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Announcer: This is
a Getty podcast.
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[Theme music begins]
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Host: Do you know someone who
lights up every room they’re in?
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What about some-thing?
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Welcome to If Objects Could
Talk, the podcast where art
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and artifacts come alive to
tell their side of the story.
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Today, we hear from something
that knows a thing or two about
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lighting up the room, because
they live on a chandelier.
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[chimes ring]
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[Classical music begins]
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Made in France around 1819,
this chandelier looks like
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an elaborate hot air balloon,
which was actually a new
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technology at this time.
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A big blue orb, slightly
larger than a beach ball and
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painted with stars, sits at
the center of the chandelier.
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Below that is a glass bowl,
which looks sort of like the
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basket of a hot air balloon.
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But instead of holding
passengers, it was designed
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to hold real, live goldfish.
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[water splashes] Imagine
how it would feel to be a
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fish swimming in the sky.
[water dripping]
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But our guest
today isn’t a fish.
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She’s one of six griffins
that sit around the
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center of the blue sphere.
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A griffin is a mythical
creature with the body,
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tail, and hind legs of a
lion, combined with the head,
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wings, and talons of an eagle.
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[wings fly] Talk about
containing multitudes.
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[child says “Wow!”] Griffins
symbolize strength and
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guardianship, and they are often
depicted protecting treasures.
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So it makes sense that our
griffin guards a spectacular
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gold-covered chandelier, and
she has a lot to say about all
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she’s seen on the job and all
she’s helped others to see.
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Griffin: [feminine voice
with French accent speaks]
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Ah, and then there she was,
a little girl hiding in the
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shadows of a grand party.
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Oh, now we are recording?
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Huh, it’s okay you
didn’t get that.
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We’ll revisit it later.
[laughs]
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Oh, in fact, I have enough
exciting memories I can share
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to keep everyone more than
entertained long into the night.
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[bell chimes]
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Now, you might think a griffin
perched on a chandelier
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in the middle of a room
would be used to being
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the center of attention,
but I’m more accustomed to
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watching than being watched.
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Perhaps it is because my
entire chandelier is so
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striking, I barely stand out.
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[Classical music plays]
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Monsieur Galle created me
in his workshop in Paris
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around the year 1819.
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He designed this elaborate
chandelier himself, and he
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tucked me up here around
the middle, facing outward
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with my wings half spread.
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I am made of gilded bronze
[metal tap] which means bronze
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covered in gold in order to be
even more dazzling [twinkling
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sound] and, in the case of a
chandelier, in order to reflect
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and amplify the light, too.
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I am one of six griffins
that encircles the middle.
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Each of us holds a single
candle on our head.
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We are connected to a gilded
bronze ring around the center of
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a blue globe strewn with stars.
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The 12 signs of the
zodiac—Aries, Taurus, Gemini—all
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of them decorate the ring.
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Between us griffins are
arms that hold candles—12
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more candles in all.
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That brings us to, un, deux,
trois… Ah, 18 candles total.
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There are also gilded rooster
heads [rooster crows], leaf
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designs [shuffling], and
eagles [eagle cry]. Strings
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of glass crystals connect the
candle arms to each other.
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[glass chimes]
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And below all of this
sits a glass bowl, which
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during special occasions
would be filled with water
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so goldfish would swim.
[fish swims and plops]
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Yes, real fish!
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My creator, Monsieur Galle,
said their continuous
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movement will give agreeable
Load full transcript
recreation to the eye.
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[crowd cheers]
He was right.
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A great excuse to start a
conversation with anyone
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standing next to you, eh?
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“Do you see the fish swimming
in that chandelier?”
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[changes voice]
“How peculiar! How grand!”
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When lit, these candles
and glittering
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surfaces and crystals and
fish made us look like a small
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moon, or maybe a disco ball.
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But a very fancy one.
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[disco music plays] In
short, we were a lot to look
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at, which is why I myself
was able to hide in plain
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sight within my chandelier.
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Even so, I am spectacular.
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But I am also a little
dangerous, or I was.
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[scary music]
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To make gilded bronze forms
like me, craftsmen would grind
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pure gold into a fine powder
and mix it with mercury to
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form an amalgam, a paste.
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They would then carefully apply
this paste to the surface of
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the bronze, and then—here’s
the daring part—they would heat
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the whole piece over a fire.
[flames roar]
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The mercury would burn
away in a
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cloud of toxic fumes.
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Terrifying.
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But what remained fused to
the surface of the bronze
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was a layer of pure gold.
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[bell chimes] The results
looked exactly like solid
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gold: warm, lustrous, catching
every flicker of candlelight.
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It did not tarnish.
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It did not dull.
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It glowed. [hums]
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Monsieur Galle’s craftsmen
were extraordinarily
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skilled at this process, and
that is why, 200 years later,
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I still look this magnificent.
[rising piano chords]
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Now, to really understand
me, you need to know
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where I lived, too.
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[Classical music plays]
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Close your eyes and imagine
you are in a grand room
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in a Parisian mansion.
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You stand on a floor of polished
wood covered by an ornate rug.
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The walls are covered
with sculpted wood panels,
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framed paintings, and
mirrors of every size.
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And above you hangs a
chandelier unlike anything
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you have ever seen.
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Do you even notice me, the
griffin, among all this beauty?
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French homes of this period,
the ones that could afford a
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fish chandelier, were called
hôtel particulier, and generally
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laid out in a similar way.
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Part of the home had rooms
arranged in a long line, one
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opening into the next with
tall double doors, like a
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string of elegant pearls.
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You might pass through an
antechamber, then a salon,
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a music room, and then, of
course, the formal dining room.
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[Violin music plays]
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Dinners were quite the
production, and served in the
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French style, or à la française.
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This is when all items of a
course are served on the
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table at the same time.
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Since the items were on display,
the guests could add to their
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plates whichever combination
of dishes they wished.
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It was all to the taste of
the guest, not the chef.
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In the French style, there are
no decorative centerpieces, just
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the food in the middle of the
table, serving as the sustenance
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and as the decoration.
[bells chime]
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A typical dinner party
would consist
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of three courses of six
to 25 dishes per course.
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The third course
on these occasions
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would be dessert.
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[crowd murmurs and says “Ooh!”]
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Have you ever been to or
hosted a big holiday dinner?
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Maybe something for
Thanksgiving or a birthday.
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What’s your favorite part?
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Is it the decorations,
the dishes, or the
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delightful desserts?
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[child says “Yummy.”] Do you
serve everything on the table
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all at once, or one course
at a time from the kitchen?
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And does someone put all your
food on your plate, or is dining
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a choose-your-own-adventure
for you, huh?
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[adventurous music
and sword fighting]
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[laughs] Oh, I suppose it
doesn’t matter, as long as the
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food and the company are good.
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Now, where was I?
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Ah, in the dining room.
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[Violin music
plays over chatter]
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I hung at the very center of
the ceiling, the most important
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position in a very important
room, if I do say so myself.
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This also meant I witnessed
everything: every guest who
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entered, every soup slurped,
every dessert admired,
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every secret whispered
behind a painted fan.
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[whispers] I heard it
all.
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Now, what sort of dinner party
stories should I share with you?
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Hmm.
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Once, oh, I saw a very
distinguished gentleman neglect
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to offer to plate the food for a
noble woman seated next to him.
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[group gasps] She was forced
to reach across the table
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and plate the food herself.
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[tearfully] Can you imagine?
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[crowd says “Unbelievable.”]
Well, obviously women can do
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anything, but the rudeness
at such a formal dinner
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was quite the scandal.
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But the story I want to tell
you, oh, the one I think of
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most often, is about a child.
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[children laugh] She was
eight, uh, perhaps nine.
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Is the daughter of a
cousin visiting from Leon.
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She was meant to be
asleep in the nursery
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at the top of the house.
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But how on earth could
she be asleep with such
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lively guests below her?
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The chatter coming up
through the ceiling.
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Oh, for a child lying awake
in the dark, it must have
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sounded like the whole world
was happening without her.
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She tiptoed downstairs,
and no one noticed.
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And why would they?
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20 people, each absorbed
in their own conversation,
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their own glass, their own
reflection in the mirrors.
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The little girl hid behind
a chair, close enough to
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witness everything.
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[crowd chatter]
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And then she saw it!
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A beautiful portion of
mille-feuille, a decadent
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confection made with three
layers of puff pastry, with
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layers of cream in between.
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It was untouched, abandoned.
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Well, someone must have had
plans to come back for it later.
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But with no hesitation, the
young girl took it, a small fee
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for the noise keeping her awake.
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While she carefully crept
back up the stairs, she
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looked up and locked eyes
with me, and took in the
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beauty of the old chandelier.
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This child with her
stolen pastry could
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just barely see them.
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[dramatic classical music]
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Yes, the fish!
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Small moving shapes of orange
and gold inside a glowing
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globe suspended in the air
above oblivious adults.
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[dramatic classical music
repeats] I never saw her
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again, but I will never
forget how she noticed me.
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Next time you are out in a new
place, maybe a museum or a very
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old house or building, take a
moment and look all around you.
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Look at what is covering
the floor or what is
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hanging from the ceiling.
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You might just see something no
one else has noticed in a long
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time and make a gilded bronze
griffin feel special and seen.
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[Theme music begins]
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Host: I hope you enjoyed
learning about gilt
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bronze and dinner parties.
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Join us next time when
a very timely dragon
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drops into the studio.
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[deep growl] To see photographs
of the Galle chandelier
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and a recreation of what it
would’ve looked like with
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fish, visit our website at
Getty dot edu slash ioct.
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We’ve also got a listening
guide with discussion questions
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and related activities there.
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This episode was written
by Tocarra Elise and
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produced by Zoe Goldman.
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Ronnie Saxon voiced the griffin.
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Theme music, mixing, and sound
design by Alexandra Kalinowski.
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Christopher Sprinkle
is executive producer.
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Special thanks to curators
Anne-Lise Desmas and
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Miriam Schefzyk, as
well as Rebekkah Hart.
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These stories are
historical fiction.
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They’re based on historical
facts and deep research,
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but we’ve filled in the
gaps to make a good story.
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If you have questions about
what you’ve heard, write to us
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at podteam at getty dot edu.
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Catch you next time.