2010 – Page 17 – The History Blog

Gondolas apply for UNESCO World Heritage status

October 12, 2010

Medieval, Modern(ish), Renaissance, Social policy

Venice is launching a campaign to have gondolas, the traditional flat-bottomed boats rowed down the canals of Venice, added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Venice itself is already a UNESCO World Heritage site, as are most Italian art cities, but the Intangible Cultural Heritage list seeks to bring attention to endangered cultural elements, like languages, arts, social practices, festivals and traditional crafts.

The gondola qualifies as that last one. The first documented reference to gondolas is in a letter from a Venetian Republic official written in 1094 and although elements of their design changed over the next thousand years — they varied in size, had little cabins on top for privacy, were sumptuously decorated — gondolas have been a carefully regulated hand-made craft ever since. The black paint convention has been in place since 1562, when the elaborate baroque decorations that were the fashion at the time inspired a sumptuary law compelling all gondole to don a dignified black and limit all embellishments to stern ornament, a pair of seahorses and the multi-pronged ferro at the prow.

The first architectural drawing of a gondola was created by a naval artist in 1768. The gondolas made today are almost the same, expect for one interesting change that took place in the late 19th century: the left side is is 10 inches longer than the other. This compensates for the weight of the gondolier and helps tighten turns in the snug and crowded canals. Traditionally made gondolas have 280 components and are made out of eight types of wood (lime, larch, oak, fir, cherry, walnut, elm and mahogany), plus a beech oar.

The problem is the craft is in danger. One basic gondola costs $30,000 and in this day of speedboats, gondolas are no longer the quotidian transportation vessel in Venice, but are instead almost entirely peopled by tourists. When gondolas ruled the canals, peaking in the late 18th century, there were 10,000 of them working the water. Now there are 800. Even worse, cheap plastic imitations are coming down the pike.

The city’s gondoliers’ association says it takes months of painstaking work to make an authentic gondola and that plans by a shipyard in Brindisi in southern Italy to start producing weather-resistant plastic and fibreglass replicas are “outrageous”.

There are fears that plastic gondolas on the canals and backwaters would push the city further down the path of becoming a pastiche, theme park version of itself. Last year, the provincial government opposed the idea of introducing plastic poles to replace the wooden stakes guiding the gondolas for this reason.

“Safeguarding the tradition of the gondola, of the materials used to build it, is fundamental, given that we recently heard that a shipyard is thinking of making them out of plastic,” said Aldo Reato, the president of the gondoliers’ association. “Whatever can be done to safeguard the tradition is positive.”

Along with the gondola, Venice plans to submit its famous Carnival, lace-making on the island of Burano and glass-blowing on the island of Murano to the Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Lost Vivaldi concerto found in Scotland

October 11, 2010

Modern(ish), Treasures

Southampton University musicologist Andrew Woolley was looking through a collection of papers from the Marquesses of Lothian family bought by the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh in 1991 when he found a reference to an unnamed Vivaldi score among the papers. When he tracked down the referenced score, Woolley realized that it was the only known copy of a flute concerto called “Il Gran Mogol,” one of a quartet of national concertos all of which were thought lost.

Although the title and composer’s name were clearly marked on the score and even in the archive’s catalogue, nobody realized what a treasure they had until Woolley, a Vivaldi expert, made the connection.

Vivaldi wrote the quartet of concertos in the late 1720s or early 30s. “Il Gran Mogol” was about India, then ruled by the Mughal Empire. Along with the other three — “La Francia” (France), “La Spagna” (Spain), and “L’Inghilterra” (England) — the concertos may have been written as a nationality-themed counterpart of Vivaldi’s most famous work, “The Four Seasons”.

The document in the National Archives is a published copy from the period of its composition, not the original manuscript, but the last time a reference to published versions of this work appear in the historical record is in the catalogue of a Dutch bookseller in 1759. The fact that copies were still in circulation then suggests that the piece was being performed, but after that, it just faded away.

So how did one solitary score find its way to Scotland? Woolley has researched its possible path for 4 months since he found it in April of this year, and he thinks a flute-playing scion of the Lothian family brought it back home after his Grand Tour.

Il Gran Mogol score was collected in the 1730s by Lord Robert Kerr, the son of the third Marquis of Lothian, during a “grand tour” of continental Europe. On that tour, Kerr, a flautist, is also believed to have acquired three pieces found in the same folder as the concerto.

He died at Culloden in 1746 fighting for government forces against the Jacobites. His whereabouts between 1732 and 1739, when he was commissioned in the army, are not recorded.

Woolley said it was highly likely Kerr went on a cultural tour of Europe, taking in places such as Italy, Germany, France and the Low Countries. “That would have given him the opportunity, like many British gentlemen of the 18th century, to acquire souvenirs of the trip such as the manuscript of a wonderful flute concerto by Vivaldi,” he said.

The score was almost complete, but it was missing the part for the second violin, so Woolley recreated it using a similar concerto that he thinks may have been in part derived from the earlier “Il Gran Mogol”. Now that there’s a working version, the score will be played for the first time in 250 years at a concert in Perth in January.

Here’s a teaser to tide you over until then. This is a small piece of the found Vivaldi concerto played by a flautist at the press conference revealing the find on Friday.

“Il Gran Mogol” by Antonio Vivaldi

Lovely, isn’t it?

Complete set of gilt silver playing cards from 1616

October 10, 2010

Renaissance, Treasures

There are only 4 similar sets of Renaissance silver playing card known in the world, and this is the only complete one. The engraved and gilt silver cards were made in Augsburg, Germany, by Michael Frömmer in 1616. They’re the Italian deck – ace through 10, plus knaves, knights and kings in suits of coins, cups, sticks and swords.

They weren’t made for actual playing, though, but rather for a wealthy owner to display in an elaborate curio cabinet much like this one, which was also made in 17th century Augsburg.

These cards, according to family tradition, were given to Josefa Oribe y Viana de Contucci, ancestor of the present owner, by Infanta Carlota Joaquina of Spain (1775-1830). Princess Carlota was daughter of King Carlos IV and, as wife of King João of Portugal, Princess of Portugal and Brazil. During Napoleonic struggles, Carlota was exiled to Brazil with the Portuguese Court. When Napoleon forced her father to abdicate in Spain, she became claimant to the throne of Spain and Spanish America. Following the patriotic revolution in Buenos Aires in 1810, she ordered Portuguese-Brazilian troops into Montevideo to protect the interests of the Spanish monarchy. Carlota’s emissary in South America and the director of her military efforts there was Felipe Contucci. Carlota presented these cards to Contucci’s wife, and they descended to the present owner as follows:

Doña Josefa de Oribe y Viana (b. 13 September 1789), wife of Felipe Contucci, emissary of Princess Carlota in South America

Agustina Contucci y Oribe, daughter of Doña Josefa and wife of General Manuel Ceferino de Oribe y Viana (1792-1857), President of Uruguay 1835-1838, then by direct descent to the present owner

The set will go on sale at Christie’s Important Silver sale on October 19. The estimated sale price is $150,000-250,000 (a sum I can’t help but point out is far smaller than the what the Turner and Delahaye Roadster ending up going for).

Given the exquisite provenance, Michael Frömmer’s renown as maker of silver card sets including a French-suited deck that is part of the Pomeranian Kunstschrank, the most famous curiosity cabinet of the era, and it’s complete beauty, I would expect that estimate to be well exceeded.

Gilt silver Italian-suited playing cards by Michael Frömmer of Augsburg, 1616

I would love to play a rousing game of Scopa with that set, curio cabinet be damned.

Bulgarian museums fight over Thracian gold

October 9, 2010

Ancient, Museums, Social policy, Treasures

The Panagyurishte Gold Treasure is a group of 9 gold vessels from the late 4th/early 3rd century B.C. Thrace that was discovered outside the town of Panagyurishte in the province of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1949. Three brothers, Pavel, Petko and Michail Deikovs, were digging clay for the production of bricks at the nearby Merul tile factory when they found what they thought were funny looking wind instruments. They didn’t even realize the strange “whistles” were made of gold, but they brought them to the mayor’s office where officials called in specialists from the Plovdiv Archeological Museum to examine the artifacts.

The “wind instruments” turned out to be gold rhytons, intricately drinking vessels in the shape of a bull’s horn with an open pouring end and a drinking spout at the pointed end, hence the Deikovs brothers’ confusing them for the kinds of horns you blow on. There were 4 rhytons in the set, 2 carved in the shape of rams’ heads, 1 carved in the shape of a deer’s head, the last shaped like the head, torso and front legs of a he-goat. The remaining 5 pieces were 3 decanters in the form of an amazon head, a shallow dish called a phiale decorated with a concentric circle design of African heads and acorns, and a large amphora with fighting centaur handles and carved Greek mythological reliefs, including scenes from Hercules’ life and the Trojan War.

The total weight in the set is 6 kg (13.2 lb) of 23-karat gold. The weight of each piece is marked in Greek drachmae and Persian darics. The marks are similar to ones found on Hellenistic gold artifacts from Lampsak, a Hellenic colony on the southern Black Sea in what is today Turkey. Archaeologists think they may have been commissioned from Lampsak goldsmiths by Thracian king Seuthes III. Alternatively, the goldsmiths may have been Hellenic-trained local artisans. Other high quality gold pieces have been found in the area, so the latter explanation has gained more currency lately.

Anyway, this is one of the most famous and precious Thracian finds. The Panagyurishte Treasure has traveled the world, most recently last year in Japan. When it’s at home in Bulgaria, it is part of the permanent collection of the National History Museum in Sofia. It’s scheduled to tour the US in 2 months, but between now and then, the Treasure is on display at the Plovdiv Archaeological Museum. It arrived under heavy guard on Friday, and now Plovdiv’s Mayor, Slavcho Atanasov, doesn’t want to let it go.

“That’s it, now that it is in, we are not letting it go. We will guard it with human chains,” vowed Atanasov who claims that the treasure found in the town of Panagyurishte, which is technically in the Plovdiv District, belongs to the Plovdiv Museum, and not to the National History Museum in Sofia.

Bozhidar Dimitrov, Bulgaria’s current Diaspora Minister and former head of the National History Museum, has slammed the agreement between the national museum and the museum in Plovdiv, under which the people of Plovdiv should be able to enjoy the treasure for 2 months.

“I would never give the Panagyurishte Gold Treasure to a regional museum. It is Bulgaria’s greatest asset as far as its cultural heritage is concerned,” Dimitrov said.

The agreement, however, has been approved by Bulgaria’s Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov, who is in charge of the museums.

“Who is the Minister of Culture – Bozhidar Dimitrov or I?” Rashidov has told the media, who also said that in two months the Panagyurishte Gold Treasure is going to be put on display in the USA.

Atanasov doesn’t have a problem in principle with the Treasure going on display abroad; he just wants it on his turf whenever it’s in the country. The internecine tug of war could put a spanner in the works, though, since Mayor Atanasov has threatened to give the Sofia museum the copies the Plovdiv museum usually has on display and keep the real thing.

The Panagyurishte Gold used to be on display in Plovdiv, but it was removed in 1974 by Sofia authorities because they claimed Plovdiv didn’t have the proper security to keep it safe. Since then the Treasure has been around the world, but this is the first time it’s been back to Plovdiv in 36 years. The Plovdiv Museum has a brand new security system now, more state-of-the-art than the National History Museum’s, says Atanasov, and the gold has remained officially part of the Plovdiv’s Museum inventory all this time, so as far as he’s concerned, the Treasure should stay.

My prediction is the Panagyurishte Gold will be winging its way to the US in 2 months and Sofia will get its way in the end, but who knows? Stay tuned for more exciting Bulgarian museum melodrama.

Camp Lawton artifacts on display

October 8, 2010

Modern(ish), Museums, Treasures

The wealth of artifacts discovered at the Confederate prison of Camp Lawton this summer are going on display starting tomorrow at the Georgia Southern University Museum. The exhibit will run until May 1st of next year.

Archaeologists weren’t expecting to find much more than evidence of the temporary structure — postholes from the stockade, for instance — but because the prison was evacuated in a rush on the run from Sherman’s troops, prisoners had to leave many of their belongings behind. After the war, the location was neglected and forgotten, then it was a protected government hatchery, so unlike every other stockaded Civil War prison, Camp Lawton was never picked clean by sight-seers and hobbyist.

Some of the artifacts on display include a name inscribed clay pipe, an actual rifle used by one of the Confederate guards — as well as a picture of the guard — a large collection of coins and buttons and other mementos.

“The items are important because they give insight to the individual that was there,” said Kimi Stone, senior curator. “A lot of them display very individual characteristics.”

The exhibit will also feature the illustrations of Robert Sneden, a Union prisoner interned at Camp Lawton.

Sneden was an experienced mapmaker and drew sketches of everyday Camp Lawton life, which he kept hidden from Confederate wardens by sewing the drawings into the lining of his coat.

Sneden was a Union private originally from Nova Scotia. He had worked as an apprecentice architect in New York, so when he volunteered for the 40th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1861, they soon put him to work drafting campaign maps. He was witness to and depicted some of the most famous engagements of the war, like the Second Battle of Bull Run/Manassas, Antietam, the siege of Yorktown.

He was captured in November 1863 at Brandy Station, Va., then moved to Georgia where he was kept prisoner at the notorious Andersonville prison. When Camp Lawton was built to alleviate the severe overpopulation at Andersonville, Sneden was one of the prisoners transferred. He sketched assiduously at Camp Lawton, taking advantage of the greater freedom allowed him outside of the stockade as a prison parolee. Legend has it he sewed the drawings into the lining of his clothes to keep them safe from his captors.

When he was finally exchanged after 13 months of internment, he returned to New York, wrote a memoir, and made watercolors from his sketches at the front and in prison camps. He died in obscurity, his work unknown, in 1918, until it was found in 1993 in a bank vault in Connecticut, then sold to the Virginia Historical Society.

His watercolors and drawings are the largest collection of Civil War art by a single artist known to exist. Sneden’s diary was published in 2000 as Eye of the Storm, and the full collection of over 300 images was published as Images from the Storm the next year.