{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O128210"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O128210/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MD2540/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MD2540/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019MD2540","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O128210/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O128210","accessionNumber":"S.449-2006","objectType":"Interior 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’s interior design commissions included the redecoration of John Wood Elder’s Assembly Rooms (1771) on behalf of the National Trust from 1961 to 1963, which were gutted by war time bombing in 1942 and and rebuilt in 1956.  Messel attempted to recreate the original designs using scant photographic documentation.  The redecoration work included wall colours, fixtures and fittings for the Octagon and Ballroom.  Designs for a bar in the Octagon and furniture for the Tea Room remained unexecuted. \r\n\r\nDue to changing tastes in historic building restoration toward strict historical accuracy in the late 1970s, Messel’s decorative scheme was found to be inappropriate and replaced by David Mlinaric’s designs in 1979.  Of Messel's designs, only the ceiling moulding in the ballroom remains in situ.","physicalDescription":"A pencil and charcoal drawing on tracing paper for the ceiling design of the Octagon in the Bath Assembly Rooms.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"charcoal","id":"AAT12862"},{"text":"Tracing paper","id":"AAT14161"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"board","id":"x33244"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Charcoal and pencil on tracing paper attached to a board","categories":[{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2019MD2540"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES356286"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"interior design","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Bath","id":"x28738"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1961-1963","earliest":"1961-01-01","latest":"1963-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.451-2006","id":"O128216"},"association":"Part"},{"object":{"text":"S.450-2006","id":"O128221"},"association":"Part"}],"creditLine":"Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"69","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"48.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'ground enrichment Naples yellow. / e[indescipherable] off white / as in cornice of Tea Room / ground Napels yellow picked out white / yellow / mauve / off white'","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 inscriptions with arrows to parts of the ceiling."}],"objectHistory":"Messel’s redecoration of John Wood Elder’s Assembly Rooms (1771) which were rebuilt in 1956 following a fire in 1942.  The redecoration included wall colours, mirrors for the Octagon and Ballroom, furniture for the Tea Room and a bar for the Octagon (Messel’s furniture and bar designs were never executed).  Messel’s decorative scheme was replaced by designs by David Mlinaric in 1979.  \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.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Design for the Octagon ceiling of the Bath Assembly Rooms by Oliver Messel, 1961-1963.","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":[{"text":"Assembly Rooms (Bath, England)","id":"N5125"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.449-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"449","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 4515"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-05","recordCreationDate":"2006-10-03","availableToBook":true}}