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Edith Sitwell photographed by Cecil Beaton
"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home."
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home."
Jean-Etienne Liotard Still life Tea Set (1783)
tea
toast
marmalade
honey
oatmeal and sweet cream
oranges*
*fare suggested of the period by Lady West of Rose C'est La Vie
Liotard Still Life from this site
makes me want to have earl grey tea with scones and clotted cream!
ReplyDeleteGaye, everyone, please- that's enough of the Lady bit!
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone's managed to make a lady of me yet. I'm never gonna put that tiara on again.
No Lady- think of it more like a"hey lady?" I love it! I must say- is it more proper protocol to say the Lady West, Lady West or Lady Rose? I need to know. A tiara post may be in order. hugs, " " Gaye
ReplyDeleteUlla- how nice to be just served. Idyllic an Edith Sitwell wannabe. GT
ReplyDeleteHow did someone sneak a camera into my bedroom?????
ReplyDeleteThe tea tray is lovely .. .
ReplyDeletebut, Edith is .... well, just so very Edith.
As I write this, there's a photo of
the Three Sitwells on my sofa table , just over my right shoulder. Frankly, they are all looking down those famous noses at me.
It's really what they do best.
Jjjj
Yes please to all of the above...xv
ReplyDeleteTrue that winter is the coziest time. That could be me with my Mamie serving me in the bed. I do like turbans, you know.
ReplyDeleteAh, a sentiment I wholeheartedly support! Too bad I don't have a fireplace...a home without a hearth in winter is tragic.
ReplyDeleteI wish that tray of Winter happiness was sitting on my desk right now.
ReplyDeleteThe servant in the photograph was Mary Cole, who was pressed into service for the Beaton photograph. She was, at the time, the nursemaid to Edith's infant nephew Reresby Sitwell and was known to all and sundry as "Nannah." Surely Beaton had artistic reasons for showing Edith being served in bed by a black servant (I seem to remember it was an illustion to 18th-century portraiture) but Mary Cole's presence and role still disturbs me.
ReplyDeletefinally-winter is trying to arrive here in NC.
ReplyDeleteAesthete- that is interesting. I just am thinking I had read where that screen was carried about for photographs by Beaton for these Sitwell sitting(s). Beaton must have been ruthless about "getting the shot" I can hear him coaxing Mary Coles into service-somewhat like a prop-She seems to maintain her dignity though and looks as grand as Edith. I read that Georgia Sitwell had to sneak her dog into Renshaw for the photograph Beaton took , screen as backdrop. They continue to fascinate, and Mary Coles as well. G
ReplyDeleteIndeed what an interesting insight about the "servant." Cecil Beaton could be a tyrant but as you say syrupily sweet. This photograph has always caught my attention for its almost statue like poses of the two subjects, maybe they were just stuffed or simply doing Beaton's bidding.
ReplyDeleteI like the servant dressed in Moorish garb - priceless!
ReplyDeleteLovely, lovely tray of perfection!
ReplyDelete