Lucard's Art Collection

Lucard's Art Collection -- List and commentary by Sarah T.

"The decor fits the man." --Lucard, "Double Cross"

"Pity about the furnishings, Alex." --Klaus, "Decline of the Romanian Vampire"

Cataloging this art collection is difficult. Mrs. Pfenning found the task distressing: "I have been doing an inventory of your...art collection and I...must say that I find it sheer extravagance, excessive in the extreme!" She was animated by a different concern, though: that the collection was tying up hundreds of millions of dollars. My problems are descriptive. Lucard appears to have an exceptionally eclectic taste. His collection, however, emphasizes "modern," nonrepresentational art from an extremely limited set of colors and materials. None of them seem to be intended to be imitations of well-known pieces (at least from what little I know about art history). It is therefore hard to give evocative descriptions of each piece, but I've done my best. Anyone who is capable of giving more "precise" or technical descriptions is welcome to send them along. Since my goal has been to catalog the collection rather than make a precise description of each interior as it appears, I have cited each piece's first appearance and initial location rather than mentioned it each time it appears. Lucard rearranges his office with some frequency, but makes few changes in the castle furnishings, except after the first episode, when he was doubtless embarrassed to have guests see how ridiculous the castle was looking and redecorated the place completely. Orientations are given for the office as if the viewer were facing the desk; for the great hall, as if he were facing the staircase.

"Children of the Night"

office:

  • small, black, curvy sculpture, most closely resembling the swirl of an ice cream cone, on silver base, centered between white couches near front of room
  • matching tall standing black curvy sculpture behind desk
  • matching large gold curvy sculpture on black pedestal to left of desk
  • medium-sized, rectangular, unframed, grey, blue and black seascape, almost certainly of a storm, medium size, on left wall near desk

    castle (great hall):

  • several metal silver abstract sculptures resembling birds in flight throughout hall (smaller one on sideboard)
  • large Oriental rug

    castle (dining room):

  • rectangular chunk of lucite on black base on shelves
  • strange metal standing sculpture, black, somewhat like a two-part screen with tops that curve together attached to another section roughly semicircular with holes punched into it, next to fireplace

    "Double Cross"

    office:

  • a statuette of a pouncing feline (tiger?) made of smooth black metal, leaping over something crystal, on matching black base on desk
  • large gold sculpture, made of many overlapping smaller chunks of metal shaped like organ pipes arranged in a roughly wavelike pattern, hanging on blinds

    "Vampire Solution"

    castle (great hall):

  • large, square, unframed, painting above stairs of two figures (broadly sketched in outline rather than detailed, possibly but not certainly male) in foreground who appear to be on a long, L-shaped balcony; one is lying on a railing, the other is lounging near the feet of the reclining figure with his arm stretched out parallel to the railing; the brushwork is rough and the painting black and white
  • another black and white painting, large, rectangular, unframed; it's a landscape depicting a large lake with a road running in front of it in the foreground and three spires of a building rising on the left among mountains in the background, to left of staircase
  • Oriental rug, predominantly red, yellow and black in color, on floor directly in front of the stairs

    "The Boffin"

    office:

  • two small black pyramids standing on glass table on right
  • tall black standing metal sculpture whose top is W-shaped on right
  • medium-sized, rectangular, unframed light blue and yellow painting with black and white lines scattered across it (some of these lines rise right out of the painting!) on right wall by desk (directly across from seascape); it is hard to make out the subject clearly, but it appears to be abstract or possibly another seascape with sailboat

    "Double Darkness"

    office:

  • medium-sized crystal sculpture, which most resembles a cloud but doesn't really resemble anything at all, standing on a tall black pedestal near door on right
  • 2 small pyramidal chunks of some white material (on clear bases, possibly) on recessed bookshelves at left of room
  • 2 small black vases with charcoal stripes, one squat and round, the other tall and narrow, on bookshelves
  • a medium-sized egg-shaped lucite statue with grey-silver balls collected in its bottom, on bookshelves

    "Black Sheep"

    [none]

    "What a Pleasant Surprise!"

    [none]

    "Damsel in Distress"

    castle (great hall):

  • a van Gogh portrait of Lucard set up on left near door (note: destroyed at end of episode)

    "Mind Over Matter"

    castle (electronics room):

  • 2 statues that look suspiciously like models of the Eiffel Tower on bookshelves
  • 2 sets of figurines (impossible to determine what they are), one grey, one ivory-colored, on bookshelves
  • a medium-sized blue vase with a lighter pattern (possibly floral?) on bookshelves
  • a small dark-colored (black?) vase with a neck that curves outwards on bookshelves

    "A Little Nightmare Music"

    castle (dining room):

  • long black statue of crouching tiger on mantelpiece
  • 2 golden chandeliers whose shapes suggest a crown
  • tall black vase on sideboard

    "Get a Job"

    castle (dining room):

  • Tomassi's "Venice Landfall" (temporarily)
  • medium-sized gilt box standing on sideboard

    "The Great Tickler"

    castle (great hall):

  • large, rectangular, unframed painting of a city (?) scene, a large red house in background, in foreground a street battle (?), much more realistic and detailed than the other paintings in the room, hanging on "straight" right-hand wall adjacent to door
  • predominantly red rug, smaller than the main one, in front of the staircase on the right

    castle (dining room):

  • a painting or possibly a poster of an aerial view of a city or perhaps a marketplace, predominantly red in color, detailed, on wall of hallway behind the door to the left of the fireplace
  • small, square, gold-framed painting, impossible to see subject but looks relatively representational, on wall near single door

    "Bad Blood"

    [none]

    "Sophie, Queen of the Night"

    castle (great hall):

  • small gold sculpture of a curvy, hollow diamond on a black base on a pedestal on left, near fireplace
  • matching sculpture in corresponding position on right
  • tall black vase on left, standing on windowsill
  • a life-size grey stone (?) statue of a woman holding her hands up on a wooden base, standing to the left of the staircase
  • a medium-sized statue, vaguely suggesting a bat, of black metal and some parchment-colored material on a grey base, on stairway landing

    castle (dining room):

  • medium-sized glass vase on table
  • 2 silver plates on the mantel

    "My Girlfriend's Back..."

    [none]

    "The Decline of the Romanian Vampire"

    [none]

    "My Fair Vampire"

    office:

  • light blue vase (shape unknown, since it was broken off-camera), medium-sized (apparently), on table near camera
  • an orange and white statue of a lion (terra-cotta, perhaps?), medium-sized, on table near camera, left side of room
  • small white conical statue on bookshelves

    "Bats in the Attic"

    castle (great hall):

  • small, squat, round light-colored vase on mantel

    "I Love Lucard"

    [none]

    "My Dinner with Lucard"

    [none; several good views of the painting to the left of the staircase in the great hall, however]

    "Klaus Encounters of the Interred Kind"

    [none; good view of the painting above the stairs, though]

    Lucard's Art Collection / Lucard's Home Page / lpetix@dpcc.com