Category Archives: Peerage
Dress-down Friday: Henry Cyril Paget
Paget took the British tradition of aristocratic eccentricity down a back alley and gave it the zhooshing of a lifetime, his extravagant tastes and extraordinary performances setting standards for camp profligacy which have rarely been matched since.
Dress-down Friday: Henry Cyril Paget
Paget took the British tradition of aristocratic eccentricity down a back alley and gave it the zhooshing of a lifetime, his extravagant tastes and extraordinary performances setting standards for camp profligacy which have rarely been matched since.
Benevolent deity (repost)
Rolfe became the archetype of a semi-forgotten literary character, stuffed, labelled and musty in the glass cases of the antiquarian, lauded by a small but fervent group of admirers. It is no coincidence that his three major biographers to date have been bibliophiles.
Benevolent deity (repost)
Rolfe became the archetype of a semi-forgotten literary character, stuffed, labelled and musty in the glass cases of the antiquarian, lauded by a small but fervent group of admirers. It is no coincidence that his three major biographers to date have been bibliophiles.
Slave to love (repost)
In 1837 Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau visited a slave market in Cairo, there catching sight of a near-naked Abyssinian girl of no more than 13 called Mahbuba, “beloved”. He promptly purchased her.
Slave to love (repost)
In 1837 Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau visited a slave market in Cairo, there catching sight of a near-naked Abyssinian girl of no more than 13 called Mahbuba, “beloved”. He promptly purchased her.
“Scholar, connoisseur, drunkard, poet, pervert…” (repost)
The count’s bedroom featured a pentagram over the bed, and there he would smoke opium and play piano late into the night, emerging the next day – late, naturally – in a dressing gown with a snake wrapped around his neck.
“Scholar, connoisseur, drunkard, poet, pervert…” (repost)
The count’s bedroom featured a pentagram over the bed, and there he would smoke opium and play piano late into the night, emerging the next day – late, naturally – in a dressing gown with a snake wrapped around his neck.
Dress-down Friday: Felix Yusupov (repost)
Felix Yusupov was a Russian prince from a stupendously wealthy family, best remembered for his role in the 1916 assassination of Rasputin.
Dress-down Friday: Felix Yusupov (repost)
Felix Yusupov was a Russian prince from a stupendously wealthy family, best remembered for his role in the 1916 assassination of Rasputin.
The countess in the afterlife (repost)
Today, curating one’s own image is a pursuit available to anyone with a Facebook account and a digital camera; this phenomenon arguably began with the Countess de Castiglione in Second Empire France.
The countess in the afterlife (repost)
Today, curating one’s own image is a pursuit available to anyone with a Facebook account and a digital camera; this phenomenon arguably began with the Countess de Castiglione in Second Empire France.
Thin white archduke (repost)
Ludwig was getting reckless and had a reputation for spending hours in the Centralbad, a prestigious complex of Orientalist steam baths, where his (no doubt pruny) hands were apt to wander…
Thin white archduke (repost)
Ludwig was getting reckless and had a reputation for spending hours in the Centralbad, a prestigious complex of Orientalist steam baths, where his (no doubt pruny) hands were apt to wander…
The last Krupp (repost)
The Krupp family, rich and powerful as many a nation state, exemplified the poisoned chalice of vast inherited wealth more than any other; they were the Gettys go gothic. If anything, Visconti was holding back in his thinly-veiled portrayal of the Krupps in the decadent, hysterical The Damned.
The last Krupp (repost)
The Krupp family, rich and powerful as many a nation state, exemplified the poisoned chalice of vast inherited wealth more than any other; they were the Gettys go gothic. If anything, Visconti was holding back in his thinly-veiled portrayal of the Krupps in the decadent, hysterical The Damned.
From the cradle to the grave
“Sleep on, my poor child, sleep;/Why must thou wake again?/Thou art but born into a world of woe,/Of agony, unending, deep,/Of long-protracted pain…”
From the cradle to the grave
“Sleep on, my poor child, sleep;/Why must thou wake again?/Thou art but born into a world of woe,/Of agony, unending, deep,/Of long-protracted pain…”
Potocki de Montalk in verse
“And a little boat with lights green, yellow and red,/Is turned into a magical Chinese/Duck, whose long wake is/A right-triangle…”
Potocki de Montalk in verse
“And a little boat with lights green, yellow and red,/Is turned into a magical Chinese/Duck, whose long wake is/A right-triangle…”
Peer to peer
“The theatre was darkened. There was a roll on the drums and the curtain went up on Lord Anglesey clad in a white silk tunic, a huge diamond tiara on his head, glittering with necklaces, brooches, bracelets and rings. He stood there for a few minutes motionless…”
Peer to peer
“The theatre was darkened. There was a roll on the drums and the curtain went up on Lord Anglesey clad in a white silk tunic, a huge diamond tiara on his head, glittering with necklaces, brooches, bracelets and rings. He stood there for a few minutes motionless…”
The hands of Robert de Montesquiou
Montesquiou’s hands — slim, pale, elegant, well-dressed — were the count himself in manicured microcosm. Portraitists, photographers and caricaturists were all drawn to the expressive richness of the long, tapering fingers, whether adorned with rings, gloves, or nothing but perfumed air.
The hands of Robert de Montesquiou
Montesquiou’s hands — slim, pale, elegant, well-dressed — were the count himself in manicured microcosm. Portraitists, photographers and caricaturists were all drawn to the expressive richness of the long, tapering fingers, whether adorned with rings, gloves, or nothing but perfumed air.
The Marquis
Among the guests at the 18th century-themed ball were “50 princes, 35 marquesses, 95 counts, 20 dukes”, a collision of cluelessness and noblesse of a kind not seen since Louis XVI opened his Filofax on 14 July 1789 and jotted down “rien”.
The Marquis
Among the guests at the 18th century-themed ball were “50 princes, 35 marquesses, 95 counts, 20 dukes”, a collision of cluelessness and noblesse of a kind not seen since Louis XVI opened his Filofax on 14 July 1789 and jotted down “rien”.
The Baron
When Carl Theodor Dreyer’s film Vampyr premiered in Berlin 80 years ago, audiences jeered and a contemporary review noted, among other unfavourable comments, that the vampire theme was already passé.
The Baron
When Carl Theodor Dreyer’s film Vampyr premiered in Berlin 80 years ago, audiences jeered and a contemporary review noted, among other unfavourable comments, that the vampire theme was already passé.
Catching up
Body Sweats, a collection of writings by Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, is a capital B capital D Big Deal in the shadow world of Strange Flowers. I’ve leafed through 2011’s back pages to see what else I’ve missed (or in some cases, forgotten) of the year’s books.
Catching up
Body Sweats, a collection of writings by Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, is a capital B capital D Big Deal in the shadow world of Strange Flowers. I’ve leafed through 2011’s back pages to see what else I’ve missed (or in some cases, forgotten) of the year’s books.
Death of a shrinking violet
There are those who turn their lives into their greatest work. Theodore Wratislaw was not among them. It wasn’t premature death, prison or drugs which claimed Wratislaw after his last volume of verse in 1896. It was the civil service…
Death of a shrinking violet
There are those who turn their lives into their greatest work. Theodore Wratislaw was not among them. It wasn’t premature death, prison or drugs which claimed Wratislaw after his last volume of verse in 1896. It was the civil service…
D’Orsay the artist
Comte d’Orsay combined physical beauty, sparkling wit, the magnetic amour-propre of the dandy as well as a dangerous whiff of Napoleonic adventure and a pre-Revolutionary title, both bequeathed by his general father. It was a heady brew and society fell at his exquisitely-shod feet.
D’Orsay the artist
Comte d’Orsay combined physical beauty, sparkling wit, the magnetic amour-propre of the dandy as well as a dangerous whiff of Napoleonic adventure and a pre-Revolutionary title, both bequeathed by his general father. It was a heady brew and society fell at his exquisitely-shod feet.
Everything all the time
Along with hope and passion came the constant buzzkill of hard-scrabble day-to-day existence. A map showing Reventlow’s various residences in and around Schwabing is as eloquent as any chronicle of this time – it shows no less than 26 different addresses.
Everything all the time
Along with hope and passion came the constant buzzkill of hard-scrabble day-to-day existence. A map showing Reventlow’s various residences in and around Schwabing is as eloquent as any chronicle of this time – it shows no less than 26 different addresses.
The last Krupp
The Krupp family,rich and powerful as many a nation state, exemplified the poisoned chalice of vast inherited wealth more than any other; they were the Gettys go gothic . If anything, Visconti was holding back in his thinly-veiled portrayal of the Krupps in the decadent, hysterical The Damned.
The last Krupp
The Krupp family,rich and powerful as many a nation state, exemplified the poisoned chalice of vast inherited wealth more than any other; they were the Gettys go gothic . If anything, Visconti was holding back in his thinly-veiled portrayal of the Krupps in the decadent, hysterical The Damned.
