Servant's Quarters
by RC DeWinter
Title
Servant's Quarters
Artist
RC DeWinter
Medium
Painting - Digital Oils-paintography-photopainting
Description
Copyright 2013 RC deWinter ~ All Rights Reserve
The life of the average servant in the Victorian and Edwardian eras was not, on the whole, as relatively humane as depicted in the wildly popular PBS series "Downton Abbey."
In a large house a servant's duties might be more bearable simply because there more hands to do the work, but in a middle-class household with only one or two maids the work was never-ending and often demeaning. Employers thought nothing of changing a servant's name if they found it unpleasing. Time off was limited to a few hours a week and was allotted with no thought to the needs of the individual. Servants were generally on duty from 5 AM until bedtime, which might not arrive until 8 or 9 PM. Many worked sixteen to eighteen hours a day. Every aspect of a servant's life revolved about the needs and whims of their employers.
Despite the indignities and rigors of a servant's life in those times, however, there is some truth to the fact that their lives were better than those of factory workers and those who took in work at home, not to mention prostitutes. Servants could rise in position through the knowledge gained by living in a well-off household. Their understanding of the world at large was often vastly augmented by their time in service as well. Many learned enough and saved enough to eventually move into the small merchant or office-work class.
Here we see a relatively comfortable servant's bedroom. In stark contrast to the often dark, moldy rooms occupied by kitchen workers and servants in less agreeable households, this room is painted, carpeted and well-lit by unseen windows. Note the extra underspring in case a second bed is needed for an additional servant, along with the chamber pot that was still common in many well-off households into the early 20th century.
Paintography after a photograph shot at Miramont Castle, Manitou Springs, Colorado.
Uploaded
July 24th, 2013
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Viewed 719 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/22/2024 at 6:37 AM
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Comments (14)
Lois Bryan
This is such a beautifully captured and painted image ... I love the bright colors ... your story really goes to my heart as I'm one of the wildly devoted fans of Downton Abbey and know, of course, that in many if not most cases what we see there was not at all the way life was truly lived. Again, a beautiful work of art ... I love your brush work and subtlety of tone in the whites, especially. WOW!!! f/v
JOHN TELFER
RC, Outstanding painting love the great colors and details and the remarkable textures in this painting that come right out at you, fantastic painting, fav, voted, and tweet and google promoted and selected as my Pay It Forward in the Wisconsin Flowers and Scenery group
Mary Deal
Oh wow! Does this image tell a story! Where ever did you get the idea for this? v
RC DeWinter replied:
I shot the photo from which I painted this years ago, Mary. After watching "Downton Abbey" I read a book on Victorian life that provided a great deal of information on the lives of servants. I was struck by the differences in the depiction of servant life in the series vis-a-vis the historical reality in most cases. Thank you.
Doug Kreuger
Congratulations on your WFS Home Page feature of this very thought-provoking artwork, Gina. Thanks for your most informative Description, too, however, I prefer reading your creative writings. Voted
RC DeWinter replied:
Thanks so much, Doug, I'm not disappointed that you prefer the poetry and tales.
Randy Rosenberger
It is a pleasure to see so much variety and beauty in the works that are submitted for FEATURING on our WFS site. It is an honor to FEATURE this piece of work on our Homepage of our site. Thanks for sharing and being active in our group membership. Fave and Vote Forever, Elvis