A cracking start to Arts Society Bishop’s Stortford’s autumn season: Toby Faber on Fabergé’s eggs and the fall of Russia’s Romanovs
The Arts Society Bishop’s Stortford is promising an egg-citing lecture to begin its autumn programme at South Mill Arts.
On Tuesday September 10, Toby Faber will give a talk entitled “The Imperial Easter Eggs of Carl Fabergé – Before the Revolution”.
Between 1885 and 1916, Carl Fabergé made 50 jewelled eggs which were used as Easter presents from Russia’s last two tsars to their wives.
They have become the most famous surviving symbols of the Romanov Empire and are, at the same time, wonderful examples of the jeweller’s art and the vulgar playthings of a decadent court.
Given almost total artistic freedom, Fabergé and his designers had to conform to only three rules: that each year’s Easter present had to be egg-shaped, that it should contain some surprise to amuse and delight its recipient and that it should be different from its predecessor.
The styles range from traditional Russian to Art Nouveau, and materials range from hardstone to exquisite, enamelled gold.
Their maker’s relentless search for novelty also means that they provide a fabulously quirky illustrated history of the decline of the Romanovs.
Mr Faber turned his research into a book, One Man’s Masterpieces and the End of An Empire - Fabergé’s Eggs.
The Sunday Telegraph called it: “[A] gossipy, delightful history… Like the eggs themselves, Faber’s book has multiple layers with a social history of pre- and post-revolutionary Russia, in which Rasputin and Lenin both have walk-on parts; much fascinating details about late 19th-century art and design; and incisive insights into the stupidity and cupidity of the avaricious rich.”
The Arts Society Bishop’s Stortford, founded in 1976, meets monthly at South Mill Arts on the second Tuesday of the month, with coffee from 10am. The lecture starts at 10.40am. Visitors are welcome to attend for a suggested £7 donation.
To find out more see info@tasbs.org.uk.