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sherlock60This week, the canon story we’re looking at is The Sign of Four, chaps. 5-8 and the chosen topic is Victorian Taxidermy.
A few facts:
🐇 Taxidermy began in England in the early 19th century… Victorians often anthropomorphized their taxidermy, dressing stuffed animals in clothes and working them into tableaus… They were also obsessed with animals that were deemed "curiosities": deformed creatures with extra heads or legs. [mental_floss]
🐇 Early taxidermy mounts were stuffed with sawdust and rags without regard for actual anatomy… Today, taxidermists can purchase a mannequin… or create their own using old methods, like the Victorian-era process of winding the body shape out of string. [mental_floss]
🐇 The works of fourteen Victorian taxidermists were exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition… [Taxidermy4Cash]
🐇 The exhibit that absolutely enraptured the Victorians was the anthropomorphic taxidermy tableaux created by Hermann Ploucquet (1816-1878), German taxidermist for the Royal Museum in Stuttgart... His inventive methods were hewn from an informed scientific mind with a desire to be a fine artist.
...Ploucquet had his finger on the pulse of the art crowd, creating dioramas that mimicked the style of the fashionable paintings and sculptures of the day. The Victorians found the tableaux unequivocally beguiling, and Queen Victoria described them in her diary as “really marvelous.” [Rebecca Burgan]
🐇 Walter Potter (2 July 1835 – 21 May 1918) was an English taxidermist noted for his anthropomorphic dioramas featuring mounted animals mimicking human life, which he displayed at his museum in Bramber, Sussex… [Wikipedia]
🐇 Walter Potter was believed to have been inspired by the work of Hermann Ploucquet… [He] would have been 16 years old at the time. While he may not have seen the exhibit in person, the book illustrating Ploucquet's anthropomorphic pieces was widely distributed and numerous reproductions were featured in several popular periodicals of the day. Interestingly, the print reproductions of these pieces were embellished with more decor than the actual displays, which would be in keeping with the greater detail of Potter's tableaux. [acaseofcuriosities]
🐇 Potter's family ran The White Lion pub in Bramber, and as a teenager, his first attempt at taxidermy was to preserve the body of his own pet canary. At the age of 19… Potter produced what was to become the centrepiece of his museum, a diorama of "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin", which included 98 species of British birds. This was so well-received that in 1861, he opened a separate display in the summer house of the pub. While satisfying the Victorian demand for traditional stuffed animals to earn a living, Potter continued creating his dioramas and expanded into new premises in 1866, and again in 1880 [to Potter’s Museum]. [Wikipedia]
🐇 Potter's collection, billed as "Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities" was to build into a "world-famous example of Victorian whimsy", with special coach trips from Brighton being arranged; and the village and Potter's museum were so popular that an extension was built to the platform at Bramber railway station. [Wikipedia]
🐇 James Rowland Ward (1848–1912) was a British taxidermist and founder of the firm Rowland Ward Limited of Piccadilly, London. The company specialised in and was renowned for its taxidermy work on birds and big-game trophies, but it did other types of work as well... [Wikipedia]
🐇 Rowland Ward became known for making items from skins, horns, and skulls that could be used in the home, either for practical purposes or as decorations. Known as Victorian or Edwardian “animal furniture,” these items included a “dumbwaiter” in the form of a mounted bear standing up straight and holding a silver tray on which glasses could be placed; inkwells made from horse hoofs; and letter openers with the blade made from ivory, the handle made of a fox’s paw, and the two connected with an elegant silver sleeve. ...liquor cabinets made from elephants’ feet; stuffed birds that acted as lamp stands… In addition, Rowland Ward Ltd. was a great supplier of glass cabinets filled with colourful mounted birds; these were all the rage as home decorations at the time. [Wikipedia]
Some useful resources:
11 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Taxidermy On mental_floss.
The Great Exhibition, 1851: Display of Fur and Taxidermy “Photograph showing a collection of furs and taxidermy assembled by Nicholay and Son, Oxford Street, London, with a lion and a wolf enclosing the display respectively on the left and on the right. The display includes a stand inscribed `George Smith and Sons, 10 Watling Street'.”
The Great Exhibition of 1851 Information on alll the taxidermists who exhibited, on Taxidermy4Cash.com
Hermann Ploucquet & The Great Exhibition On Ravishing Beasts.
Hermann Ploucquet On acaseofcuriosities.com ‘Plates from The Comical Creatures of Wurtemburg… along with some engravings from other sources as well as some photographs of the actual taxidermy tableaux.’ Also ‘...an excerpt from part III of an article titled 'Side Shows' by William G. FitzGerald, published in Vol. XIII of The Strand, 1897.’
The Comical Creatures from Wurtemberg Part of Project Gutenberg. The illustrations of the book are ‘drawn from the stuffed animals contributed by Hermann Ploucquet of Stuttgart to the Great Exhibition.’
Anthropomorphic Taxidermy: How Dead Rodents Became the Darlings of the Victorian Elite By Rebecca Burgan, on Atlas Obscura.
Walter Potter On Wikipedia.
Walter Potter On acaseofcuriositites
The curious world of Walter Potter – in pictures On the Guardian website. Modern photographs of Potter’s work.
Steyning Museum The museum houses some of Walter Potter’s work, and this article gives information about the now closed Potter’s Museum.
Crazy Taxidermy Museum - Stuffed Animals in Costumes (1965) On YouTube: 1 minute, 56 seconds. ‘British Pathe made this video at Potter’s Museum in the 1960s.’
Rowland Ward On Wikipedia.
Victorian Taxidermy – Taxidermy Fit for a Queen By Rita Schimpff, on Women’s Outdoor News. Among other things, some photographs of Rowland Ward’s work.
Please feel free to discuss this topic in the comments.
Please also feel free to comment about the canon story itself or any related aspects outside this week’s theme. For example, any reactions, thoughts, theories, fic recs, favourite adaptations of the canon story… Or any other contribution you wish to make. And if you have any suggestions for fic prompts springing from this week's story, please feel free to share those in the comments as well.
A few facts:
🐇 Taxidermy began in England in the early 19th century… Victorians often anthropomorphized their taxidermy, dressing stuffed animals in clothes and working them into tableaus… They were also obsessed with animals that were deemed "curiosities": deformed creatures with extra heads or legs. [mental_floss]
🐇 Early taxidermy mounts were stuffed with sawdust and rags without regard for actual anatomy… Today, taxidermists can purchase a mannequin… or create their own using old methods, like the Victorian-era process of winding the body shape out of string. [mental_floss]
🐇 The works of fourteen Victorian taxidermists were exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition… [Taxidermy4Cash]
🐇 The exhibit that absolutely enraptured the Victorians was the anthropomorphic taxidermy tableaux created by Hermann Ploucquet (1816-1878), German taxidermist for the Royal Museum in Stuttgart... His inventive methods were hewn from an informed scientific mind with a desire to be a fine artist.
...Ploucquet had his finger on the pulse of the art crowd, creating dioramas that mimicked the style of the fashionable paintings and sculptures of the day. The Victorians found the tableaux unequivocally beguiling, and Queen Victoria described them in her diary as “really marvelous.” [Rebecca Burgan]
🐇 Walter Potter (2 July 1835 – 21 May 1918) was an English taxidermist noted for his anthropomorphic dioramas featuring mounted animals mimicking human life, which he displayed at his museum in Bramber, Sussex… [Wikipedia]
🐇 Walter Potter was believed to have been inspired by the work of Hermann Ploucquet… [He] would have been 16 years old at the time. While he may not have seen the exhibit in person, the book illustrating Ploucquet's anthropomorphic pieces was widely distributed and numerous reproductions were featured in several popular periodicals of the day. Interestingly, the print reproductions of these pieces were embellished with more decor than the actual displays, which would be in keeping with the greater detail of Potter's tableaux. [acaseofcuriosities]
🐇 Potter's family ran The White Lion pub in Bramber, and as a teenager, his first attempt at taxidermy was to preserve the body of his own pet canary. At the age of 19… Potter produced what was to become the centrepiece of his museum, a diorama of "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin", which included 98 species of British birds. This was so well-received that in 1861, he opened a separate display in the summer house of the pub. While satisfying the Victorian demand for traditional stuffed animals to earn a living, Potter continued creating his dioramas and expanded into new premises in 1866, and again in 1880 [to Potter’s Museum]. [Wikipedia]
🐇 Potter's collection, billed as "Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities" was to build into a "world-famous example of Victorian whimsy", with special coach trips from Brighton being arranged; and the village and Potter's museum were so popular that an extension was built to the platform at Bramber railway station. [Wikipedia]
🐇 James Rowland Ward (1848–1912) was a British taxidermist and founder of the firm Rowland Ward Limited of Piccadilly, London. The company specialised in and was renowned for its taxidermy work on birds and big-game trophies, but it did other types of work as well... [Wikipedia]
🐇 Rowland Ward became known for making items from skins, horns, and skulls that could be used in the home, either for practical purposes or as decorations. Known as Victorian or Edwardian “animal furniture,” these items included a “dumbwaiter” in the form of a mounted bear standing up straight and holding a silver tray on which glasses could be placed; inkwells made from horse hoofs; and letter openers with the blade made from ivory, the handle made of a fox’s paw, and the two connected with an elegant silver sleeve. ...liquor cabinets made from elephants’ feet; stuffed birds that acted as lamp stands… In addition, Rowland Ward Ltd. was a great supplier of glass cabinets filled with colourful mounted birds; these were all the rage as home decorations at the time. [Wikipedia]
Some useful resources:
11 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Taxidermy On mental_floss.
The Great Exhibition, 1851: Display of Fur and Taxidermy “Photograph showing a collection of furs and taxidermy assembled by Nicholay and Son, Oxford Street, London, with a lion and a wolf enclosing the display respectively on the left and on the right. The display includes a stand inscribed `George Smith and Sons, 10 Watling Street'.”
The Great Exhibition of 1851 Information on alll the taxidermists who exhibited, on Taxidermy4Cash.com
Hermann Ploucquet & The Great Exhibition On Ravishing Beasts.
Hermann Ploucquet On acaseofcuriosities.com ‘Plates from The Comical Creatures of Wurtemburg… along with some engravings from other sources as well as some photographs of the actual taxidermy tableaux.’ Also ‘...an excerpt from part III of an article titled 'Side Shows' by William G. FitzGerald, published in Vol. XIII of The Strand, 1897.’
The Comical Creatures from Wurtemberg Part of Project Gutenberg. The illustrations of the book are ‘drawn from the stuffed animals contributed by Hermann Ploucquet of Stuttgart to the Great Exhibition.’
Anthropomorphic Taxidermy: How Dead Rodents Became the Darlings of the Victorian Elite By Rebecca Burgan, on Atlas Obscura.
Walter Potter On Wikipedia.
Walter Potter On acaseofcuriositites
The curious world of Walter Potter – in pictures On the Guardian website. Modern photographs of Potter’s work.
Steyning Museum The museum houses some of Walter Potter’s work, and this article gives information about the now closed Potter’s Museum.
Crazy Taxidermy Museum - Stuffed Animals in Costumes (1965) On YouTube: 1 minute, 56 seconds. ‘British Pathe made this video at Potter’s Museum in the 1960s.’
Rowland Ward On Wikipedia.
Victorian Taxidermy – Taxidermy Fit for a Queen By Rita Schimpff, on Women’s Outdoor News. Among other things, some photographs of Rowland Ward’s work.
Please feel free to discuss this topic in the comments.
Please also feel free to comment about the canon story itself or any related aspects outside this week’s theme. For example, any reactions, thoughts, theories, fic recs, favourite adaptations of the canon story… Or any other contribution you wish to make. And if you have any suggestions for fic prompts springing from this week's story, please feel free to share those in the comments as well.
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Date: 2016-08-07 03:04 pm (UTC)🌹🌹
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Date: 2016-08-07 05:55 pm (UTC)I need to write a promo for Sherlock60/Holmes Minor for Watson's Woes - do you think "Come for the original ACD stories, stay for the taxidermy tableau fics" would bring people in or scare them off?
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Date: 2016-08-07 03:33 pm (UTC)...although now Sherlock Ferret (a contemporary children's pastiche starring anthropocentric animals, which hearkens back to that style a bit) is starting to look much more grounded in the canon era than I had ever before imagined.
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Date: 2016-08-07 04:19 pm (UTC)I had never heard of Sherlock Ferret! ^_^ Nice inversion of the stereotype that Holmes is the ferret and Lestrade is a rhinoceros ^__^
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Date: 2016-08-07 04:56 pm (UTC)Lestrade is a rhinoceros (although not a very big one), and so Sherlock and Watson keep an extra-large teacup around the place just for him. It takes one whole teapot to fill it. Lestrade is very polite, and very methodical, and very immovable once he gets on a course. I adore Lestrade.
...oh, who am I kidding, I adore them all. The whole thing is a delight, and it's been bedtime reading around our house for the last little while. I'm going to request it for Holmestice this next round, and maybe a few curious souls will chase it down and then I'll receive a Sherlock Ferret story three or four rounds from now. ;-)