Red ecstasy
HIGHEST FLICKR EXPLORE RANKING: 496
The world famous Spirt of Ecstasy flying lady mascot atop a mid-Sixties Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III at the Goodwood Revival historic race meeting, Goodwood Racing Circuit and Aerodrome, Goodwood, near Chichester, West Sussex, England.
The Spirit of Ecstasy was designed by Charles Sykes, a graduate artist of London's Royal College of Arts, and behind it lies the tale of hidden passion between the succinctly-named John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu (the second Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, a pioneer of the automobile movement, and editor of The Car magazine) and his secret love Eleanor Velasco Thornton. Eleanor was Montagu's secretary, and their adoration for each other was to remain concealed, known only by their closest friends, for more than a decade. The reason was Eleanor's impoverished social and economic status, which, in those days in snobbish upper class Britain, was an obstacle to their relationship. And probably still would be, of course. Montagu, succumbing to family pressures, eventually married Lady Cecil Victoria Constance - far less hoi polloi - but the secret love affair continued.
When Montagu commissioned Sykes to sculpt a personal mascot for his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Sykes chose Eleanor Thornton as his model. He originally crafted a figurine of her in fluttering robes, pressing a finger against her lips - to symbolise the secrets of their love. This was consequently christened The Whisper.
At this time, Rolls-Royce motorcars did not feature radiator mascots as standard; they simply carried the Rolls-Royce emblem. This was not enough for some customers, who believed that such a prestigious vehicle as a Rolls-Royce motorcar should have its own more outstanding symbol, and by 1910 personal mascots had become the trend. Rolls-Royce was concerned to note that some owners were affixing 'inappropriate' ornaments to their cars. Managing director Claude Johnson was asked to see to the commissioning of something more suitably dignified and graceful.
He also turned to Sykes to produce a mascot to adorn all future Rolls-Royces, with the specifications that it should convey "the spirit of the Rolls-Royce, namely, speed with silence, absence of vibration, the mysterious harnessing of great energy and a beautiful living organism of superb grace..." The brief also included evoking the spirit of mythical beauty, Nike, whose graceful image was admired in The Louvre, but Sykes was unimpressed. He felt that a more feminine representation might be apt.
It was again Miss Thornton whom he had in mind. Sykes chose to modify Montagu's The Whisper into a version similar to today's Spirit of Ecstasy. He called this first model The Spirit of Speed and later dubbed it "A graceful little goddess, the Spirit of Ecstasy, who has selected road travel as her supreme delight and alighted on the prow of a Rolls-Royce motor car to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies." As goddesses are occasionally prone to do, of course...
Henry Royce was ill during the commissioning, and when he saw the finished item, he was far from impressed. He did not believe the figurine enhanced the cars, asserting that it impaired the driver's view, and was rarely seen driving one of his company's vehicles adorned with the mascot. Thus, he initially made sure it was officially listed only as an optional extra, but in practice it was fitted on almost all cars after it was introduced in 1911, becoming a standard fitment in the early-Twenties.
And it has been on all Rolls-Royces ever since, outlasting by many years the woman who modelled for it, for Eleanor was drowned at the age of 35, along with hundreds of other passengers in December 1915, when the SS Persia on which she was travelling with Montagu through the Mediterranean to India, was torpedoed without warning by the German U-boat U-38. There was no time to get to a lifeboat and as they made for the decks on the listing ship, 'Montagu had Eleanor in his arms, the next they were hit by a wall of water and she was gone.' He survived and made his way home to read his own obituary in The Times. In a letter to the newspaper magnate Lord Northcliffe, he confessed 'You will know, as a fellow human, what is my grief at the loss of Thorn, who, for 15 years, was all in all to me and who was the most devoted and lovable woman God ever made.' Just prior to the voyage, Eleanor had poignantly written to Lady Cecil - the two women got on well, apparently - 'You have the satisfaction of knowing that he will be well looked after. I do not think for one moment that there will be any trouble in the Med but supposing...well, then the Lord will have an extra chance, for there will be my place in the boat for him, even if he has to be stunned to take it.'
Now I'm wondering what I should have on the bonnet of my old Volvo. Aside from, as recently, a flying deer...
Taken at Goodwood Race Circuit and Aerodrome, Goodwood, near Chichester, West Sussex, England on September 21, 2008.
Red ecstasy
HIGHEST FLICKR EXPLORE RANKING: 496
The world famous Spirt of Ecstasy flying lady mascot atop a mid-Sixties Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III at the Goodwood Revival historic race meeting, Goodwood Racing Circuit and Aerodrome, Goodwood, near Chichester, West Sussex, England.
The Spirit of Ecstasy was designed by Charles Sykes, a graduate artist of London's Royal College of Arts, and behind it lies the tale of hidden passion between the succinctly-named John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu (the second Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, a pioneer of the automobile movement, and editor of The Car magazine) and his secret love Eleanor Velasco Thornton. Eleanor was Montagu's secretary, and their adoration for each other was to remain concealed, known only by their closest friends, for more than a decade. The reason was Eleanor's impoverished social and economic status, which, in those days in snobbish upper class Britain, was an obstacle to their relationship. And probably still would be, of course. Montagu, succumbing to family pressures, eventually married Lady Cecil Victoria Constance - far less hoi polloi - but the secret love affair continued.
When Montagu commissioned Sykes to sculpt a personal mascot for his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Sykes chose Eleanor Thornton as his model. He originally crafted a figurine of her in fluttering robes, pressing a finger against her lips - to symbolise the secrets of their love. This was consequently christened The Whisper.
At this time, Rolls-Royce motorcars did not feature radiator mascots as standard; they simply carried the Rolls-Royce emblem. This was not enough for some customers, who believed that such a prestigious vehicle as a Rolls-Royce motorcar should have its own more outstanding symbol, and by 1910 personal mascots had become the trend. Rolls-Royce was concerned to note that some owners were affixing 'inappropriate' ornaments to their cars. Managing director Claude Johnson was asked to see to the commissioning of something more suitably dignified and graceful.
He also turned to Sykes to produce a mascot to adorn all future Rolls-Royces, with the specifications that it should convey "the spirit of the Rolls-Royce, namely, speed with silence, absence of vibration, the mysterious harnessing of great energy and a beautiful living organism of superb grace..." The brief also included evoking the spirit of mythical beauty, Nike, whose graceful image was admired in The Louvre, but Sykes was unimpressed. He felt that a more feminine representation might be apt.
It was again Miss Thornton whom he had in mind. Sykes chose to modify Montagu's The Whisper into a version similar to today's Spirit of Ecstasy. He called this first model The Spirit of Speed and later dubbed it "A graceful little goddess, the Spirit of Ecstasy, who has selected road travel as her supreme delight and alighted on the prow of a Rolls-Royce motor car to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies." As goddesses are occasionally prone to do, of course...
Henry Royce was ill during the commissioning, and when he saw the finished item, he was far from impressed. He did not believe the figurine enhanced the cars, asserting that it impaired the driver's view, and was rarely seen driving one of his company's vehicles adorned with the mascot. Thus, he initially made sure it was officially listed only as an optional extra, but in practice it was fitted on almost all cars after it was introduced in 1911, becoming a standard fitment in the early-Twenties.
And it has been on all Rolls-Royces ever since, outlasting by many years the woman who modelled for it, for Eleanor was drowned at the age of 35, along with hundreds of other passengers in December 1915, when the SS Persia on which she was travelling with Montagu through the Mediterranean to India, was torpedoed without warning by the German U-boat U-38. There was no time to get to a lifeboat and as they made for the decks on the listing ship, 'Montagu had Eleanor in his arms, the next they were hit by a wall of water and she was gone.' He survived and made his way home to read his own obituary in The Times. In a letter to the newspaper magnate Lord Northcliffe, he confessed 'You will know, as a fellow human, what is my grief at the loss of Thorn, who, for 15 years, was all in all to me and who was the most devoted and lovable woman God ever made.' Just prior to the voyage, Eleanor had poignantly written to Lady Cecil - the two women got on well, apparently - 'You have the satisfaction of knowing that he will be well looked after. I do not think for one moment that there will be any trouble in the Med but supposing...well, then the Lord will have an extra chance, for there will be my place in the boat for him, even if he has to be stunned to take it.'
Now I'm wondering what I should have on the bonnet of my old Volvo. Aside from, as recently, a flying deer...
Taken at Goodwood Race Circuit and Aerodrome, Goodwood, near Chichester, West Sussex, England on September 21, 2008.