Set Model
1936 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
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.
The Country Wife (1675), a comedy about deceived husbands and unfaithful wives by William Wycherley (1640-1716), provided Messel with one of his first opportunities to design costumes and sets for a ‘serious’ drama production. First performed at the Old Vic Theatre, London in 1936, the staging of this play was somewhat controversial, given the immoral subject matter, though the acting and production won critical approval.
Messel's set for the piazza in Covent Garden makes clever use of mathematical perspective to create the illusion of space on a small stage, a technique he learnt from the Bibiena family, Italian eighteenth century stage designers. Arches are painted on cut cloths in the foreground, and the backcloth is painted with a view of the piazza.
The Country Wife (1675), a comedy about deceived husbands and unfaithful wives by William Wycherley (1640-1716), provided Messel with one of his first opportunities to design costumes and sets for a ‘serious’ drama production. First performed at the Old Vic Theatre, London in 1936, the staging of this play was somewhat controversial, given the immoral subject matter, though the acting and production won critical approval.
Messel's set for the piazza in Covent Garden makes clever use of mathematical perspective to create the illusion of space on a small stage, a technique he learnt from the Bibiena family, Italian eighteenth century stage designers. Arches are painted on cut cloths in the foreground, and the backcloth is painted with a view of the piazza.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Wood, cardboard, fabric, and paint |
| Brief description | Set model by Oliver Messel for the Piazza, Covent Garden, Act III, scene vii, of William Wycherley's play The Country Wife, Old Vic 1936. |
| Physical description | Set model by Oliver Messel for a piazza in Covent Garden in a Lilian Baylis in association with Gilbert Miller production of The Country Wife, 1936. The set model consists of a wooden box carved and painted in baroque decoration and a gold fringe. Velvet strips on the sides. The set consists of cutcloths and backcloths. Arches are painted on the cut cloths, with a backcloth painted with a view of a colonnade at night. Figures stand with their back to the viewer, overlooking a piazza. A man with a cart in the foreground. At the front a proscenium arch with candelabra hanging from it. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Design |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A |
| Object history | The Country Wife is a comedy in three acts by William Wycherley (published 1675). Oliver Messel’s first production was first performed at the Old Vic Theatre, London on 6 October 1936. It was produced by Lilian Baylis in association with Gilbert Miller and directed by Tyrone Guthrie. It featured Michael Redgrave as Horner and Edith Evans as Lady Fidget. It was also presented at the Henry Miller Theatre, New York, 1 December 1936. Lord 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. |
| Production | Reason For Production: Commission |
| Summary | 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. The Country Wife (1675), a comedy about deceived husbands and unfaithful wives by William Wycherley (1640-1716), provided Messel with one of his first opportunities to design costumes and sets for a ‘serious’ drama production. First performed at the Old Vic Theatre, London in 1936, the staging of this play was somewhat controversial, given the immoral subject matter, though the acting and production won critical approval. Messel's set for the piazza in Covent Garden makes clever use of mathematical perspective to create the illusion of space on a small stage, a technique he learnt from the Bibiena family, Italian eighteenth century stage designers. Arches are painted on cut cloths in the foreground, and the backcloth is painted with a view of the piazza. |
| Bibliographic reference | Pinkham, Roger (ed.) Oliver Messel, London, V&A, 1983
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| Other number | ROT 8876 - TM Rotation Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.221-2006 |
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| Record created | July 28, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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