October 2017 – Augusta's Journey

Packing for the trip through Germany

I really dread packing. My suitcase always seems too small and my clothes inevitably weigh too much. And then I throw in things that I might need and would regret if I hadn’t brought along. The luggage scale is my enemy.

Packing for our trip in Germany was a different challenge. We would be travelling by train and there were no limitations to weight or size, except for the fact that we would have to manage our luggage between trains and hotels. Augusta would probably have packed her outfits in a trunk. Porters and maybe “Lohnbediente” (servants for hire) would have taken care of the luggage. I imagine that she would have carried a small bag with her on the train, in addition to a reticule or a small purse.

The first thing I did was to buy a new suitcase with a matching bag in an antique-looking paisley pattern. I was not going to travel with my home-made carpet bag and hat boxes. And definitely, no trunks!

So what kind of clothes did I bring?

One brown wool dress for hiking and inclement weather
One green-and-yellow checkered heavy cotton dress for travelling
Two skirts with white blouses and cardigans – all in thin cotton – for sunny weather
One silk ball-gown for the opera visit and Kerstin’s birthday dinner
One green wool pelerine (short cape covering the shoulders)
Five shawls, three pairs of gloves, and three white collars
Two bonnets and a cotton lace cap
Two petticoats
Pantaloons and silk stockings
Walking shoes and shoes for the opera visit
Emergency jeans, t-shirts, and a puffer jacket, just in case….

In addition, I brought a hand fan, an umbrella, a parasol, opera glasses, a reticule, an embroidered purse, jewelry, hat pins, and hair ribbons.

And then there were guide books, reading material, a diary, and a sketch book; wool for knitting, protein bars for days we might not easily find allergy-suitable food, and emergency kits. Not to mention, lots of safety pins.

And of course, what Augusta could not have dreamt of: iPhones, chargers, and extra batteries.

For the record, I didn’t bring my laced corset even though I spent a lot of time making one. I figured, no one would know and it isn’t a very comfortable piece of clothing.

What to wear?

Getting dresses in the 1840s took time and one would need help with dresses that had hooks and eyes for closure in the back. One would also need help with braiding and putting up the hair in the style of the times.

Every morning, Kerstin and I picked clothing based on the weather. If it was going to rain or be chilly, the wool dress with a shawl was perfect. For train travelling, I preferred the green-and-yellow checkered cotton dress with the green pelerine. And on a few sunny days in Lubeck, I did have use for my cotton skirts.

So what did I learn?

Shawls are great!

The wool pelerine was very useful when it was drizzling and cold.

Bonnets are great when it is windy and cold.

Fingerless gloves are beautiful and perfect when using an iPhone.

Dupioni (silk), which we used in our ball gowns, is a great fabric – it is very light and it doesn’t wrinkle. Why aren’t more clothes made of this beautiful material?

Walking around in cotton pantaloons (I even bought a pair of flannel pajama paints from H&M – same thing really) under 2 starched petticoats and a dress or a skirt is great! With the layering, you are never too hot or cold. And I loved the rustling sound of the starched petticoats when walking!

One evening, when we had to find a restaurant in Berlin and it was raining, we decided to just put on jeans – returning to present time! There were four revelations: 1. Getting dressed took less than a minute, 2. Walking didn’t make any rustling sound, 3. You almost felt indecent not wearing a full length skirt and no head covering, and 4. You became invisible – you looked like the rest of the people on the sidewalks and no one took any notice of you.

What will I incorporate in my 2017 every-day wardrobe?

Definitely lots of shawls. Fingerless gloves. Clothes made of wool and silk. And when at home, definitely pajama pants!

Album of the wardrobe

The green-and-yellow checkered heavy cotton dress:

The brown wool dress:

The cotton skirts:

The dupioni-silk, ball gown worn at Semperoper in Dresden:

Gloves and a few accessories:

Shawls and bonnets

When Augusta mentioned that Dresden’s art gallery was “indisputable the most pleasant reminder of the Kings of Saxony’s appreciation for art” and “held in the highest esteem by the entire travelling and educated world” I was looking forward to visiting the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister.

She especially mentioned a painting by Rafael:

“Naturally, we spent most of our time in the room where the world-renowned Madonna di San Sisto, and other excellent paintings of Rafael are shown.”

Augusta was not the only Swedish traveler who mentioned this room and the Madonna painting. Sophie von Knorring was a Swedish writer who visited Dresden in 1846, a year before Augusta. She published a book from her letters home:

“With the catalog in hand and having walked through several rooms, we finally arrived in the room where Rafael’s masterpiece, the world-renowned Madonna is hanging. But no! We could not see much of it! The heavenly-wonderful painting was hidden by a large framework and by a painting, on which the Madonna in the same size was being copied – and the copyist was a woman!”

Sophie von Knorring (1797 – 1848). Drawing by Maria Röhl (1801 - 1875). — Sophie von Knorring (1797 – 1848). Drawing by Maria Röhl (1801 – 1875).

Sophie von Knorring voiced her irritation at not being able to see the original, and she also did not approve of a woman painter.

Her companion tried to placate her by praising the copyist’s work.

“You have to admit that her work is beautiful.”

But Sophie was so upset that she didn’t even want to glance at the copied work. Then she heard, from the top of the scaffolding, in clear Swedish:

“Oh, I hear that you are my fellow countrymen, and I am sorry that I am in the way for everyone, but especially for you!”

The painter was Sophie Adlersparre, a young Swedish woman who was studying art in Dresden. Her education there was financed by Queen Josefine of Sweden.

Sophie Adlersparre descended from the scaffolding and joined Sophie von Knorring and her companion and was happy to give them a guided tour through the museum. All was well again.

Sophie Adlersparre (1808-1862) self portrait.

And now, we were visiting the famous gallery, on a windy, rainy October day – 170 years after Agusuta’s visit. I have to admit, that I have never taken an art history class. And I didn’t even look up the painting before visiting the gallery in Dresden – I wanted the painting to be a surprise.

After walking through several floors and many rooms of Renaissance paintings, we finally stood in front of Rafael’s The Sistine Madonna or The Madonna di San Sisto. At that time, I wished I would have known more about the painting. All I knew was that Augusta had stood in awe in front of this painting and that Sophie von Knorring had met Sophie Adlersparre in this room.

I didn’t know that Dostoyevsky had described the painting as “the greatest revelation of the human spirit”.

I also didn’t know that during WWII, the painting was stored in a tunnel in Saxon Switzerland (maybe close to where we were hiking?) and then brought to Moscow before returning to Dresden in 1955.

I was still more interested in the undocumented, personal story. For example, what happened to Sophie Adlersparre’s copy that she was working on? After some searching, I found it. Queen Josefine had gifted it to the Catholic Church in Oslo, Norway: St. Olav’s Cathedral, where it can still be seen at the right of the altar.

But the biggest surprise of all were the cherubs at the bottom of the painting! I had no idea that those famous cherubs were part of a larger painting, and now I have seen the original – thanks to Augusta’s diary.

Month: October 2017

Dressed for Travelling, Hiking, and a Visit to the Opera