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Museum of London exhibition aims to get 'under the skin' of Sherlock Holmes Museum of London exhibition aims to get 'under the skin' of Sherlock Holmes
(35 minutes later)
A deerstalker hat, a service revolver, a pipe, a false nose, and a handsome glass and brass syringe in a silk lined box: it doesn't need Sherlock Holmes to deduce that the Museum of London is planning an exhibition on the most famous detective in fiction.A deerstalker hat, a service revolver, a pipe, a false nose, and a handsome glass and brass syringe in a silk lined box: it doesn't need Sherlock Holmes to deduce that the Museum of London is planning an exhibition on the most famous detective in fiction.
"Holmes is an icon of London," curator Alex Werner said. "He is the most famous Londoner who has never lived and will never die," said curator Alex Werner. "Holmes is an icon of London," curator Alex Werner said. "He is the most famous Londoner who has never lived and will never die."
"We want to get under the skin of SherlockThe time is right, his profile has never been higher." "We want to get under the skin of Sherlock. The time is right, his profile has never been higher."
The great detective himself, never a man for false modesty, proclaimed in one story: "The air of London is the sweeter for my presence."The great detective himself, never a man for false modesty, proclaimed in one story: "The air of London is the sweeter for my presence."
Undaunted by the fact that Holmes never existed, the museum will be ransacking its unrivalled London social history collections, bringing out haunting images in paintings and early photographs of his London wreathed in fog and smog - its infamous pollution produced such spectacular effects that the city drew artists from across the world - and the original illustrations by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine of a pale gaunt man with a high forehead, which have inspired every actor who has played him, up to his present incarnation in Benedict Cumberbatch.Undaunted by the fact that Holmes never existed, the museum will be ransacking its unrivalled London social history collections, bringing out haunting images in paintings and early photographs of his London wreathed in fog and smog - its infamous pollution produced such spectacular effects that the city drew artists from across the world - and the original illustrations by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine of a pale gaunt man with a high forehead, which have inspired every actor who has played him, up to his present incarnation in Benedict Cumberbatch.
For the generation which has rediscovered Holmes through Cumberbatch's storming performance the most watched BBC drama in more than a decade, which has sold to 200 countries - the museum is borrowing his swirling Belstaff greatcoat, and the camel dressing gown in which he paces around the squalor of his flat at 221b Baker Street.For the generation which has rediscovered Holmes through Cumberbatch's storming performance the most watched BBC drama in more than a decade, which has sold to 200 countries - the museum is borrowing his swirling Belstaff greatcoat, and the camel dressing gown in which he paces around the squalor of his flat at 221b Baker Street.
The museum has secured other spectacular loans, including the 1841 manuscript of the short story credited as the first ever detective story, Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Holmes, is known to have been a great admirer of Poe, and of his brilliantly analytic detective, C Auguste Dupin, whose stories were narrated by his slightly denser friend and sidekick.The museum has secured other spectacular loans, including the 1841 manuscript of the short story credited as the first ever detective story, Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Holmes, is known to have been a great admirer of Poe, and of his brilliantly analytic detective, C Auguste Dupin, whose stories were narrated by his slightly denser friend and sidekick.
The manuscript reveals the crucial importance of getting the name right: Poe's original title was The Murders in the Rue Trianon – and the neatly hand written first page has the street name crossed out and the chilling and unforgettable Rue Morgue substituted.The manuscript reveals the crucial importance of getting the name right: Poe's original title was The Murders in the Rue Trianon – and the neatly hand written first page has the street name crossed out and the chilling and unforgettable Rue Morgue substituted.
Poe, who was often penniless and died aged 40, never left the United States, still less lived in a narrow street in Paris. The exhibition will examine how Doyle, who was born in Edinburgh, started writing the Sherlock Holmes stories in Southampton, and lived for only a few years in central London, acquired the knowledge of every street, wharf, lamp post and back alley in the city which Holmes displays. Poe, who was often penniless and died aged 40, never left the United States, still less lived in a narrow street in Paris. The exhibition will examine how Doyle, who was born in Edinburgh, started writing the Sherlock Holmes stories in Southsea, and lived for only a few years in central London, acquired the knowledge of every street, wharf, lamp post and back alley in the city which Holmes displays.
Doyle, who like many a popular author yearned to be seen as a creator of "serious" fiction, killed off Holmes in 1893 by plunging him into the Reichenbach Falls, locked in the arms of his arch enemy Professor Moriarty.Doyle, who like many a popular author yearned to be seen as a creator of "serious" fiction, killed off Holmes in 1893 by plunging him into the Reichenbach Falls, locked in the arms of his arch enemy Professor Moriarty.
The exhibition will also have the 1903 manuscript, The Adventure of the Empty House, which brought joy to legions of fans and the Strand Magazine which had been selling 500,000 copies a month of any issue with a new Holmes story: Doyle had repented, and the great detective had risen from the dead.The exhibition will also have the 1903 manuscript, The Adventure of the Empty House, which brought joy to legions of fans and the Strand Magazine which had been selling 500,000 copies a month of any issue with a new Holmes story: Doyle had repented, and the great detective had risen from the dead.
In 1897 Doyle paid Sidney Paget, the artist who illustrated the stories in The Strand, £52 10 shillings for an imposing portrait. It is still owned by his descendants and will be on display for the first time in the UK in the exhibition. Impeccably dressed, luxuriantly moustached, and more than a little dull, the portrait will demonstrate that if the author was a model for any of his characters, it was not the great maverick detective, but the utterly proper and slightly pompous Watson.In 1897 Doyle paid Sidney Paget, the artist who illustrated the stories in The Strand, £52 10 shillings for an imposing portrait. It is still owned by his descendants and will be on display for the first time in the UK in the exhibition. Impeccably dressed, luxuriantly moustached, and more than a little dull, the portrait will demonstrate that if the author was a model for any of his characters, it was not the great maverick detective, but the utterly proper and slightly pompous Watson.
• Sherlock Holmes, the man who never lived and will never die, Museum of London, 17 October 2014 to 12 April 2015.• Sherlock Holmes, the man who never lived and will never die, Museum of London, 17 October 2014 to 12 April 2015.