M.S. Rau Antiques is excited to announce its upcoming exhibition Aristocracy: Luxury and Leisure in Britain that highlights the evolution of leisure in 19th-century England.  The upcoming show will illuminate the spectacular age of socioeconomic, cultural and artistic change through a wealth of art and superbly crafted objects, including furniture and fine art, as well as important pieces of provenance.  The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will debut on Saturday, October 21, 2017 and run through Saturday, January 20, 2018 at the M.S. Rau Gallery at 630 Royal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana.   

“Aristocracy will be the most ambitious public exhibition from M.S. Rau to date,” says Bill Rau, owner of M.S. Rau Antiques. “It weaves a compelling narrative about the intersection of entertainment and innovation, and is the first of its kind to explore the culture of Victorian leisure on such a grand and comprehensive scale.”   

An exciting time for technology, science and the arts, British culture of the Victorian age found itself at a crossroads – awakening to change with echoes of the past still visible. While strict rules of etiquette still governed society, entertainment emerged as a driving socioeconomic force that became a central facet of aristocratic life. Through an exploration of the elaborate leisure culture that defined the era, the exhibition will reveal the complex ways in which the country’s aristocracy displayed – and ultimately preserved – its vast wealth and social power in the face of a rapidly changing economic structure.

The remarkable range of works on display attest the grand lifestyles of Victorian England’s most influential and affluent citizens. From a rare royal commission by Edwin Henry Landseer to an extensive porcelain dinner service once owned by the Duke of Hamilton, the exhibition offers an intriguing glimpse into the sensations and spectacles of this superlative period.