Saturday 10th May 2014

I have entered the Czech Lands and am about to leave the Cruise and mount the air Business Class for London this evening at 20.15.

Huge news is that a direct link has been revealed to me privately between the Poor Little Rich Gays and Frederick the Great. One of our most prominent and loved (not just by private individuals but by the entire world) Poor Little Rich Gays has in his possession two paintings by an artist one of whose works is shown in the Picture Gallery at Sans Souci. But in very poor condition. In fact just a black square labelled ‘Parc au Clare de Lune.’

From this same source comes a new vision of the 3Rs: Reading, Writing and Rococo.

A life of decoration is deeply serious, you know. It is a life after all, just as purposeful as a life of pipe-laying or Alsatian training.

But back to Tuesday of this week. I River-Cruised to Dessau on the Elbe and from there was bus-ed to Wörlitz. Have you ever heard of it? Well, it was the summer residence of the Prince of Anhalt in the 18th century. You may recall that one of Zsa Zsa Gabor’s last husbands was a Prince of Anhalt and she got to wear the Anhalt Tiara when it was restituted by  the Communists. Very plain unfort.

But we digress. The Wörlitz Prince of Anhalt was in the 18th century and was completely charming and full of decorative schemes. His Summer Residence is just totally him, you can tell. So fresh and civilised. He opened to the public even in those days and thought they might pick up decorative tips. His home was a showroom for different marbles and also space-saving ideas. He had pull-down beds in cupboards in the drawing room. Frederick the Great slept on one of them. See graph below.  He also showed Scagliola, which as I’ve already explained you can do yourself at home. It’s a good way to use up all those marble chips you’ve got in your stock cupboard.

I just loved Wörlitz, even to the point of putting the umlaut in. Lots of windows, rooms not too big and such a joy pouring forth even after 250 years the Prince must have had creating it. Delicious painted panels, wallpapers; inexpensive but sumptuous decor. He had local craftsmen make suites of furniture in novel designs that seem to foreshadow Biedermeier. Floors and stair rails are done in woods available in the vicinity.  I was knocked down with the sense of a greatly civilised man quite without pomposity. In his library he had a desk designed that ten people could work at together, a community of scholars studying the philosophers of the Enlightenment. I have an idea he took in students. He certainly encouraged study which is not a favourite Poor Little Rich Gay pursuit but in this case allowed.

His wife was arranged and at first she had awful skin complaints. Later she became an intellectual and a friend of Angelica Kauffman. They lived separately but she was greatly in evidence as the Princess in the neighbourhood. Fetes, schemes for the Poor etc.

Wörlitz Summer Residence, near Dessau, Germany. Nothing Much on the Outside

Urn in Wörlitz English Landscape Garden (Germany’s First). This Urn is Part of the Cult of Sadness’s Joy. The Joy of Sadness

Stone Lady Enjoying Sadness (Part of the Cult of the Joy of Sadness) in Wörlitz English Landscape Garden, Anhalt, Germany

Interior at Wörlitz, Anhalt, Germany: So Delicious

Charming Dining Room at Wörlitz, Anhalt, Germany

Lovely Corner at Wörlitz, Anhalt, Germany

More Joy of Colours and Patterns at Wörlitz, Anhalt. Prince Anhalt Believed You Too Could Have this at Home

The Prince’s Fold-Down Bed in the Drawing Room. King Frederick the Great Slept Here

Wörlitz English Landscape Garden. View to the Artificial Volcano Which Erupts Every Five Years

More Fold-Down Beds at Wörlitz. King Frederick the Great didn’t Take this One

Scagliola at Wörlitz. You Too Could Have Self-Made Scag. Look up in a Book How to Do It