THE HISTORY OF UMBRELLAS AROUND THE WORLD

Jeffrey T. Larson

The umbrella was invented in China. It appeared for the first time in China 3500 years ago. According to a legend the umbrella was invented by the wife of Luban, Yun, who was both very attentive and anxious for her husband who worked hard all the day, it always rained when Yun brought Luban his daily meal, Luban built shelters on the way of his wife in order to keep her dry. Then, inspired by children who used leafs of lotus to protect them against the rain, Luban contrived the first umbrella creating a vendable structure covered-up with fabrics.

In ancient China, the umbrella was not only a common daily accessory but it also had a sociological meaning. The umbrella was used for official ceremonies and rites, it was the symbol of both the dignity and the status and emperors and officials used it to whow that they protected their nation. And it was used too during weddings ceremonies in China and also for opera, dance and acrobatic art.

With the increase of exchanges with others countries, umbrellas gradually spread in the whole world, At the middle of the 18th century, English businessman brought back umbrellas after their trip in China, which caused an important revolution in the United Kingdom, becoming an essential accessory in that country, as we all know.

Currently, in China, umbrellas may be the most common accessory with bikes. More than 90% are made in this country and then exported all around the world. Chinese use them when it rains as well as sunny days. They have created bikes and motorbikes with a support behind the saddle or on the handlebars, in order to fix their favourite accessory on their vehicles. Thus they can go everywhere whilst being protected against the rain and the harmful sun’s rays. The most traditional umbrella, named “wagasa”, is made of bamboo and Washi, a Japanese paper.

The word “umbra” means shade and indicates the earliest of its twofold uses. As a shade from the sun, the umbrella is of great antiquity. We see it in the sculptures and paintings of Egypt, where the parasol was reserved exclusively for the monarch. From the very limited use of the parasol in Asia and Africa, it seems to have passed both as a distinction and a luxury, into Greece and Rome. The use of the umbrella was early introduced into Italy and had probably continued as a vestige of ancient Roman manners. And it is probably that a similar contrivance existed at the same time period in Spain and Portugal, whence it was taken to the New World. Even Defoe in his book “Robinson Crusoe”, makes him to make his own umbrella, imitating the umbrellas employed in Brazil.

And to illustrate the post I have selected a handful of paintings with parasols as the starring role. I hope you like them!

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida

Francisco de Goya y Cifuentes

Paul Peel

Claude Monet

August Renoir

Firmin Baes

Giner Bueno

John Silver Sargent

Charles Curran

Lucy Drake Marlow

Frederick Carl Frieseke

Richard Emil Miller

 

Richard Johnson

 

William Orpen

 

William Paxton

 

Guy Rose

Frank Snapp

Hamilton Hamilton

 Laureano Barrau

Claude Firmin 

Louis Anquetin

Edouard Manet

 

Laureano Barrau

THE CENTENARY HOTEL RITZ MADRID

The Hotel Ritz Madrid celebrated last year one hundred years of history with hundreds of stories to tell. The hotel was inaugurated by king Alfonso XIII on October 2nd, 1910, to the delight of senior European leaders and the cream of the jet society homeland.

The business philosophy of the legendary hotel was and still remains faithful to the magical premise Cesar Ritz, the founder, which was: “Here we anticipate the wishes of customers”, what meant to play in a grand piano Frank Sinatra’s songs when he came to the hotel, or pleasing Cindy Crawford with white flowers every time she comes to it or having a bathrobe and slippers embroidered with the initials of Placido Domingo for every visit of him and so on…..

The Ritz Madrid is a jewel of Belle Epoque style architecture. Everything is unique about the Ritz. Tapestries, antiques, crystals, watches, noble metals, ceramics and oriental bed linen and table on the basis of best thread. In the bathrooms, products of Acqua di Parma, in the suites, an umbrella with the name of the hotel, brushes and shoe leather, embroidered bathrobes and slippers in hand with the local shield. It has 167 rooms with marble bathrooms, carpets and customs made for the hotel by the Royal Tapestry Factory, leather goods with the unmistakable rubric of Enrique Loewe or linen sheets embroidered in silk. But one of its main attractions are its spacious rooms, enlivened with the music of piano, read, drink coffee or enjoy its peaceful transfer.

From Prado Museum

Even twenty employees, dressed in pristine Pierre Balmain are responsible for keeping the silverware perfect, the 30 gold pieces, which are part of the collection’s opening day, only used for very special occasions.

LEGENDARY STORIES AND NAMES:

The list of names that includes the hotel’s Golden Book is endless. Politicians like Georges Bush, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Eva Perón, the Dukes of Windsor, Fidel Castro, Jacques Chirac, Vladimir Putin, Nelson Mandela……… Actors as Laurence Olivier, Ava Gardner (who was thrown out from the hotel because of her tendency to sex and alcohol), Richard Gere, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Julia Roberts, Michelle Pfeiffer, Richard Burton, Orson Welles, Sophia Loren, Monica Bellucci, James Stewart, Jennifer Lopez, Harrison Ford……. Singers and musicians such as Herbert von Karajan, Placido Domingo, Julio Iglesias, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Sting, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson (who wasn’t allowed to come in because of taking several pets with him)….. artists and writers as Dali, Garcia Marquez…

In 1915 the Maharaja of Kapurthala and his wife, the young Spanish dancer Anita Delgado, 15 years old, visited the Hotel. The crucial meeting between a delegation of the Government of Madrid and Baron Heini von Thyssen-Bornemisza to carry over his extraordinary collection of paintings in Spain took place in the royal suite at the Ritz. Few years later, the Thyssen Museum became a reality only 100 metres from the hotel.

Yasser Arafat gave here his first press conference. Fleming, famous for his discovery of penicillin, fell in love with “callos a la Madrileña” (a Madrid typical sticky casserole of veal tripe and cheeks) and took huge portions of them to his native Scotland. Antonio Banderas took on the Ritz “yes, I do” to his first wife, Ana Leza. The princess of Monaco spent their honeymoon at the hotel, which also served as a hospital during the Civil War. Prince Charles and Lady Diana made a private visit to the hotel in 1987. And the king of Morocco didn’t want to leave when he discovered the amenities offered there. Even the king of Spain, the father of Prince Philip also used to go to the hotel to buy the international press and sometimes to the barber to give him a good cut or to have a typical Madrid stew there.

And so it goes in the legendary Hotel Ritz in Madrid, the same one in which so many legends slept one day…….

CECILIO PLA, THE BELLE EPOQUE PAINTER

Cecilio Pla y Gallardo was born in Valencia (1860-1934). He trained at the Academia de San Carlos in his hometown and at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid.

At age 20 he moved to Rome, and also toured the rest of Italy, France and Portugal. Some works were sent from Italy to participate in the National Fine Arts Exhibition, which took from 1881 until his death. Most of the works presented were gender-manners.

He received several medals and awards, including the Universal Exhibition in Paris and Valencia.

Widely emphasized as an artist, as evidenced by the calendars of UEE, 1906, 1907 and 1908. His portraits combines folklore and Valencia with the festive nature of fireworks and the fun of hunting.

In 1924 he was appointed San Fernando academic. His works are characterized by the decoration and "a magnificent drawing closer to the modernist sensibility, but also has made oil paintings in an impressionist style. He is the author of decorative works in palaces and public buildings in Madrid, as the Casino, the Circulo de Bellas Artes Palace and the missing Medinaceli Palace at Plaza de Colon. His whole artistic production is represented in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, Valencia.

And here I leave some of his paintings for you to enjoy:

Cecilio Pla's wife and daughter

Beautiful, aren't they?