Walpole and His Stuff

This news is a week old now, but even so. On Friday 2nd July a group of the LGMG (a very small group) gathered at the V&A to visit their exhibition of artefacts from the extraordinary collection of that extraordinary antiquary, wit, and man of taste Horace Walpole, originally gathered and displayed at his equally extraordinary creation, Strawberry Hill. No photos possible in the display itself, sadly, but despite the typical ill-lit contours of the V&A's temporary exhibition gallery and the minimalist set-dressing (a few Gothic arches cut into the tops of the towering partitions) the Stuff triumphed through its sheer quirkiness and, occasionally, beauty, glinting in the gloom (how Walpole would have approved!) with suggestions of the arcane and occult. Very literally in one case: I had no idea that Dr Dee's Scrying Glass had ended up in Walpole's clutches, and even less idea that it was in fact an Aztec artefact long before Dee himself got hold of it. Several of the items are fakes, or not what they are supposed to be (the 'Armour of Francis I', for instance, isn't from the time of Francis I and isn't all from one suit of armour), but this seems completely appropriate considering Walpole's fame rests on writing a fake medieval romance and building a fake medieval mansion. Rather disappointingly separated were the wooden cravat carved by Grinling Gibbons and a pair of outrageous embroidered gauntlets which Walpole once wore to greet a group of French visitors. 'The French servants', he wrote with obvious glee, 'Are now convinced that this is the customary dress of an English country gentleman'. Gothic, as we know, isn't just about literature though some are still stuck in that mode; people who think Gothically think it via things as much as narratives. This display gave an insight into how one of the earliest self-conscious Goths went about that exercise. Great fun. When Strawberry Hill reopens in the Autumn we must organise a visit.