71-559: Charles de Sousy Ricketts RA (2 October 1866 – 7 October 1931) was a British artist, illustrator, author and printer, known for his work as a book designer and typographer and for his costume and scenery designs for plays and operas. Ricketts was born in Geneva to an English father and a French mother and brought up mainly in France. In 1882 he began studying wood engraving in London, where he met
142-874: A book designer on the one hand and as a painter on the other: "his books expressed in their pre-Raphaelitism the English side of his character, whilst his pictures, with their debt to Delacroix and Gustave Moreau, the French". Delaney cites Symbolist influences, seen in his choice of themes: Delaney ranks among Ricketts's best paintings The Betrayal of Christ (1904); Don Juan and the Statue (1905) and The Death of Don Juan (1911); Bacchus in India (c.1913); The Wise and Foolish Virgins (c. 1913); The Death of Montezuma (c. 1915); and The Return of Judith (1919), and Jepthah's Daughter (1924). At least one of Ricketts's paintings – The Plague –
213-599: A collection of drawings and paintings (French, English, and old masters), Greek and Egyptian antiquities, Persian miniatures, and Japanese prints and drawings. The collection was bequeathed to public art galleries, principally the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Ricketts achieved some success as a writer. He published two monographs: The Prado and its Masterpieces (1903), and Titian (1910). Delaney comments that although superseded by modern scholarship, they remain "among
284-461: A double bill of Wilde plays – Salome and A Florentine Tragedy – at the King's Hall, Covent Garden, given as a private production because Wilde's biblical drama was refused a licence for public performance. For the same company Ricketts designed Aeschylus 's The Persians in 1907, for which his costumes and scenery received considerably better notices than the play. For the commercial theatre during
355-525: A fellow student, Charles Shannon , who became his lifelong companion and artistic collaborator. Ricketts first made his mark in book production, first as an illustrator, and then as the founder and driving force of the Vale Press (1896–1904), one of the leading private presses of the day, for which he designed the type and illustrations. A disastrous fire at the printers led to the closure of the press, and Ricketts turned increasingly to painting and sculpture over
426-477: A magazine devoted to art, that had five issues from 1889 to 1897. Among their circle was Oscar Wilde , for whom Ricketts illustrated his books A House of Pomegranates (1891) and The Sphinx (1894), and painted, in the style of François Clouet , the hero of Wilde's short story, "The Portrait of Mr. W. H." used as the frontispiece of the book. Ricketts and Shannon worked together on editions of " Daphnis and Chloe " (1893) and " Hero and Leander " (1894). Reviewing
497-590: A manor and parish in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex , which became the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea in 1900. It merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington , forming the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea upon the creation of Greater London in 1965. The exclusivity of Chelsea as a result of its high property prices historically resulted in the coining of the term " Sloane Ranger " in
568-530: A modest allowance. On his sixteenth birthday he met the painter and lithographer Charles Haslewood Shannon , with whom he formed a lifelong personal and professional partnership. The Times described their relationship: After concluding their studies at Kennington, the two men considered going to live and work in Paris, as several of their contemporaries had done. They consulted Pierre Puvis de Chavannes , an artist they revered, who advised them against it, considering
639-529: A number of garden squares, Chelsea has several open spaces including Albert Bridge Gardens, Battersea Bridge Gardens, Chelsea Embankment Gardens, the Royal Hospital Chelsea (the grounds of which are used by the annual Chelsea Flower Show ) and Chelsea Physic Garden . In the 18th century, Chelsea Cricket Club was prominent for a time and played its home matches on what was then Chelsea Common , an area that virtually disappeared under building work in
710-587: A shrine and literary museum by the Carlyle Memorial Trust, a group formed by Leslie Stephen , father of Virginia Woolf . Virginia Woolf set her 1919 novel Night and Day in Chelsea, where Mrs. Hilbery has a Cheyne Walk home. In a book, Bohemia in London by Arthur Ransome which is a partly fictional account of his early years in London, published in 1907 when he was 23, there are some fascinating, rather over-romanticised accounts of bohemian goings-on in
781-459: A small press over which, according to the critic Emmanuel Cooper , Ricketts exercised complete control of design and production. He told Lucien Pissarro that he intended "to do for the book something in the line of what William Morris did for furniture". Cooper writes that Ricketts designed founts, initials, borders and illustrations for the press, "blending medieval, Renaissance and contemporary imagery". His woodcut illustrations "often incorporated
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#1733093418049852-542: A substantial collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture. He established a reputation as an art connoisseur, and in 1915 turned down the offer of the directorship of the National Gallery . He later regretted that decision, but served as adviser to the National Gallery of Canada from 1924 until his death. He wrote three books of art criticism, two volumes of short stories and a memoir of Wilde. Selections from his letters and diaries were posthumously published. Ricketts
923-617: Is a major landmark on the Chelsea side of the confluence of Chelsea Creek and the Thames. {{{annotations}}} Chelsea also gives its name to nearby locations, such as Chelsea Harbour in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham , and Chelsea Barracks in the City of Westminster . Chelsea includes large parts of the SW3 and SW10 postal districts, and a small section of SW1. This former fashionable village
994-855: Is in a continental gallery, the Musée d'Orsay , Paris. In Delaney's view, Ricketts's considerable scholarship was a mixed blessing as his deep knowledge of earlier painters sometimes inhibited his work, both as a painter and as a sculptor. The influence of Rodin is seen in Ricketts's sculptures, which number about twenty and include Silence , a memorial to Wilde. Delaney finds more power in Ricketts's bronzes, citing Orpheus and Eurydice ( Tate collection) and Paolo and Francesca ( Fitzwilliam Museum , Cambridge ) as striking interpretations of their subjects. A contemporary critic remarked that despite their "unusually beautiful colour" and "curious but definite, half-literary, half-pictorial appeal", Rickett's paintings were "probably
1065-589: Is not in fact buried here. In 1718, the Raw Silk Company was established in Chelsea Park , with mulberry trees and a hothouse for raising silkworms. At its height in 1723, it supplied silk to Caroline of Ansbach , then Princess of Wales. Chelsea once had a reputation for the manufacture of Chelsea buns , made from a long strip of sweet dough tightly coiled, with currants trapped between the layers, and topped with sugar. The Chelsea Bun House sold these during
1136-517: Is now known as Kensal Town . The exclave, which was once heavily wooded, was sometimes also known as Chelsea-in-the-Wilderness . Abbot Gervace subsequently assigned the manor to his mother, and it passed into private ownership. By 1086 the Domesday Book records that Chelsea was in the hundred of Ossulstone in Middlesex , with Edward of Salisbury as tenant-in-chief. King Henry VIII acquired
1207-456: Is on the Fulham Road, Chelsea, and is now a private residence. Dring the mid-1800s, Cremorne Gardens, London , was a popular pleasure gardens area established in 1845. It continued to operate until 1877. The area lay between Chelsea Harbour and the end of the King's Road. Chelsea's modern reputation as a centre of innovation and influence originated in a period during the 19th century, when
1278-399: Is quickly catching up with Bond Street as one of London's premier shopping destinations, housing a variety of high-end fashion or jewellery boutiques such as Cartier , Tiffany & Co , Dolce & Gabbana , Prada , Gucci , Harrods , Dior , Louis Vuitton , Jimmy Choo , Giorgio Armani , Yves Saint Laurent , Chanel , Valentino , Bvlgari , Gianni Versace and Graff . As well as
1349-647: Is served by many Transport for London bus services. Chelsea has no Underground station, but there are two stations close to its boundary; Sloane Square to the east and Gloucester Road to the north (both of these on the District and Circle lines ). In addition, to the west is the London Overground station Imperial Wharf , on the West London Line . A Chelsea railway station (later renamed Chelsea and Fulham ) previously existed on this line, located between
1420-691: The Abbey Theatre , Dublin, in 1912 on plays by W. B. Yeats and J. M. Synge , and designed John Masefield 's The Coming of Christ , staged in Canterbury Cathedral in 1928. His final theatre designs were for Ferdinand Bruckner 's Elizabeth of England (with Phyllis Neilson-Terry at the Cambridge Theatre , London (1931) and Donald Tovey 's opera The Bride of Dionysus , which was staged in Edinburgh after Ricketts's death. After Ricketts's death
1491-695: The First World War , St Mark's College was requisitioned by the War Office to create the 2nd London General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties. It merged with St John's College, Battersea, in 1923, establishing a single institution in Chelsea as the College of St Mark & St John. In 1973 it moved to Plymouth, having outgrown the Chelsea campus. The former chapel of St Mark's College, designed by Edward Blore
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#17330934180491562-525: The Household Division . Situated on the Westminster side of Chelsea Bridge Road, it was bought for re-development by a property group from Qatar . St Mark's College, Chelsea , was founded in 1841, based on the beliefs of The Reverend Derwent Coleridge , son of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge , its first principal: that its primary purpose was to widen the educational horizons of its students. During
1633-609: The King's Road and the Fulham Road in neighbouring Fulham, but this was closed in 1940 following World War II bomb damage and later demolished. There is a proposal to construct a Chelsea Underground station on the King's Road as part of the Crossrail 2 project (also known as the Chelsea-Hackney line ). The project, run by Transport for London , has not yet been approved or funded but
1704-665: The National Art Collections Fund bought a collection of his drawings for theatrical costumes and scenery, and arranged for them to be exhibited at galleries in London and throughout Britain. Twelve of the drawings were shown in the Winter Exhibition of the Royal Academy, and a selection of eighty from the remainder of the drawings was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum . Together with Shannon, Ricketts accumulated
1775-562: The Ossulstone Hundred of the county of Middlesex . The area covered by the civil parish became the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea in 1900, part of a new County of London . At that time, the exclave of Kensal Town , which had been part of Chelsea since at least the time of the 11th-century Saxon King Edward the Confessor , was removed from Chelsea and divided between the new boroughs of Kensington and Paddington (each of which
1846-542: The Princes Theatre (1926). In the same year he designed costumes and scenery for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company 's production of The Mikado at the Savoy Theatre , and did the same in 1929 for their The Gondoliers at the same theatre. Most of Ricketts's costume designs for The Mikado were retained by subsequent designers of the D'Oyly Carte productions for more than 50 years. Outside London, Ricketts worked for
1917-646: The Synod of Chelsea in 787 AD. The first record of the Manor of Chelsea precedes the Domesday Book and records the fact that Thurstan, governor of the King's Palace during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066), gave the land to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster. From at least this time, up to 1900, the Manor and Parish of Chelsea included a 144-acre (0.58 km ) exclave which
1988-477: The 1880s before any subsequent patents. The memorials in the churchyard of Chelsea Old Church , near the river, illustrate much of the history of Chelsea. These include Lord and Lady Dacre (1594/1595); Lady Jane Cheyne (1698); Francis Thomas , "director of the china porcelain manufactory"; Sir Hans Sloane (1753); Thomas Shadwell , Poet Laureate (1692). The intended tomb Sir Thomas More erected for himself and his wives can also be found there, though More
2059-590: The 18th century and was patronised by the Georgian royalty. At Easter, great crowds would assemble on the open spaces of the Five Fields – subsequently developed as Belgravia . The Bun House would then do a great trade in hot cross buns and sold about quarter of a million on its final Good Friday in 1839. The area was also famous for its "Chelsea China" ware, though the works, the Chelsea porcelain factory – thought to be
2130-561: The 1900s Ricketts designed Laurence Binyon 's Attila (with Oscar Asche at His Majesty's Theatre ), Electra by Hofmannsthal (with Mrs Patrick Campbell at the New Theatre , 1908), and King Lear (with Norman McKinnel , at the Haymarket, 1909). During the 1910s he designed Bernard Shaw 's The Dark Lady of the Sonnets (1910), Arnold Bennett 's Judith (1916), and Shaw's Annajanska,
2201-436: The 1960s Swinging London period and the early 1970s. The Swinging Sixties was defined on King's Road, which runs the length of the area. The Western end of Chelsea featured boutiques Granny Takes a Trip and The Sweet Shop, the latter of which sold medieval silk velvet caftans, tabards and floor cushions, with many of the cultural cognoscenti of the time being customers, including Twiggy and many others. The "Chelsea girl"
Charles Ricketts - Misplaced Pages Continue
2272-638: The 1970s to describe some of its residents, and some of those of nearby areas. Chelsea is home to one of the largest communities of Americans living outside the United States, with 6.53% of Chelsea residents having been born in the U.S. The word Chelsea (also formerly Chelceth , Chelchith , or Chelsey , ) originates from the Old English term for "landing place [on the river] for chalk or limestone" ( Cealc-hyð : chalk - wharf , in Anglo-Saxon ). Chelsea hosted
2343-458: The 19th century. Records have survived of five matches between 1731 and 1789 which involved the Chelsea club and/or were played on the common. Chelsea Football Club is located at Stamford Bridge in neighbouring Fulham , adjacent to the border with Chelsea. As a result of Chelsea's expensive location and wealthy residents, Chelsea F.C. has the wealthiest local supporters in England. Chelsea
2414-722: The Bolshevik Empress (1918). After the First World War Ricketts resumed his theatrical activity, and designed The Betrothal , by Maurice Maeterlinck (with Gladys Cooper ) at the Gaiety Theatre (1921), Shaw's Saint Joan (with Sybil Thorndike ) at the New Theatre (1924), Henry VIII (with Lewis Casson and Thorndike) at the Empire Theatre (1925) and Macbeth (with Henry Ainley , Thorndyke and Casson) at
2485-466: The Chelsea Flower show is held annually. The former Duke of York's Barracks (built 1801–3) off King's Road is now part of Duke of York Square, a redevelopment including shops and cafes and the site of a weekly "farmers' market". The Saatchi Gallery opened in the main building in 2008. Chelsea Barracks , at the end of Lower Sloane Street, was also in use until recently, primarily by ceremonial troops of
2556-613: The King's Road), and saw the birth of the British punk movement. On 27 November 1974, the London unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded twin bombs on Tite Street , injuring 20 people. Chelsea Manor was served by the ancient parish of Chelsea. (Such parish units were typically in place by the end of the twelfth century with their boundaries, based on those of the constituent manor or manors, rarely if ever changing. ) The manor and parish formed part of
2627-577: The Regent's Park house. A memorial service was held at St James's, Piccadilly , on 12 October, attended by many from the art world including Robert Anning Bell , Alfred Drury , Gerald Kelly , Sir John Lavery , Henry Macbeth-Raeburn and Julius Olsson . He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium ; his ashes were partly scattered in Richmond Park , London, and the remainder buried at Arolo, Lake Maggiore , Italy. Shannon outlived him by six years. Ricketts
2698-600: The Royal Academy of Arts in London. A full list is available on the web pages of the Royal Academy Collections. HonRA Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in West London , England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles (4 km). It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area . Chelsea historically formed
2769-661: The Royal Fine Arts Commission. He was also a member of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers , and served as art adviser to the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa from 1924 to 1931. Ricketts became a celebrated designer for the stage. "Mr Ricketts is infallible in his ideas on costume" observed The Times . His career as a theatre designer lasted from 1906 to 1931. He began by working on
2840-564: The Threshold (1928) and Unrecorded Histories (1933). Under the same pseudonym he wrote Recollections of Oscar Wilde (1932), a highly personal memoir, published after his death; it was described by The Observer as "a loyal and sensitive commemoration" of the man Ricketts regarded as the most remarkable he had met. After Ricketts's death Cecil Lewis edited selections from the artist's letters and diaries, which were published as Self-Portrait in 1939. Ricketts's last years were overshadowed by
2911-475: The age of 22, and he remained there until his retirement in 1939; he was appointed Chief Librarian in 1929. In 1980, the building was purchased by Chelsea College of Art and Design . The Chelsea Society , formed in 1927, remains an active amenity society concerned with preserving and advising on changes in Chelsea's built environment. Chelsea Village and Chelsea Harbour are new developments outside of Chelsea itself. Chelsea shone again, brightly but briefly, in
Charles Ricketts - Misplaced Pages Continue
2982-405: The area became a Victorian artists' colony ( see Borough of artists below ). It became prominent once again as one of the centres of the " Swinging London " of the 1960s, when house prices were lower than in the staid Royal Borough of Kensington . Chelsea once had a reputation as London's bohemian quarter, the haunt of artists, radicals, painters and poets. Little of this seems to survive now –
3053-533: The comfortable squares off King's Road are homes to, amongst others, investment bankers and film stars. The Chelsea Arts Club continues in situ ; however, the Chelsea College of Art and Design , founded in 1895 as the Chelsea School of Art, moved from Manresa Road to Pimlico in 2005. The Chelsea Book Club, at no. 65 Cheyne Walk (Lombard Terrace), a bookshop that also presented exhibitions and lectures, held
3124-474: The current trends of French art to be excessively naturalistic – "photographic drawing". Shannon, three years the senior, took a teaching post at the Croydon School of Art , and Ricketts earned money from commercial and magazine illustrations. In 1888 Ricketts took over James Abbott Whistler 's former house, No 1, The Vale, in Chelsea , which became the focus of contemporary artists. They produced The Dial ,
3195-412: The district into the metropolis. The street crossing that was known as Little Chelsea , Park Walk, linked Fulham Road to King's Road and continued to the Thames and local ferry down Lover's Lane, renamed "Milmans Street" in the 18th century. King's Road , named for Charles II, recalls the King's private road from St James's Palace to Fulham , which was maintained until the reign of George IV . One of
3266-591: The first exhibition of African art in London (sculpture from Ivory Coast and Congo) in 1920, and was the first bookshop to stock Joyce's Ulysses in 1922. Sold in 1928 owing to financial problems, it became the Lombard Restaurant. Its reputation stems from a period in the 19th century when it became a sort of Victorian artists' colony: painters such as James Webb , Dante Gabriel Rossetti , J. M. W. Turner , James McNeill Whistler , William Holman Hunt , and John Singer Sargent all lived and worked here. There
3337-406: The first workshop to make porcelain in England – were sold in 1769, and moved to Derby . Examples of the original Chelsea ware fetch high values. The best-known building is Chelsea Royal Hospital for old soldiers, set up by Charles II (supposedly on the suggestion of Nell Gwynne ), and opened in 1694. The beautifully proportioned building by Christopher Wren stands in extensive grounds, where
3408-426: The following two decades. In 1906 he also began a career as a theatre designer, first for works by his friend Oscar Wilde and later for plays by writers including Aeschylus , Hugo von Hofmannsthal , William Shakespeare , Bernard Shaw , and W. B. Yeats . His most enduring theatre designs, which remained in use for more than 50 years, were for Gilbert and Sullivan 's The Mikado . With Shannon, Ricketts built up
3479-433: The former, The Times singled out the "beautiful type [and] the very charming woodcuts and initial letters with which it is enriched by two accomplished artists, Mr. Charles Ricketts and Mr. Charles Shannon, who are jointly responsible for the designs, while the actual woodcut execution is the work of Mr. Ricketts." Inspired by the work of A. H. Mackmurdo and William Morris 's Kelmscott Press , Ricketts and Shannon set up
3550-463: The gallery he was nevertheless consulted about some of the hangings of the rooms. He had been approached about letting his name go forward for nomination to the Royal Academy in 1905, but declined out of concern that Shannon might feel slighted. Shannon was elected as a member in 1920, and Ricketts followed, as an associate member in 1922, and a full member in 1928. In 1929 he was appointed a member of
3621-594: The illness of Shannon. They had remained together since they first met, despite several affairs Shannon had with women. While hanging a picture at their house in Regent's Park in January 1929, Shannon fell and suffered permanent brain damage. To pay for Shannon's care Ricketts sold some of their collection. Delaney writes that the strain of the situation, compounded by overwork, contributed to Ricketts's death. On 7 October 1931 Ricketts died suddenly, aged 65, from angina pectoris at
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#17330934180493692-410: The least important and satisfactory part of the output of a man who was undoubtedly one of the most gifted, versatile, and outstanding in the world of art of his day". In 1915 Ricketts was offered the directorship of the National Gallery , but having controversial views on how the gallery's paintings ought to be shown he turned down the post, which he later regretted. Although never formally employed by
3763-458: The life of Ricketts, Shannon and their circle, including Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley . List of Royal Academicians This is a partial list of Royal Academicians ( post-nominal : RA ), academicians of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. A full list is available on the web pages of the Royal Academy Collections. Nephew of Andrew Freeth This is a partial list of Honorary Royal Academicians ( Post-nominal : HonRA), academicians of
3834-465: The manor of Chelsea from Lord Sandys in 1536; Chelsea Manor Street is still extant. Two of King Henry's wives , Catherine Parr and Anne of Cleves , lived in the Manor House; Princess Elizabeth – the future Queen Elizabeth I – resided there; and Thomas More lived more or less next door at Beaufort House . In 1609 James I established a theological college, "King James's College at Chelsey" on
3905-565: The more important buildings in King's Road, the former Chelsea Town Hall , popularly known as "Chelsea Old Town hall" – a fine neo-classical building – contains important frescoes . Part of the building contains the Chelsea Public Library. Almost opposite stands the former Odeon Cinema , now Habitat , with its iconic façade which carries high upon it a large sculptured medallion of the now almost-forgotten William Friese-Greene , who claimed to have invented celluloid film and cameras in
3976-497: The most evocative books on art in English". Pages on Art , a selection of Ricketts's essays and articles for publications including The Burlington Magazine and The Morning Post , was published in 1913. It covered an eclectic range of subjects including Charles Conder , Shannon, post-impressionism, Puvis de Chavannes, G. F. Watts , Chinese and Japanese art, and stage design. Under the pen-name Jean Paul Raymond, Ricketts wrote and designed two collections of short stories, Beyond
4047-584: The quarter. The American artist Pamela Colman Smith , the designer of A. E. Waite 's Tarot card pack and a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn , features as "Gypsy" in the chapter "A Chelsea Evening". A central part of Chelsea's artistic and cultural life was Chelsea Public Library, originally situated in Manresa Road. Its longest-serving member of staff was Armitage Denton, who joined in 1896 at
4118-449: The river's route now used by the West London Line . Chelsea Football Club's Stamford Bridge home, lies just west of the Counter's Creek in Fulham, and takes its name from a bridge which carried the Fulham Road over the river. The bridge was also known as Little Chelsea Bridge. The southern Thames frontages run west from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment past Albert Bridge and Battersea Bridge to Chelsea Creek. Lots Road
4189-406: The site of the future Royal Hospital Chelsea , which Charles II founded in 1682. By 1694, Chelsea – always a popular location for the wealthy, and once described as "a village of palaces" – had a population of 3,000. Even so, Chelsea remained rural and served London to the east as a market garden , a trade that continued until the 19th-century development boom which caused the final absorption of
4260-409: The swirling lines of Art Nouveau and androgynous figures". The Vale Press, which existed between 1896 and 1904, published more than eighty volumes, mostly reprints of English poetic classics, and earned a reputation as "one of the big six amongst modern presses". Initially, Ricketts financed the Vale publications by inviting subscriptions, but in 1894 its finances were put on a more secure footing when he
4331-405: Was a particularly large concentration of artists in the area around Cheyne Walk and Cheyne Row , where the Pre-Raphaelite movement had its heart. The artist Prunella Clough was born in Chelsea in 1919. The architect John Samuel Phene lived at No. 2 Upper Cheyne Row between 1903 and his death in 1912. He installed numerous artefacts and objets d'art around the house and gardens and it
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#17330934180494402-408: Was a symbol, media critic John Crosby wrote, of what "men [found] utterly captivating", flaunting a " 'life is fabulous' philosophy". Chelsea at this time was home to the Beatles and to Rolling Stones members Brian Jones , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . In the 1970s, the World's End area of King's Road was home to Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood 's boutique " SEX " (at Number 430,
4473-459: Was absorbed into London during the eighteenth century. Many notable people of 18th-century London, such as the bookseller Andrew Millar , were both married and buried in the district. King's Road is one of the district's major thoroughfares, a street which despite its continuing reputation as a shopping mecca, is now home to many of the same shops found on other British high streets , such as Gap , and McDonald's . Sloane Street and its environs
4544-413: Was born in Geneva , the only son of Charles Robert Ricketts (1838–1883) and Hélène Cornélie de Soucy (1833 or 1834–1880), daughter of Louis, Marquis de Soucy. He had a sister, Blanche (1868–1903). His father had served as a First Lieutenant in the Royal Navy before being invalided out at age 25 due to wounds. It was an artistic household: his father was an amateur painter of marine subjects, and his mother
4615-427: Was bounded by rivers on three sides with Fulham Road forming part of its northern boundary with Kensington . The eastern boundary with Westminster was formed by the River Westbourne , but was adjusted to follow Chelsea Bridge Road after the river was culverted. The short western boundary with Fulham was formed by the former Counter's Creek , of which the mouth - Chelsea Creek - is the only surviving part, with
4686-406: Was celebrated in a BBC television programme, Poverty and Oysters , with reminiscences by Kenneth Clark and Cecil Lewis (1979), and a BBC Radio 3 programme, Between Ourselves (1991), with reminiscences by Lewis (by then a nonagenarian) and featuring John Gielgud as Ricketts and T. P. McKenna as Bernard Shaw. Ricketts is portrayed in Michael MacLennan 's 2003 play Last Romantics , based on
4757-747: Was introduced to a rich barrister, William Llewellyn Hacon , who invested £1,000 and became Ricketts's business partner in the firm. A fire at the printers in 1904 destroyed the press's woodcuts, and Ricketts and Shannon decided to abandon publishing and turn to other work. They closed the Vale Press and threw the type into the river. Ricketts marked the demise of the press by publishing a complete bibliography of its publications. Thereafter, he occasionally designed books for friends such as Michael Field (the joint pen name of Katherine Harris and Emma Cooper) and Gordon Bottomley . Ricketts increasingly turned to painting and sculpture. A later painter, Thomas Lowinsky, has commented on how different Ricketts's styles were as
4828-411: Was known locally as the "Gingerbread Castle". It was demolished in 1924. Chelsea was also home to writers such as George Meredith , Algernon Charles Swinburne , Leigh Hunt and Thomas Carlyle . Jonathan Swift lived in Church Lane, Richard Steele and Tobias Smollett in Monmouth House. Carlyle lived for 47 years at No. 5 (now 24) Cheyne Row . After his death, the house was bought and turned into
4899-422: Was largely self-educated, "reading voraciously and 'basking' in museums; he thus escaped being moulded along conventional lines". In 1882 Ricketts entered the City and Guilds Technical Art School in Kennington , London, where he was apprenticed to Charles Roberts, a prominent wood-engraver. The following year Ricketts's father died, and Ricketts became dependent on his paternal grandfather, who supported him with
4970-463: Was musical. Ricketts spent his early childhood in Lausanne and London, and his early teens in Boulogne and Amiens . Except for a year at a boarding-school near Tours he was educated by governesses . Hélène Ricketts died in 1880 and her widower moved to London with his two children. Ricketts was at that stage hardly able to speak English. His biographer Paul Delaney writes that the boy was considered "too delicate to attend school", and consequently
5041-426: Was otherwise based on its corresponding ancient parish). The parliamentary constituency of Chelsea , which was identical to the parish, retained Kensal Town until 1918. In 1965 the area merged with the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington to form the modern London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . The parish and borough of Chelsea, which now forms the southern part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea ,
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