Tom and Olive Plant decorated their Lucknow Mansion with an eclectic mix of artwork, including ceramics, bronze casts, paintings, prints, and textiles – like the Belgian tavern scene tapestry found in this room. Much of the original artwork that remains in the mansion today can be found here in the Library.
For instance, the Napoleon collection, some of which can be seen in the corner by the Victrola music player. The collection includes a bronze cast after Swiss sculptor Vincenzo Vela’s 1866 work “The Last Moments of Napoleon.” The collection also includes three prints depicting Napoleonic battles. From smallest to largest, we have Meissonier’s “1814 French Campaign”, Meissonier’s “1807, Friedland”, and Flameng’s “Vive l’Empereur!”. On a bookshelf in the inglenook, you will also find an Antonio Canova bronze bust of Napoleon. Elsewhere in the room, you will find a portrait print titled “Napoleon, Emperor of France, 1808” by French painter and lithographer Emile Lassalle, and a print of Benjamin Zix’s 1810 painting of the marriage procession of Napoleon and Marie Louise. Tom Plant was said to admire the French emperor, and the Plants reportedly purchased several of these pieces on their honeymoon in France.
In the inglenook, notice an unsigned, romantic pastoral scene in an octagonal frame. This piece is done in the style of 18th century French artist Fragonard, one of the most prolific and inventive artists of the Rococo period. Our research is still ongoing to identify the artist and title of the original painting, as there were many other artists working in this style and imitating Fragonard’s work.
On a shelf nearby, you will find a marble statue called “The Flute Player”, created around 1920 by a sculptor named Paul Philippe. Philippe was a French artist active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries who worked primarily in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. Unfortunately, The Flute Player lost her flute in the century since the Plants purchased her, and, these days, is occasionally incorrectly referred to as “the dancing lady”.
Of course, some pieces of the Plants art collection were removed by later owners of Lucknow Estate. When we do not have a piece of the original collection, we try to find an authentic substitution to stand in for the missing piece. One example found in the library is a pair of patinated bronze bookends on the library designed in 1911 by Abastenia Leger Eberle, an American artists who often depicted the poor immigrants of New York’s Lower East Side. The boy and girl seen here – titled “Hide and Seek” – were acquired by the Castle in 2015.
Other stand-in pieces in this room include two giclee prints of Thomas Moran paintings. On one wall we have Moran’s “Zion Valley, South Utah”, which the artist painted in 1914 – the year that Lucknow was completed. According to the artist’s personal records, Tom Plant purchased the original oil painting from him not long after, and it hung here in the library until the 1950s.
Hanging beside the bay window, we have Moran’s “Lagoon Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice”, which was also painted in 1914. Tom Plant likely acquired the two pieces from Moran at the same time. The Plants did own a third Moran painting – “Point Lobos, Monterey, California” – which is now in the collection of the White House. We do not yet have a reproduction of that piece.
