Sunday Salon: The World of Sherlock Holmes - Victorian England in Paint

The Bayswater Omnibus 1895 - George William Joy - source

The Shop Girl - J.J.J. Tissot - source

The Rifle Range - J.J.J. Tissot - source

The Circle of the Rue Royale (Detail) - J.J.J. Tissot - source

The Circle of the Rue Royale (Detail) J.J.J. Tissot - source

The Circle of the Rue Royale (Detail) J.J.J. Tissot - source

The Circle of the Rue Royale - J.J.J. Tissot - source

The Confessional - J.J.J. Tissot - source

The Artist's Ladies - J.J.J. Tissot - source

Emigrants - J.J.J. Tissot - source

Going to Business - J.J.J. Tissot - source

General Gordon's Last Stand (Khartoum) - George William Joy - source

John Atkinson Grimshaw - Old Chelsea - source

The Drawing Room at Townshend House - Lawrence Alma-Tadema - source

The Departure from Victoria Station - J.J.J. Tissot - source

The Letter - J.J.J. Tissot - source

Manor House - John Atkinson Grimshaw - source

Following on a theme: these paintings will have given you an idea of what I envision as the world in which the famed detective carried out his cases. In truth, in my mind's eye, I can't visualize Victorian England without Holmes and Watson - so alive are they in my imagination.

Saturday Salon: A FAVORITE PAINTING

ON THE THAMES by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836 - 1902).

I am a big fan of J.J.J. Tissot's extraordinary work. He was a French painter who spent most of his life in Victorian England. I've blogged about his paintings before and probably will again, going forward. I am very fond of his dressed-to-the-teeth Victorian ladies.

This painting, for me, is all about the fanciful outfit this young woman is wearing. That and the two men and their non-expressions. I love the mellow use of color as well.

Do you suppose this young woman is about to get into that little boat? Or has she just come up out of it? The sailor on the right is helping - her hand is on his wrist, possibly for balance. But do you think she can actually sit in that get-up? Oh, don't get me wrong, I love her dress! All that wonderfully detailed ruching. But I'm just wondering if it's the appropriate thing for a turn on the Thames in a little boat. The fabric looks like chiffon and the woven ribbon - velvet? And those gloves- my dear. Underneath it all, of course, would be a corset. It's a wonder to me she can even move. But the whole effect is one of enormous charm and a certain helpless femininity. The Victorian ideal?

The two men seem hardly to notice all her frippery. They are probably used to this sort of thing. (Women will have their fashions. I can see the two men rolling their eyes.) Well, of course, I love their little bulls' eye pillbox hats.

Saturday Salon: A Favorite Painting

An amateur's evaluation, without a doubt. But that's how I view art, with an amateur eye and a feeling in the gut that springs to attention when I view something extraordinary. Some might say that art appreciation is not for amateurs, but I say: why not?

Art is subjective, no question. But still, I present one of my very favorite paintings by one of my very favorite artists, the Frenchman, J.J.J. Tissot. (1836-1902) A painting that strikes me as containing all that is/was right and wrong about the Brits in their empirical phase. (Note the gilded ceremonial warrior accoutrement to the right, sitting incongruously on the sofa. The large map on the wall.) This is a painting of a subject at once preposterous and noble. Relaxing, perhaps before battle, here is Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby (1842-1885), English traveller, journalist, author, soldier and adventurer. Please note the wonderful length of leg (the Colonel was 6'4" in life), the red stripe which practically takes over the canvas, the poised arm brandishing a cigarette, the Poirot mustache, probably waxed, the slightly supercilious, inordinately confident face - a face that I happen to like very much.

Burnaby was a likeable man, from what I've read of him and an extraordinarily brave one. He met his fate at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan against the Mahdi's followers, overwhelmed and killed in hand-to-hand fighting.

To my mind, there is a certain fondness for the subject in this painting. Tissot glamorizes Burnaby, showcases him in all his glory. Looking back, because of how Burnaby died, there is also a touching aspect to this portrait that might not seem as pronounced otherwise.

There are several paintings by Tissot that I am fond of, but I believe this is my favorite.

Read more about Burnaby here.
See more of artist, J.J.J. Tissot's work, here.