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Article extrait du magazine "A l'Exposition" de 1900

Situé entre la Hongrie et la Belgique, le Pavillon est, par sa façade du nord, une reproduction de la façade du Hall de Bradford-sur-Avon, et par sa façade sud, une restitution fidèle du King’s House. L’entrée principale, rue des Nations, est imposante, et d’un haut style, avec son double escalier de pierre aboutissant à une entrée monumentale au-dessus de laquelle — souvenir des âges disparus — un cadran solaire étend ses lignes grêles.


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Dans l’intérieur, un vestibule magnifique, Entrance hall, enrichi de tapisseries d’après Burne-Jones, conduit le visiteur à travers les splendeurs du manoir.


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Ici, comme au Pavillon américain, nulle exposition particulière, ou plutôt tout l’édifice lui-même est une exposition grandiose de l’art anglais dans son application au confortable du « home ». Voici le drawing-room, large, spacieux, éclairé de hautes fenêtres à petits carreaux de plomb, à la mode de l’autre côté de la Manche. Une vaste cheminée monumentale tranche sur les hautes boiseries de chêne, et des toiles de Turner et de Hoppner mettent une note d’art noble sur les tentures. S. M. Victoria a envoyé ici deux tableaux de sa galerie particulière: les portraits des princesses Mary et Sophia. Dans le saloon voisin, cinq Burne-Jones, cinq chefs-d’œuvre, font un musée où tous les fervents d’art pur, tous les Préraphaélites viendront s’enthousiasmer devant le Laus Veneris et la Sybille. D’une grande allure aussi, la salle à manger, the dining-room. L’admirable chose que le vieux chêne sculpté, et les effets grandioses qu’on en peut tirer!...


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Par un escalier, toujours en chêne et que je vous recommande — très beau, le portrait du général Honeywood qui le décore! — on atteint à l’étage supérieur et à la Long Gallery; 17 toiles y présentent, comme un raccourci, trop sommaire, de la peinture anglaise : Hogarth, Gainsborough, Romney et Reynold y sont représentés. La vue erre, indécise et charmée, des tableaux d’un coloris si particulier, au panorama que, des fenêtres, on embrasse sur la Seine, et par delà, vers les Champs-Elysées.


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Ce palais, dont M. le commissaire général, le colonel Jekyll, et les organisateurs ont le droit d’être fiers, est décidément le triomphe du chêne! De l’entrée au faîte de l’édifice, il s’étale, superbe, dans l’ameublement. Même les deux chambres à coucher, bed-rooms sont en chêne. Et elles sont d’une beauté solide, d’un'e grandeur durable qui impressionne: — l’une avec ses deux lits jumeaux et, peints en tapisserie, les portraits des grands héros des romans de la Table Ronde, ses vieux meubles, l’autre, désignée sous le nom de chambre du prince de Galles, plus sévère encore, avec son ameublement sculpté et la couleur jaune pâle des boiseries, et les hiboux qui veillent, méfiants, sur la cheminée tout en cuivre.

Extract of book "The Royal Pavilion - Paris International Exhibition, 1900"


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THE LONG GALLERY.

The Long Gallery, the principal apartment in the house, was I adapted from the famous Cartoon Gallery at Knole. It occupied the whole width of the building, and was about 75 feet long, by 20 feet wide, and 18 feet high. The oak floor was covered with antique Persian rugs. The monumental chimney-piece was copied from one at Knole. The ceiling, which was decorated with a rich rib-work pattern, with floral ornamentation in the spaces, was modelled in very high relief in plaster lrom the ceiling of the Cartoon Gallery at Knole.


The mullioned windows were glazed with small leaded panes, and in order that the room might be as complete as possible every detail of the stately gallery at Knole was followed with extraordinary care. The original fire-grate and dogs, the silver sconces upon the walls, the chandeliers, mirrors, silver tables, etc., as reproduced by Messrs. Elkington for the Victoria and Albert Museum, found an appropriate place.

The treatment of the walls consisted of a low oak dado with strap ornament decoration of the Jacobean period, broken at intervals by carved oak pilasters. The dado was surmounted by a cut pile damask in deep red on a ground of old gold. A handsome frieze decorated the window side of the gallery. The doorways had semicircular tops of carved stone, and the tapestry of the walls was brought up to finish at the stonework in a way often seen in old country houses. The eighteenth century lead figures, both here and on the terraces, were lent by Mr. J. H. Fitzhenry.

The fifteen pictures in the Tong Gallery were amongst the finest in the entire collection ; every one was a masterpiece. Gainsborough, whom Ruskin described as the purest colourist of the whole English school, was here seen as a landscapist as well as a portrait painter. In his lifetime he was regarded as a portrait painter only; and it was left to a later and, perhaps, a more appreciative age to recognise his great talent as a master of landscape. In this gallery also Constable was shown to a nation which has always held him in highest honour.

Gainsborough’s "The Harvest Waggon,” lent by Lord Tweed-mouth, is a grand landscape, and recalls “ The Market Cart,” by the same master in the National Gallery. The driver is stopping his team to take up a girl. This girl was one of the artist’s daughters, afterwards Mrs. Fulcher, and the figure in the cart looking at the man drinking was the other.

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Extract of book "The Royal Pavilion - Paris International Exhibition, 1900"


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THE STAIRWAY AND GALLERY.


The Grand Staircase was an effective feature, and was cleverly I adapted by the architect from a staircase at Knole. Its fine screen was in two tiers of triple arcades, the spandrels and soffits of which were filled with ornamental strap-work, the quaint carving of the Jacobean period appearing in the grotesque figures and the newel tops in the form of heraldic animals.

At the foot of the staircase, in a bank of flowers, stood a east from the admirable and life-like bust of Queen Victoria by Mr. E. Onslow Ford, R.A., one of the very few busts for which Her Majesty gave several sittings. It was begun at Osborne in February, 1898, and was continued at Windsor. It was Mr. Ford’s original intention to use it as a study for another work (his Manchester statue), but the Queen viewed it with much favour and wished to have it as a bust in the Castle. This was done, and Her Majesty, as recently as a fortnight before her death, presented replicas in marble or bronze to various friends and members of the Royal Family. Replicas of the bust ma}' also be seen in various provincial cities and institutions of the United Kingdom.

Of the nine pictures decorating the walls of the Grand Staircase, three were by Gainsborough, and included the remarkable portrait of General Hollywood. It is the largest work by that master, and has the reputation of being the finest equestrian portrait ever painted by an Englishman, rivalling Van Dyck’s “Charles I.” in the National Gallery, with which it has more than once been compared. The Honywoods were an old Kentish family, deriving their origin from a place called Henewood or Hunewood, in the parish of Postling in Kent, where they held lands not long after the Conquest, and retained them until 1605.


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Extract of book "The Royal Pavilion - Paris International Exhibition, 1900"


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THE DRAWING-ROOM.

THE Drawing-room, designed, decorated, and furnished in the style of the period of James I., was a handsome room, with doors of carved oak, and walls hung with red silk, which afforded an appropriate background for the pictures. The ceiling was copied from the famous one at Broughton Castle, the moulds for which were provided by the Victoria and Albert Museum. The chimney-piece was reproduced from one in the Cartoon Gallery at Knole, by permission of Lord Sackville.


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Extract of book "The Royal Pavilion - Paris International Exhibition, 1900"


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THE DINING-ROOM.

THE Dining-room was panelled in oak from floor lo ceiling, and I ihc panelling was relieved by pilasters and carved frieze. The ceiling was a reproduction of one at Knole. Eleven magnificent pictures decorated the room, of which the five following were by Sir Joshua Reynolds: “Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick,” daughter of John, Earl of Upper Ossory, and of Anne Liddell, his wife, some time Duchess of Grafton. She died unmarried. The picture represents her as “Collina" standing on a hill, with flowers at her feet, in a simple white dress, the skirts gathered up at the waist. It was painted in 1779 for the Earl of Upper Ossory, who was an intimate friend of Sir Joshua, and has been engraved five times. It was lent by Sir Charles Tennant. This portrait bears a striking resemblance to “Robinetta" in the National Gallery, although it is thought that the latter is a stud}' of the lion. Mrs. Tollemache.

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Extract of book "The Royal Pavilion - Paris International Exhibition, 1900"


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THE LIBRARY.

To the right of the Hall was a Library, fitted up and furnished by the Corporation of the City of Bath. Oak panelling in
the style of the seventeenth century, with a deep carved frieze, decorated the walls. The ceiling was copied from one of the ceilings of The Hall, and the high-backed chairs were reproduced from seventeenth century chairs in the possession of the Earl of Westmorland.

The panels of the painted frieze illustrated various royal visits to the city, and these were framed in decoration of strap-work pattern from the designs of Major Davis, F.S.A., the city architect

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Extract of book "The Royal Pavilion - Paris International Exhibition, 1900"

THE CORRIDOR.

The Mezzotint Engravings.

IN the Corridor were hung some exceedingly fine mezzotint engravings by English artists, a portion of Lord Cheylesmore’s admirable collection.

The British School of Mezzotint Engraving has a great reputation abroad, so that it was a happy idea to show some of the best examples in the Royal Pavilion. Nine of its most famous exponents were here represented, viz., James MacArdell, Valentine Green, John Dixon, Thomas Watson, R. Dunkarton, John Jones, W. Dickinson, J. R. Smith, and W. Ward.

During the last year or two appreciation of the engraver’s art has wonderfully grown, and the market value set upon it has risen very rapidly. Formerly it was thought that a record price had been reached when a good example of “The Ladies Waldegrave," after Reyrnolds, by Val. Green, realised the sum of 580 guineas.

More recently, however, a print of “ Lady Bamfylde," after Reynolds, b}' T. Watson, brought 880 guineas in a public auction room, but even that price has been eclipsed by the sum of 1,000 guineas paid for the engraving of “The Duchess of Rutland," after Reynolds, by Val. Green, and of 1,160 guineas paid for a fine copy of “Mrs. Carnac,” after Reynolds, by J. R. Smith. Examples of all these engravings will be found in the following pages.


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Extract of book "The Royal Pavilion - Paris International Exhibition, 1900"

THE SALOON.


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THE decoration and fittings of the apartment known as the Saloon were, perhaps, more Elizabethan than Jacobean in character, but were nevertheless admirable. The walls were panelled with oak, and the doors and spandrels were carved or inlaid. The mantel-piece was of carved oak, with carved stone linings, and was a fine example of its kind. It was, in fact, a worthy apartment in which to show the pictures of Burne-Jones at his best, for here were assembled his “Cupid and Psyche," lent by Mr. Alexander Henderson, his superb “ Laus Veneris," "St. George," “Angel of the Martyrs," and “The Delphic Sibyl," all lent by Sir William Agnew. “ Laus Veneris,” in particular, was greatly admired by' the French and other foreign visitors, who were deeply interested in these examples of pre-Raphaelite art. The pictures are all well known, but a short description of them may-still be acceptable.

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Extract of book "The Royal Pavilion - Paris International Exhibition, 1900"


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ENTRANCE HALL.

THE main entrance was by a porch on the south side, leading directly into the Hall, the floor of which was laid with squares of black and white marble. The walls were panelled to a height of 5ft. with a simple but well-designed oak dado, and at the entrance door was fixed a screen, characteristic of the period, the pilasters, frieze, and finial crestings being elaborately wrought in strap-work pattern.

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Extract of book "The Royal Pavilion - Paris International Exhibition, 1900"

To Mr. Edwin Lutyens, architect, was confided the task of designing the Pavilion, and the construction of the building was undertaken by Messrs. John Aird and Sons. The framework, which was of steel, of which upwards of 310 tons were used, was designed by Sir Benjamin Baker. The floors were of concrete, and the outer walls of corrugated steel and plaster. It was, in fact, as remarkable for its solidity and fireproof construction as for the richness and the artistic merit of its contents.

The interior was admirably adapted to exhibition requirements, and gave an impression of luxury and refinement as well as a sense of habitable comfort.

The overcrowding of the pavilions told more seriously upon this little Manor House than upon any other, and no information respecting its neighbours could be obtained before the designs were made. Yet. in spite of the disadvantages of position and environment under which it suffered, the building retained much of its stately and homely charm, and held its own among its ornate and palatial neighbours.

The Royal Pavilion Committee deemed it expedient to confine the collection to pictures of the eighteenth century, partly in view of the limited space at their disposal and partly on account of the exceptional interest which the British school of that period excites in France at the present time. The only exception made was in favour of the works of Sir E. Burne-Jones, five important examples of which were shown together in the Saloon. The collection was obtained b}r loan, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales taking a strong personal interest in the project, without which it is doubtful whether it would have been possible to form so remarkable a collection.



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To the majority of the French public this collection came as a revelation. The loan collection which adorned the Dining-room, the Staircase, the Long Gallery, and the Drawing-room, was representative of all that is most illustrious in English Art; it was selected with signal taste and judgment, and would bear comparison with any other in the Exhibition.

The Royal Pavilion contained fifty masterpieces by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Romney, Hoppner, Raeburn, Hogarth, Turner, Constable, Morland, Bonington, Opie, and Lawrence, as well as works by Burne-Jones, mezzotint engravings, etc.