Objet D'Art
AN: the characters do not belong to me. Thank you to my wonderful, supportive and encouraging beta, Granthamfan. Thank you also to Settees-Under-Siege for a discussion that furthered some of my ideas.
Part I: Glass
Cora hummed happily as she looked at the newest item in her dressing room-a piece of glass art which she had seen in one of the more avant garde galleries in London. On the last day before returning home, she had darted into the gallery and made her whimsical purchase, keeping it wrapped in its box on the train home. Robert had been too preoccupied with the business of getting onward with going back to and longing for his beloved life in the country to notice the strange parcel which sat beside his wife on the journey. Cora was pleased to note that everyone had continued to be busy in other matters as she brought it inside and stole away to her dressing room. It was then that she laid the parcel on the bed she and Robert shared and carefully opened it in order to reveal its treasure.
It was a clear glass head, resemblant of a marble bust, only it was hollow and cast fragmented bits of light onto the walls and everything nearby when either the sun or the electric lights shone upon it. Cora had been especially delighted with the prisms of light running through it as it sat in the gallery display, and now the light was dancing across the walls of her home. She placed it on the top of an ancient oak bureau, the modern meeting the antique world of the abbey. Its features were a little bit abstract, not as lifelike as a marble head would have been. The eyes were indented and had defined eyelids, but had no pupils or irises. From across the room, its eyes looked particularly large and attentive. The nose curved down before full lips, nearly parted, sat as if ready to speak at any moment. Its ears were more or less flat to its head.
As Cora stood admiring her new glass head, she laughed to herself as she considered naming it since it was already such a presence in the room. Harold? No, that was her brother's name. Howard? Herbert?
A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. She turned toward the door with a smile still teasing at the edges of her mouth.
"Come in!" she called out and soon saw Baxter, her ladies' maid, enter the room.
Baxter was a rather quiet sort of woman, much less prone to make commentary as O'Brien had been, but her eyes immediately drifted over to the glass head as she attempted to speak.
"I just wanted to see if you needed anything now that you've returned, milady." Baxter continued to steal glances at the glass head as she addressed Cora.
"No, nothing for now. Thank you, Baxter." Cora stared at her maid for a moment, wondering if she was going to mention the new objet d'art.
However, she merely turned to leave, murmuring a quick "very well, milady" as she exited the room. Cora was a little disappointed that no attention had been paid to her daring new find, but quickly shrugged it off until that night when Robert came in to go to bed.
"Is your mother planning a visit, Cora?" Robert asked, gazing sideways at the glass head.
Confused, Cora frowned. "No, why do you ask me that?"
He gestured over toward the head. "I assumed she may be coming because you're displaying her... present on the bureau. That glass thing was a gift from Martha, was it not?"
"No! I bought it in London yesterday!" Cora retorted, getting annoyed. "It's nothing like what my mother would buy. It's new and modern, not overly colorful and tasteless like some of her more memorable finds!"
"I'm sorry, Cora," Robert was truly regretful of his obvious mistake when he registered Cora's reaction. "What I know about this modern art business is less than nothing. I'm sorry, darling. Now that I look at it, I find it rather charming."
"Really, Robert? Do you honestly mean that?" Cora sighed, hoping he wasn't just placating her.
"With every fiber of my being," he reassured. "Someone in this family has to keep up with the trends, and I highly doubt it will be me. But, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate it."
She laughed as he planted small kisses on her neck, still looking toward the sculpture. "Is this how you appreciate it?" She murmured as she began to smother him with kisses and pull his pajamas away from his body as he slid her nightdress off at the same time. "If so, I like it. A lot."
Robert said nothing but continued their journey into terrific fun and entangled limbs. Just when he began to realize that they were ready to continue, he chuckled lightly. "Cora, don't take this the wrong way, but I must go turn that glass head around. I feel as if it is looking at me."
In the morning, Baxter peeked through the crack in the doorway to see Cora and Robert asleep and the newest piece of art facing the wall with a blindfold over its eyes. She grinned as she eased the door back into its closed position.
Part II: Paint
After Cora's success in choosing a bold new objet d'art for the abbey, she was thinking about other creative pursuits as she walked down a hallway that she hadn't visited in years. It was on the other side of the castle, where mostly storage was kept. No one had much occasion to go there, not even the staff, so few if any people knew what the rooms contained.
Cora opened the door to the last room on the right side of the hallway and gasped in delight when she saw the inside of the room. It had a large window opposite the door that let in bright sunbeams and revealed the contents of the room without need of a separate source of light. Because it was only a storage room, it hadn't been wired for electricity with the rest of the house. The room was full of easels, paintings, and, to Cora's delight, a blank canvas in the corner. There were several others leaning against the wall next to the window. When she was growing up, her mother had forced her to take art lessons, but young Cora was not a natural in any way, though the colors and materials had always fascinated her. Under Martha's supervision, she had not been allowed to explore painting just for the sake of enjoyment without concern for skill. As a result, Cora had not thought of creating anything of that sort for years, until she saw the canvas and the numerous cans of paint surrounding it. A sudden yearning filled her, and she hurriedly crossed the room to see if there were any supplies lying around, a smile playing upon her lips.
Cora's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas morning when she opened a box directly next to where the canvas stood and discovered a large collection of paintbrushes and a paint can opener. She carefully pried the cans open and found to her further delight a collection of jewel tone colors such as scarlet, aubergine, evergreen, and cerulean blue. Taking no thought for caution, she dipped the largest brush in the cerulean and stroked it across the canvas, thoroughly satisfied with the result.
"Why, it's the color of Robert's eyes!" She was thrilled and added a splash of bright lemon yellow that reminded her of the sunshine that spilled upon the paths they walked together. Next came vertical lines of evergreen, reminiscent of the trees surrounding the abbey. She applied wispy amounts of white to the sky for clouds. Cora became so enrapt in her work that she did not hear footsteps behind her until Robert spoke and she spun around in a startled manner.
"What are you making, Cora?" Robert had amusement and curiosity in his voice.
Cora wasn't certain of how to answer. "Just a painting," she said, suddenly feeling shy about her new venture.
Robert surveyed the painting for a moment with a serious expression on his face. Then a small grin began to form on his lips. As she waited for his opinion, Cora felt the shyness turn to anticipation.
"It's where we walk," Robert stated. "Very lovely. You've done a beautiful job, darling."
Cora smiled broadly. "Really? You like it?"
"I want to display it in our bedroom, right next to the glass concoction from London," Robert declared. "It's something I'd welcome seeing in the midst of..."
Cora blushed. "I'd be honored."
"Just one thing," he said in a mischievous tone. "I'd like to paint one together!"
"That would be almost as great fun as terrific fun," Cora said, a million possibilities running past her mind. Paint and Robert and a room no one disturbed...
They put the finished painting to the side where it could dry safely and then proceeded to open practically every paint can in the room and applied it to one of the larger canvasses. It wasn't long before they abandoned using brushes in favor of their bare hands, playfully smearing one another with paint before they were wearing more paint than the canvas.
Robert began pulling his trousers and shirt off as Cora removed her dress, wearing only a chemise underneath. With paint-slick hands he reached for her, drawing her into a kiss before she leaned onto the very wet canvas against the wall. They explored each other's mouths hungrily and slid down to the floor, not caring where the paint went on the canvas, floor or their bodies.
"Oh, Robert," Cora whispered as soon as they had caught their breath amidst the puddle of mixed colors, "I had no idea art could be this... inspiring."
Part Three: Clay
Robert was whistling as he walked into the library one afternoon only a week or two after the paint adventure. He spotted his wife sitting on one of the settees, absorbed in a book. Feeling lighthearted about the surprise which he was about to bestow upon her, Robert sauntered over to Cora and sat down next to her, unfolding a piece of paper that he held in his hands.
"I have something for you to look at," Robert teased. "It's not a book, though, but a picture of your surprise."
Cora's head shot up. "What surprise?"
"I have an addition to our secret art room," Robert said in a whisper. "Clay. Surely you've been subjected to classes on that by your mother."
Cora groaned and rolled her eyes. "Of course. I was horrid at it, too," she remembered.
"I thought we could enjoy it as much as we did the painting," Robert suggested. After the painting afternoon, two canvases hung in Cora's dressing room, one of which made the servants feel quite confused, even a little flushed, though they didn't know why. One was a lovely impressionistic portrayal of the walking paths around Downton, and the second one was merely a mass of color with curious shapes implied in some of the texture.
"I see. I think that would be lovely," Cora mused. "Good thing I kept the 'paint clothes' in the art room. We may be needing them."
Robert nodded. "Yes, and there's no need to set the servants into further confusion as to what has happened to our good clothing."
Within minutes, they were walking rapidly toward the art room, holding hands and giggling like schoolchildren. With one quick glance outside into the hallway to make sure they hadn't been followed, Robert closed the door and ran across the room to unveil a pottery wheel.
"Here it is! I should ask if you'd like to take it for a spin," Robert invited with a self-satisfied smirk at his pun, which he found to be very clever, but not nearly as clever as his revelation of buying the pottery wheel for Cora. And for himself as well.
He started pulling his clothing off and motioned for Cora to do the same, and soon both were down to hardly any attire at all. He threw the clay onto the wheel, applied a liberal amount of water and set it spinning. The clay whirled around so fast that it was barely visible, until it started to shake loose and fly in little pieces that soon covered Cora and Robert.
"Robert!" Cora wiped a piece of errant clay from her cheek. "That's not how it's supposed to be done!"
"Then show me, my love," Robert grinned.
Cora sat down at the wheel and located the speed controls, slowing it by at least half its velocity. She began to massage the clay when Robert pressed his hands over hers and peppered the back of her neck with kisses. She giggled and stopped the machine, turning around to kiss him in return.
"Let's take this off and just sculpt something freely," she suggested as she slid off the stool and onto the floor. Robert's body was slick with clay, as was her own. Neither one of them cared about clay in their mouths now as they gave into the slow burning flames of love and passion.
"You are so beautiful," Robert murmured as his hands sculpted loving paths over his wife's body.
"And you are a work of art," Cora said between kisses, "my very own Renaissance sculpture." She smiled as she ran her hands over his chest. "My objet d'art."
The clay still sitting affixed on the wheel remained forgotten for quite some time until the couple decided that, exactly as with the paintings, they wanted a little souvenir of their art exploration and removed it to dry. A couple of weeks later, it sat in Cora's dressing room beside the curious blobbed painting, a short column of ceramic with a flat top that looked as if it was going to spin apart any moment if it hadn't been frozen in time by the kiln.
"Just like our bond," Cora was fond of saying to Robert as they surveyed their piece of art. "Together forever even though the world flies around us."