Part 8 (1/2)
”Hoping the best--ready the worst to brook, Yet seeking friendly hearts--go forth, my little book.”
”As life is then so short, we should so live and labour that we may have pleasing remembrances to console and cheer us at its close; let us work earnestly and diligently, not only for our own good, but for that of our fellow creatures:--
”Oh! let us live so, that flower by flower, Shutting in turn, may leave A lingerer still, for the sunset hour, A charm for the shaded eve!”
HEMANS.
EXHIBITION OF WAX FRUITS AND FLOWERS, BY MRS. PEACHEY, ARTISTE TO HER MAJESTY.
The following eloquent awards of the press are placed as nearly as possible in the order of their respective dates, but the dates are necessarily omitted.
Mrs. Peachey, artiste to her Majesty, has now on private view at her rooms, 35, Rathbone Place, a superb collection of works intended for the Great Exhibition. They consist princ.i.p.ally of an enormous bouquet of flowers and a colossal vase of fruit, both of which have been executed upon a scale never previously attempted in this country. The flowers are so arranged, that they appear to stand in a basket suspended over the surface of a pool of limpid water, in which the _Victoria Regia_ and other similar plants are already floating. Nothing can be more exquisite or artistic in effect than the manner in which the various flowers are grouped. The bouquet comprises specimens of almost every flower known to the botanist, from the simple honeysuckle of the cottage garden, to the rarest and most valuable exotics of the East.
Some idea of the dimensions of the two princ.i.p.al works may be gathered from the fact, that the shades are nearly six feet high, the largest ever blown in England, and the flowers occupied nearly a year in modelling. It was the intention of Mrs. Peachey to forward these beautiful specimens of her skill to the Great Exhibition, where a prominent place on the ground-floor was a.s.signed to them; but it appears, that, owing to subsequent arrangements, another s.p.a.ce, in one of the galleries, was allotted to her, and not at all adapted to such costly and fragile productions. The heat of the sun, in such an exposed situation, would have damaged the flowers irreparably; and even if this objection did not exist, it would be impossible to have the enormous shades, with their delicate contents, raised by any machinery at command into the desired position. The exhibition is one of so novel and beautiful a character, that it will well repay a visit.--_Morning Post._
The art of making flowers in wax has been brought to a very high degree of perfection by Mrs. Peachey, Her Majesty's artiste. There is not a floral production that she cannot truthfully and delicately reproduce with her kindly material, and she has lately executed a work which we believe defies compet.i.tion in the department to which it belongs. This is an enormous bouquet, containing flowers of the most intricate structure, and supported by a rock, which peers from a lake of the brightest looking gla.s.s, decorated in its turn with waxen aquatic plants. All the flowers were modelled in the first instance from white wax, and the beautiful colours are all produced by painting. The whole group is enclosed by a shade, composed of four gla.s.s plates, so curved as to meet at the top.
The work in question is to be seen in Rathbone Place, but it was the intention of Mrs. Peachey that it should be seen at the Crystal Palace. According to her statement, she was led to believe that she would be allowed a ground-floor situation, but was only allowed a place in the gallery, so exposed to the sun, that the first hot day would have performed a work precisely the reverse of her own labours. Under these circ.u.mstances she has deemed it better that her flowers should blush unseen, than that they should melt away in a halo of visibility.
Into the Crystal controversy it is not our desire to enter, but we would testify to the excellence of Mrs. Peachey's work as being perfect of its kind.--_The Times._
We yesterday inspected a beautiful collection of wax flowers by Mrs.
Peachey, artiste to Her Majesty, now on private view at 35, Rathbone Place. We have seen many specimens of the elegant art of modelling in wax, but without exaggeration we may declare that more magnificent and truthful imitations of nature it has never been our lot to witness. The centre-piece is an immense bouquet of several hundred flowers, of almost every description, and every hue, from the gorgeous scarlet cactus to the virgin-tinted snowdrop, modelled with the closest fidelity, and arranged with exquisite taste. At the foot are models of the glorious water-lily of Guyana, the recently discovered Victoria Regia, in several stages of its development, from the close shut bud with its p.r.i.c.kly calyx to the expanded flower. Some idea of the dimensions of this giant bouquet may be formed from the fact that it stands nearly six feet in height, and that the bent plate-gla.s.s shade with which it is covered alone cost 200.
Next to this in beauty as well as size is a vast group of fruit, fifty inches in height, the shade to which is itself a curiosity, being we believe, the largest for superficial dimensions ever yet blown in England. Besides, there are a number of smaller groups of flowers and fruit, all of singular beauty. We understand that Mrs.
Peachey intended this collection for exhibition at the Crystal Palace; but, owing to some miscomprehension on the part of the commission, they have been reserved for private view. The place a.s.signed to Mrs. Peachey was, we are informed, in one of the galleries, so close to the roof as to render the solar heat too dangerous for the extremely susceptible material of which these articles are composed.--_Morning Advertiser._
Mrs. Peachey, the artiste to her Majesty, has on view at her residence, 35, Rathbone Place, some new examples of her extraordinary skill in wax painting, originally intended for the Exhibition, but not permitted to appear there in consequence of the _locale_ a.s.signed to them being at the top of the building, where, exposed to the action of the sun, they would be in peril of dissolution. The examples consist of two remarkable models--one an enormous and magnificent bouquet, consisting of hundreds of flowers of the most intricate structure and beautiful colouring, as well as the greatest diversity of character. The violet and the _Cactus grandiflora_, with the water-lily of Guiana, and the newly discovered _Victoria regia_, form part of this exquisite group.
All the flowers were modelled separately from white wax, and the colours afterwards superinduced. The bouquet stands six feet in height, and is covered with a bent gla.s.s shade. The other model is a group of fruitage, covered with a gla.s.s shade more than four feet high, and nearly three feet across, being the largest ever yet blown in England. It was manufactured from designs supplied by Mrs.
Peachey herself, and cost 200. Nothing can be more picturesque or artistic than these models: full of wonderful detail which it is impossible to pursue, and implying a marvellous amount of labour and ingenuity, they lead us to regret that any misunderstanding should have led to their absence from the Crystal Palace.--_Ill.u.s.trated London News._
Ever willing to extend our protecting aegis to the weak and unsupported, we feel ourselves called upon at the present juncture to step into the arena as the defenders of several meritorious individuals whom we conceive to have met with the most unworthy treatment in regard to the exhibition, or rather the non-exhibition of their productions of art in the Crystal Palace. We have received a number of communications from artists of first-rate talent, complaining of the exercise of undue influence in official quarters, but we have been more immediately led into an investigation of the circ.u.mstances connected therewith, by a communication from Mrs.
Peachey, of No. 35, Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, artiste in wax to Her Majesty. That lady's statement is nearly as follows:--that about twelve months ago, when the erection of the building in Hyde Park was spoken of, and the nature of its contents mentioned, she, feeling anxious to prove to the world that the very high and royal patronage she enjoyed was not unmerited, sent in her subscription of five guineas towards the construction of the building, and intimated her intention of sending in some specimens of her own works. She was immediately a.s.signed a most elegant site for her display on the ground floor, in the avenue near the fountain.
Nothing could be more consonant to her wishes, and she forthwith sent in her pedestals and minor portions of framework, etc. Some time since, however, on questioning this gentleman as to the certainty of her getting the desired position, she was astonished at being told she must send her articles to No. 29, _in the gallery_.
This she refused to do, and the consequence has been that the Exhibition has been deprived of some of its rarest specimens of art.
The reason Mrs. Peachey a.s.signs for not sending her works to the gallery is the impracticability of their being carried up stairs without being, from their extreme fragility, seriously injured, perhaps mutilated. Even were they to be slung up by tackle, she says they would be subject to the same risk, and her two princ.i.p.al works, viz.--an enormous bouquet of the most exquisitely modelled flowers, and a gigantic vase of fruit, she values at no less a sum than 1000.--_Sunday Times._
A visit to Rathbone-place, is a stepping from the ordinary exhibitions of mere art to a miniature garden, in which may be seen grouped together the beautiful flowers and fruits of every season and every clime. We shall not attempt to describe with too nice minuteness the wonderful creations of this gifted lady's hand, but freely give our impressions as they came on our inspection of these completions--these perfections of art.