Paddington Bear and Peruvian Angels
Here is the story of how a collection of Peruvian paintings at Campion Hall caught the eye of the aptly named Production Company, Marmalade Pictures, to be copied as props in a certain national treasure of a film, starring a well-known bear in a duffle coat.
And so we begin, back in ‘deepest, darkest’ 2015 when Campion Hall received a donation of a dozen Peruvian paintings in the style identified as "the School of Cuzco", from its base in the city of Cuzco in the Andes, which had its origins in the Jesuit culture of accommodation, of dialogue between cultures, in the baroque period. Several of the paintings were of Angeles Arcabuceros – Angel Musketeers, one of the most fascinating iconographic hybrids produced anywhere in the baroque world. Brocade clad warrior angels, plumed and winged, armed with the great matchlock guns of the wars of the seventeenth century. You can read more about the donated collection here.
‘Fast forward’ to summer 2023 and the set designers for Paddington in Peru approached Campion Hall’s Professor Peter Davidson (Hall Curator) asking for more information on the angel paintings, and on Peruvian art more generally. They also sought advice on replicating versions of the paintings for the set of the Home for Retired Bears, which they envisaged as a Peruvian convent, in the film Paddington 3.
Autumn 2023 rolled around and Peter Davidson received a charming little postcard from Paddington Bear, thanking him for his help with the set for the film Paddington in Peru, released in UK cinemas in November 2024 and due for release in the USA on the 14th February 2025.
The film features exquisitely painted replicas of Campion Hall’s remarkable hybrid works from Peru, depicting angels with the clothes and weapons of baroque musketeers, as well as angelic wings, and the plumes of Inka wind-gods. We are thrilled!
It must be said, however, that spotting the replica paintings with the naked eye is…somewhat challenging. Fortunately, a helpful label, affixed to the back of one of the paintings indicates it was located in Mrs Bird’s Cabin set during filming. All the same, we might suggest you take a pair of binoculars to the cinema and we wish you luck spotting our Peruvian pieces!
In November we welcomed the Props Manager at Marmalade Films who delivered the three replica paintings as a gift to the Hall where they have been hung in the servery and in two offices.
