{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O126362"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O126362/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BK7648/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BK7648/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BK7648","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O126362/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O126362","accessionNumber":"S.211-2006","objectType":"Set model","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain's leading theatre designer throughout the 1930s, '40s and '50s, mastering every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as working in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic concepts were perfectly in tune with the times and earned him an international reputation.  By 1960, however, that style was becoming unfashionable, and Messel gradually abandoned theatre and built a new career designing luxury homes in the Caribbean. \r\n\r\nRichard Strauss's <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, with libretto by Hugo von Hofsmannsthal, was originally a one-act opera, written to follow performances of Molière’s 1670 comic play <i>Le Bourgeois gentilhomme</i> and first staged in 1912. The difficulties of presenting such a lengthy evening’s entertainment, which required both an acting company and an opera company, led Strauss to revise the work in 1916 so that it could be staged without the play. Glyndebourne Festival Opera presented the original 1912 opera preceded by a shortened version of <i>Le Bourgeoise gentilhomme</i> at the 1950 Edinburgh Festival, with sets and costumes by Oliver Messel. In 1953 the 1916 version was staged at Glyndebourne with new designs by Messel and these designs were used in revivals throughout the 1950s. In 1962 Glyndebourne restaged its Edinburgh Festival production with an acting company from the Old Vic and reverted to Messel’s 1950 designs.\r\n\r\nThe set model, made for the 1950 production, shows the baroque Great Hall of a grand house belonging to wealthy Monsieur Jourdain. It is the setting for a grand dinner party and an entertainment, consisting of a serious opera based on the Greek myth of Ariadne and Bacchus, combined with a comic harlequinade.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"A set model for the Great Hall in <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1950.   The set model is enclosed in a wooden box and lined with velvet on the sides.  A view of an 18th century baroque/rococo interior (Monsieur Jourdain's house).  A false proscenium arch with rococo style garland decoration.  A platform with curved balustrade.  View to a window and blue sky beyond.   Gilt candelabra decorates the walls.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"charcoal","id":"AAT12862"},{"text":"kaolinite (pigment)","id":"AAT13815"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"},{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"},{"text":"wood","id":"AAT11914"},{"text":"velvet","id":"AAT133711"},{"text":"glue","id":"AAT14815"},{"text":"masking tape","id":"AAT14836"},{"text":"card","id":"x30344"},{"text":"perspex","id":"AAT14435"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"glueing","id":"AAT53012"},{"text":"model-making","id":"AAT53619"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wood, cardboard, fabric, and paint.","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006BK7648"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES397034"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"sets (architectural elements)","id":"AAT188014"}],[{"text":"models (representations)","id":"AAT47753"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1950","earliest":"1950-01-01","latest":"1950-12-31"},"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":"50.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"58","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"44","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'ARIADNE AUF NAXOS'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Ink on label on the side of the wooden box."}],"objectHistory":"Richard Strauss's <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, with libretto by Hugo von Hofsmannsthal, was originally a one-act opera, written to follow performances of Molière’s play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme in 1912. In 1916 Strauss revised the work so that it could be staged without Molière’s drama.\r\n\r\nGlyndebourne Festival Opera presented Strauss’s original opera with a shortened version of <i>Le Bourgeoise gentilhomme</i> at the 1950 Edinburgh Festival. Oliver Messel designed the settings and costumes. In 1953 the 1916 version of <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i> was given at Glyndebourne with new designs by Messel, and these designs were used in revivals throughout the 1950s. In 1962 Glyndebourne restaged its Edinburgh Festival production with an acting company from the Old Vic and reverted to Messel’s 1950 designs.\r\n\r\nThe model is for the <i>Le Bourgeois gentilhomme</i> and <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, performed at the Edinburgh Festival, 20 August 1950.  The  production was directed by Carl Ebert and featured Miles Malleson as Monsieur Jourdain, Hilde Zadek as Ariadne and Peter Anders as Bacchus.  Glyndebourne revived this production in 1962.  \n\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: Messel worked for Glyndebourne from 1951 to 1959, when he was at the height of his popularity as a designer for the stage.  His Glyndebourne designs are regarded as some of his best work","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Set model by Oliver Messel for Richard Strauss's opera <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1950.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Pinkham, Roger (ed.) <i>Oliver Messel</i>, London, V&A, 1983","id":"AUTH353280"},"details":"","free":""}],"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.211-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"211","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 8885.1"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-05","recordCreationDate":"2006-07-25","availableToBook":true}}