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The Roy Astley Collection: Theatrical Designs by Cecil Beaton and Oliver Messel
Lot 60AR

Oliver Messel
(British, 1904-1978)
A set design for 'The Fairy of the Enchanted Garden' from The Sleeping Beauty, Royal Opera House, 1946

20 May – 3 June 2025, 12:00 BST
Online, London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £2,816 inc. premium

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Oliver Messel (British, 1904-1978)

A set design for 'The Fairy of the Enchanted Garden' from The Sleeping Beauty, Royal Opera House, 1946
signed 'Oliver Messel' (lower right)
watercolour, gouache, pen and ink and charcoal
40 x 54.5cm (15 3/4 x 21 7/16in).
unframed

Footnotes

The Russian classical ballet The Sleeping Beauty, with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Tchaikovsky, was performed by Sadler's Wells Ballet to celebrate the reopening of the Royal Opera House following the end of the Second World War. Messel's costume and set designs were used continuously for over 1,000 performances between 1946 and 1970.

This ballet is considered to be Messel's 'biggest and most enduring production' and 'its reputation has bedevilled every attempt by the Royal Ballet...to redesign it ever since.' For The Sleeping Beauty he created four different sets, gauzes and drop curtains and designed over 200 costumes and it is estimated that by the time the production came to a close in 1970 there must have been over 1,000 costumes made for the various revisions, remakes and changes to the cast.

For a further discussion of Messel and The Sleeping Beauty see R. Pinkham, Oliver Messel, exhibition catalogue, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1983.

Additional information

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