[lively classical music]
Female Narrator: These two works - one, a detailed watercolor, and the other, an early design drawing - show barges that sailed in a regatta held in honor of Crown Prince Friedrich Christian of Saxony in 1740. The British writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who witnessed the regatta, wrote to her husband that the barge recorded in the watercolor at right showed:
[hunting sounds including dogs]
Female Actor with English Accent: “The chariot of Diana, who appear’d Hunting in a large wood, the trees, hounds, Stag, and Nymphs all done naturally, the Gondoliers dress'd like peasants attending the chase, and Endimion under a large Tree.”
Female Narrator: Diana, goddess of the hunt, stands tall on the stern. In Roman mythology, she fell in love with the mortal youth Endymion, who adorns the prow, surrounded by his dogs. Prince Friedrich Christian bought this sheet as a souvenir.
Lady Mary was charmed by the parade of splendid boats:
Female Actor with English Accent: “They are rowed by Gondoliers dressed in rich Habits suitable to what they represent. There was enough of them to look like a little Fleet, and I own I never saw a finer sight.”
Female Narrator: The sheet at left is a working drawing for a barge that pays tribute to the Kingdom of Poland, which was governed by the prince's father. If you look closely, you can see the pencil lines indicating the decoration of the stern.
[music ends]
