Details
A TRAVEL AGENT'S DIORAMA, depicting the First Class Grand Salon of the S.S. "Liberté", the rope trimmed plywood case with glass and brass window revealing elegantly dressed paper-mâché passengers mingling, dining and participating in a mock horse race, room details include gold columns, ceiling fixtures wired for illumination, a painted representation of Jean Dunand's 'verre eglomise' mural 'The Hunt', and upholstered furnishings, mounted on a circular wooden pedistal with rope spiraling up the standard--66½in. (168.9cm.) high with pedestal
cf. Louis-René Vian, Art Décoratifs Á Bord Des Paquebots Français, Éditions Fonmare, Paris, 1994, p. 280 for in situ illustrations of The Grand Salon
The French Line's "Liberté" began life as the German liner "Europa". Built at Hamburg and launched in August 1928, a serious fire delayed her completion and her maiden voyage was not until March 1930. Registered at 49,746 tons, she measured 936 feet in length, could cruise at 27½ knots and had accommodation for 2,244 passengers in three classes. One-time holder of the Blue Riband, she ran regular Bremen to New York service until September 1939 when, on the outbreak of the war, she was laid up at Hamburg. Sold to the German-American Line in 1941 and used thereafter as a troopship, she was allotted to France in 1946 and transferred to the French Line who renamed her "Liberté". Eventually recommissioned at a cost of nineteen million, she entered service in August 1950 (Le Havre to New York) but was sold for scrapping in 1961.
cf. Louis-René Vian, Art Décoratifs Á Bord Des Paquebots Français, Éditions Fonmare, Paris, 1994, p. 280 for in situ illustrations of The Grand Salon
The French Line's "Liberté" began life as the German liner "Europa". Built at Hamburg and launched in August 1928, a serious fire delayed her completion and her maiden voyage was not until March 1930. Registered at 49,746 tons, she measured 936 feet in length, could cruise at 27½ knots and had accommodation for 2,244 passengers in three classes. One-time holder of the Blue Riband, she ran regular Bremen to New York service until September 1939 when, on the outbreak of the war, she was laid up at Hamburg. Sold to the German-American Line in 1941 and used thereafter as a troopship, she was allotted to France in 1946 and transferred to the French Line who renamed her "Liberté". Eventually recommissioned at a cost of nineteen million, she entered service in August 1950 (Le Havre to New York) but was sold for scrapping in 1961.