The Fallen Madonna

The Fallen Madonna, usually referred to as The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies,[1][2][3] by the fictional painter van Klomp was a portrait of a bare breasted woman, which provided a running gag in the BBC1 television comedy series 'Allo 'Allo! (1982–92), written by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, as well as The Cracked Vase with the Big Daisies by real artist Vincent van Gogh. The first episode of the first series of 'Allo 'Allo! (1984), following the pilot, was titled The Fallen Madonna.[4] In an earlier pilot the painting was referred to as the reclining Madonna.

Recurring theme

'Allo 'Allo! was set in the French town of Nouvion during the German occupation of the Second World War. Its focus was a café in the town square run by René Artois (played by Gorden Kaye). There were sustained attempts by the occupiers to appropriate the Fallen Madonna, a local treasure, to provide a nest egg after the war. Among those who coveted it were the local German commandant Colonel Kurt Von Strohm (Richard Marner) and the Führer Adolf Hitler himself on whose behalf Herr Otto Flick (Richard Gibson) of the Gestapo was instructed to secure it (but secretly wanted it for himself).

The painting was seen and hidden in various guises; it was often secreted, with suggestive possibilities, in a long knackwurst sausage. Forgeries were also in evidence.[5]

An incredible number of forgeries of the Fallen Madonna were made, mostly by Lieutenant Gruber and Monsieur LeClerc, which were hidden in knackwurst sausages in René's kitchen. The forgeries were subsequently destroyed in various ways (burned, blown up, minced, eaten by a dog, etc.).

Lord Bath

"The Fallen Madonna" as displayed at Longleat

Following his assistance with an event connected with the programme, the BBC presented the 6th Marquess of Bath with a specially commissioned copy of the Fallen Madonna that was hung alongside Old Masters in Bath's ancestral home, Longleat.[1][3][5]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Wiltshire Times, 16 December 2005, Say ‘Allo’ to new Longleat feature. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
  2. ↑ "Fallen Madonna to go to new buyer". news.bbc.co.uk. 25 April 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  3. 1 2 Coles, John (24 May 2007). "TV Fallen Madonna found". The Sun (London). Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  4. ↑ Broadcast 14 September 1984
  5. 1 2 The Return of 'Allo 'Allo! (BBC), 28 April 2007
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