Portrait of Rudolf von Arthaber with his children by Friedrich von Amerling, 1837

Friedrich von Amerling (April 14, 1803, Vienna – January 14, 1887, Vienna) was one of the most celebrated portrait painters of the nineteenth century.  He was painter to the Austro-Hungarian court between 1835 and 1880, and was elevated to the nobility in 1878.

In the original German, this intimate, motherless group portrait is entitled Rudolf von Arthaber mit seinen Kindern Rudolf, Emilie und Gustav, das Bildnis der gestorbenen Mutter ( Rudolf von Arthaber with his children Rudolf, Emilie, and Gustav; the portrait of the deceased mother).

Drop-front secretary (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en armoire) by Guillaume Beneman, circa 1786 - 87

Tulipwood, kingwood, holly, mahogany veneered on oak, gilt-bronze, brèche d'Alep marble, leather.  Made for Louis XVI's study in his private apartments at the Château de Compiègne.  Guillaume Beneman (1750 - after 1811) was a prominent Parisian ébéniste of German extraction. 

Decoration possibly by Gilles-François Martin, Étienne-Jean Forestier, or Pierre-Phillipe Thomire Forestier (1751–1843); Modelers of gilt-bronze mounts: Louis-Simon Boizot (1743–1809) and Pierre Michaud; Decorators: Tournay and Bardin; Gilder: Galle (ca. 1786–87); Factory director: Jean Hauré (active 1774–after 1796).

Marlene Dietrich in The Garden of Allah, 1936

Charles Joseph Watelet - two portraits

Charles Joseph Watelet (1867-1954), a Belgian painter, specializing in portraits and rather erotic female nudes and semi-nudes.

Une élégante et son bouledogue, circa 1925.

Portrait de mon fils, 1917.

Ansicht von Pillnitz durch ein Fenster / View of Pillnitz Through a Window, by Johan Christian Dahl, 1823

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Johan Christian Claussen Dahl (February 24, 1788, Bergen – October 14, 1857, Dresden), a Norwegian artist, in his day celebrated at home and abroad, and considered by many to be the most important figure in the artistic life of Norway in the first half of the nineteenth century.

The strange beauty of Merle Oberon

Photograph by George Hurrell, circa 1936.

Merle Oberon (February 19, 1911, Bombay - November 23, 1979, Malibu) , born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson - nicknamed "Queenie" - was an actress of mixed Anglo-Indian parentage, a fact she worked hard to conceal because of the prejudices of the time. The circumstances of her birth are still very murky; she herself claimed to have been born and raised in Tasmania. She was married four times, acquired a most impressive collection of jewelry, and had a film career that lasted forty-five years, from 1928 to 1973.

Publicity for Folies Bergère de Paris, photograph by George Hurrell, 1935.

The Private Life of Don Juan, 1934.

Folies Bergère de Paris, 1935.

Photograph by George Hurrell, 1935.

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Probably the most important piece in her collection, a necklace of diamonds and 29 baroque emerald beads, Cartier, 1938.

Maria Callas, Norma, November, 1954

Her American debut, with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Callas' stage jewelry for the role of Norma.

L'Amour et Psyché, 1817

François-Edouard Picot (October 10, 1786, Paris – March 15, 1868, Paris), painter of mythological, religious and historical subjects, won the Prix de Rome in 1813.  He exhibited at the Paris Salon between 1819 and 1839, and was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1832.

The artist, circa 1865.

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(Click, then "view image" to see larger.)

 

Lady playing with her dog, ink wash on paper, 1868, by Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky

Nikolai Dmitrievich Dmitriev-Orenburgsky (November 1, 1838, Nizhny Novgorod - April 21, 1898, Saint Petersburg), Russian painter of genre and history subjects, who specialized in depicting contemporary battle scenes.

Gene Raymond, Buddy Rogers, and three rather odd Hollywood marriages

Gene Raymond (August 13, 1908, New York City – May 2, 1998), born Raymond Guion, was a popular film actor in the early Thirties, most often cast as the second lead.  He also acted on stage and television, and was a composer, writer/director, and decorated military pilot.

I find Gene Raymond really rather attractive - in a freakishly blond, peppy, happy-puppy sort of way.

Yeah, but that's not the point right now.  The story, here, involves older wives and gay husbands, marital blackmail, alcoholism, and impossible, crazy love.  I'll try and keep this brief.

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It's always difficult to rewrite history.  People become very attached to the things they've always fondly believed, and often don't take kindly to new and "inconvenient" information.  And it's true that among those who care about such things, there are many who are unhappy to find that Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy weren't just costars, weren't "just friends".  They were actually crazy in love with each other.  A little too crazy.  On again, off again lovers, wrenching fights, miscarriages - drama.  Eddy wanted to marry MacDonald, but he also expected her to give up her career - then at its height - to become a wife and mother.  She wasn't keen on that idea and, needless to say, neither was M.G.M.  In one of her breaks from Eddy, she began dating Gene Raymond, an actor five years her junior.  The studio, thinking he would be safer husband material, encouraged the relationship, and they married on June 16, 1937, with full studio coverage and thousands of fans flocking outside the church, followed by a lavish reception hosted by Basil and Ouida Rathbone.  Among her bridesmaids were Fay Wray and Ginger Rogers, and her dress was designed by Adrian.  Nelson Eddy sang.  (And was miserable.)

The wedding party; Nelson Eddy is at far left.

Less than a year after their marriage, Raymond was arrested, caught having sex with another man.  The studio hushed up the affair.  (It appears there are at least three documented arrests for similar incidents, one in England during the war.)  And the tempestuous MacDonald/Eddy love affair - including another pregnancy, apparently - continued after her marriage to Raymond, even after Eddy eloped in 1939 with Ann Franklin - seven years his senior - the former wife of director Sidney Franklin.  The new Mrs. Eddy was described as "emotionally unstable" and as having "blackmailed" Eddy into the marriage.  Not surprisingly, it proved to be a very unhappy union that, nonetheless, lasted twenty-seven years, until his death in 1967; on more than one occasion, Eddy plead for a divorce, but his wife, who knew everything and held all the cards, firmly replied "no".

Nelson and Ann Eddy.

And yet, even with his "indiscretions", the MacDonald and Raymond marriage seemed far from unhappy.  They, too, were married for twenty-seven years, until her early death in 1965.  And there are countless photographs of them together, through the years, looking quite sincerely happy.  Could she have had a contented marriage with one man, while continuing her relationship with another, the great love of her life?  Who knows.  People are strangely adaptable.

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Charles Edward “Buddy” Rogers (August 13, 1904, Olathe, Kansas – April 21, 1999, Rancho Mirage, California), actor and musician most remembered for his role in the silent film Wings, 1927.  In later years known for his humanitarianism, in 1986 he was awarded the Jean Hersholt Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Sharing a birthday with Gene Raymond (who was born four years later), he had a rather similar kind of healthy, boyish beauty; the soft, dark opposite to Raymond's metallic blondness.

Pardon my gif!  The always surprising farewell kiss in "Wings".

Similar to Raymond, he is also better known now less for his career, than because of the woman he married.

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were the silent-era king and queen of Hollywood.  But their careers were on the wane by the early Thirties; he turned to another woman, she to alcohol.  They separated, and in 1936 divorced, a decision they both apparently very much regretted.  A year later, though, Pickford married Buddy Rogers, twelve years her junior, in a ceremony as quiet as the MacDonald/Raymond's had been grand.  They seemed to have a happy marriage and he was always very attentive to her during her ever increasing post-career isolation and her deepening alcoholism.  They were married for forty-one years, until her death in 1979.

Pickford and Rogers on their wedding day, June 26, 1937.

The Pickford/Rogers wedding reception.

Rogers and Pickford at the Academy Awards in 1941.

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And how do these marriages tie together?  MacDonald and Raymond were married June 16, 1937.  Nine days later, Pickford and Rogers were wed.  That same night, both couples left aboard the liner Lurline to honeymoon in Honolulu.  Their respective cabins were adjacent, and Raymond and Rogers seem to have already been quite well acquainted. 

Wedding reception (?) for MacDonald and Raymond (at center); Pickford and Rogers are seated at left.

According to reliable sources, somewhere out at sea the two grooms commenced a honeymoon of their own.