{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O125631"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O125631/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL9925/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL9925/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BL9925","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BL9927","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O125631/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O125631","accessionNumber":"S.165-2006","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\nMozart’s opera <i>Le Nozze di Figaro</i> (<i>The Marriage of Figaro</i>) (1786)  was performed to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1955.  Critics praised Messel’s exuberant pastiche of 18th-century art and design 'The décor by Oliver Messel was in his richest and most inventive vein, fully emphasising the unique blend of sharp satire and human understanding for the folly and unhappiness of the characters which Mozart so perfectly caught in his music' (<i>The Tatler</i>, 22 June, 1955).  \r\n\r\nMessel used mathematical perspective to create illusionistic space for the gazebo wing in the garden, Act IV.   The gazebo is viewed at an angle, with interior arches angled diagonally in the opposite direction, creating visual drama and space, a technique inspired by the stage designs of the 18th-century Bibiena family.","physicalDescription":"A set design by Oliver Messel for a gazebo wing in a Glyndebourne production of Le Nozze di Figaro, 1955.  A flat set model piece consisting of two pieces of paper stuck, one overlaid on top of another and stuck together with masking tape.  A depiction of a gazebo wing in classical style, featuring a lattice work dome.  Classical columns frame the entrance to the gazebo.  The lower sheet consists of arches and columns and a balustrade, with additional lattice work on the dome.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"charcoal","id":"AAT12862"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"wash","id":"AAT11051"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Charcoal, pencil, ink and wash on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2007BL9925","2007BL9927"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES356267"},"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":"1955","earliest":"1955-01-01","latest":"1955-12-31"},"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":"23.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"16.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'FIGARO / (LAST ACT)'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Pencil inscription on the reverse of the sheet."}],"objectHistory":"<i>Le Nozze di Figaro</i> (<i>The Marriage of Figaro</i>) (1786), an opera in four acts by Mozart with libretto by da Ponte, from Beaumarchais’<i>La folle journée, ou, Le Marriage de Figaro</i> (1778).   Oliver Messel’s production was first performed by the Glyndebourne Festival Opera at Glyndebourne on 8 June, 1955.   It was directed by Carl Ebert and featured Bruscantini as Figaro and Elena Rizzieri as Susanna.  It was revived at Glyndebourne in 1956, 1958, 1962, 1963 and 1965.   \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: At the height of his career, Messel designed costumes and sets for operas at Glyndebourne.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Set design by Oliver Messel for the Gazebo wing in the last act of Mozart's opera <i>Le Nozze di Figaro</i>  (<i>The Marriage of Figaro</i>), Glyndebourne 1955.","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":"Reason 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.165-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"165","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 2098"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2006-07-03","availableToBook":true}}