Elizabeth Taylor in costume as "Cleopatra," from the 1963, 20th Century Fox production of the same name

Yet another iconic item worn by actress Elizabeth Taylor is on the auction block – a wig she wore in the 1963 film, “Cleopatra.” Ms. Taylor wore many different hairdos in the movie and British wigmaster Stanley Hall made three wigs for each style. The wig for sale is made of real human hair, medium brown, and is adorned with hanging braids and gold beads.

Elizabeth Taylor is photographed with some props from the 1963 film, "Cleopatra."

In the movie, Ms. Taylor’s character wears this particular wig when she tries to convince Julius Caesar, played by Rex Harrison, to accept supreme control of the empire. (1) The wig is being sold by Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas, and is set to fetch around $11,000.

Elizabeth Taylor in the arms of Richard Burton, from the movie, "Cleopatra," 1963.

It was during the 1962 filming of “Cleopatra” in Rome that 30-year-old Elizabeth Taylor fell madly in love with her other male costar and onscreen lover, Richard Burton, 36, cast as Mark Antony. The two were both married to others at the time.

At the time, Ms. Taylor was already a big film star being paid the unprecedented amount of a million dollars to play Cleopatra. Mr. Burton, however, who was Welsh, was a Shakespearean stage actor largely unknown outside of England.

Richard Burton (l), talks with Eddie Fisher and his wife Elizabeth Taylor on the Cinecitta set in Rome, early 1962.

When people began to whisper that perhaps Ms. Taylor and Mr. Burton were conducting an illicit affair, the couple denied the accusations. So uncontrollable was their love and lust, that their affair was

“bloody obvious,” to use Burton’s term – so flagrantly on display. (2)

When the director of “Cleopatra” shouted “Cut!” at the end of love scenes, Taylor and Burton would continue to kiss.

They carried on on the movie set, film lot, in their private villas, and took their love to town – to the Via Veneto. But they were not safely in America, where  there was a time-honored tradition not to pry into the private lives of public people and where the studio would have squelched any unflattering press. They were in Rome – the land of the paparazzi.

March 31, 1962: Nightclubbing in Rome – Elizabeth Taylor, wearing leopard-skin coat and hat, holds Richard Burton by the arm as they leave a nightclub in Rome early in the morning. In New York City the day before, singer Eddie Fisher, Ms. Taylor's husband, held a press conference for about 100 journalists to deny that his marriage with Miss Taylor was on the rocks.

The Italian “paparazzi” were a new style of journalist. These young, Vespa-riding photographers with cameras with zoom lenses slung around their neck were hungry for a money-making photo that would reveal the affair to the waiting world. With a pack mentality, they were ruthlessly intent upon snapping photos of the jetset enjoying La Dolce Vita, the sweet life, popularized in the film of that same name. And Liz and Dick were getting hot and heavy on the Via Veneto.

From February thru July, paparazzi stalked Taylor and Burton’s every move, hoping for that money-making photo that would expose the lovers to the world. And they got them, too, forcing both Liz and Dick to deal with their respective spouses.

Liz Taylor and Richard Burton emerge from the restaurant Tre Scalini in the Piazza Navona, spring, 1962.

The Burton-Taylor Affair – “Le Scandale,” as Burton termed it – created international interest and thus, international coverage.

Richard Burton leans in for a kiss from Elizabeth Taylor on the Cinecitta sound stage, circa March 30, 1962. Paparazzo Elio Sorci hid under a car across from the movie lot all day to snap this photo which came to be known as the "kissing picture." It blew the lid off the Taylor-Burton affair, appearing in first the Italian papers before making its way to New York.

The public, it seemed, had an unquenchable appetite to follow the drama. Gone were the days when American readers of Photoplay and Modern Screen were content to read fictional accounts of their favorite movie stars generated by the big movie studios.

Elizabeth Taylor gazes into the eyes of her true love, Richard Burton, as they sail off the Amalfi Coast where the filming of "Cleopatra" was wrapping up. June, 1962.

It is hard to overstate the excitement caused at the time by Elizabeth and Richard’s grand passion. Everyone was following the saga, even First Lady Jackie Kennedy, who asked the publicist Warren Cowan in early 1963,

“Warren, do you think Elizabeth Taylor will marry Richard Burton?”(3)

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in the glow of their love, caught by paparazzo on a yacht off the coast of Ischia in the Bay of Naples, June 1962.

Initially, the pair were condemned by the press for their public adultery until publishers woke up and realized how much the “Liz and Dick” machine increased tabloid, newspaper, magazine, and book sales.

Photoplay July 1962. Everyone had an opinion about the Taylor Burton affair.

Note to readers: Today also begins the first auction at Christie’s, New York, of  The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor, which I was privileged to view on December 3, 2011. (2)

(1) Source: The Guardian

(2) “Remembering Liz (1932-2011),” Life Commemorative, 2011.

(3) Kashner, Sam and Schoenberger, Nancy. Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010.

Readers: For more on Elizabeth Taylor on Lisa’s History Room, click here.

Elizabeth Taylor, 5, poses with her mother Sara, 1937.

Actress Elizabeth Taylor had stunning beauty. She was such a gorgeous little girl that, when people would see her for the first time, they would gasp in astonishment, staring at her sapphire eyes wreathed in thick black lashes and the shiny black hair framing her porcelain face.  ”What a pretty child !” they would exclaim, prompting the well-rehearsed Elizabeth to curtsey and smile.

Elizabeth Taylor in "Lassie Come Home," 1943.

But Elizabeth was not always gorgeous, said her mother, Sara Taylor, a former stage actress. She considered Elizabeth to be quite an ugly baby when born in London on February 27, 1932.

Sara Taylor cradles her newborn daughter, the future movie queen Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

At first glance at her newborn, Sara was repulsed:

“As the precious bundle was placed in my arms, my heart stood still. There inside the cashmere shawl was the funniest-looking baby I had ever seen. Her hair was long and black. Her ears were covered with thick black fuzz, and inlaid into the sides of her head….”(1)

Baby Elizabeth’s arms, shoulders, and back were covered with a thick downy pelt called lanugo, not uncommon in newborns.

“The infant looked like a little monkey,” remembered Viennese art dealer and family friend Ernest Lowy. (2)

Compounding the problem, Elizabeth’s eyes were screwed tightly shut. For ten days, the doctor tried to pry them open unsuccessfully, finding only the whites visible.

Then one day, Baby Elizabeth suddenly snapped open her eyes and gazed up at her new mother. Sara found herself gazing down into two pools of deep violet fringed by thick black lashes – double rows of lashes! Then the baby smiled. Sara considered this a special greeting from her daughter and told the nurse so.

The nurse chuckled, reminding Mrs. Taylor that infants can’t express emotion:

“That was no smile,” the nurse indicated, “only a little gas.” (3)

Elizabeth Taylor in profile, ca. 1934

The dark fuzz fell off and a swan emerged.

Elizabeth Taylor didn't begin to walk until she was 16 months old. She is shown here with one of the many dogs for which she cared during her lifetime. ca.1934-35

As a young girl, Elizabeth Taylor had a big head on a little body. "What a podge!" she remarked, upon seeing a young photo of herself. 1934.

Elizabeth Taylor enjoys tea and cake in her dressing room. In this unretouched 1950 publicity photo, one can see La Liz's arms were covered in a dark and velvety down, in keeping with her being a beautiful brunette.

(1) Ladies’ Home Journal,  March- April 1954

(2) Heymann, C. David. Liz: An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1995, 2011.

(3)  Walker, Alexander. Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Taylor. New York: Grove Press, 1990, 1997.

Readers: For more on Elizabeth Taylor on Lisa’s History Room, click here.

Natalie Wood and husband Robert Wagner aboard their yacht the Splendour two weeks before Wood went overboard and drowned. The couple argued the night of her death.

According to a witness whose account has never been disclosed, Hollywood star Natalie Wood  was screaming for help as she drowned.

Retired stockbroker Marilyn Wayne said she tried to report the star’s ‘last desperate cries for help’ but was ignored.

Los Angeles police last week said ‘substantial new evidence’ has led them to reopen their investigation into the death 30 years ago this week.

Learn more at the Daily Mail Online.

Readers: For more on Natalie Wood on Lisa’s History Room, click here.

Is Kate pregnant? While William, 29, plus the Danish Crown Prince and Princess tasted peanut paste at a recent visit to a global supply center for Unicef, Kate politely refused -- and reportedly gave her husband of six months a knowing look.

Tabloids are abuzz with speculation that Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is expecting her first child with Prince William. Buckingham Palace refuses to deny or confirm such a statement but there are hints that there may be some truth to the rumor.

It is all started with Kate refused to sample some peanut paste in a Unicef food packet in a royal visit to Copenhagen. (Doctors warn expectant mothers against eating nuts.) She further fueled speculation  on another occasion when she refused a glass of champagne while hosting a charity dinner on behalf of Prince Charles. (Expectant mothers shouldn’t drink alcohol.)

In Touch magazine claims that Kate is six weeks pregnant. In Touch‘s sources have been reliable in the past, having correctly revealed both the couple’s honeymoon plans and the Queen‘s wedding gift to Kate.

Learn more at The Daily Beast.

Readers: For more on Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, on Lisa’s History Room, click here.

Natalie Wood was born "Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko" on July 20, 1938, to Russian immigrant parents. She began acting in Hollywood movies at the age of 4. She died by drowning at the age of 43 during the production of "Brainstorm" (1983) with Christopher Walken.

How did actress Natalie Wood, famous for her star turn in Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story, end up drowning off Santa Catalina Island, California, in 1981 while boating with actor husband Robert Wagner and costar Christopher Walker? Though officially ruled an accident at the time, the circumstances that led to her death and the nature of her tumble off the yacht the Splendour she owned with Wagner have remained one of Hollywood’s darkest mysteries.

Robert Wagner bends over to kiss flowers that cover the casket of his wife Natalie Wood during her graveside ceremonies on December 2, 1981. If Wagner discovered that his wife was missing from their yacht around midnight, why did he wait over an hour to use the ship's radio to call for help? These and other questions surrounding Woods' death remain unanswered.

Today, 30 years later, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has announced that it is reopening the case of Natalie Woods’ drowning due to “credible information” from multiple sources. One source is Dennis Davern, who was the boat captain of the Splendour that dark and fateful night, a night full of boozing and yelling and tragedy. Davern now says that he lied in his original statement to the police and that Robert Wagner is responsible for Wood’s death.

"Splendour," the yacht owned by Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner

Learn more at MSNBC.

Readers: For more on Natalie Wood on Lisa’s History Room, click here.

British American screenstar Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) as a young girl.

Just after actress Elizabeth Taylor was born, her parents were ushered into the doctor’s office and told that their newborn daughter had a mutation. 

 ”Well, that sounded just awful,” her mother Sara Taylor said later,”a mutation.”

The mutation was not a deformity, however. It meant that little Elizabeth was born with double rows of eyelashes.

Elizabeth Taylor, age 10

Sara breathed a little easier to learn that.

“I thought,well, now, that doesn’t sound so terrible at all.”

Elizabeth’s eyes were stunning – large and blue, rimmed by deep, thick lashes. When caught in the light, the color of her eyes was almost violet. (1)

Elizabeth Taylor had luminous beauty - and double rows of eyelashes.

Double rows of eyelashes are usually the result of a mutation at FOXC2 , a gene that influences all kinds of tissue development in embryos. FOXC2 mutations are thought to be responsible for, among other things, lymphedema-distichiasissyndrome , a hereditary disease that can cause disorders of the lymphatic system, in addition to double eyelashes.

The eyelash mutation isn’t always as cosmetically enhancing as Taylor’s turned out to be — the extra eyelashes can sometimes grow inward and damage the cornea. In addition, seven percent of people with lymphedema-distichiasis syndrome also suffer from congenital heart disease.

Coincidentally, Taylor herself had a history of heart problems. In 2009, Taylor underwent surgery to repair a leaky heart valve. Her death on March 23, 2011, was attributed to congestive heart failure.

In April 2010, Elizabeth Taylor launched a new line of perfume "Violet Eyes": "This sensual perfume is inspired by her iconic eye color; it is feminine, captivating, sophisticated and intriguing. Filled with a bouquet of the flowers Elizabeth Taylor loves, the composition is both modern and mysterious."

Source:  Slate

Readers, for more on Elizabeth Taylor at Lisa’s History Room, click here.

Elizabeth Taylor on the Rome set of the film, "Cleopatra," 1962, where she began her scandalous affair with costar Richard Burton. Dame Liz wears her diamond ring from her late husband Mike Todd and the diamond, emerald, and gold bangle watch by Bulgari, Jaeger-LeCoultre

Christie’s auction house is selling screen sensation Elizabeth Taylor’s complete jewelry collection in New York City on Dec. 13-16, 2011. Among the pieces to be sold is the diamond, emerald, and gold ”snake” brackelet watch by Bulgari, ca. 1961, shown below:

This cobra bangle watch by Bulgari, estimated at $12,000-15,000, is to be sold at Christie's auction of the Elizabeth Taylor Collection, Dec. 13, 2011.

Readers: For more on The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor Auction by Christie’s, click here and here.

Readers: For more on Elizabeth Taylor here at Lisa’s History Room, click here.

In 2009, British Esquire named Prince Charles the World's Best Dressed Man. "He is perfectly turned out in a double-breasted suit," they claim. "Admirably, the prince keeps his wardrobe in appropriate style: we're told he has a room laid out like a tailor's shop."

Not in Front of the Corgis,  a new book to be released in June 2012 by biographer Brian Hoey, gives us a “behind closed doors” look at the British Royal Family.  Here’s a preview of a section on Prince Charles and Camilla:

Prince Charles employs 133 staff to look after him and Camilla, more than 60 of them domestics: chefs, cooks, footmen, housemaids, gardeners, chauffeurs, cleaners, and his three personal valets—gentleman’s gentlemen—whose sole responsibility is the care of their royal master’s extensive wardrobe and choosing what he is to wear on any particular day. A serving soldier polishes the prince’s boots and shoes every day—he has 50 handmade pairs each costing over £800 ($1275) by Lobb of St James’s—and a housemaid washes his underwear as soon as it is discarded.

Nothing Charles or Camilla wears is ever allowed near a washing machine. Particular attention is paid to handkerchiefs, which are monogrammed and again all hand-washed, as it was found that when they were sent to a laundry, some would go missing—as souvenirs. HRH’s suits, of which he has 60, cost more than £3,000 ($4780) each, and his shirts, all handmade, cost £350 ($558) a time (he has more than 200), while his collar stiffeners are solid gold or silver. Charles’s valets also iron the laces of his shoes whenever they are taken off.

Source: The Daily Beast

Readers: For more on the British Royal Family on this blog, click here.

At a 1968 British society wedding in Kent, Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor cannot resist snapping a souvenir picture of "the Queen Mum" (seated), mother of Queen Elizabeth II.

“The Queen Mum,” born Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900-2002), was the beloved British Royal Family matriarch from 1953 until her death at age 101. Of Scottish birth, she served as Queen consort to her husband King George VI from 1936 until his death in 1952, when their daughter Princess Elizabeth took the throne as Elizabeth II.

During the London Blitz in WWII, the Queen Mum – who was then naturally referred to as Queen Elizabeth - insisted that she and the King remain in Buckingham Palace after it was bombed by the German luftwaffe. The Queen remarked to her mother-in-law that she was more affected by the bombing of the East End of London than by the bombing of the Palace:

“I’m glad we have been bombed,” she said. ”Now, I can look the East End in the eye.” (1)

British King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth (later Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) survey the damage to Buckingham Palace from German bombs. Both the King and Queen were in the Palace when the attack hit the palace grounds and chapel on the morning of September 13, 1940. As they made their way to the palace shelter, they felt the Palace shake under the assault of high explosive and incendiary bombs. They were unhurt. Undeterred by the danger, the royal couple vowed to stay in London in the Palace.

“I am still just as frightened of bombs as I was at the beginning,” the Queen wrote to a favourite niece. “I turn bright red and my heart hammers….I’m a beastly coward but I do believe that a lot people are, so I don’t mind! Well, darling, I must stop. Tinkety tonk old fruit and down with the Nazis.”(2)

Her indomitable spirit in the face of German aggression boosted British morale to such a degree that Adolf Hitler called her “the most dangerous woman in Europe.”

Her scary skinny sister-in-law, Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor, hated and mocked her, calling her by the unflattering nickname ”Cookie” behind her back, mocking her love of sweets and resulting plumpness. The Queen Mum, however, did not hide her love of fun, jokes, champagne, and good food. In the 2010 movie, “The King’s Speech,” the Queen Mum, played by Helena Bonham Carter, is shown eating candies in the backseat of a car.

Her ultimate accolade for anyone or anything was “delicious.”(2)

Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

A new book by British monarchy chronicler, Brian Hoey, gives us yet another “behind the palace walls” glimpse of the Queen Mum enjoying her sweets.  Not in Front of the Corgis, scheduled for a June 2012 release, relates this anecdote: 

Lord Callaghan, when he was prime minister (1976-1979), was a frequent guest of the Queen Mother’s at Clarence House. Once, when just the two of them were present, she was eating from an enormous box of chocolates when he arrived.  She asked him if he would like one. He said, “Yes.” She then pointed to one in the middle of the box and said, “Have that one.” During the time he was eating his one specified chocolate, she ate three more. 

She then invited him to take another, once again selecting the one he should have. This went on for the remainder of the morning, with Her Majesty always pointing to the ones he could have.

As Callaghan left, he spoke to The Queen’s Page, asking why he was offered only particular chocolates by the Queen. The Page let him in on the secret:

“Those are the ones with hard centers. Her Majesty only eats the chocolates with soft centers.”(3)

(1) Source: BBC

(2) Source: The Daily Beast

(3) Source: The Daily Beast

Faithful readers:

•  For more on the Queen Mum on this blog, click here.
• For more on the British Royal Family on this blog, click here.
• For more on Elizabeth Taylor on this blog, click here.
• For more on Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor on this blog, click here.

Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning.

Yesterday, as I reported, the coroner at St. Pancras Coroner’s Office, London, released the toxicology report on Amy Winehouse, the 27-year-old British singer found dead in her flat on July 23. The official finding is that Winehouse’s death was due to alcohol poisoning. Her blood alcohol contained five times the legal limit of alcohol, which stopped her breathing and sent her into a coma. Three empty vodka bottles were found near her body in her bedroom.

Ironically, Amy Winehouse burst upon the international music scene with her 2006 hit single, “Rehab,” in which she famously refuses treatment for her alcohol and drug abuse:

“Rehab” became her anthem over the next five years as we watched, played out in the press, her very public spiral downward, in particular, the tumult that led up to her divorce from Blake Fielder-Civil, her husband of two years, whom she had met in a bar:

Blake Fielder-Civil and Amy Winehouse

“In addition to the reported drug use, Winehouse was famously caught on video carving the words ‘I Love Blake’ into her stomach with a shard of glass, and during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, she displayed photos of the couple passing pills to each other with their tongues.

But the Sid-and-Nancy-style love affair was also accompanied by photos of heated arguments that ended with both sporting bruises and scratches, as well as an arrest in Norway in October 2007 for marijuana possession; the couple were released with a fine. Just months after the wedding, Fielder-Civil was arrested on charges of suspicion of attacking a bar landlord and attempting to bribe him to drop the allegation. Following his incarceration, Winehouse was frequently seen wandering the streets of her Camden neighborhood in a daze, and she subsequently canceled a U.S. tour.” (source)

Some people laughed at Amy’s troubles; others scolded her for her misbehavior. Those familiar with addiction did neither. They knew all too well this predictable pattern. If Amy didn’t get treatment for addiction, she would die.

At yesterday’s inquest, Amy’s parents and friends listened as Amy’s doctor recounted how Amy had been totally resistant to any therapies that could have helped her with her drinking problems. That foolish decision robbed her of her health, beauty, freedom, and happiness, and, finally, her life.

In reporting the inquest’s findings, I have run across some websites with headlines saying, to the effect, that Amy did it to herself, that she deserves no pity: she drank herself to death. You will find none of these attitudes here. Yes, Amy Winehouse is responsible for her own troubles and the suffering she caused herself and others. But Amy was grappling with something she was powerless to control. She was an alcoholic who tried to control her drinking, which she could not.

Amy Winehouse, circled, as a 13-year-old pupil at the Sylvia Young Theatre.

Addiction is an illness. It is chronic, progressive, and, if left untreated, sometimes fatal. Amy Winehouse suffered from an illness she dangerously thought she could manage alone. Rest in peace, Amy Winehouse.

For more on Amy Winehouse on this blog, click here.

British singer Amy Winehouse lost her battle with addiction.

It looks like we have an explanation for Amy Winehouse‘s tragic death. A coroner says the singer died from drinking too much alcohol, ruling it a “death by misadventure.” A pathologist says Winehouse (1983-2011) consumed a “very large quantity of alcohol” prior to her death and that her blood registered at 4.5 times over the legal drunk-driving limit. Winehouse, who died this summer at the age of 27, had struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for years.

Her doctor says she had resumed drinking in the days before her death after a period of abstinence (which we don’t have to believe).

source: The Book of Common Prayer

Read the coroner’s report on Amy Winehouse at the Associated Press.

Read about Amy Winehouse last days at the Daily Mail Online.

Read more about Amy Winehouse on this blog by clicking here.

"Monet Painting in His Argenteuil Garden," by Auguste Renoir, 1873

A spectacular stretch of the Seine, where the river reached its widest and deepest points, ran through Argenteuil.  Shortly after moving there in 1871, Monet bought a boat and converted it into a floating studio. He kept it moored near his home and used it to get a vista of the riverbank from the water.

"Claude Monet Painting on His Studio Boat," by Édouard Manet, 1874. The shadowy female figure sitting with the artist is his wife and model Camille Doncieux Monet.

Living with Monet at Argenteuil were his wife Camille Doncieux and their son Jean. Camille had been Monet’s model since they met in 1865. The couple lived in depressing poverty.

Claude Monet (1860) and wife Camille Doncieux Monet (undated)

Right up to her death, Camille posed for her husband’s paintings, more often than not, appearing as an indistinct female figure in a rural landscape.

"River Scene at Bennecourt," Claude Monet, 1868

Sometimes Camille has her back to the observer; othertimes her face is veiled or hidden.

"Camille on the Beach at Trouville," by Claude Monet, 1870

Camille was quite the devoted model. In Monet’s painting, “Women in a Garden” (1866-67), she posed for all four female figures!

"Women in a Garden," Claude Monet, 1866-67

Camille was so cooperative that she freely posed for Monet’s painter friends, too.

"The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil," by Édouard Manet, 1874. Camille and son Jean relax while Claude Monet tends his garden.

Auguste Renoir painted Madame Monet – known as ”La Monette” – several times.

"Camille Monet Reading," by Auguste Renoir, 1872

Here is one of the rare times her husband paints her face clearly enough to distinguish her features, particularly her huge and sad-looking eyes. She often looks melancholy.

"The Bench," by Claude Monet, 1873

In 1876, Camille Monet fell ill with what is believed to have been cervical cancer. In “Camille Holding a Posy of Violets,” below, one can see the toll the disease has had on her health. She looks tired, older, and pale. It is speculated that her expression betrays her disgust with her husband who, by then, was openly carrying on a flirtation with their mutual friend, Alice Hoschede. Alice and her two children shared a house with the Monets.

"Camille Holding a Posy of Violets," or "Portrait," by Claude Monet, 1877

In 1878, Camille gave birth to a second son, Michel. Her health was dangerously weakened. Although Monet was not as attentive as he could have been to his wife, he loved Camille and was devastated that she was dying. For a time, he lost the desire to paint.

Finally Camille’s long suffering came to an end on September 5, 1879. Monet was grief-stricken. But even his internal pain could not stifle his passion to paint. Camille – his model-wife – was his muse, his inspiration to paint. At her deathbed, he took out his paints and painted her last portrait.

"Camille on her Deathbed," by Claude Monet, 1879

“I caught myself watching her tragic forehead,” Monet wrote afterwards to a friend, “almost mechanically observing the sequence of changing colours that death was imposing on her rigid face. Blue, yellow, grey and so on… my reflexes compelled me to take unconscious action in spite of myself.”

Little is known about Camille Doncieux Monet (1847-1879) mainly because Monet’s mistress and second wife, Alice Hoschede, was so jealous of Camille that she demanded that Monet destroy all mementos – letters, photos – anything – that attested to Camille’s very existence. (1)

(1) Gedo, Mary Mathews. Monet and His Muse: Camille Monet in the Artist’s Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is moving ahead with plans to change succession laws so that if Will and Kate have a daughter, she will be able to ascend to the throne. Under existing rules, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge‘s first child is a girl but their second child is a boy, the son would pass over his sister and inherit the throne. Cameron wrote,

We espouse gender equality in all other aspects of life, and it is an anomaly that in the rules relating to the highest public officer we continue to enshrine male superiority.”

Read more at People.

For more on this blog about Will & Kate, click here.

Jackie Kennedy

In 1966, multimillionaire Robert David Lion Gardiner invited Jackie Kennedy to visit him on to his private islet, Gardiners Island, off the coast of Long Island. Gardiners Island had been in Gardiner’s family for four centuries and was one of the largest privately-owned islands in the world.

Eunice Bailey Oakes Gardiner and Robert David Lion Gardiner

Gardiner arranged a dinner party for Jackie which was attended by both Gardiner and wife, the former British model Eunice Bailey Oakes, and several others.

After dinner, the guests retired to the lavish wood-paneled den, where coffee and cognac were served. According to Gardiner, he watched as Jackie took out a cigarette and looked around for a light. A gold cigarette lighter belonging to Eunice lay on a  nearby table. Jackie picked it up and used it to light her cigarette. Then, inexplicably, she slipped the lighter into her evening bag.

Gardiner was aghast. Jackie Kennedy had deliberately stolen his wife’s lighter.

Gardiner didn’t know what to do. Several uncomfortable minutes later, he went over to his humidor and took out a cigar. Turning to the roomful of guests, he asked:

Have any of you seen my wife’s gold cigarette lighter?” 

Getting no response, he addressed his most distinguished guest:

Did you, Mrs. Kennedy? I believe you were the last one to use it.”

Jackie shrugged, replying in her little girl voice:  

I have no idea where it went. ”

The lighter was never returned to its owner. Gardiner was furious and retaliated by spreading stories accusing Jackie of kleptomania.

Jackie Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis, June 5, 1969, at Kennedy Airport, New York. The couple had been married less than a year.

The gossip reached the Greek ears of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie’s husband from 1968-75, who sent Gardiner a check for $5,000, along with a note threatening legal action for slander. Jackie had admitted to Ari that she had accidentally placed the lighter in her purse that evening at Gardiner’s but had, since then, simply lost track of it.

At some point, though, the missing lighter “resurfaced.” After Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s death in 1994, the lighter was auctioned off at Sotheby’s in New York as part of her multi-million-dollar estate.

Source: Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story. New York: Atria, 2009.

Readers, for more posts on Jackie Kennedy on this blog, click here.

Pigeons gather in a square in Barcelona.

Note: Pigeons and doves form the bird family Columbidae, of which there are 300 species. Ornithologically, there is no simple way to distinguish a pigeon from a dove. Some specialists refer to the smaller species as “doves” and the larger ones as “pigeons,” but this is not consistently applied.  

Collared doves can be tamed in urban areas, such as these two sweeties being handfed in Poland.

In reference to the works of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, the issue is further muddled. The titles of many of his works include the Spanish word la paloma, which means both “pigeon” and “dove,” so we aren’t sure which bird he intended to depict, if, indeed, he did intend to create such a distinction.  

Finally, Picasso biographers, art curators, and translators have added their own layers of confusion. For example, the painting, “Child Holding a Dove,” (National Gallery, London) has been given two different French title translations: ”L’Enfant A La Colombe” (Child With the Dove)  and “L’Enfant Au Pigeon” (Child With A Pigeon). 

Therefore, for the purpose of this article, the terms, “pigeon” and “dove,” are used interchangeably, as is common practice, except when otherwise explicitly stated.  

Now for our story:

"Picasso in Underwear," photo by David Douglas Duncan, 1957. From the earliest age, the most famous artist of the 20th Century did whatever he wanted, which might include posing in his jockeys on his front doorstep at age 76.

Famed Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) grew up around pigeons. His father, José Ruiz Blasco, an artist in his own right, bred pigeons (rock doves), which became his favorite subject to paint. Ruiz became known as El Palomero (The Pigeon Fancier). Pablo’s father taught him how to paint pigeons. (1) 

In Pablo’s hometown of Málaga, Spain, pigeons roosted in the sycamore trees in the Plaza de la Merced, where he and his sisters played. While the girls frolicked in the square, Pablo used a stick to make bird drawings in the dirt. (2)    

Much to the dismay of his elementary school teachers, Little Pablo, or “Pablito,” drew constantly. Every once in a while, he brought a pigeon to class and spent his time sketching it rather than doing his assigned schoolwork.    

"Pigeons" by Pablo Picasso, 1890 (at age 9)

Pablo used every inch of his drawing paper, covering the page with scenes of his favorite subjects: bullfights and pigeons. (3)  

"Bullfight and Six Studies of Doves," 1892. Picasso was 11.

Guided by his father, Picasso received professional art instruction. His talent grew and was recognized. By the age of 15, he was successfully exhibiting his artwork. By 1901, he was splitting his time between Barcelona and Paris, falling increasingly in the company of artists heavily influenced by post-impressionists such as Vincent Van Gogh.  

That same year, at the age of 20, Picasso had become so respected an artist that he had a Paris show in the Galerie Vollard almost to himself, sharing it with another Basque. At this exhibition, Picasso  

sold 15 of his 65 paintings and drawings before the exhibition had even opened.” (4) 

Through all these changes, however, pigeons still charmed him, as is evident in his sentimental 1901 painting, ”Child Holding a Dove” (1901), a piece that ushered in his somber Blue Period.  

"Child Holding a Dove," by Pablo Picasso, 1901.

Pigeons even appeared during his cubist period, as in “Woman With Pigeons” ( 1930).  

"Woman With Pigeons," by Pablo Picasso, 1930.

Before 1937, Picasso had not used his art for political expression. It was in that year, though, that he was to create his most famous work. Commissioned by the Spanish Republican government, Picasso created an enormous mural called “Guernica.” It was named after a Spanish town in the Basque country that had been firebombed by Nazis, backers of the Nationalist forces of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War (1937-1939).   

Guernica, Spain, after the April 26, 1937, aerial bombing by Nazis. It was market day and the quiet village was filled with women and children. There were few men left in Guernica, as most were off fighting in the Spanish Civil War against Franco. The Nazis bombed the town for two hours, slaughtering hundreds of innocents. When the town caught fire, those not burned to death tried to escape the inferno by taking refuge in the outskirts of town. Yet there was no escape, as they found themselves trapped all around by bombed-out bridges and roads. Some of these women and children were gunned down by aerialists. The Nazis supported the rebel forces of General Franco to test out war tactics and weapons. Although there was a military target outside Guernica, a munitions factory, it was left unscathed by the April 1937 bombing. It is believed that the bombing was used to intimidate those in opposition to Franco's impending rule.

After the painting ”Guernica” (see below) was exhibited in the Paris International Exhibition (1937), it toured Europe and the U.S., drawing international attention to the Spanish Civil War and the horrors of war. 

"Guernica," by Pablo Picasso. (1937)

 ”Guernica” gained monumental status, becoming a potent anti-war symbol and thrusting Pablo Picasso to the forefront of the Peace Movement. In May of 1940, Hitler invaded France. Throughout WWII, Picasso lived in Nazi-occupied Paris, where he was continually harassed by the Gestapo who were familiar with his anti-Nazi mural. 

Picasso continued to paint and draw pigeons and doves. In 1949, author Louis Aragon chose the artist’s lithograph, “La Colombe,” (The Dove) for the poster commemorating the Peace Conference in Paris. (5) 

"La Colombe" (The Dove) by Picasso, 1949

Posters of ”La Colombe“ were all over Paris when Picasso’s daughter was born that April so he named his daughter Paloma (Spanish for dove). 

In this 1951 image, Pablo Picasso is shown with 2 of his 4 children, whose mother was Francoise Gilot: Paloma (b. 1949) in his arms and Claude (b. 1947)

The model for the famous “peace dove” was one of artist Henri Matisse ‘s doves.  

Henri Matisse in his studio with his doves. Vence, France. 1944. photo by Henri-Cartier Bresson

Matisse and Picasso had known each other since 1904 when they were introduced at the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein, an important collector of art, particularly Matisse’s. Matisse and Picasso had a profound influence on one another and their art.  

After Matisse died in 1954, Picasso was deeply saddened. He moved his family to a large villa near Cannes in the south of France and painted a series called ”Studio” in homage to Matisse. He painted almost a dozen canvases of the same view from his third floor studio window - with the lush background of sky and garden and sea – while, in the foreground, ”white doves” (6) nested and played in a dovecote Picasso had built on his terrace. Picasso did not ordinarily paint what he saw; he drew upon his imagination for artistic inspiration. It was his old friend Matisse who drew from nature. Therein lay Picasso’s tribute to Matisse.  

"The Studio (Pigeons)," by Picasso, 1957, is painted in a style reminiscent of Matisse.

Meanwhile, the “Dove of Peace” Picasso had created for the 1949 Paris Peace Conference had caught on. It had become a symbol for the peace movement, the Communist Party, and other liberal groups. In the years that followed, Picasso agreed to create other peace doves for conferences across Europe.

The modern peace dove is a more whimsical bird than the 1949 original. This proud bird is portrayed in happy flight, bearing numerous bouquets of olive branches and flowers in its wings, beak, and feet.

one of the many versions of Picasso's iconic "Dove of Peace"

(1)”Lines That Kept Moving and Knew No Boundaries,” by Smith, Roberta. New York Times, October 7, 2011.

(2) Hart, Tony. Famous Children: Picasso. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, 1994.  

(3) Krull, Kathleen. Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought). New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1995.  

(4) link  

(5) Clark, Hiro. Picasso: In His Words. New York: Welcome Books, 2002. 

(6) Douglas, David. Viva Picasso: A Centennial Celebration 1881-1981. Studio, 1980.