Musical Portraits in Bohemian London

Step into a lost bohemian world where famous artists and celebrated musicians came together to converse, collaborate and create

The Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, South Kensington, Greater London (1871/1900) by York & SonHistoric England

Setting the Scene: Art, Music and the RCM

Kensington was once the centre of a lively bohemian community. The leafy streets and squares of this neighbourhood were home to some of the period’s leading artists and most celebrated musicians, many of whom were friends and neighbours.

Sir E. Burne-Jones, Frederick H. Hollyer, about 1880–1890, From the collection of: The J. Paul Getty Museum
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[John Singer Sargent], Sarah Choate Sears, about 1890, From the collection of: The J. Paul Getty Museum
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Members of this illustrious social set often worked together in surprising ways. Artists like Edward Burne-Jones and John Singer Sargent painted portraits of famous musicians and designed posters for their concerts. Some artists even composed music in an attempt to bring their paintings to life.

Sir George Henschel, Felix Stone Moscheles, 1880, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Easy execution, Vincent Brooks after Leslie Matthew Ward, 1899-12-28, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Composers, meanwhile, found inspiration in Pre-Raphaelite poetry, and musicians like singer George Henschel performed at concerts given in artists’ studios. Others, like pianist Jan Paderewski, used portraits by leading artists to market themselves as romantic and stylish figures.

Royal College of Music, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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The Royal College of Music was part of this lively community. Professors and students socialised and collaborated with artists, some of whom sent their children to study here. These artistic connections also inspired much new music. 

Sir Hubert Parry, Courtney Pollock, 1910/1913, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Hubert Parry's notebook (detail), C. Hubert H. Parry, 1885, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Hubert Parry, composer and Director of the Royal College of Music, moved in both musical and artistic spheres. Parry inherited an interest in art from his father, Thomas Gambier Parry, who was a noted artist and collector of early Italian paintings. Parry’s diaries reveal a social circle that included artists like William Morris and George Frederic Watts. They record visits to art exhibitions and concerts performed at Lord Leighton’s famous studio in Holland Park.

Ralph Vaughan Williams having a lesson with Hubert Parry, Claire Mackail, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Parry lived a short walk away from the RCM in Kensington Square. One of his neighbours was the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones. The men and their families became close friends. Burne-Jones’ granddaughter, Claire Mackail, sketched Parry at the piano with her friend - the young Ralph Vaughan Williams. His own compositions would later be inspired by Pre-Raphaelite poetry.

Object in Focus: Sketch of Vaughan Williams with Hubert Parry

Professor Herkomer, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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A half-length portrait of Hans Richter, 1877-05-28, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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The artist Hubert von Herkomer became fascinated with the idea that music could enhance the experience of looking at a picture. This led to his production of ‘pictoral music plays’. One of these, entitled An Idyll, was performed at Herkomer’s studio in Hertfordshire in 1889. The artist wrote the music, painted elaborate sets and even sang in the production. Herkomer’s friend, the eminent conductor Hans Richter, led the orchestra.

Wagner Festival programme, 1877, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Richard Wagner, 1877-05, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Artists were sometimes inspired by live musical performance. Henry Holiday, a member of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, was an avid concert-goer. He was particularly devoted to the music of Richard Wagner, which he said made a ‘deep impression’ on him. Holiday managed to gain access to rehearsals for the Wagner Festival at the Royal Albert Hall in 1877. There he sketched the composer from life as he prepared for the evening’s performances.

Detail of a Magpie Madrigal Society Design (1903) by Walter JamesRoyal College of Music

The Magpie Madrigal Society

Founded in 1866 by its Conductor Lionel Benson, the Magpie Madrigal Society was a group of amateur vocalists who came together to sing unaccompanied vocal music both ancient and modern.

Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Rothenstein, 1915, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Charles Villiers Stanford, Histed, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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The Society had many important connections with the Royal College of Music. Professors including Hubert Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford wrote new music for its members to perform, as did students such as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. Indeed, some of these composers’ best-known part-songs were written for the Magpie Madrigal Society.

Drawing for an invitation card for the Magpie Madrigal Society, Frances Whitehead, 1910, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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There were other connections to the Royal College of Music too – Lionel Benson was a member of the RCM council for many years, and the College hosted the Society’s annual concerts from 1906 until it disbanded in 1911. The Society was fashionable and somewhat exclusive – its members tended to come from affluent artistic families and its annual charity concerts were by invitation only.

Lionel Solomon Benson, Hubert von Herkomer (attributed to), From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Drawing for a Magpie Madrigal Society event, Heman Gustave Herkomer, 1893, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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A distinguished amateur musician, Lionel Benson counted many artists amongst his friends. He was especially close to Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais who occasionally asked him to pose as a model. The artists Hubert and Herman Herkomer were cousins. They sometimes attended social events with ‘the Magpies’, like the lively dinner captured in this sketch. Attendees have signed the drawing, which also records the evening’s extensive menu!

Drawing for an invitation card for the Magpie Madrigal Society, George du Maurier, 1894, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Drawing for a Magpie Madrigal Society Invitation, Edward Burne-Jones, 1897, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Every year the Magpie Madrigal Society commissioned a different artist to design invitations and posters for their annual concert. Lionel Benson used his social connections in the art world to enlist some of the leading artists of the period. Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones, cartoonist and novelist George du Maurier and landscape artist Alfred Parsons are just a few of the major talents who lent their services to the Society.

Magpie Madrigal Society Concert Programme, Magpie Madrigal Society, 1895, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Por Rossetti Christina, From the collection of: LIFE Photo Collection
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The Society sometimes awarded RCM students a prize for original compositions, performing winning pieces at their annual concert. In 1908 this honour was received by Harold Darke for his setting of ‘To Blossoms’ by seventeenth-century poet Robert Herrick. Darke is best remembered for his setting of ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ by Christina Rossetti – the sister of Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Sir George Henschel (1880) by Felix Stone MoschelesRoyal College of Music

Social Networking

Friendships between artists and musicians led to the production of many portraits. One of the most painted musicians was George Henschel, a Bavarian baritone who was in great demand for his performances of songs by Schubert and Schumann.

Geroge Henschel, 1927-11, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Leighton, Frederick Leighton 1830 - 1896 Baron, From the collection of: LIFE Photo Collection
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Henschel, who was also a Professor at the RCM, sat for many leading artists over the course of his career. These included his good friends Lawrence Alma-Tadema and John Singer Sargent. In return, Henschel often performed for his artistic friends. He appeared at the famous concerts organised by Lord Leighton at his Kensington studio and sometimes serenaded his neighbour Edward Burne-Jones as he worked – ‘good for the emotions, but bad for the drawing’, said the artist.

Later in his career, Henschel turned his own hand to art, even submitting works for the annual exhibition at the Royal Academy. Despite the efforts of his well-connected friends on the committee, his work was not selected.

Lady Amy Henschel, John Singer Sargent, 1910, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Georgina Henschel, John Singer Sargent, 1914, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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John Singer Sargent enthusiastically attended concerts given by Henschel in London, and in return found many wealthy sitters within the singer’s social circle. Henschel said that Sargent ‘was exceedingly fond of music’ and discussed it with the ‘understanding of one who had made it a serious study’. Sargent painted Henschel’s portrait in 1889, and later gifted the singer these touching drawings of his wife – singer Amy Henschel – and their daughter Georgie.    

Portrait painter Felix Moscheles was the son of well-known piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles. Ignaz taught piano to students including George Henschel and Felix Mendelssohn, choosing the latter as his son’s godfather and namesake. 

Anton Rubinstein, 1887-08-01, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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An accomplished musician himself, Felix painted several performers including his friend – ‘dear old Rubinstein’ – Russian pianist Anton Rubinstein. Moscheles lived in Chelsea, where he hosted lively parties for his artistic friends. In later life he became a prominent peace activist.   

Daisy (designed 1862, first printed 1864) by Morris & Co., William MorrisLos Angeles County Museum of Art

The Next Generation at the RCM

As the nineteenth century turned into the twentieth, the daughters of artists and musicians like Lawrence Alma-Tadema and George Henschel who took up the mantle and carried their family legacies into a new age.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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These women played an important role in the social and artistic life of bohemian Kensington. Many of them forged successful careers in art, music and literature at a time when the position of women in society was slowly starting to change. This was the age of the suffragettes, and it was becoming easier for women to pursue careers and seek independence, albeit in ways that were still restricted.

These women lived through a period of profound social change. They were acquainted with the cultural heroes of the Victorian age, but lived to see the World Wars. Their work provides us with a glimpse into the lost bohemian world in which they grew up

Top Euro (Bri-E) London Halls Albert Hall, From the collection of: LIFE Photo Collection
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Helen Henschel, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Helen Henschel enrolled at the RCM in 1900. She studied violin here for a year, later describing this as ‘the happiest year of my musical studies’. She later sang professionally. In her lively biography of her father, singer George Henschel, she describes her idyllic childhood in Kensington. She recalls playing games in the garden with Jan Paderewski and visiting Edward Burne-Jones at his studio    

Winifred Holiday, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Women Under a Liberal Government, Winifred Holiday, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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A gifted musician, Winifred Holiday was awarded a violin scholarship at the RCM.  She often performed at concerts given by her father, the artist Henry Holiday, at his studio in Hampstead. Later, she formed her own professional ensemble.   The Holiday family were ardent supporters of women’s suffrage and counted Emmeline Pankhurst amongst their friends. In 1914 Winifred Holiday published this pamphlet for the New Constitutional Society for Women’s Suffrage.

William Horsley, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Royal College of Music, Blomfield Building, 2015, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Rosamund Brunel Gotch was a talented designer and illustrator. She became Head of the Costume Department at the Royal College of Music, designing clothes for operas performed here between the wars. Gotch’s father was the artist John Calcott Horsley and her Grandfather was musician William Horsley – a close friend of Felix Mendelssohn. In 1944 Gotch published a collection of her aunts’ letters which describe the flirtatious composer’s visits to their family home in the 1830s.

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1890) by Edward Burne-JonesRoyal College of Music

Marketing and Celebrity

A new portrait of a famous musician was guaranteed to get attention. Londoners flocked to exhibitions at venues like the Royal Academy where they could admire celebrities immortalised on canvas.

Liszt, Franz 1811 - 1886 Life, From the collection of: LIFE Photo Collection
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Fans could buy prints or cartes de visite (photographic portraits) of their favourite musicians to display at home or preserve in an album. These were sold in shops that displayed celebrity portraits in the window. Photographs were also reproduced widely in books and periodicals, so that famous musicians became familiar faces. While this generated income for artists, it was also an advantage for musicians who capitalised on the romantic image their portraits cultivated.  

Paderewski, Imperial Tobacco after London Stereoscopic Co., From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Musicians like Polish piano virtuoso Jan Paderewski often used these images in their marketing material, reproducing them on posters and concert programmes. Sometimes they even recycled these portraits in adverts for commercial goods that they were paid to endorse.

Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Edward Burne-Jones, 1890, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Ignacy Jan Paderewski, George Edward Wade, 1891, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Jan Paderewski was an internationally celebrated pianist who later became Prime Minister of Poland. Such was the scale of his fame that the press referred to ‘Paderewski mania’. A portrait of the pianist by Edward Burne-Jones, very similar to the painting on display here, became an especially popular print. Paderewski kept a supply of these, often autographing them for fans. A bust by sculptor George Edward Wade also proved a success – 500 copies were sent to America alone!

Sargent John Singer 1856-1925, From the collection of: LIFE Photo Collection
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Percy Grainger, Sargent, John Singer, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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An avid concert-goer and talented pianist, John Singer Sargent was devoted to music. He sometimes showed appreciation for his favourite musicians by capturing their likeness and gifting them his portraits. Gabriel Fauré, Percy Grainger and Ethel Smyth were just a few of his musical subjects. Many of these musicians later signed and distributed prints of Sargent’s portraits. Some, like singer Éva Gauthier, even reproduced his portraits on playbills or posters. 

Alfred HipkinsRoyal College of Music

The Hipkins Family

The colourful home of the well-connected Hipkins family was one of many places in Kensington where artists and musicians socialised.

Nameboard of grand piano by John Broadwood & Sons, John Broadwood & Sons, 1799, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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The father, Alfred, was an authority on historical musical instruments who worked for the Broadwood piano firm. Through his job he met a range of famous figures, from musicians like Chopin to literary giants like Dickens. Later, he became the honorary curator of the Royal College of Music Museum. 

Edith Hipkins, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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This artistic and musical community profoundly influenced Alfred’s children. His daughter Edith became a talented artist whose critically-acclaimed paintings often appeared at important exhibitions in London. Her work combines the artistic and musical influences she encountered as a child.

Sappho and Alcaeus, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, R.A., O.M., 1881, From the collection of: The Walters Art Museum
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A gifted artist who exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, Edith Hipkins received mentorship and praise from family friends including Pre-Raphaelite painters John Everett Millais and Edward Burne-Jones. She also spent a lot of time at the studio of her father’s close friend, artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

In later life, Edith Hipkins devoted herself to cataloguing the work of her father and brother. She did this by creating scrapbook albums that celebrate their legacies. These two albums chart her father’s career. Along with proofs of his articles on musical instruments, they contain invitations to exhibitions, menus from dinner parties and humorous sketches by family friends. In one volume, Edith included a section that documenting her own career.

Harpsichord by Jacob and Abraham Kirkman, RCM 180, Jacob and Abraham Kirkman, 1773, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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English guitar, John Preston, London, c.1770, John Preston, c.1770, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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This harpsichord and English guitar belonged to Edith’s father, and are depicted in her painting titled With Thy Sweet Fingers, held at the Royal Academy of Music – she later donated these instruments to our museum.   

John Hipkins, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Edith Hipkins’ brother John was deaf from birth, but this did not stop him sharing the family passion for music He became a familiar figure in London’s deaf community. Trained as an engraver, John is best remembered for his clever caricatures of the Pre-Raphaelite artists with whom he socialised. 

Musical Instruments for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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His illustrations for Encyclopaedia Britannica feature keyboard instruments from the RCM collection. They accompany texts by his father.

Jacques Blumenthal (1875) by George Frederic WattsRoyal College of Music

Society Portraits

For musicians like Jacques Blumenthal, a portrait by a prestigious artist was an indicator of social status. Blumenthal was Queen Victoria’s pianist, a position that ensured he was in-demand as a piano teacher amongst London’s affluent families.

In 1875 he sat for this portrait by George Frederic Watts. The son of a piano-maker, Watts (who was named after Handel) became one of the most celebrated artists in Victorian Britain. He was even dubbed ‘England’s Michelangelo’. Blumenthal was one of many eminent figures painted by Watts, whose subjects included politicians, authors and members of the aristocracy.

Lute, South Italian, 19th century, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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Tanbur (long lute), Turkish, 18th century, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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When the Royal College of Music opened, Blumenthal donated two highly decorated instruments to its new museum.

TrellisThe Metropolitan Museum of Art

Inspired by art

Many composers found inspiration in the world of art.

[Dante Gabriel Rossetti] [Dante Gabriel Rossetti], Unknown, 1860s, From the collection of: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Portrait of William Morris (Mar 24, 1834 - Oct 3, 1896), 1901, From the collection of: LIFE Photo Collection
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Poems written by members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle became popular source material for songs, and several composers at the Royal College of Music set poems by some of the movement’s leading figures, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris. Other composers like Charles Villiers Stanford sought through their music to represent aurally the images committed to canvas by favourite artists.     

Watts George Frederick 1817-1902, From the collection of: LIFE Photo Collection
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Charles Villiers Stanford wrote music to honour two of the period’s leading artists. When Lord Leighton died in 1896, Stanford wrote a Requiem in his honour. Later, his Sixth Symphony was written ‘in honour of the life-work of a great artist’ - George Frederic Watts, who had died in 1904. This instrumental piece was inspired not only by Watts’ paintings, but his famous equestrian statue ‘Physical Energy’ in Kensington Gardens.

Christina Rossetti was the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Her poems were very popular in the Victorian period and were set to music by hundreds of composers. Most famous is ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’, set by RCM musicians Gustav Holst and Harold Darke. RCM alumnus Henry Walford Davies set two of Rossetti’s poems to music. ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Fly away, fly away, over the hills’ appeared in a book of music for children. 

Edward Dannreuther, Unknown, 1870, From the collection of: Royal College of Music
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While William Morris is best remembered as the designer of popular patterns for wallpaper and fabric, he was also a prolific writer. His work inspired the German pianist Edward Dannreuther, who later became a Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music.

Laurence Alma-Tadema was a prolific author of novels, plays, songs and poems. Her poem ‘Snowdrops’ was set to music by Royal College of Music alumnus Thomas Dunhill. A close friend of Jan Paderewski, whom her father Lawrence Alma-Tadema had painted, she became heavily involved in his campaign for Polish independence. She served as Secretary of the Polish Victims’ Relief Fund for many years and also translated Paderewski’s book on Chopin.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Paolo and Francesca, a graphite drawing, 1855/1855, From the collection of: British Museum
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Poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His sequence of over one hundred sonnets, collectively called ‘The House of Life’, describes the intensities and complexities of a passionate relationship.  

Ralph Vaughan Williams turned to Rossetti’s sonnets for inspiration, setting six of them to music. The best known by far is ‘Silent Noon’, which is still performed widely today.

Credits: Story

Concept and texts: Dr Anna Maria Barry.
Exhibition and digital development: Yahui Zhang, Richard Martin, Gabriele Rossi Rognoni, and Laura House.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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