tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19151341.post4620435575415951174..comments2024-03-16T16:12:13.296+00:00Comments on some LANDSCAPES: 1,244 real Views of Great-BritainPliniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06529481330530614513noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19151341.post-65810336625177281982010-01-24T19:11:03.868+00:002010-01-24T19:11:03.868+00:00Thanks for your comments. The information here al...Thanks for your comments. The information here almost all comes from the Alison Kelly article I cite. Yes, this was the Green Frog Service - the name originally derives from the Finnish word for the site of the palace: Kekerikeksinsk, frog marsh.<br /><br />The story of Catherine's purchase of the Walpole paintings can be read <a href="http://www.studio-international.co.uk/painting/passion.asp" rel="nofollow">here</a> - they were lost to the nation but 'ironically, in 1789, ten years after the collection arrived in Russia, the north wing of Houghton Hall was destroyed by fire. Horace Walpole comforted himself with the fact that the wonderful paintings had, in fact, escaped.'Pliniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06529481330530614513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19151341.post-52220796627200037872010-01-23T10:05:05.451+00:002010-01-23T10:05:05.451+00:00I think the service you describe here is that know...I think the service you describe here is that known as the ‘Green Frog Service’. Catherine the Great was building an English Gothick style palace, Chesmenski Palace, as a staging post between St Petersburg and her summer residence at Tsarskoe Selo. Surrounded by marshes, the site was known as La Grenouillère, Frog Marsh. Jenny Uglow in her book ‘The Lunar Men’ (2002) relates how the commission came through the Russian Consul in London. Each plate was to bear the emblem of a frog and to be decorated with a view of the British isles. The basic service was of 952 pieces but, as some of the larger pieces had two scenes, 1,244 views were required. Jenny Uglow illustrates the service with a black and white photograph of an oval platter showing Wedgewood’s home, Etruria Hall; a tiny frog in a shield appears on every item.aureliarayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10073105505110178711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19151341.post-90673966858946888232010-01-21T23:23:38.696+00:002010-01-21T23:23:38.696+00:00Terrific article. You have found material about We...Terrific article. You have found material about Wedgwood's commission that I have never seen before.<br /><br />I wonder why Catherine the Great was so mesmerised by English taste. I would have understood French taste or German taste, but did she have any personal or public connection to Britain? I know she spoke French, German and Russian fluently.<br /><br />Yet her collections tell that she loved Joseph Wright of Derby and Sir Joshua Reynold. And apparently she even tried to get Thomas Lawrence and John Hoppner to take up residence in her court.<br /><br />My favourite Catherine story is how she managed to get Sir Robert Walpole's art collection from Houghton Hall over to Russia. Quite a coup! Quite a woman!Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.com