{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O125330"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O125330/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MD2513/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MD2513/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019MD2513","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O125330/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O125330","accessionNumber":"S.151-2006","objectType":"Set design","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles.  His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel’s traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.\r\n\r\nMessel designed two versions of Mozart’s opera <i>The Magic Flute</i> (1791), at Covent Garden Opera Trust (1947) and at Glyndebourne (1956), for which he adapted his designs from 1947.  These productions were two of the first three stagings of this opera after the end of World War II.   Some reviewers found his designs elegant and a fantastic spectacle; however, others found the designs too fussy and elaborate for the small Glyndebourne stage.\r\n  \r\nAccording to Messel, the diminutive pyramid set within a decidedly European landscape is deliberately inauthentic, in the manner of eighteenth century artists’ imaginative interpretations of Egypt and classical ruins, such Giambattista Tiepolo’s (1696-1770) ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ frescoes in the Palazzo Labia, Venice, and engravings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778).","physicalDescription":"A set design by Oliver Messel for a temple in a grove in a Covent Garden Opera Trust production of The Magic Flute, 1947. A stone pyramid shaped building with entrance.  Set within a feathery landscape with trees, hills and a turquoise blue sky.  Above the design, splashes of blue and brown paint.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"card","id":"x30344"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"charcoal","id":"AAT12862"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"},{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting (image making)","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"drawing (image making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Charcoal, ink, pencil, gouache, paint, watercolour on card","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2019MD2513"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES356268"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"set design","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1947-1956","earliest":"1947-01-01","latest":"1956-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"41","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"55.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"<i>The Magic Flute</i> (1791), an opera in two acts by Mozart with libretto by Schikaneder from Christoph Martin Wieland’s <i>Lulu, or, The Magic Flute</i>.  Oliver Messel’s production was first performed at the Royal Opera House, London, by the Covent Garden Opera Trust on 20 March 1947.  It was directed by Malcolm Baker-Smith and featured Kenneth Neafe as Tamino and Victoria Sladen as Pamina.  This was the first opera that Messel designed.  Messel created new costume and set designs for a Glyndebourne production, first presented 19 July, 1956.  Directed by Carl Ebert, Ernst Häefliger played Tamino, Pilar Lorengar was Pamina and Drago Bernardic was Sarastro.\r\nLord Snowdon, Oliver Messel's nephew, inherited Messel's theatre designs and other designs and artefacts.  The designs were briefly stored in a disused chapel in Kensington Palace before being housed at the V&A from 1981 on indefinite loan.  The V&A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005.\n\nHistorical significance: Oliver Messel's first costume and set designs for an opera production.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Set design featuring a temple in a grove designed by Oliver Messel for Act I, scene ii of Mozart's opera <i>The Magic Flute</i>, Royal Opera House 1947, or Glyndebourne 1956.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pinkham, Roger (ed.) <u>Oliver Messel: an exhibition held at the Theatre Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, 22 June - 30 September 1983.</u> \r\nLondon: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983.  200p., ill\r\nISBN 0905209508)"}],"production":"Could relate to the Covent Garden production of 1947 or a Glyndebourne production, 1956.\n\nReason For Production: Commission","productionType":{"text":"Design","id":"THES48872"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.151-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"151","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 1953"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2006-06-21","availableToBook":true}}