p2023.3
NOTE
The Famous Women Dinner Service
is a set of 50 dinner plates, hand-decorated by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, commissioned by art historian and museum director Kenneth Clark in 1932. The set was created between 1932 and 1934. 48 famous women are depicted in four groups of twelve: 'Women of Letters’, ‘Queens’, ‘Beauties’, and ‘Dancers and Actresses’. The artists are represented on the remaining two plates.
Women of Letters: 1. Jane Austen (1775–1817). 2. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) and her dog Flush. 3. Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855). 4. George Eliot (1819–1880). 5. Fanny Kemble (1809–1893). 6. Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973–c. 1014 or 1025). 7. Dorothy Osborne (1627–1695). 8. Christina Rossetti (1830–1894). 9. George Sand (1804–1876). 10. Sappho (c. 630–c. 570 BCE). 11. Germaine de Staël (1766–1817). 12. Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) (Vanessa Bell's sister).
Queens: 13. Catherine the Great (1729–1796). 14. Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626–1689). 15. Cleopatra (70/69–30 BCE). 16. Elizabeth I (1533–1603). 17. Eugénie de Montijo (1826–1920). 18. Jezebel (died c. 843 BCE). 19. Marie Antoinette (1755–1793). 20. Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587). 21. Mary of Teck (1867–1953). 22. Queen of Sheba (c. 1000 BCE). 23. Theodora (c. 500–548). 24. Queen Victoria (1819–1901).
Beauties: 25. Beatrice Portinari (c. 1265–1290). 26. Marian Bergeron (1918–2002) 'Miss 1933'. 27. Sarah Churchill (1660–1744). 28. Pauline von Metternich (1836–1921). 29. Lola Montez (1821–1861). 30. Pocahontas (c. 1596–1617). 31. Rachel (Biblical figure). 32. Juliette Récamier (1777–1849). 33. Elizabeth Siddal (1829–1862). 34. Agnès Sorel (1422–1450). 35. Helen of Troy (Greek mythology). 36. Simonetta Vespucci (1453–1476).
Dancers and Actresses: 37. Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923). 38. Marie-Anne de Cupis de Camargo (1710–1770) La Camargo. 39. Mrs Patrick Campbell (1865–1940). 40. Eleonora Duse (1858–1924). 41. Greta Garbo (1905–1990). 42. Nell Gwyn (1650–1687). 43. Dorothea Jordan (1762–1816). 44. Lillie Langtry (1853–1929). 45. Anna Pavlova (1881–1931). 46. Sarah Siddons (1755–1831). 47. Marie Taglioni (1804–1884). 48. Ellen Terry (1847–1928).
The Artists: 49. Vanessa Bell (1879–1961). 50. Duncan Grant (1885–1978); the only man in the service.