Greeting card
- Place of origin:
London, England (printed and published)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Ludovici, Albert (II), born 1852 - died 1932 (designer)
Hildesheimer & Faulkner (printer and publisher)
- Materials and Techniques:
Colour lithograph, ink on card
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Guy Tristram Little
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C, case TECHS
- Download image
Object Type
This card is one of a series of prize-winning greetings cards printed by colour lithography.
Time
The set of cards of which this is a part parodied the Aesthetic Movement, with its followers' love of Chinese and Japanese objects and certain plants, such as lilies and sunflowers. Their fascination with tea pots was satirised in particular. George du Maurier drew a number of cartoons satirising the Aesthetic Movement for 'Punch' magazine, including a cartoon entitled 'The Six-Mark Teapot'. In it, the 'Aesthetic Bridegroom' and his 'Intense Bride' are looking at a teapot. He declares 'It is quite consummate, is it not?' and she replies 'It is, indeed! Oh, Algernon, let us live up to it!'. Similarly in the contemporary play by F.C. Burnand, 'The Colonel', the leading character says, 'There is so much to be learned from a teapot'.
People
This is from a set of prize-winning designs by Albert Ludovici II (1852-1932). A number of printers awarded annual prizes for novel greeting card designs in order to acquire new designs for their next season's collection.
Place of Origin
London, England (printed and published)
Date
1882 (made)
Artist/maker
Ludovici, Albert (II), born 1852 - died 1932 (designer)
Hildesheimer & Faulkner (printer and publisher)
Materials and Techniques
Colour lithograph, ink on card
Dimensions
Height: 12.4 cm unframed, Width: 8.5 cm unframed
Object history note
Designed by Albert Ludovici, II (born in Prague,1852, died in1932); printed and published by Hildesheimer & Faulkner, London
Designed by Albert Ludovici, II (born in Prague, 1852, died in 1932); printed and published by Hildesheimer & Faulkner, London
Descriptive line
Greeting card depicting a lady with a teapot and the text 'May You Have a Quite Too Happy Time'
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1953 London: HMSO, 1963
The full text of the entry is as follows:
"LUDOVICI, Albert, II (1852-1932)
Christmas cards (4) from the prize-winning set entitled 'Quite too-too!', published by Hildesheimer & Faulkner, London, 1882.
Colour lithographs. E.2413-2416-1953
Bequeathed by Guy Tristram Little"
Exhibition History
The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 18/02/2012-17/07/2012)
The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 (Musée d'Orsay 13/09/2011-15/01/2012)
The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 (Victoria and Albert Museum 02/04/2011-17/07/2011)
Labels and date
British Galleries:
GREETINGS CARDS caricaturing the Aesthetic style
Inexpensive printed cards with Aesthetic themes like these show how widely recognised the movement had become by the 1880s. In one, the title and the pose of the young man ridicule the intensity of emotions associated with such individuals as Oscar Wilde. In the other, the importance of art for its own sake is made fun of with the woman's intense interest in an everyday object, a teapot. Her fashionable clothing shows the influence of classical dress. [27/03/2003]
Categories
Prints; Greeting cards
Collection code
PDP
