CARROBIO,
COUNTESS DI
Neg.
No: (GP) 1904
Neg. Size: 15"x12"
Neg.
Date: 01-03-1899
Sitter:
Countess Victor di Carrobio, née Helene von Gutmann of Baden bei Wien (b. 1870); m (1896) Count Victor di Carrobio (b. 1867), attaché to the Italian Embassy in London
 |
Helen, Countess di Carrobio (b. 1870) was a daughter of David von Gutmann, an Austrian coal and steel magnate and philanthropist who did much for the emancipation of his fellow Jews in eastern Europe. She married, in 1896, Victor Sacerdoti, Count di Carrobio, a diplomat who was then the Second Secretary at the Italian Embassy in London, and became a popular hostess in the Anglo-Italian Colony.
She was presented by Baroness De Renzis, the wife of the Italian ambassador, at the Drawing Room on 1 March 1899 which had been postponed due to the death of Queen Victoria’s grandson, Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on 6 February.
As the Court was in mourning, the Countess di Carrobio chose a gown by the French firm of Paquin made of black satin embroidered with jet and diamonds and edged at the shoulders with black tulle. The train of black satin was edged with black Chantilly lace embroidered with jet and diamonds, a very soft flounce of tulle extending to the shoulder, where it terminated in a rosette, and was caught in at the waist with a large paste buckle. As well as swags of pearl across her corsage, the Countess wears a diamond necklace and a diamond tiara is set in her hair against the Prince of Wales’s ostrich feathers, which, like her fan, are black.
The backdrop in this portrait is intended to represent the staircase leading to the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace.
Date:
1 March 1899.
Occasion:
The Court, 1 March 1899, presented by Baroness de Renzis.
Location:
The Lafayette Studio, 179 New Bond Street, London, W.
Descr:
FL standing.
Costume:
Court dress:
"...black
satin gown embroidered with jet and diamonds, the upper part black tulle;
the train of black satin was cut round into scallops, edged with black
Chantilly lace embroidered with jet and diamonds, a very soft flounce
of tulle extending to the shoulder, where it terminated in a rosette,
and was caught in at the waist with a large paste buckle" (see: The
Queen, 4 March 1899, p 365b).
Costume
Supplier: Paquin Ltd., 39 Dover Street, London.
Jewellery:
-
Furniture
& Props: Painted backdrop.
Photographer:
Lafayette Ltd., 179 New Bond Street, London.
Evidence
of photographer at work: -
No
of poses: 1.Copyright:
V&A
All
images on this site are copyright V&A. For further information on
using or requesting copies of any images please contact the V&A Picture
Library: vaimages@vam.ac.uk
including the URL of the relevant page
Provenance: Pinewood Studios; acquired 1989.
References:
Biog:
-
Occasion:
The Times, 2 March 1899, p 8a.
Costume:
The Court Journal, 4 March 1899, p 344b; Madame, 11
March 1899, p 545a; The Queen, 4 March 1899, p 365b.
Costume
Supplier: Madame, 11 March 1899, p 545a.
Jewellery:
-
Reproduced:
(version) The Ladies Field, 11 March 1899, front page; (cropped
version) The Ladies Field, 24 January 1903, p 261; The
Sketch, Sept. 3, 1902
Additional
Information: By the Queen's command the Court changed the mourning
for the late Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on the 23rd of February,
1899 and went out of mourning on the 9th of March, 1899 [see: The Queen,
18 February 1899, p 279].
Acknowledgements:
Matt Davies
