired to make bolder revisions. He covered the ceiling with Dutch metal, or imitation gold leaf, over which he painted a lush pattern of peacock feathers. He then gilded Jeckyll's walnut shelving and embellished the wooden shutters with four magnificently plumed peacocks. Whistler wrote to Leyland that the dining room was ‘really alive with beauty — brilliant and gorgeous while at the same time delicate and refined to the last degree,’ boasting that the changes he had made were past imagining... He urged Leyland not to return to London yet, since he did not want the room to be seen before every detail was perfect.”
[14:18] Rowan Derryth: [So basically, Whistler just went and decorated what he wanted, painting all over everything including Jeckyll’s work AND the antique gilded leather, without the permission of the owner. Imagine it!]
[14:18] Linus Lacombe: the nerve!
[14:18] Bookworm Hienrichs tsks.
[14:19] Mahakala Omegamu: Hah
[14:19] Igor Ballyhoo: how naughty!!!
[14:19] Rowan Derryth: He was nervy for certain!
[14:19] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Artists. Almost as bad as Sparks.
[14:19] Rowan Derryth: “Yet Whistler entertained visitors and amused the press in the lavishly decorated room, never thinking to ask permission of the owner of the house. His audacious behavior, coupled with a dispute over payment for the project, provoked a bitter quarrel between the painter and his patron. Leyland would not consent to pay the two thousand guineas that Whistler wanted: ‘I do not think you should have involved me in such a large expenditure without previously telling me of it,’ he wrote to the artist.”
[14:19] Darlingmonster Ember: snerks
[14:19] Viv Trafalgar: truly!
[14:19] Tricia Aferdita clears throat
[14:19] Tricia Aferdita: *smiles*
[14:19] Glaubrius Valeska: mmmm
[14:19] Rowan Derryth: “Eventually Leyland agreed to half that amount, but he further insulted Whistler by writing his check in pounds, the currency of trade, when payment to artists and professionals was customarily made in guineas. A pound is worth twenty shillings and a guinea twenty-one, so the already offensive sum was also smaller than expected.”
[14:20] Saffia Widdershins smiles
[14:20] Rowan Derryth: “Perhaps in retaliation, Whistler took the liberty of coating Leyland's valuable leather with Prussian-blue paint and depicting a pair of peacocks aggressively confronting each other on the wall opposite The Princess. He used two shades of gold for the design and highlighted telling details in silver. Scattered at the feet of the angry bird are the coins (silver shillings) that Leyland refused to pay; the silver feathers on the peacock's throat allude to the ruffled shirts that Leyland always wore.”
[14:20] Darlingmonster Ember covers her grin
[14:20] Queer Hermit: Payback
[14:20] Saffia Widdershins: ny first employer paid in guineas ...
[14:20] Rowan Derryth: “The poor and affronted peacock has a silver crest feather that resembles the lock of white hair that curled above Whistler's forehead. To make sure that Leyland understood his point, Whistler called the mural of the fighting peacocks ‘Art and Money; or, The Story of the Room.’”
[14:20] Saffia Widdershins: it drove my accountant wild ...
[14:21] Rowan Derryth: Amazingly, Leyland kept the room, but Whistler never saw it again. It was eventually dismantled and sold to Charles Lang Freer, which is why it is now in America. However, the incident was famous, and Whistler’s room - and peacock motif - certainly had it’s impact on Aesthetic design. Although he did so out of his own famously pompous will, Whistler was moved to make a unified design whole of the room by this philosophy of Aestheticism.
[14:21] Rowan Derryth: There is so much to say on this fascinating subject, I beg just a bit more of your time to highlight briefly just a couple more examples, for we have not yet discusses a very critical subject when understanding Aestheticism - that of costume.
[14:22] Bookworm Hienrichs: Oh, those are lovely.
[14:22] Rowan Derryth: In fact, debates over dress were a very hot topic in the press. There was much arguing over the corset, that it was unnatural, even dangerous for women. Aesthetes argued that they wanted to see a natural silhouette, not one cinched by a corset and ballooned by crinolines or, later, a bustle. While this debate didn’t extend to the wider public until the 1870s, the artistic community was already practicing alternative forms of dress in the 1850s. Much is thought to have been influenced by the art of the Pre-Raphaelites...
[14:23] Linus Lacombe: Smut!
[14:23] Queer Hermit: So the LLL was correct....
[14:23] KlausWulfenbach Outlander chuckles
[14:23] Bookworm Hienrichs cranes her neck back at her own bustle, and blushes.
[14:23] Rowan Derryth coughs and eyes Mister Lacombe
[14:23] Cyrene Xaron: LLL? please explain
[14:23] Rowan Derryth: But there were other important society figures - elite bohemians - who were well positioned to influence fashion. Ellen Terry’s first husband was the painter G.F. Watts, who she married at the tender age of 16 (he was in his 40s!). Watts painted this portrait of Terry, called ‘Choosing’, in her brown wedding dress that was designed by the Pre-Raphaelite William Holman Hunt. If only we could see the whole dress! Their union only lasted a year, but in that time she lived with the painter at Little Holland House, South Kensingson, amongst the set we now call the Holland Park Circle.
[14:24] Rowan Derryth: At the center of this circle were the Pattle sisters, a wealthy Anglo-Indian family who were great patrons of the arts. In fact, many of you know of one of the sisters from the wonderful talk given here by Mister PJ Trenton - the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Her sister, Sara Pattle Prinsep was the hostess at this famous aesthetic haven, which also included her sisters Lady Sophia Dalrymple, Virginia Pattle, and Maria Jackson, who would become the grandmother of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.
[14:25] Linus Lacombe: quite a family!
[14:25] Darlingmonster Ember: ohmy
[14:25] Serafina Puchkina is impressed
[14:25] Rowan Derryth: Indeed!
[14:25] Rowan Derryth: The Prinseps were great artistic patrons, particularly to G.F. Watts, who went to stay with them when he fell ill in 1850, then remained there with them for another 25 years! The sisters, largely raised near Calcutta, were described to have ‘adopted a graceful and beautiful style of dress that seemed inspired by the Italian Renaissance… with flowing robes… made of rare Indian stuffs.’ They were described as ‘unconventional’ and as ‘making bohemian respectable.’
[14:26] Bookworm Hienrichs chuckles.
[14:26] Rowan Derryth: Of particular interest is an anecdote which described their social and sartorial interactions:
‘Amongst themselves the sisters talked in Hindustani, and when they met together at one or other of their houses they generally sat up all night in an orgie [sic] of dressmaking, pulling their robes to bits and sewing them up in a new way, or designing and cutting out new clothes, chattering all the time in Hindustani, that seemed to an outsider the language best suited to express their superabundant vitality.’
[14:26] Rowan Derryth: As early as 1851, Watts painted Sophia Dalrymple, in a flowing white robe, loosely tied about the waist with no corset or petticoats. This was more than a decade before other famous paintings of women in white, such as Whistler’s Little White Girl of 1864, or Rossetti’s Lady Lilith of 1868, and yet this group has not been given consideration in literature on the origins of Aesthetic Dress. We begin to see the models developing for this style of dress: loose and refined lines, made from high quality decorative fabrics in natural tones, embellished, but not necessarily overdone.
[14:26] Darlingmonster Ember smiles lovely image
[14:27] Manx Wharton: sling
[14:27] Rowan Derryth: We see this style at it’s height in William Powell Frith’s painting ‘A Private View at the Royal Academy’ (1881). The Victorian Dress at center is contrasted with the tea gowns worn by Aesthetic Ladies at left and right. Some of you may even recognize the tall fellow in the stove pipe hat with the lily in his lapel, surrounded by the Aesthetic ladies. Can you tell me who that is? Here is a hint: he reportedly said “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable, we have to change it every six months.”
[14:28] Manx Wharton: wilde
[14:28] Linus LacombeLinus Lacombe thinks it looks a bit like Martin Van Buren
[14:28] Aisling Sinclair: Mr Wilde?
[14:28] Rowan Derryth smiles at Ash
[14:29] Rowan Derryth: Indeed
[14:29] Rowan Derryth: And if you can make out the lady just to the right of him in the brown flowered dress, that is again Ellen Terry. Wilde was of course a critical figure in the Aesthetic Movement, even going to America to give lectures on Aestheticism.
[14:29] Rowan Derryth: This was actually funded by the producers of Gilbert & Sullivan’s aesthetic parody ‘Patience’ - in which he character of Bunthorne was said to be modelled after Wilde - as they wanted American audiences to understand the humour. Wilde was met with many mixed reactions, particularly in places like Boston! A gentleman going about in brocaded coats, breeches, silk hose, long loose hair, and sporting a lily certainly raised the eyebrows of those prickly nor’easters!
[14:30] Bookworm Hienrichs chuckles.
[14:30] Darlingmonster Ember: grins
[14:30] Rowan Derryth: For those who are fans of Dorian Grey, I encourage you to give the story another read after understanding a bit more about Aestheticism. It is full of sensuous references of which the Aesthetes were fond - flowers, fine fabrics, theatre, and of course, the painting that captures the soul! Also, the preface - which was written AFTER the original serialized version in The Strand Magazine was met with shock - is a wonderful manifesto on Wilde’s views on art. He cautions us to ‘look beneath the surface at our peril’, and ends with that wonderful famous phrase: ‘All art is quite useless.’
[14:30] Cyrene Xaron: I love Wilde's dying words! :)
[14:30] Aisling Sinclair coughs to suppress a laugh
[14:30] Viv Trafalgar grins
[14:30] Saffia Widdershins: England and America are two countries divided by a single language, Wilde said
[14:31] Rowan Derryth: This line is often misconstrued to be a slight upon art, but Wilde explained it himself in a subsequent letter: “Art is useless because its aim is to simply create a mood. It is not meant to instruct, or to influence action in any way.” How Aesthetic! These ideas, it must be said, were taken directly from the writings and lectures of Godwin, Whistler, and other notable aestheticians of the day.
[14:31] Aisling Sinclair: Wilde was so often right
[14:31] Rowan Derryth: Finally, I would like to close today with some examples of Aesthetic Dress from our virtual world. I apologize to the gentlemen that I am focusing on ladies dress so much here, but I shall leave these images of Mr Wilde up for you, and I can answer questions on this at the end. I hope most of you will not mind closely examining the natural beauty of the female figure meanwhile. If I may ask Miss Aferdita to join me on the stage?
[14:31] KlausWulfenbach Outlander chuckles
[14:32] PJ Trenton: and she sticks the landing
[14:32] Viv Trafalgar claps
[14:32] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Fraulein Aferdita is quite acrobatic.
[14:32] Tricia Aferdita: wee :)
[14:32] Viv Trafalgar: Well done miss
[14:32] Rowan Derryth: I will not dissemble: it was a challenge to find a proper Aesthetic Dress. There are many wonderful examples of Victorian dresses out there - in fact I see several examples today! But dresses which adhere to the tenets put forth by the Aesthetes were difficult to find, and in the end I was only able to cobble together two dresses from the separates section of the wonderful Pixel Dolls line.
[14:32] Rowan Derryth laughs
[14:32] Rowan Derryth: Yes, great entrance
[14:32] Rowan Derryth: Miss Tricia Aferdita is wearing would I might call an earlier version of Aesthetic Dress, one inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites. It is inspired by medieval costume, but it still close fitting and in a single piece (in appearance), much like the dress in Millais’ painting of Mariana, seen here - a dress which Millais designed and had his mother construct. Many of the dresses in Pre-Raphaelite paintings are the combination of historical study and Victorian imagination.
[14:32] Darlingmonster Ember: lovely
[14:33] Serafina Puchkina: oh, so nice!
[14:33] Rowan Derryth: Mariana is in the Pre-Raphaelite slide to the left
[14:33] ChaCha Hummingly: Wonderful
[14:33] Rowan Derryth: My dress is modelled after the Aesthetic Teagowns of the 1880s. A teagown was of course, originally, a more informal gown which one wore at home, when she was receiving intimate friends for tea. However Aesthetic ladies wore them in public - usually to events like art gallery ‘private shows’. This was of course shocking at first, but as it was done my ladies of status, it was of course accepted, and ultimately adopted by many social climbers.
[14:34] Rowan Derryth: You may note that both these gowns hug the figure, showing the natural line of the body. The sleeves on my gown are snug, but should not be overly tight to allow comfort and freedom of movement. Puffs of fabric were often utilized to help with this, such as on m lower sleeve. Also important were the choice of sensuous fabrics. Miss Aferdita and I are both in velvet, and my dress also uses a light silk chiffon. Our colour choices of fawn and moss are also more natural than the garish, chemical aniline dyes that many Victorian dresses exhibited.
[14:34] Rowan Derryth: There are other wonderful designers, though, who seem inspired by the spirit of Aestheticism and alternative modes of Victorian dress. For example, Miss Viv Trafalgar’s Wollstonecraft gown is not only very serviceable, but is named after a wonderful radical reformer, and for this it meets my approval! Also, Miss Terry Lightfoot makes a wonderful dress that is directly taken from the pattern of the designer Walter Crane. However, her versions have been made in a rather gothic black and red, and as well in a ‘Lady Bathory’ - a wonderful white gown spattered in blood. Aesthetic - and dangerous!
[14:35] Rowan Derryth: Miss Trafalgar, are you wearing it?
[14:35] Rowan Derryth: Perhaps you can stand before us too if you are.
[14:35] Viv Trafalgar: I believe so?
[14:35] Viv Trafalgar: I sure hope so
[14:35] Viv Trafalgar: otherwise....
[14:35] Bookworm Hienrichs laughs.
[14:35] Darlingmonster Ember: grins
[14:35] Rowan Derryth laughs
[14:35] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: You do appear dressed.
[14:35] Rowan Derryth: This brings me to then end of my talk, and I thank you all for indulging me. I am happy to answer any questions you may have, and hope you have enjoyed yourselves, as well as learned what you might do to make your homes - and lives - ‘Palaces of Art.’ Thank you!
[14:35] Linus Lacombe: `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[14:36] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:36] Tricia Aferdita: ''*·.¸ APPLAUSE ¸.·*``
[14:36] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:36] Serafina Puchkina applauds
[14:36] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[14:36] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:36] Mahakala Omegamu claps loudly!
[14:36] Victor1st Mornington cheers
[14:36] Stephen Petrovic: applauds
[14:36] Aisling Sinclair applauds
[14:36] Rowan Derryth: Thank you, and special thanks to Miss Aferdita.
[14:36] Darlingmonster Ember: wonderful
[14:36] Viv Trafalgar: Thank you Miss Derryth for a very enlightening talk! Thank you Miss Aferdita!
[14:36] Tricia Aferdita curtsies
[14:36] ChaCha Hummingly: Yes!
[14:36] Viv Trafalgar: If there are questions, please say so and we'll moderate
[14:36] Blackberry Harvey: Very informative!
[14:36] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: And that for Frau Lowey, who could not be here today.
[[14:37] Rowan Derryth: Thanks you so much.
[14:37] Bookworm Hienrichs grins at the Baron.
[14:37] KlausWulfenbach Outlander grins back
[14:37] Eliza Wierwight: ~ applauds~ thanks Rowan
[14:37] Rowan Derryth: Again, I realize I didn't say much about gentleman's dress, and can do if people have questions on that.
[14:38] Glaubrius Valeska: And I'm twice removed from Oscar Wilde, he didnt mind, why he just smiled
[14:38] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[14:38] Viv Trafalgar: Darlingmonster, do you have a question? Please ask it
[14:38] Darlingmonster Ember: thank you
[14:38] Darlingmonster Ember: wonderful presentation
[14:38] Darlingmonster Ember: the picture of victorians and aethetics mixing
[14:38] Rowan Derryth: Thank you
[14:38] Darlingmonster Ember: were the two very at odds socially?
[14:38] Rowan Derryth: The Frith
[14:38] Rowan Derryth: No...
[14:38] Darlingmonster Ember: or did they mix a lot? or did they mix a lot?
[14:39] Rowan Derryth: Well, they are all Victorians... with different styles of dress really
[14:39] Rowan Derryth: Those who were of an artistic bent, either as practitioners or patrons, might dress in these fashions
[14:39] Darlingmonster Ember: ah... thank you
[14:39] Linus Lacombe's hand goes up
[14:40] Rowan Derryth: Mister Lacombe?
[14:40] Linus Lacombe: The gowns you and Ms Afterdita are wearing...they seem reminicent some how gowns I have seen depicted in photos from the 1910s. Is there any validity in my obervation?
[14:40] Rowan Derryth: Hmmm. You mean Edwardian gowns?
[14:40] Serafina Puchkina: Interesting question
[14:40] Linus Lacombe: I suppose Edwardian...does the period run that late in time?
[14:40] Rowan Derryth: Well, it is difficult, as the dresses here are of course inspired by several ages...
[14:41] Mahakala Omegamu raises a hand
[14:41] Rowan Derryth: Yes, Edwardian is post-Victorian.. They are somewhat similar, but there is a return to an Empire waist for a time...
[14:41] Viv Trafalgar: Yes, M. Omegamu?
[14:41] Rowan Derryth: But you are correct in the line of the dress, and the lack of bustle
[14:42] PJ Trenton sings...do the bustle....
[14:42] Viv Trafalgar: hahaha pj
[14:42] Eliza Wierwight: lol
[14:42] Mahakala Omegamu: I was wondering if you can explain bohemianism a bit, how the victorians viewed it? how their influence was spread differently than the victorians ( who I'm imagining were just the upper crust of society? )
[14:42] Darlingmonster Ember: groans
[14:42] Rowan Derryth narrows her eyes at Mister Trenton, the snickers
[14:42] PJ Trenton couldn't resist
[14:42] Rowan Derryth: Ah, good question
[14:42] Rowan Derryth: Well of course I didn't ahve time to discuss France
[14:42] Rowan Derryth: But...
[14:43] Wildstar Beaumont: time to go for me ... good night all ... thank you Miss Rowan
[14:43] Viv Trafalgar: Thank you Mr. Beaumont!
[14:43] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Gute Nacht, Captain.
[14:43] Rowan Derryth: Like anything, if those of a certain class did it, then.. well you could sort of look away
[14:43] Linus Lacombe: Good night, Captain Beaumont
[14:43] Rowan Derryth: But...
[14:43] Bookworm Hienrichs: Good evening, Captain.
[14:43] Serafina Puchkina: Good Evening, Captain
[14:43] Rowan Derryth: Though Queen Victoria and Prince ALbert were great patrons of the arts and design...
[14:43] Saffia Widdershins: Goodnight Cap'n
[14:43] Rowan Derryth: She warned her daughter, Princess Louise...
[14:43] ChaCha Hummingly: Thank you so much.
[14:43] Rowan Derryth: Who was a sculptress, and who GOdwin built a studio for...
[14:43] Saffia Widdershins: and congratulations on Fleet Week!
[14:44] Rowan Derryth: To be careful of those artistic types
[14:44] Linus Lacombe snickers
[14:44] Darlingmonster Ember: nods
[14:44] Eliza Wierwight: oh my
[14:44] Aisling Sinclair: indeed
[14:44] Rowan DerrythRowan Derryth grins
[14:44] Stephen Petrovic: sound advice indeed
[14:44] Eliza Wierwight: ~squirms~
[14:44] Rowan Derryth: You could be bohemian, but you had to be careful how far you took it, like anything
[14:45] Rowan Derryth: Aestheticism was about the 'Cult of Beauty', but it could certainly lead to decadence
[14:45] Saffia Widdershins: Hello Mr Mornngton!
[14:45] Viv Trafalgar: This certainly has bearing on our community Ms Derryth!
[14:45] Eliza Wierwight: which leads to dancing ?
[14:45] Victor1st Mornington: hello Miss Widdershins! :)
[14:45] Rowan Derryth: Ha, and more
[14:45] Bookworm Hienrichs laughs.
[14:45] Eliza Wierwight: oh my
[14:46] Rowan Derryth: Again, everyone should go read DOrian Grey again
[14:46] Rowan Derryth: Or Du Maurier's Trilby
[14:46] Mahakala Omegamu: Thankyou! :)
[14:46] Eliza Wierwight: I almost know it word for word
[14:46] Rowan Derryth: If you are interested in this, the V&A will be doing a major exhibit on Aestheticism in April, and no doubt there will be much at their website
[14:46] Darlingmonster Ember: delightful subject
[14:47] Rowan Derryth: Maybe even an iPhone app... to be modern about it
[14:47] Darlingmonster Ember: V&A means?
[14:47] Rowan Derryth: sorry
[14:47] Viv Trafalgar: Victoria and Albert Museum
[14:47] Darlingmonster Ember: ah, thank you
[14:47] Rowan Derryth: Victoria and Albert museum, yes
[14:47] Rowan Derryth: You can look up any of the people I've talked about today
[14:48] Rowan Derryth: There have much in their collection
[14:48] Viv Trafalgar: Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you to this magnificent crowd for coming today! Please feel free to stay and talk, and sample the comestibles
[14:48] Viv Trafalgar: Mr. Kiergarten would you put out the craft?
[14:49] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:49] Victor1st Mornington: yay!
[14:49] Viv Trafalgar: We've collaborated on a lilly wearable...
[14:49] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:49] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:49] Rowan Derryth: Thank you again, this was great fun!
[14:49] Aisling Sinclair: .-'`'-. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE .-'`'-.
[14:49] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:49] Linus Lacombe: /aoo
[14:49] Mahakala Omegamu applauds
[14:49] Linus Lacombe: `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[14:49] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[14:49] Aisling Sinclair: very interesting talk, Miss Derryth, thank you!
[14:49] Caladon Rae: `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[14:49] Viv Trafalgar: I hope everyone marks their calendar for next month - the third sunday in December
[14:49] Linus Lacombe: Thank you Mr Kiergarten
[14:50] Jasper Kiergarten: ;p;
[14:50] Viv Trafalgar: and thank you one and all who have supported our fantastic speaker this month, and also to those who support the salon!
[14:50] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, Miss Derryth, for speaking with us today. Thank you, beloved patrons, for your attendance
[14:50] Jasper Kiergarten: sorry linus
[14:50] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: What shall be the subject?
[14:50] Jasper Kiergarten: lol
[14:50] Jasper Kiergarten: meant to drop it on the ground
[14:50] Eliza Wierwight: YAY Miss Derryth ~~ more applause~
[14:50] Rowan Derryth: Yay me!! :-D
[14:50] Eliza Wierwight: yeh lol
[14:50] Tricia Aferdita: yayy :)
[14:50] Bookworm Hienrichs grins.
[14:50] Darlingmonster Ember smiles
[14:50] Viv Trafalgar: Jasper, will you pick up the speakers fund in a moment?
[14:51] Viv Trafalgar: and award the contents to miss Derryth?
[14:51] TAMU Oh: http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/index.html
[14:51] Rowan Derryth: There ya go
[14:51] Rowan Derryth: I'm going to provide the Salonistas with a short bibliography and links for when they post the transcript
[14:51] Serafina Puchkina: If you wish, join the Aether Salon group. The sign is by the door. You may also contribute to the tier if you would like
[14:51] Rowan Derryth: So you can go there for more info
[14:51] Viv Trafalgar: perfect - thank you!
[14:52] Serafina Puchkina: That will be tomorrow. Thank you Miss Derryth
[14:52] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: It's the left-hand button on the poster bottom.
[14:52] Viv Trafalgar: bless you Baron and Sera
[14:52] Viv Trafalgar: I am afraid I'll be abroad next month
[14:52] Serafina Puchkina: I will post edited and unedited transcripts at http://aethersalon.blogspot.com
[14:52] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Danke, Fraulein Trafalgar.
[14:52] Viv Trafalgar: but the salon will be well and in good hands
[14:52] Serafina Puchkina: You can also find pictures of today's salon at the above site
[14:53] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you all
[14:53] Bookworm Hienrichs: Thank you!
[14:53] Viv Trafalgar: thank you everyone!
[14:53] Rowan Derryth: Oh, Saffia!
[14:53] Rowan Derryth: Everyone look..
[14:53] Darlingmonster Ember: huzzah
[14:53] Rowan Derryth: Saffia is wearing the Walter Crane dress Terry Lightfoot made
[14:53] Viv Trafalgar: oh lovely!
[14:53] Rowan Derryth: The goth version ;-)

For further info:
Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery of Art: http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/peacock/default.htm
Cult of Beauty, upcoming exhibit at the V&A: http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/aestheticism/index.html
Whistler: http://www.mr-whistlers-art.info/
E.W. Godwin at the Victorian Web (a great source overall): http://www.victorianweb.org/art/design/godwin/index.html
The Picture of Dorian Gray at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/174

Books:
Charlotte Gere, "Artistic Circles: Design and Decoration in the Aesthetic Movement" (2010)
Elizabeth Prettejohn, "Art for Art's Sake: Aestheticism in Victorian Painting" (2008)