Character Arc in a Costume: Isabel Archer’s Evening Gown

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Our new exhibition, Designed for Drama: Fashion from the Classics, brings together the artistry of great literary works, film making, and costume design. In honor of its premiere, let’s take a closer look at one of the Academy Award®-nominated gowns showcased in America’s Largest Home® and the narrative that inspired it.

Designed for Drama Biltmore Dress from Portrait of a Lady

Written by Henry James in 1881, The Portrait of a Lady is the story of Isabel Archer: a spirited young woman who inherits a fortune and then falls into an unfortunate relationship. In the 1996 film adaptation of the same name, costume designer Janet Patterson, known for her sumptuous 19th century creations, illustrates the character’s struggles through her Victorian period dress.

Patterson conveys Isabel, played by Nicole Kidman, and her character arc through many evocative outfits—from her charming light blue striped suit and cheerful straw hat worn in the beginning of the film to her more somber, sophisticated suit of deep red damask worn later—but the black and gold sequined evening gown she wears toward the end of the film is particularly expressive. The two-piece costume is made of patterned mesh fabrics over lamé (fabric with interwoven metallic threads) and silk and is elaborately trimmed with beads, sequins, and metal thread embroidery.

The low, wide neck of the gown and its very short cap sleeves are both lined with a band of heavily beaded black net over gold. Beneath is a long-line fitted bodice of diagonally patterned gold net over diagonally gold-embroidered lamé. The complexity of the bodice may reflect the complexity of Isabel’s life at this point, a time when she must make increasingly difficult and emotionally moving choices.

Designed for Drama Biltmore Dress from Portrait of a Lady

Beneath the bodice, the gown’s skirt of vertically striped black net over gold lamé falls straight to the ground with beaded appliqué flowers lining the hem. Underlayers of pleated black silk peek out from the edges.

And, of course, the most dramatic element of Isabel Archer’s evening gown: the train. Made of black silk overlaid with layers of gold net, the purposefully long train trails behind the dress, ending with square edges decorated with gold floral embroidery and sequins. In her journey from a spunky and independent woman to a miserably repressed wife, the repeated shots of Isabel’s long, intricate trains dragging as she walks throughout the film seem to demonstrate all that has held her back.

This exquisite evening gown is just one of 10 costumes on display in Biltmore House designed by four-time Oscar® nominee Janet Patterson. In addition to other designs from The Portrait of a Lady, multiple costumes from Far From the Madding Crowd (2015) will be highlighted as well. Join us for Designed for Drama and discover how the artistry of costume design helps bring classic literary characters to life.

Olmsted’s Deliberate Approach

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The three-mile Approach Road that meanders from Biltmore Village up to Biltmore House is not there by accident—it’s the result of a very intentional and complex design by Frederick Law Olmsted, Biltmore’s landscape designer.

Everything by design

In Olmsted’s own words, “…the most striking and pleasing impression of the Estate will be obtained if an approach can be made that shall have throughout a natural and comparatively wild and secluded character; its borders rich with varied forms of vegetation, with incidents growing of the vicinity of springs and streams and the remote depths of a natural forest.”

The road is a perfect blending of forest and landscape with no hard edges to separate the two. The lack of long-range views is intentional.

“The Approach Road is the first important garden and landscape feature you see on the estate,” said Parker Andes, Director of Horticulture. “It gives you a true feel for Olmsted’s skill.”

approach road during spring
Mountain laurel blooms along approach road

“Along the brook and on the edge of the drive, Olmsted planted low-growing plants. For variety of color in the winter, he used hardy olives, evergreens with an olive tint, junipers, red cedars, and yews,” explained Parker. “All of these created the complexity of light and shadow that define a picturesque style.”

Archival photo of digging crew of Approach Road
George Vanderbilt (front row, far right, in a light-colored hat) and Frederick Law Olmsted (to Vanderbilt’s right) with the crew that dug the Approach Road

Changes through time

Over time, all of Biltmore’s landscapes have matured and changed in appearance. The challenge for today’s landscaping team lies in determining Olmsted’s original intent for the approach road, and they use archival resources such as early plans, letters of correspondence written during the construction of the estate, and information about Olmsted’s design philosophies to help them stay true to the original vision.

Sometimes, variations from the approach road plan are necessary. For example, Olmsted planted some exotic plants that were not invasive at that time, including Oriental bittersweet, mahonia, and barberry. We’ve replaced those with others plants that offer similar characteristics and looks. We also now know that certain plants will not thrive where originally planted, so we select others that are able to do well in those original locations. “It’s a continual learning process, and each year I discover something new,” said Parker.

Fall on the Approach Road at Biltmore
Leaf peeping on the Approach Road during fall is a favorite past time for visitors.

Literary Guests of Biltmore House

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While we aren’t sure exactly when they met, George Vanderbilt and author Edith Wharton likely knew each other most of their lives. Both were born into New York society in 1862 and both moved in the same social circles.

Thanks to the Biltmore House guest book, we know that Wharton visited the estate at least twice: once in November 1902 and again around Christmas 1905.

On December 26, 1905, she wrote from Biltmore to her friend Sara Norton, describing the Vanderbilts’ gracious hospitality:

“Yesterday we had a big Xmas fete for the 350 people on the estate – a tree 30 ft. high, Punch & Judy, conjuror, presents & “refreshments.” It would have interested you, it was done so well & sympathetically, each person’s wants being thought of, from mother to last baby.”

From The Letters of Edith Wharton

During this visit, she signed a copy of her recently completed novel, The House of Mirth:

“To George Vanderbilt from Edith Wharton, Biltmore House, Christmas 1905.”

The House of Mirth later became entry #2,163 in George’s “Books I Have Read” journal series.

In the Biltmore archives, there are a handful of letters from Wharton to George. While many of the letters discuss Wharton subletting the Vanderbilts’ apartment on the Left Bank in Paris from 1907 to 1910, one of them stands out from the rest.

On March 25, 1913, Wharton wrote George regarding a 70th birthday gift for Henry James, author of The Portrait of a Lady. She was sending word of a circular and a collection of money for James to purchase whatever gift he wanted.

But a gift was never purchased. James found out about the collection prematurely and refused it.

Coincidentally, James, who was also a friend of George Vanderbilt’s, stayed at Biltmore—in the winter of 1905, around the same time as Wharton.

Rolling out the Academy Award® Red Carpet…

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 Our Designed for Drama: Fashion from the Classics exhibition beginning February 10 gives you the opportunity to take a closer look at costumes from six films nominated for an Academy Award® in Costume Design—including an Oscar® winner!

British costume designer Jacqueline Durran was honored with an Academy Award® in 2012 for her interpretation of late 19th-century Russian attire for Anna Karenina. Five of the costumes she designed for the film will be on display in the Second Floor Living Hall of Biltmore House.

Anna Karenina is the third film for which Durran worked with director Joe Wright and actress Keira Knightley. Their previous projects, Pride and Prejudice (2006) and Atonement (2008), each earned Durran an Academy Award® nomination for her designs. The designer was also nominated for her work in Mr. Turner (2015).

The Designed for Drama exhibition also includes costumes from five other films whose designers were nominated for an Academy Award® :

  • Finding Neverland (2004); designed by Alexandra Byrne, a four-time nominee who won an Oscar for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007).
  • Sleepy Hollow (1999); designed by Colleen Atwood, an eleven-time nominee and three-time Oscar winner for Chicago (2002), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), and Alice in Wonderland (2010).
  • Jane Eyre (2011); designed by Michael O’Connor, a three-time nominee who won an Oscar for The Duchess (2008).
  • The Portrait of a Lady (1996); designed by Janet Patterson, a four-time nominee.

As part of our exhibition preview, a costume from Sense and Sensibility (1995), designed by Jenny Beavan and John Bright, is on display at the Winery in Antler Hill Village. As a costume design team, Beavan and Bright have shared six Academy Award® nominations—including one for Sense and Sensibility—and won an Oscar for their work in A Room with a View (1985).

Feature image: Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alicia Vikander as Vronsky and Kitty in Anna Karenina; photo credit: ANNA KARENINA ©2012 Universal Pictures Limited.

Bold backdrop inspires Claude Bedding

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In 2011, our curators completed a major project on the second floor of Biltmore House, allowing guests to see four grand bedrooms restored to their original splendor. Known as the Louis XV Suite, the restoration encompassed the Damask Room, Claude Room, Tyrolean Chimney Room, and the Louis XV Room.

Claude Room at Biltmore House

Like many rooms in Biltmore House, the Claude Room was named after one of George Vanderbilt’s favorite artists, the French painter Claude Lorrain. Born Claude Gellee (ca. 1605-1682), the artist was later known as Claude Lorrain after the province of his birth. During the Vanderbilts’ 1898 European honeymoon, Mr. Vanderbilt visited several collections of Lorrain’s work. Lorrain was considered to be one of the greatest landscape painters of all time.

The striking silver and cobalt wallpaper found in the Claude Room was the inspiration for our compelling Claude Bedding ensemble. As luxurious in design and grand in scale as its namesake, the handsome chenille comforter and accessories add bold flair to your home with sweeping shades of platinum, blue-gray, and charcoal intertwined with ivory and gold.

Featured image: Claude Bedding shown on Antler Hill Panel Bed with Belle-Sophia Chest

George Vanderbilt: One of the Best Read Men in the Country

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While other members of the Vanderbilt family were recognized for their lavish parties or successes in the stock market, when it came to George Vanderbilt, the press instead focused on his love of learning and, more specifically, his preoccupation with reading.

A turn-of-the-century New York journalist wrote of the youngest Vanderbilt:

“He was a bookworm, a student… And his love of books came all from his own inner consciousness, for he was not graduated from any college, and his education, while not neglected, had not been carried beyond the ordinary limits of high schools, though now, I doubt not, he is one of the best read men in the country.”

Let’s take a look at a few items in the Biltmore House collection that speak to George Vanderbilt’s passions for reading and books.

Birthday Gift from Mama

For George Vanderbilt’s ninth birthday, his mother, Maria Louisa Vanderbilt, gave him three volumes from Reverend Elijah Kellogg, Jr.’s Elm Island Series and within each, she inscribed “George from Mama Nov. 14th 1871.” 

Thanks to this special gift set, we gleam that George was interested in reading at a young age.

Portrait by John Singer Sargent

As his interest turned to passion with age, George’s love of books became more prominent.

One example of this is his 1890 portrait by John Singer Sargent, one of the most celebrated society portraitists of his time. In it, George holds a book in his right hand.

The portrait hangs in the Tapestry Gallery, above the door leading into the Library.

Bust by Mary Grant

Another example of the prominence of this passion is a bust of George by Scottish artist Mary Grant.

Appropriately displayed in the Library, the bronze sculpture shows George Vanderbilt with his left elbow and right hand resting on a stack of two volumes.

This bust is one of four by Grant in the Biltmore House collection.

Biltmore House Bookplate

Designed by George Vanderbilt himself and engraved by Edwin Davis French, the Biltmore House bookplate is found in nearly all of the books in the Library.

The oil lamp motif featured in the center symbolizes the eternal quest for knowledge and enlightenment.

The surrounding Latin inscription, “Quaero Ex Libris Biltmoris,” may be translated, “Inquire in the books of Biltmore.”

“Books I Have Read”

Finally, the most definitive testament to George’s love of reading in the Biltmore House collection: his journal series titled “Books I Have Read.”

George began logging works and authors at the age of 12 and continued the habit until his death in 1914. 

He ultimately logged 3,159 books, which means he read an average of 81 books each year, or about a book and half per week.

The last entry was the third volume of Henry Adams’ History of the United States.

We invite you to join us as we celebrate George Vanderbilt’s love of reading with more than 40 award-winning movie costumes on display throughout America’s Largest Home®, accompanied by the original books in his 22,000-volume personal collection that inspired the films. 

Feature image: One of George Vanderbilt’s “Books I Have Read” journals opened to the 1,817th entry: Richard Carvel by Winston Churchill. Right above it is George’s note about daughter Cornelia’s birth on August 22, 1900.

On the Archivist’s Desk: A Century’s Worth of Records

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Biltmore archivist Jill Hawkins is responsible for cataloging, managing, and preserving Biltmore’s historic records. With more than a century’s worth of manuscripts, books, photographs, drawings, and the like to handle, organization is paramount.

Biltmore Marketing Material

One of Jill’s projects is conducting an inventory of outdated Biltmore marketing materials, which is no small task. Some of the items have labels, helping to put the pieces together, but many do not. From hard copies of video mailing tapes to recordings of commercials from as far back as the 1970s, there are literally dozens of boxes of material to be processed.

The marketing materials include three types of records: audiovisuals, photographs, and paper documents. The audiovisual materials are the least stable of the three and must first be digitized before they can be cataloged. Jill sent the master videotape collection to be digitized first and is now preparing to send a collection of film reels to be digitized.

Chauncey Beadle’s Incoming Correspondence

Jill is also processing estate superintendent Chauncey Beadle’s incoming correspondence. Of all George Vanderbilt’s principal managers, Beadle’s archival collection is by far the largest.

Beadle said he came to Biltmore for a month and stayed for a lifetime. From his initial role as Biltmore nursery supervisor in 1890 to his final role as estate superintendent until his death in 1950, there is an enormous amount of correspondence to be processed. From files and files tightly pressed…

…in boxes and boxes…

…which fill shelves upon shelves.

Accessions: Biltmore Dairy Farms

Cataloging new accessions is an ongoing project for Jill. Accessions are documents and objects acquired through either donation or purchase to be added to Biltmore’s archival collections. Most recently, she received some items from the days of the Biltmore Dairy.

Perhaps most notable is a “Time Book,” providing a record of names, hours, and wages of dairy workers from January 1908 through October 1909.

Another fascinating new accession is a coupon book, likely from around the same time.

With such a massive and ever-growing amount of material to manage, Jill certainly has her work cut out for her—but she assures us that it is a labor of love.

A Gem in George Vanderbilt’s Library

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Once termed “one of the best read men in the country” by New York media, George Vanderbilt amassed a personal library of more than 22,000 volumes at Biltmore House, each of which he selected with great care.

In honor of our upcoming Designed for Drama: Fashion from the Classics exhibition, let’s take a look at a true gem within his literary collection: George’s copy of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), a first American edition of the book featuring illustrations by artist Arthur Rackham.

Arthur Rackham illustration 1

Peter Pan is familiar to most as the free-spirited and mischievous young boy of Neverland who can fly and never grows up.

However, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, one of Barrie’s four major works featuring the beloved character, introduces Peter at the tender age of just seven days old.

The vast majority of the book first appeared in Barrie’s The Little White Bird (1902) as a story within the story.

The popularity of The Little White Bird, thanks in large part to the several chapters involving Peter Pan, prompted Barrie to write the 1904 play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, a wildly successful production that broke nearly all previous theatrical records.

Barrie eventually adapted the play into another, better-known novel: Peter Pan and Wendy (1911)—but not before the chapters that first introduced the character were extracted from The Little White Bird and published as Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.

While the text was slightly revised for the 1906 publication to read better without the context of the surrounding story, more significant is the addition of Rackham’s illustrations.

Arthur Rackham illustration 2

His 50 beautiful color plates helped to make the book immediately popular and drew attention to the artist, who—aside from his success with Rip Van Winkle (1905)—was relatively unknown before then.

Another notable difference is the fact that The Little White Bird was published as a novel for adult readers whereas Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens was published as a children’s book.

This fact leads us to believe that Cornelia Vanderbilt, George’s daughter who was six years old at the time, may have played a role in his decision to add the title to his collection.

Beginning February 10, George’s copy of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens will be on display in the Banquet Hall of Biltmore House, along with multiple costumes from the film Finding Neverland (2004), which tells the story of J.M. Barrie’s friendship with the family who inspired him to create Peter Pan.

Images
Feature: Arthur Rackham’s “There Now Arose a Mighty Storm” on the inside cover, and the title page of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
Right: Rackham’s “Looking Very Undancey Indeed” from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
​Left: Rackham’s “The Serpentine is a Lovely Lake” from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens

Gingerbread Architecture: Incredible AND Edible!

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Ever since The Inn on Biltmore Estate opened in 2001, its Christmas at Biltmore decorations have included a miniature version of the hotel made from gingerbread. This year, however, Pastry Chef Cheryl Brookhouzen changed things up with her Walled Garden-inspired gingerbread Conservatory!

Gingerbread fox builds a snowmanAccording to her co-workers, Chef Brookhouzen’s vision and attention to detail make this gingerbread display truly over-the-top spectacular. Special features include rotating Christmas trees in the front and back, a lighted roof and windows, charming animals, and a host of other miniature touches.

Gingerbread Conservatory at The Inn on Biltmore Estate“We’ve been doing a gingerbread model of The Inn for nearly 15 years, so I thought it was time to try something new,” said Chef Brookhouzen of her design. “I hope that having something so different will delight our guests and make them interested in seeing what we create next year.”

Details of the gingerbread roof at The Inn on Biltmore EstateGingerbread Conservatory Fun Facts

1. The Conservatory was constructed with the help of 11 members of The Inn’s team, from pastry professionals to engineering, banquet, and purchasing services
2. Chef Brookhouzen baked the gingerbread in large slabs before cutting it into the right shapes
3. The display required 175 pounds of gingerbread dough, 160 pounds of powdered sugar, and more than 15 kinds of candy and snacks such as Kit-Kats, M&Ms, Sixlets, Sour Tape, Hershey’s chocolate bars, pretzels, old-fashioned candy sticks, mint candies, chocolate bears, chocolate caramel balls, chocolate leaves, lollipop trees, and more*
4. The windows and roof are made of poured isomalt sugar
5. The Conservatory shines with 800 white lights

*An additional 4 pounds of candy was consumed by the builders of the Conservatory!

Highlighting the Hearths of America’s Largest Home®

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Please enjoy this archived content from a Christmas past.

Each Christmas season, our floral department selects a theme for décor throughout Biltmore House. This year, the team has interpreted the theme of “Hearth and Home”—inspired by stories of Vanderbilt family hospitality—throughout the house, emphasizing fireplaces and mantels in the grand spaces of America’s largest home. Here’s a glimpse at how this year’s theme has come to life…Breakfast Room mantel

In the Breakfast Room, originally intended for less formal dining, the mantel is draped with lights, garland, and multiple strands of beads for a casual, almost bohemian-style feel.Mrs. Vanderbilt's Bedroom mantel

Surrounding the low-lying fireplace in Mrs. Vanderbilt’s Bedroom is more richly colored garland, adding a touch of subtle seasonal elegance in the most feminine room in Biltmore House.The Music Room mantel

The mantel in the Music Room features a dash of classic Christmas crimson with simple strands of crystal beading. The traditional yet chic elements add genuine warmth to the special mantel, which displays carvings of the initials and life dates of Albrecht Dürer, one of George Vanderbilt’s favorite artists.Oak Sitting Room mantel

In the Oak Sitting Room, the theme of “Hearth and Home” has been taken to new heights. Lush strands of festive garland line the full mantel as well as sections between the room’s oak paneling and cornice frieze, adding emphasis to the high ceiling and its intricate plaster carvings.

View all of these Biltmore House fireplaces and more with a Candlelight Christmas Evenings visit.

Feature image: The Library fireplace and mantel