Sunday, August 21, 2016

The Royal Barge–Built in 1732 for Frederick, Prince of...





















The Royal Barge–Built in 1732 for Frederick, Prince of Wales 

The Royal Barge is a clinker-built open rowing boat. The prow, stern and rail are carved and gilded with the royal coat of arms and Prince of Wales feathers among riotous sea-creatures, swags and Vitruvian scrolls. The State House, surmounted by a crown, is fitted with upholstered seating, carpet and painted ceiling. The barge is accompanied by 24 oars.

The Royal barge was built in 1732 for Frederick, Prince of Wales by the shipwright John Hall to a design by the architect William Kent. The work was supervised by Lord Baltimore, the Prince’s friend and adviser. The original intention was to launch the barge on the Prince’s birthday in January 1732, but in fact the bill for £1,002 9s 1d from John Hall was not submitted until July of that year. The full list of workmen includes James Richards, the sculptor and carver who succeeded Grinling Gibbons as Master Carver to the Crown, and Paul Petit, the gilder, as well as a joiner, laceman, mercer, upholsterer, sailmaker, oar-maker, glassman and locksmith. The barge was designed to be rowed by 21 oarsmen and a Barge-Master. Its first outing was to take Frederick with his mother, Queen Caroline and five sisters, from Chelsea Hospital to Old Somerset House to view paintings from the Royal Collection undergoing restoration. They were attended by Officers and Ladies in a second barge and a group of musicians in a third. Frederick used the barge for a number of pleasure trips, including, in 1749, one in which the entire barge was decorated in the chinoiserie style and the bargemen dressed in orientally inspired uniforms. The barge continued in use until 1849 in various state processions - its last outing was to carry Prince Albert and the Princess Royal to the opening of the Coal Exchange. After this it was placed at the Royal Barge House in Windsor Great Park. In 1883 Queen Victoria loaned the barge to the Science Museum. In 1925 it was transferred to the V&A Museum, and in 1951 it was placed on loan to the National Maritime Museum. Kent’s designs for the barge are held in the Royal Institute of British Architects.  

William Kent (1684-1748)  

Royal Barge  1731-32          

Gilt wood and iron |    RCIN 69797

National Maritime Museum [London]

Some pictures by Photographer:Bruce White

littlelimpstiff14u2: Robert Sijka  photographs Maine Coon cats...





















littlelimpstiff14u2:

Robert Sijka  photographs Maine Coon cats and makes them look like majestic mythical beasts

The man who takes these glorious photos is Robert Sijka.

“My passions are cats and photography, I do my best to combine these two things as well as possible,” he shares on his website.

Oh, he did an excellent job. Each of these cats I would follow to the end of the world. I would battle dragons and go on dangerous quests against mythical monsters… if these cats told me to do so. They’re… magical.

Interview with Robert Sijka

Thanks Design you trust

Nightscape Paintings by Stephen Fox Stephen Fox (born in...





















Nightscape Paintings by Stephen Fox

Stephen Fox (born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1957) is a veteran Photorealist painter whose work blurs the lines between the documentation of an observable place and the quiet filter of the artist’s sensibilities.

I am primarily a painter of the contemporary nighttime landscape, places brought into a state of relative quiet as human activity diminishes and the bathing light of the sun is replaced by artificial lighting or the moon’s silver glow. In these familiar places gone partially dark and less observed, the landscape takes on some of the attributes of a theater set, certain objects or areas thrust into definition by the unintentional vagaries of interacting light sources. It is a world of light and shadow in constant movement, as something as brief as the passage of a car can suddenly transform a formless world into a living canvas of color and chiaroscuro, there for a few moments before receding into darkness once again.


Like what you see? Follow Cross Connect for the gorgeous art!

posted by Margaret via