The Case Of The Nun’s Ruby

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

The De Maderos also experienced bad fortune above the average. They, in turn, during another revolutionary upheaval in 1908 (if there was indeed ‘bad luck’ in the stones it had taken, you see, a long time to descend upon the De Maderos, for Maximilian was executed in 1867), had to flee the country. They stowed away on an east bound liner. Their ship encountered a storm during which the Princess Charlotte’s rubies went down in the Chesapeake Bay, never presumably to rise again until the earth gives up its dead and the sea its treasures.

England’s great ruby, which has a place in the King’s state crown, has probably the longest European pedigree of all rubies, for it was a gift to the Black Prince from a King of Castile some hundred years ago. But the Black Prince’s ruby is after all only a spinel ruby, which, as has been said, is a thing of comparatively low degree.

Then there were the celebrated rubies of Queen Marie of Roumania, who died a little while ago. These gems came to her from her mother, a Russian Tsar’s daughter, and she in turn handed them onto her daughter, Princess Ileana, now Archduchess Anton of Hapsburg. She is reported to have said at the time that they would go better with Princess Ileana’s dark beauty than with her own English fairness, and in truth rubies are jewels that prefer brunettes.

Of great and noble rubies the tale is unending. Queen Mary has some exquisite rubies set in a brooch and pendant which she inherited under the will of the Countess Torby, wife of the Grand Duke Michael of Russia. These jewels had originally been chosen for the Empress Alexandra of Russia and are magnificent. There is a portrait of Queen Mary by David Jagger in which these jewels appear as the principal ornaments worn by the royal sitter.

Then there is the freak ruby said to be the most famous in the world because so much spiritual and religious significance has been attached to it by its owner and others. This is, or was, owned by a member of the Indian Legislative Council, and has deep within it, veiled by scarlet cloud, what appears to be the tiny image of a dark-skinned man robed in white and with his head swathed in a white turban.

But enough of individual rubies in the grand style. I have said enough to show what the world ancient and modern thinks of rubies. Indeed, there is a magnificence and color about a fine ruby that makes it peculiarly suited to the treasure chests of kings as well as extravagantly rich enough for the haversacks of romance.

There are other rubies, as I have said. I have mentioned the spinel ruby already. The balas ruby or rubicelle are just other names for spinel; but rubellite is the name frequently bestowed upon a wine-red tourmaline, which is a much softer stone and of rather complex chemical composition into which corundum enters. The finest rubellites come from the Ural mountains.

The New World has its ‘rubies’, too. A stone which occurs in Australia and which, because it is red, translucent and lustrous, is called by some native sons an Adelaide ruby, is really no more than an almandine garnet. The garnet is the Jack of all stones and in its time plays many parts in the credulous eye, for to the layman everything that is red is ruby, everything that is white, diamond, and so on, in spite of color being perhaps the least of identifying signs.

A Brazilian ruby, however, is no garnet. It is dark red topaz, whether its color is natural or has been brought about by application of heat. Part of the name is right, for the stone does, in fact, come from Brazil.

I remember not without sadness a conversation I had a few years ago in my office about rubies. There came to see an old friend, Jacob W., a well-known expert and dealer in precious stones, and we were meeting for the last time in ‘the Garden’, though neither of us knew it.

After some beating about the bush in a vain effort to provoke my curiosity, Jacob brought out above the level of my desk a good-sized ruby and said: ‘What price this?’

But I showed no eagerness to inspect, and although the stone appeared to be a fine one, expressed none of the admiration that at first sight I felt. For we dealers in gems never go into ecstasies over each other’s goods. A gem we have once praised overmuch may some day seek us out a potential buyer. Studied indifference is the safest policy, however fine the gem.
‘A good stone this, Jacob,’ I said without enthusiasm.
‘It is a good stone if I know one,’ he said grimly. ‘I’ve actually overdrawn my account to the tune of two thousand pounds without advising my bank. If I had not closed with the owner, I’d never have seen the stone again. And I had to have it.’
‘What do you want me to do?’ I said. ‘Lend you the money?’
‘No, I’d rather owe the bank than my best friend. I want to know what you think of it. Was I justified in putting myself into a hole over it?’
‘How can I tell until I know what you paid.’
‘Five thousand pounds,’ he said. ‘It’s a lot for an eight carat stone.’
‘I’ve not been handling first grade rubies much lately,’ said I. ‘But yours seems to be top-notcher, though too dear, in my opinion.’
Secretly I thought better of the stone than I let on, but when Jacob saw that I was not going to give myself away, he pocketed the stone and we drifted into a general talk on rubies.
‘What a vogue they are having,’ said Jacob. ‘Burma rubies, that is. It beats me why Siam and spinel rubies aren’t keeping pace with Burmas. They’re good enough stones, after all.’
‘Yes, but you wouldn’t pay much of a price for them yourself,’ I said. ‘Burma rubies get the big prices because they’ve got the hardness and refractive power and charm.’
‘Textbook stuff,’ he said contemptuously. ‘I know all that. But what makes the fashion for one gem one year and for a different gem the next? Why should rubies be in now and soon maybe pearls or emerald again? I’ve never got to the bottom of that.’
‘Because the woman say so,’ I said with a laugh. ‘Did you think it was the jewelers or the dealers who made the prices?’
But he was following another line of thought. ‘At any rate, we dealers in rubies and sapphires and emeralds have to be thankful that the precious stones don’t have quite the ups and downs of the others. My rubies, for instance, have been precious since the beginning of time and women have always wanted them.’
‘Do you remember when the scientific ruby, and before it the reconstructed ruby, seemed likely to knock the bottom out of the ruby market?’
‘I heard something about it once,’ said Jacob indifferently. But the gem dealer is not interested in ancient history—anything that happened more than five or six years before—and I saw that I should have to speak quickly to hold his interest at all.
‘Well, it began when the the Frenchman, Professor Verneuil, succeeded in producing small rubies in his laboratory,’ I said. ‘He used inferior, almost worthless Burma stones, which he crushed to powder. Then he introduced a suitable coloring matter and fused the powder electrically. The resulting mass, when it had been cut and polished, could hardly be told from the natural stone. The professor called his products ‘reconstructed rubies’ and took no more interest in them.
‘If it had stopped there, all would have been well. But there was the usual bunch of smart fools with short sight about. One fellow in particular—and I shan’t say who, because I never had any use for him—got to know the professor’s method. He was a goldsmith of sorts, not very good at his job, and he of all men took to making rubies. Naturally he didn’t know any better than to unload his trash wholesale, and when he didn’t make the expected fortune he sold the secret process to anyone who would buy. Of course, rubies went flop.’
Jacob grunted his contempt for all fools, particularly in the gem business.
I said: ‘Well, then this Professor Verneuil was struck by another idea. He started off, not with powdered ruby, but—since ruby is but corundum, after all—with corundum itself. Corundum is a form of alumina, which occurs abundantly in the soil anywhere, so the professor took some alumina, experimented with it for a while, and finally produced the true scientific or synthetic ruby.’
‘And a lot of good synthetic rubies have done anyone,’ snorted Jacob.
‘Well,’ said I, ‘if by ‘anyone’ you mean the trade, I grant you the synthetic ruby hasn’t done any good. But for industrial purposes it is just as good as the Burma, and after all, most manufactured rubies are absorbed by industry. As for the trade, there are the usual tests. By the way, Jacob, I suppose you’ve had the tests applied to your latest acquisition?’
‘Bah,’ said he irritably. ‘Scientific bosh. I trust my own knowledge all my life. You can’t teach the old dog new tricks, my friend.’
‘Precaution is precaution,’ I said. ‘Did I tell you what happened to me? My late partner in Paris had a ruby consigned to him from Amsterdam and I sold it in London to an expert, and he sold it a West End jeweler. All honest men! But the ruby was a dud. The experts all along the line had trusted each other to apply the test. It was the Amsterdam dealer who lost. He’d taken the gem from an exiled Russian Grand Duchess who hadn’t any money to pay him back.’

The Case Of The Nun’s Ruby (continued)

Deadly Ascent

(via Nova) Deadly Ascent explores the difficulties of climbing Denali (Mt McKinley) + what is interesting is the intriguing parallels between mountaineering + gem/art trading. Experienced climbers describe Denali as not a technically difficult task but the fact of the matter is it's full of surprises + at times you have a situation where a group of climbers may make the ascent in good weather, return and tell their friends how easy it was (just like in gem/art business), and friends will put together a team, make an attempt and die.

Top 10 Graphic Novels 2007

(via Time/Chris Onstad) Top 10 Graphic Novels 2007

#1. Achewood http://achewood.com
Written by Chris Onstad
#2. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier
Written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Kevin O'Neill
#3. All Star Superman
Written by Grant Morrison, illustrated by Frank Quitely
#4. Marvel Zombies 2
Written by Robert Kirkman, illustrated by Sean Phillips and Arthur Suydam
#5. Jack of the Fables, Vol. 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape
Written by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges and Tony Aikins, illustrated by Andrew Pepoy
#6. Erfworld http://www.erfworld.com
Written by Rob Balder, illustrated by Jamie Noguchi
#7. The Principles of Uncertainty
Written by Maira Kalman
#8. Exit Wounds
Written by Rutu Modan
#9. Sentences: The Life of M.F. Grimm
Written by Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly
#10. The Complete Peanuts, 1963-1964
Written by Charles M. Schulz

Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-born American Latin rock musician + guitarist + he combines salsa + rock + blues + jazz fusion to create a unique and recognizable sound of music. There is energy in his music + he is a musical genius + love his music.

‘Everybody gets wet when it rains, from the prostitutes to the pope. My music strives to communicate that message of unity.’
-Carlos Santana

Useful links:
www.santana.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Santana

Top 10 Museum Exhibits 2007

(via Time/Richard Lacayo): Top 10 Museum Exhibits 2007

#1. Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
#2. Matisse: Painter as Sculptor
Dallas Museum of Art and Nasher Sculpture Center
#3. Vija Celmins: A Drawings Retrospective
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
#4. J.M.W. Turner
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
#5. Martin Puryear
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
#6. Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
#7. Van Gogh and Expressionism
Neue Galerie, New York City
#8. Howard Hodgkin: Paintings 1992-2007
Yale Center for British Art
#9. Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution
The Geffen Contemporary at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art
#10. Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

10 Top Places Travelers Stumbled Upon

(via users of travel website www.igougo.com + based on their experiences):

1. Amarante, Portugal - a magnificent little city.
2. Sigulda, Latvia - a beautiful little town.
3. Avebury, England - a Stonehenge alternative.
4. Sorata, Bolivia - a mythical Shangri-La.
5. Camargue, France - for a Spanish/Gypsy flavor.
6. Victoria, Argentina - the 'City of the Seven Hills'.
7. Budva, Montenegro - on a dramatic coastline.
8. Bohol, Philippines - one of Philippines' secrets
9.Cuyutlan, Mexico - black sand, green waves, sea turtles.
10. Perthshire, Scotland - in the heart of highlands.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Screenplay: Melissa Mathison
Cast: Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore

(via YouTube): E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - Original Trailer (1982)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4yUQJeKZNs&feature=related

E.T.- The Extra Terrestrial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAP9f_GJQxI

E.T Funny Scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHApjDCkt9U&feature=related

I think E.T is a lovely film + the little creature with feelings was a moving experience . I enjoyed it.

Landmark Map Of World On Display

(via BBC News) Vincent Dowd writes about the map, which has just gone on permanent display for the first time, bought by America's Library of Congress four years ago (the map is thought to have been drawn exactly 500 years ago by a monk in the present-day French region of Lorraine) + other viewpoints @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7142784.stm

Art, Restored

David Armstrong writes about Julian G.Y. Radcliffe, the founder and chairman of Art Loss Register, which maintains the world's largest database for stolen art + other viewpoints@ http://www.forbes.com/global/2007/1224/090.html

Useful link:
www.artloss.com

Lights, Action, Camera!

Barbara Pollack writes about new direction (s) in photography, taking postmodern theory into the realm of constructed narratives and fabricated realities by international photographers + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=643

The Dawn Of The Reformation

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

Returning to Nuremberg in 1494, Albert Durer—as we shall henceforth call him—married almost immediately Agnes Frei, daughter of a respected citizen. The young artist already had some reputation: in 1497 he painted the portrait of his father, and in the following year the splendid portrait of himself. This comparatively early work, now at Madrid, shows all the characteristics of his later portraits; it has a simple dignity almost amounting to austerity, remarkable penetration into character, and in execution it shows perfect mastery of drawing and coloring.

In 1498 Albert Durer published a series of wood-engravings illustrating the Apocalypse, which greatly increased his reputation, for in these he was able to show not only the perfection of his drawing and design, but also the extraordinary power of his imagination. No design in this series is more famous than ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’, which has recently become still more widely known by the popular novel of Ibanez and the film with the same title, both of which were directly inspired by Durer’s masterpiece.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat thereon had a bow: and there was given unto him a crown: and he came forth conquering and to conquer....And another horse came forth, a red horse: and to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another: and there was given to him a great sword.....And I saw, and behold a black horse; and he that sat thereon had a balance in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice saying, A measure of wheat for a penny....and behold a pale horse; and he that sat upon him, his name was Death.

These are the verses from Revelation (vi. 2-8) which Durer set himself to illustrate; and since it was executed in a period just previous to the Reformation, some critics have argued that its inner meaning is an attack on the Papacy. It is improbable, however, that Durer was at this time in any way actuated by religious bias; the series as a whole certainly attacks corruption, both lay and ecclesiastical, but in this woodcut, the most famous of the series, it is more likely that Durer confined himself strictly to his text. The Holy Roman Empire was in a chronic state of war, and Durer must have seen enough of fighting in his youth and early manhood to know who and what were the grim companions of conquest. The meaning of this magnificent rushing design is clear; it reveals Durer’s view of War, war which sweeps mercilessly on, sparing neither man nor woman, priest nor layman, and inevitably accompanied by Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The most subtle touch of a satire is the third rider with the balances. In portraying Famine as this sleek, well-nourished, handsomely clothed man, Durer seems to hint that he is not ignorant of the existence of the War-Profiteer. The emaciated horse and its rider by his side tell their own tale.

It was by his engravings still more than by his paintings that Durer became famous, for the prints spread throughout Europe and created a great sensation. But though invited to become a citizen of Venice or Antwerp by these municipalities, Durer remained loyal to his native city. He continued to reside in Nuremberg. After his father’s death in 1502 his responsibilities increased, for now in addition to his own family Albert had to look after his mother and his younger brother Hans.

When commissions for portraits and altar-pieces were not forthcoming, Durer’s wife used to hawk at fairs and gatherings her husband’s prints illustrating episodes in the life of the Holy Family, and these wood and copper engravings not only brought in ready money by satisfying a popular demand, but they were the foundation of the artist’s reputation as an engraver. The success of these separate prints was immediate, and soon after the publication of the Apocalypse prints, Durer set to work on other sets of engravings, one of which was to illustrate the Passion of Our Lord and another the Life of the Virgin.

At the instigation and by the kindness of his friend, Wilibald Pirkheimer, who lent him the money for the journey, Durer in 1506 paid a visit to Venice, where he was commissioned by the German merchants to paint a panel for their chapel. At first the painters of Venice were inclined to regard Albert Durer as a mere engraver who did not understand how to use color, but the completion of this panel soon silenced hostile criticism and the work proved to be a veritable triumph for the painter.

The Dawn Of The Reformation (continued)

The Case Of The Nun’s Ruby

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

Actually this was an episode of mystery in the vein of Le Queux or Edgar Wallace. I have grievously misled you, although the story contains a nun and also a ruby, both of high degree.

While I was still busy measuring up the copper roofs of the religious house near Cracow, I used to meet some times the Abbess of the nunnery, a most stately lady of gentle grace. I had learned that she came of a very noble Polish family, but of course into the religious life and no one was allowed to refer in her presence to her rank.

This lady took quite an interest in my doings about the place, and she used to ask me many questions about my own people. Where did they live? What did they do? Was I happy? Did I see sometimes a puzzled flicker in her eyes as she surveyed me, scion of a race so strangely different, surely, in its life and aspirations from her own? However, when I told her that my mother traded in pearls and precious stones she remembered a ruby of her own to which she attributed considerable value. She had long thought of selling it so that she might apply the proceeds to some charitable cause. And now here was I, a messenger, if an odd one, who might further her charitable aims.

I offered at once to send the gem to Vienna for valuation and for an offer to be made. On the following day she gave it into my hands without apparent hesitation—although she can have known nothing of me—and I dispatched it to my mother. An offer came back. She accepted it. And generous to a fault, she paid me a commission altogether disproportionate to my services. Such was my first vacation—a busman’s holiday; my first effort also as a gem broker.

When I returned to Vienna my head was filled with the idea of the money to be earned by gem broking and as a merchant. ‘If I can pick up a ruby from a nun,’ I said to my mother, ‘and make more money on it than I earn in two months at my job, I ought to be in your line of business.’

But she would hear nothing of it, not because she did not think that her profession was not as good as any other, but because she was afraid I might make money too easily; she thought that making money too easily was the worst thing that could happen to a young man. But what with her paternal care and, later on, many other reasons, I never, whether as young man or adult, underwent the supreme misfortune of gaining easy money—the nun’s ruby along being excepted, naturally.

Look back, the ruby of the Abbess Anastasia seems now to have been a veritable pόint de départ in the story of my life. It also serves another purpose. It is as good an excuse as any other to embark upon the subject of rubies in general.

It was presumably the Oriental ruby which King Solomon had in mind when he appraised its worth as being less than that of a good woman; few who have expert knowledge of both would be prepared to challenge his statement—which is, however, clear proof that his generation, no less than all succeeding ones, considered the red transparent variety of crystallized corundum as the gem of gems.

The world ‘ruby’ is derived quite straightforwardly from the Latin rubens; that is, ‘red’. When you talk of an Oriental ruby you mean a particular kind of ruby which is found in Upper Burma, not just any sort of ruby that might be ‘picked up’ east of Suez! This Burmese ruby ranks next in the scale of hardness to the sapphire. There is, as a matter of fact, little to choose between the Oriental ruby and the sapphire in respect of hardness, that of the former being 8.5 and that of the latter 9.

There are other rubies. The spinel ruby, another red transparent stone, is closely allied also to corundum, but is of lesser density and inferior hardness, and for these reasons it is not held in the same esteem as the Oriental ruby.

Oriental rubies vary in color from pale rose to deep crimson. Frequently the stone has a tinge of purple. Particularly valued by the connoisseur is the ‘pigeon’s blood ruby,’ whose very name conveys even to the layman the idea of a high-grade gem. There is a place called Mogok, about ninety miles N.N.E of Mandalay, which is the home of the Burma ruby, where it is found embedded in limestone formations. From this region come all the great rubies. And many great rubies there have been in history.

There was the noble stone, for instance, by which a great sought to write his name imperishable upon human memory. He knew better than Shelly’s Ozymandias, ‘King of Kings’:

‘I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert.......Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies......
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’

The Mogul Emperor Jehangir had his name carved on a noble ruby, secure in the belief that thereby he would be remembered by posterity for a longer period than through monuments of stone or the records of historians. For the ruby may be small. It may be easily lost in times of disturbance. But somehow, somewhere, it will survive destruction and appear again. The Mogul ruby passed in time into the hands of Shah Jehan, who gave it to his lovely wife, the same lady for whom as a sorrowing widower he built the Taj Mahal, jewel of jewels among buildings. And royal gem as it was, it came at last into the hands of Queen Victoria, a few years before the great diamond, Kohinoor.

Another ruby, one of extraordinary size—for it was nearly as large as a pigeon’s egg as well as being the color of pigeon’s blood—also graced royalty and was set in the diadem made for the coronation of Catherine the Great of Russia. But there are more tragic rubies. Such were the rubies composing a fine parure which belonged to the Princess Charlotte of Belgium, she who married the Archduke Maximilian of Austria and as his wife became Empress of Mexico. They have seemed to bring no luck to their possessors. Consider the fate of those who have owned them.

Few more unhappy heads have worn crowns than Maximilian’s. It was Napoleon III who induced Maximilian to accept the Mexican throne. When Charlotte accompanied him to the Americas she took with her her fine set of rubies. But within a short time the new ruler of Mexico found trouble. He was arraigned as a usurper. Charlotte precipitately fled her palace at Chapultepec, not leaving her husband to his fate, but to seek support, armed support, from Napoleon III. But Napoleon callously refused the help she begged. The Emperor Maximilian, younger brother of the Emperor Francis Joseph I of Austria-Hungary (for so near is that dark exotic tale to our time) was tried by a revolutionary tribunal and shot. Many years after, the Princess Charlotte also ended her days, in a mental home. But her rubies, which she had left behind at Chapultepec, fell into the hands of the great family of De Madero.

The Case Of The Nun’s Ruby (continued)

Yo - Yo Ma

Yo - Yo Ma is a French-born American cellist + winner of multiple Grammy Awards + he works with musicians from diverse countries + his music possesses a unique luster and tone + he currently plays with his own Silk Road Ensemble.

He is an inspiration + a great cellist.

Useful links:
www.yo-yoma.com
www.silkroadproject.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo-Yo_Ma

Chocolate In Beta Testing

Katie Hafner writes about Louis Rossetto, the co-founder of Wired magazine + the application of the language of high-technology business to chocolate making + the story of Tcho dark chocolate + other viewpoints @ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/technology/10chocolate.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

Useful link:
Tcho.com

The New Risk Architecture

(via Knowledge@Wharton) Erwann Michel-Kerjan's report on 'The New Risk Architecture' representing business + politics + arts + universities + other viewpoints @ http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1862.cfm

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo (2003)
Directed by: Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
Screenplay: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds
Cast: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe

(via YouTube): Finding Nemo Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfgeIZyrIM0

Finding Nemo - Seagulls - "Mine? Mine?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E4pYvJTyBA

A new way of visual story telling + the graphic language was persuasive + it's a modified form of movie art. I enjoyed it.

Hidden Horror

(via The Guardian) Jonathan Jones writes about Matthias Grünewald's Isenheim altarpiece, a masterpiece of religious art + its fascination/inspiration + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2225942,00.html

The Art Of The Deal

Susan Adams writes about the Nahmad family + their influence in the art world + other viewpoints @ http://www.forbes.com/global/2007/1224/076.html

Useful links:
www.hellynahmadgallery.com
www.hellynahmad.com

The Dawn Of The Reformation

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

The Art of Albert Durer And of Holbein The Younger

So far we have been following mainly the development of art in Italy, but that country had no monopoly of painting and sculpture during the Middle Ages. Ever since the time of the Van Eycke paintings had been produced by natives of most of the great countries of Europe—even in England, where Odo the Goldsmith was employed by King Henry III to execute wall paintings for the Palace of Westminster—but either because their work was not powerful enough to capture the imagination of Europe or, quite as probably, because they had no historians and biographers to trumpet their praises, the early artists of England, France, and Germany never acquired the fame won by their brethren of Italy and Flanders. With few exceptions their names, and in many cases their works, have been entirely lost.

Full many flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

When all has been said, however, the fact remains that Italy was the center of the world for medieval Europe, and to it came ll who were desirous of learning, culture, and advancement. In those times the painter born elsewhere made his way to Italy as naturally and inevitably as the artist of today makes his pilgrimage to Paris; and in Italy the stranger artist was treated, not as a foreigner, but as a provincial. Looking at the political divisions of Europe today, we are apt to forget that in the Middle Ages the Christian nations of Europe were considered to be one family. Just as the Pope of Rome was the religious Head of all Christendom, so in theory, if not in practice, its secular Head was the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The capital of the Empire, again in theory, was Rome, though in practice the Emperor was usually not very safe outside his own kingdom in Germany.

When the Italian historian Vasari describes the great German artist Albert Durer as a ‘Fleming,’ he is making the same sort of mistake that a Londoner might make when he was uncertain whether a west countryman came from Devon or Cornwall; and just as some Londoners are so narrow-minded that they cannot imagine any preeminent greatness outside the metropolis, so Vasari in a patronizing way wrote of Durer:

Had this man, so nobly endowed by Nature, so assiduous and possessed of so many talents, been a native of Tuscany instead of Flanders, had he been able to study the treasures of Rome and Florence as we have done, he would have excelled us all, as he is now the best and most esteemed among his own countrymen.

If Vasari thought this talent had much to learn from Italy, there were Italian artists who thought they had something to learn from Durer. Giovanni Bellini, greatly admired Durer’s painting, and found his rendering of hair so marvelous that he thought the artist must have a special brush for the purpose. So when Durer visited Venice and in his polite way offered to do anything in his power for Venetian artists, Bellini begged to be given the brush with which he painted hairs. Durer picked up a handful of his brushes and told Bellini to choose any one he wished. “I mean the brush with which you draw several hairs with one stroke,’ the Venetian explained. Durer smiled and replied, ‘ I use no other than these, and to prove it you may watch me,’ Then, taking up one of the same brushes, he drew ‘some very long wavy tresses, such as women generally wear.’ Bellini looked on wonderfully, and afterwards confessed that had he not seen it nothing would have convinced him that such a painting was possible.

Who was Durer? Strangely enough, the artist who most fully revealed the spirit of awakening Germany was of Hungarian descent. His father, Albert Durer the Elder—whose portraits by his son hangs in the National Gallery, London—was born in Hungary. After traveling in the Netherlands for some time, he finally settled in Nuremberg, where his son was born on May 21, 1471. Albert the Younger had everything to foster the development of his gifts, his father was a goldsmith, and his grandfather also; hence their removal to Nuremberg, a city which was in constant communication with Venice and had already begun to rival it in the arts and crafts of jewelry and metalwork. It is worth noticing that young Albert’s godfather was the bookseller and expert printer Anton Koberger, and through him his godson probably became familiar with fine prints and engravings from his earliest years.

The father intended the son to succeed him his craft, but as the latter tells us in his memoirs, “I was more inclined to painting, and this I confessed to my father. My father was not pleased,’ he adds with characteristic simplicity. Nevertheless young Durer got his way, and in 1486 was apprenticed to Michael Wohgemut, a local artist then at the zenith of his fame. Wohlgemut had a large art school, which was the most important in Nuremberg, and here young Durer learnt to paint and also, possibly, to practise wood-engraving. But such a master had little to teach so brilliant a pupil, and after three years Durer the Elder wisely took his son away and sent him abroad for four years. Young Albert traveled in the south of Germany and probably paid his first visit to Venice during this period.

The Dawn Of The Reformation (continued)

Forevermark: The New De Beers Monopoly?

Chaim Even Zohar writes about the new Forevermark policy + the proprietary technology to 'insert' the icon and identification number on the crown of the polished diamond + the impact + other viewpoints @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

Basically Faceted Gothic Roses

(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:

Another very early ring has been described as follows: ‘the unusually high head of the ring is pyramidally built out of four basically faceted Gothic Roses. A large number of outlines and basic facetings are classified under his heading; some of the faceting designs were also applied to pavilion-based stones. The facets followed the crystal faces, or at least pretended to follow them.

Foundations Of The Bridge: The Technicalities Of Gem Trading

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

A word or two to the possible customer is perhaps not amiss here. When you are buying a piece of jewelry, remember you are buying something for a lifetime and take your time over it. Make your purchase from a reputable jeweler and even then look at it as carefully as you know how, not only to make sure you are getting your money’s worth, but also to see you are getting what you really want. When you can, buy from a local jeweler. There are a number of reasons why you should do this. One is that you should patronize a neighbor when you can. If he has not got what you want in his window, he will go to some pains to get it for you, for the wholesalers will be only too glad to supply on approval a whole range of goods from which to select. Don’t be afraid of making a fuss. If you are a genuine buyer, you have a right to call the tune. Another reason why you should buy from a local man rather than from a great glittering store is the fact that you will pay less. It is you, the client, who pays for the electric lights, the pile carpets and the gentlemanly assistants who wash their hands with invisible soap.

When you are examining goods ask for a magnifying glass and insist on looking at them by the light of day and not by artificial light. Make sure that the stones are firmly set...then buy with a clear mind, and when you have bought, insure.

There is a right a wrong way of looking after jewelry. All pieces of jewelry, for instance, ought to be kept in a case by themselves in such a way that there is no chance of the stones rubbing against each other. Layers of cotton wool, placed at the bottom and between the various articles, will achieve this. Periodically make sure that the stones have not worked loose in their settings. This can be done by gently pressing a matchstick against the table of each stone. If the stone has become loose it will wobble, if ever so slightly, and it may be that a mere tightening up of one of the claws needs to be done to avoid a serious loss. Then again fine atmospheric dust, or soapsuds, or perspiration, or all together, may dim the luster of gems in their settings after a little while. Do not attempt to get rid of the accumulation by means of a toothpick or a pin. There is far better and safer way. Cover the bottom of a wineglass with a little industrial alcohol (unless you think the use of brandy or whisky no waste in such circumstances!), slide your set jewelry gently into the glass and leave it there for five or ten minutes. When you take them out, don’t wipe them with a cloth, but just waft them about until they are dry. All the dirt will have dissolved and your stones will shine as brightly as they did the day you bought them.

Oh, before I close, there’s one point about heirloom jewelry. There is no reason why heirlooms should not be remodelled and brought up-to-date. In fact, quite the contrary. The precious metal is there and so are the gems, and the cost of remodelling is small, provided you don’t specify designs that require further purchases of stones or metal. Many a heavy old piece of jewelry that looks like a cross between a candelabra and a miniature set of gold plate could be turned in a few days into an article showing dignity and good taste.

Good Books

Below is a collection of links to 'Best Books of 2007' list.
Financial Times
The Economist
NYT Sunday Book Review: 100 Notable
NYT Sunday Book Review: Top Ten
Publisher's Weekly
Amazon
Boston Globe
Washington Post
Sydney Morning Herald
Sunday Times

Heard On The Street

The happiest moment in a gem dealer's life is buying a gemstone and the second happiest moment is selling it.

8 1/2

8 1/2 (1963)
Directed by: Federico Fellini
Screenplay: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano (story); Ennio Flaiano , Tullio Pinelli, Federico Fellini, Brunello Rondi
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée

(via YouTube): Scene from Fellini's 8 ½
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YozQlhdu4QU

8 1/2 dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmEqBdde5H0

Fellini 8 1/2 - Guido's Harem (the whole scene)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZP8EmKSl48

Fellini 8½ Opening Scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsAkWc7c8Mo

Federico Fellini is a gem + the comic frenzy of the characters in the film is so natural, I enjoyed it.

Emirates Airline

(via Knowledge@Wharton) Maurice Flanagan, who launched the global air giant in 1985 remains executive vice chairman, the Dubai-based Emirates continues to increase traffic and revenues + the reasons for Emirates' ascent + his own management style + other viewpoints @ http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1860.cfm

The Chiffre Cut (Dutch Schiffertje Or Schilde)

(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:

Various Gothic diamonds are documented as being ‘faceted’ without any further detail. Some of these must have been stones with flat bases and domed faceted tops. As always, the shape of the original crystal was large responsible for the shape into which the diamond was cut. A favorite cut was the Shield, for which the rough was probably a piece accidentally cleaved from a crystal such as rhombic dodecahedron or the trisoctahedrally developed face of an octahedron. The shapes of the crystal system to which diamonds belong have most of their octahedral faces slightly raised in curved triangular form and can easily be fashioned into Chiffres after an initial cleaving operation.

This type of three-faceted shield-shaped diamond has been known at least since the early fourteenth century, and is still occasionally produced today, though only in very small sizes. It is now termed the Chiffre Cut after the word ‘cipher’, the arithmetical symbol for nought. It is the least expensive type of cut—a rounded, flattish, triangular pyramid. The term Shield Cut is reserved for historical gems. William Jones illustrated a ‘decade-ring’, its head decorated all over with three and four facet Shield Cuts.

Arts 2007

(via The Guardian) The year's biggest names: their highs and lows + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/visualart/story/0,,2225582,00.html

Collecting In Cyberspace

Kelly Devine Thomas writes about online art market + the new consumer phenomenon + the discreet, unregulated, and highly fragmented art industry + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=622

The Splendor Of Venice

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

4

A greater than Veronese remains to be mentioned, a painter who was not only a consummate craftsman but also a profound thinker. This was Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556) who, unlike his great contemporaries, was Venetian born. All the others—save Tintoretto, greatly his junior—came from the mainland: Giorgione from Castelfranco, Titian from Cadore, and Cagliari from Verona.

Few painters have lived so intense a life in the spirit as Lotto; none has written so plainly as he his soul-history in his works. A true son of Venice, his youthful mind turned to Byzantium rather than to Rome for instruction and inspiration. To him Giorgione and Titian appeared as foreign intruders; their worldliness shocked him, a follower of Savonarola. Lotto began by putting the Madonna back on a Byzantine throne in the apse of the church from which the painters of the Renaissance had taken her. Ploughing his lonely furrow at Venice he had his doubts, and in 1508 he journeyed south to see what Rome and Raphael had to teach him. What he saw there roused his reforming zeal, as it had that of Savonarola. Four years later (1512) he fled from metropolitan sinfulness and took refuge in the provincial tranquility of Bergamo.

Here he possessed his soul in peace, and as though touched by the spirit of St. Francis he became reconciled to nature. No longer is the Madonna enthroned in church, but placed in the open country, where all existing things seem to praise the Creator in their beauty. Lotto became a pantheist and his message is the gospel of love. With his Venetian predecessors and contemporaries the Virgin is either soulful and humble, or aristocratic and proud; Lotto paints her richly adorned, but imbues her countenance with a beneficent and tenderly maternal expression.

In portraiture Lotto is supreme even in a great epoch. When we look at this portrait in the National Gallery of ‘The Protonotary Apostolic Juliano,’ noting through the window the wide and boundless landscape traversed by a river which winds its way to the distant sea, noting also the exquisite Flemish-like painting of the still-life accessories, as well as the grave penetrating characterization of the man, we cannot agree with Dr Muther that Lotto regards his sitters ‘unconcerned with their decorative appearance’; but we do heartily agree that Lotto shows us people ‘in their hours of introspection.’

Why is it that Lotto, as a portrait-painter, strikes chords which, as Dr Muther says, ‘are echoed in no other Italian work.’ The explanation is this: ‘Only those whom he loved and honored were invited into his studio, and his circumstance alone differentiates his portraits from those of Raphael or Titian.’

Though never such a great figure in his day as Giorgione, Titian, or Tintoretto, Lotto was not without influence on his contemporaries. One who felt it and gained by it greatly was a painter who came from Brescia to Venice, Giambattista Moroni (c.1520-78). His ‘Portrait of a Tailor,’ is full of human sympathy and almost perfect in craftsmanship. It is deservedly one of the most popular portraits in the National Gallery, and many of us feel almost equally drawn to Moroni’s other great portrait at the National Gallery, ‘An Italian Nobleman’. Together they prove that, like Lotto, Moroni could extend his sympathies to sitters irrespective of their rank or position in life.

It is not easy to over-estimate the abundant excellence of portraiture in sixteenth century Venice. Just as the wealth and power of her merchant-citizens were the source of the success of the republican State of Venice, so the luxury they were able to afford drew to the island city of the Adriatic all the artistic talent born on the neighboring mainland. Of the multitude of artists who during this century were adorning the public buildings and private palaces of Venice, only a few of the most celebrated can here be enumerated. Cima came from Conegliano to Venice in 1492, and worked there till 1516 or later, carrying on in his Madonnas the tradition of Giovanni Bellini. Vincenzo di Biagio, known as Catena, was born at Treviso about 1470 and died at Venice in 1531. He was greatly influenced by Giorgione, to whom was once ascribed the beautiful painting ‘A Warrior adoring the Infant Christ,’ which the National Gallery catalogue now gives definitely to Catena. Sebastiano del Piombo (c.1485-1547), who about 1510 left Venice for Rome, where he was influenced by Raphael and Michael Angelo, has a special interest for us because his picture ‘The Raising of Lazarus’ was the beginning of the National Gallery collection. It is still ‘Number 1’. Palma Vecchio (1480-1528) was born near Bergamo, but came to Venice while still a student. Influenced first by Bellini and Giorgione, afterwards by Titian and Lotto, he very nearly reached the first rank, as his ‘Venus and Cupid,’ now in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge amply proves. He is called Vecchio (=Old) to distinguish him from a later painter Palma Giovine (1544-1628) or Young Palma.

Jacopo da Ponte (1510-92), called Bassano from his birthplace, is also splendidly represented in the National Gallery by ‘The Good Samaritan,’ a painting which used to belong to Sir Joshua Reynolds. It is a magnificent example of vigor and muscular action.

In the art, as in the State of Venice, the spark of life lingered long. So late as the eighteenth century, Longhi, Canaletto, and Guardi painted delightfully her canals and palaces and the life of her public places, while Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770), painting in the tradition of Veronese, earned for himself the proud title ‘the last of the Old Masters.’

But with Tintoretto the last great word of Italy had been spoken, and when he died in 1594 it was left to the artists of other lands to take the tale.

Foundations Of The Bridge: The Technicalities Of Gem Trading

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

A smaller weight still than the carat is the unit of weight employed by dealers in pearls; namely, the grain. But this is not the apothecary’s grain and only weighs twenty five points or one-quarter of a carat.

Gems are not carried loose in the dealer’s pocket or jumbled loosely in a box. They are placed in neatly folded paper packages (there is one and only one universally recognized way of folding these) and each such package has an appropriately colored lining of specially prepared tissue or thinner paper. The object of the prescribed folding-creases in the wrapper is to prevent any stone from falling out, while the colored interior is intended to lend a suitable background with a view to creating a first favorable impression. There is no deceit intended by this and no expert is ever taken in by having goods presented to him in this wise.

Nevertheless, a neatly trimmed square of snowy cotton wool, upon which one’s gems are snugly bedded, has its psychological effect by persuading the eye that the stones on display have value; there is also the important practical fact that this packing prevents the finely cut points, edges and facets from being abraded by other stones in the same package.

The interior lining referred to is blue in various shades for pearls, a glossy white or cream for diamonds, brick red for emeralds, glossy white for rubies and sapphires, matt or glossy black for opals. Upon the flap of the folded package the methodical dealer sets down in a clear hand the number, the kind of stone and the weights. A number of paper packages are conveniently arranged in a soft leather wallet and held in place with an elastic band.

When closed and carried about in the dealer’s specially constructed deep pocket, a metal safety chain gives, or should give, additional security. The cautious dealer in precious stones, more than any other merchant, knows and bears constantly in mind that he is the chosen prey of the high class and intelligent (if intelligence of the true sort has anything to do with crime) criminal.

Of the pockets, hip-pocket and breast-pocket are dangerous. Two wallets, each carried in a separate division of a specially constructed waistcoat worn below the ordinary waistcoat seem to me to constitute a commendable way for carrying great values. There are other ways, upon which I need not elaborate here. Regular irregularity will also help to give a measure of protection against the ‘lie in wait’ fraternity. Do not make it a practice, I say to the beginner (it is no use trying to teach other old dogs new tricks)—do not make it a practice to set out on your rounds every day at the same hour or to return to your office at a given time. Take different roads each day. Don’t stop and look into shop windows; leave crowds severely alone. Keep your eyes open, and if you happen to notice the face of an unknown popping up again and again as you go round, take heed. Don’t challenge the owner of the face, for he may want nothing better. He may be provoking a quarrel, in which case the ‘lay’ is that his confederate of confederates will soon join in the fray and you will be mulcted before you realize you have fallen prey to a gang of crooks.

Again, take no strong drink while on business and certainly accept no treats from friendly strangers, not even a cup of innocent coffee or a cigarette. Either may be doped. Late nights of the festive order unfit a man for being custodian of gems the loss of which may mean all the difference between competence and penury. I won’t say don’t take nights out—merely, don’t work the morning after! A dealer in gems must be alert the whole of the time.

One principle that has always stood me in good stead is to keep good faith with the man behind the counter, the retail jeweler (or any other customer). The importance of being trusted cannot be overestimated. Therefore no statement should ever be made which cannot be borne out. If a shopkeeper asks me ‘Is this stone flawless?’ I give him an honest reply. There is a world of difference between ‘fairly clean,’ ‘eye clean’ and clean under the searching magnification of a powerful lens.

Such advice as that in the last paragraph might apply to any trade, but there is another piece of advice particularly applicable to those who handle gemstones, and I give it as it was given to me at the outset of my career by a dealer in Paris, a dainty little Frenchman of the old school: ‘Soignez vos mains, mon ami, car se sont vos étalages.’ ‘Make the most of your hands, my friend, for they are your show windows,’ is sound advice to the man who must needs display his wares on the back of his hand; for it is common practise to lay out the gems to be shown along the grooves of the fingers, and value of well kept hands is obvious. In this connection I might add that some dealers think it well to carry a small blue-white specimen brilliant (supposing they are buying or selling diamonds) in their wallets or set in a ring worn on the left hand for comparison with other stones.

Foundations Of The Bridge: The Technicalities Of Gem Trading

Murphy's Law

I think there are many lessons for gem dealers + gemologists + jewelers + art dealers + others. Here is a list of Murphy's Laws + variations of it. It's educational.

- If anything can go wrong it will.
- Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
- Everything takes longer than you expect.
- If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will do the most damage will go wrong first.
- Left to themselves, all things go from bad to worse.
- If you play with something long enough, you will surely break it.
- If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
- If you see that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
- Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
- Mother Nature is cruel.
- It is impossible to make anything fool-proof, because fools are so ingenious.
- If a great deal of time has been expended seeking the answer to a problem with the only result being failure, the answer will be immediately obvious to the first unqualified person.
- If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

Useful link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy's_law

Why People Trade in Gemstones + Jewelry + Art

I think:
- To invest
- To exchange assets
- To distribute risks
- To gamble
- To speculate
- To deal
- To make profit
- To enjoy
- To do the right thing
- To learn
- To borrow

EGL SpectroGEM

It has been reported that The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) + The European Gemological Laboratory (EGL)'s EGL SpectroGEM is able to detect natural, synthetic or treated (high-pressure high-temperature --HPHT) diamonds.

Factory Man Made A Weld Of His Own

(via The Observer) Stephen Bayley writes about Jean Prouvé + his (singular mechanical intelligence to) architecture and design + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/design/story/0,,2224522,00.html

Maria Callas

Maria Callas also known as La Divina was an American-born Greek operatic soprano + the best-known opera singer of the post-World War II period + her repertoire ranged from classical opera seria to the bel canto operas of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini, + the works of Verdi and Puccini, + the music dramas of Wagner + her voice was a very special instrument + had a unique magical quality: Callas.

She had a beautiful voice.

Useful links:
www.callas.it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Callas

Detour

Detour (1945)
Directed by: Edgar G. Ulmer
Screenplay: Martin Goldsmith (novel); Martin Goldsmith, Martin Mooney
Cast: Tom Neal, Ann Savage

(via YouTube): DETOUR movie song 1945 by Johnny August
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svcUWjFvvYk

I enjoyed it.

The Perils Of Painting

Susan Josephs writes about the toxic materials artists use for their work + arts-related health and safety matters + nontoxic alternatives + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=611

The Splendor Of Venice

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

3

Working side by side first with Titian, afterwards with Tintoretto, was Paolo Cagliari, who, from Verona, the city of his birth, was known as Paul Veronese (1528-88). The whole splendor of Venice is revealed in his paintings, and his decorations in the Ducal Palace give immortality to the pageantry which characterized the Italy of his time.

When the Venetian Senate gave a festival in honor of King Henry III of France, the monarch was received (so history tell us) by two hundred of the fairest damsels in the city, dressed in white and covered with pearls and diamonds, ‘so that the King thought he had suddenly entered a realm of goddesses and fairies.’

This is the realm we enter through a canvas by Veronese, whether his subject be professedly historical, as in ‘The Family of Darius before Alexander’ in the National Gallery, or professedly religious as in ‘The Marriage of Cana’ at Dresden. We have only to look at this painting with all its wordily pomp and ostentatious luxury to see how far art has traveled from the simple piety of the earlier Primitive Masters.

The monasteries were the chief employers of Veronese as the eminent critic Mr Berenson has pointed out: ‘His cheerfulness, and his frank and joyous worldliness—the qualities, in short, which we find in his huge pictures of feasts—seem to have been particularly welcome to those who were expected to make their meat and drink of the very opposite qualities. This is no small comment on the times, and shows how thorough had been the permeation of the spirit of the Renaissance when even the religious orders gave up their pretence to asceticism and piety.’

A time came, however, when Veronese went too far even for the depraved ecclesiastics of his day. When he painted ‘The Last Supper’—now in the Louvre—in the style of ‘The Marriage at Cana,’ with the same glitter of crystal, silver, and jewels, the same sheen of silks and satins, the same multitude of serving men and attendants, the stricter clerics were scandalized. Information was laid against the painter, and on July 18, 1573, Paul Veronese was summoned before the tribunal of the Inquisition.

Exactly what happened then is not clearly known: while escaping banishment or severer punishment, the artist was sternly rebuked for his wordily treatment of religious subjects; and though the reprimand appears to have had little permanent effect on his paintings, it is significant to note that his ‘Adoration of the Magi’ in the National Gallery, which is dated 1573, is both in conception and in execution far more simple and respectful than are the majority of Veronese’s pictures of sacred subjects.

The most beautiful picture by Veronese in the National Gallery, and one of the most haunting of all his work, is ‘St. Helena’s Vision of the Cross,’ which is as reposeful as a piece of antique Greek sculpture and a superbly decorative example of the artist’s skill as a maker of patterns. The curious will note in this work how cunningly the painter has arranged the figure to secure decorative balance and rhythm, how the right leg continuing the line of the forearm repeats the diagonal of the cross, while the sharp horizontal of the cherub’s wing repeats the line of the window-sill. In these devices we recognize the hand of a master-craftsman.

The Splendor Of Venice (continued)

Foundations Of The Bridge: The Technicalities Of Gem Trading

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

If, however, the offer is rejected, the owners may in their reply cable state another price, but as a rule the potential buyer has to increase his bid by slow stages until he and the owner meet—by cable—at a common price. Your Oriental merchant is not in great haste to part with his wares even by cablegram, so that gem buying from half-way across the world may demand just the same virtues of patience and insight into your opponent’s mentality as buying a curio in an Oriental bazaar. But there is one difference, at least. The buyer can take his time without fearing that another will cut in with a better offer, for no one else can see the goods, which, pending the ultimate decision, have been placed under his own seal in a safeguarding envelope according to the unvarying custom of the trade.

Long-distance bids and the protracted nature of the proceedings, however, make it virtually impossible for the small dealer to buy at first hand from source. He must come in at a later stage of the proceedings.

There are several ways open to the merchant who has completed a successful purchase and taken up a parcel of stones. He can, if he is known as a real expert and a keen buyer, obtain a profit from another dealer by merely disclosing what the goods cost him. In normal times a profit margin of anything from five to seven and a half percent will be offered him ‘blind’, that is without even an inspection beforehand of the goods contained in the sealed envelope.

Another way is to break the original seal and show the goods either himself or, as is customary, through a broker.

Or, finally, instead of selling the stones in the state he bought them, the dealer may choose not to sell them before having had them cut and polished, in which case he will grade them and send for his lapidary. When the gems have been fully fashioned, each in accordance with its structure, and the skillful lapidary has made the most of his material, the gems are again graded according to size, shape, luster and quality, and once more the broker is called on.

A good broker is worth his weight in diamond dust. He is not supposed to make a profit on the goods himself as apart from the legitimate commission paid him by the seller, and unless otherwise agreed on, the recognized rates are one percent on diamonds, two percent on pearls, and anything from two and a half percent on precious and semi-precious stones. Whether the sale effected is one for spot cash of terms—that is, credit—the commission is payable there and then to the broker, who is not supposed to take any financial risks whatever.

The gem dealer’s tools deserve mention here. They are not of an elaborate nature. In fact, they are of the simplest kind. For picking up the smaller stones the dealer or lapidary uses tweezers called ‘corn-tongs’; for sorting them in sizes he calls to his aid a circular brass box filled with movable perforated disks. This constitutes a diminutive colander and saves a great deal of labor. Then a powerful lens is indispensable, and for wiping the stones clean there there is of course nothing better than a soft chamois leather. Accurately balanced scales for weighing the gems are another indispensable item for any trader whose cargo is so precious that a five hundred millioneth of a metric ton may make a difference to him one way or another of ten or twenty pounds. Most dealers have several sets of scales: one maybe for single stones, another in which to weigh whole parcels, small pairs handy for carrying in the pocket, and as often as not a pair of scales enclosed in a glass case so that no stray current of air or small floating particles of dust may unduly affect the delicately poised beam.

In the gem importing trading centers like Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris and London, the purchaser has the right, and not infrequently exercises it, of having the accurate weight of a single stone or of a parcel of gems determined by an unbiased third party. In the localities where the dealers have their professional clubs or associations, an official appointed for the purpose does the weighing and issues a certificate. In London, where no such club exists, the Jeweler’s section of the London Chamber of Commerce has established such a service for the convenience of the trade on payment of a small fee.

The price of semi-precious stones of the lower order is usually quoted per gramme or per ounce (thirty grammes go to the ounce). For semi-precious stones of the higher order and for precious stones the carat weight is the standard unit. No less than five million carats go to make up a metric ton, which gives an idea of the smallness of the carat weight. The carat itself is subdivided into a hundred parts, any one of which is called a point. One ‘point’ more or less in the established weight may mean a pound or so in or out of pocket when the stone in question is priced at something like a hundred pounds a carat.

Foundations Of The Bridge: The Technicalities Of Gem Trading

Succisa Virescit

Latin for 'Cut it down, and it will grow back stronger.' Find your niche + find that pain (heat+pressure) that makes you stronger + learn what exists inside you + when it is cut down, makes you grow back stronger = mentally uniform solid person with an orderly internal character.

Don Henly

Don Henley is an American rock singer + songwriter + drummer + best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful Grammy Award winning solo career + he has a distinctive style + he is active in several environmental/political causes, notably the Walden Woods Project + Caddo Lake Institute + Recording Artists' Coalition.

I love his music.

Useful links:
www.donhenley.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Henley

Intense Blue Diamond

It has been reported that a 6.5 carat intense blue diamond has been sold by the French auction house Guizzetti-Collet for €2.43 million ($3.56 million)/ $547,692 per carat.

Man Finds 1,000th Diamond Of '07 At Park

Denis Tyrrell's exciting diamond find (3.48-carat) at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, Arkansas + his story @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071210/ap_on_fe_st/odd1000th_diamond

The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie

The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (1972)
Directed by: Luis Buñuel Screenplay: Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière
Cast: Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Stephane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel

(via YouTube): Criterion Trailer 102: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ7m-Jb4a5g

The Discreet Charm of The Bourgeoisie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z50Gg_16H4

Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie - The Police Arrest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DS3OW7sxas

Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie/The Dry Martini Lecture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ-jNWFBVuA

A casual movie magic + fun/surprise + delightful. I enjoyed it.

Witnesses To The World

(via The Guardian) Andrew Motion writes about the great photographic agency, Magnum Magnum + other viewpoints @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/photography/story/0,,2223834,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/gallery/2007/nov/15/photography?picture=331277123

From Slot Machines To The Sublime

Milton Esterow writes about the new concept where Guggenheim + the Hermitage team up to dazzle the masses in Las Vegas, expanding beyond painting and sculpture to architecture, film, video, design, multimedia + the impact + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1026

The Splendor Of Venice

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

2

The glowing mantle of Titian fell on the shoulders of Jacopo Robusti, nicknamed Tintoretto (the ‘Little Dyer’) from the calling of his father, Battista Robusti, who was a dyer, in Italian tintore. Tintoretto was born at Venice in 1518 and, having shown his precocious genius by covering the walls of his father’s house with drawings and sketches, he was apprenticed as a pupil to Titian. Despite his prodigious capacity, for already the skill and speed of his workmanship were astonishing, he was not a satisfactory pupil. After some time Titian dismissed him, according to one account because he was jealous of his pupil, according to another because Tintoretto ‘would in no wise give obedience to commands.’ From all we know of Tintoretto’s proud, wilful character the latter reason seems probable.

Left to himself, Tintoretto set up his own workshop, in which he nailed up the legend ‘The Design of Michael Angelo and the Coloring of Titian’. Not only did he live up to his motto as regards his drawing and color, but to these he added his own supreme understanding of light and shade; and thus he was able to surpass Titian in the keenness of his literal yet romantic observation, and to outdo even Michael Angelo himself in the furious speed and energy of his execution. Amazing stories are told of Tintoretto’s activity. ‘This artist,’ remarks his contemporary Vasari, ‘always contrives by the most singular proceedings in the world to be constantly employed, seeing that when the good offices of his friends and other methods have failed to procure him any work of which there is question, he will nevertheless manage to obtain it, either by accepting it at a very low price, by doing it as a gift, or even by seizing on it by force.’

An instance of this kind occurred when the Brotherhood of San Rocco decided to have the ceiling of their refectory painted with decorations. The four leading painters of Venice—Zucchero, Salviati, Veronese, and Tintoretto—were summoned to San Rocco and invited to submit designs for the project. It was announced that the commission would be given to the artist who produced the best design. ‘But while the other artists were giving themselves with all diligence to the preparation of their designs, Tintoretto made an exact measurement of the space for which the picture was required, and taking a large canvas, he painted it without saying a word to any one and, with his usual celerity, putting it up in the place destined to receive it.

‘One morning, therefore, when the Brotherhood had assembled to see the designs and to determine the matter, they found that Tintoretto had entirely completed the work, nay, that he had fixed it in its place.’

Naturally the three other artists were furious, and the head of the Brotherhood angrily inquired why Tintoretto had taken it on himself to complete the work when he had only been asked to submit a design in an open competition.

‘This is my method of preparing designs,’ answered Tintoretto; ‘I do not know how to make them in any other manner. All designs and models for a work should be executed in this fashion, to the end that the persons interested may see what it is intended to offer them, and may not be deceived.

‘If you do not think it proper to pay for the work and remunerate me for my pains, then,’ the artist proudly added, ‘ I will make you a present of it.’

Thus, as Vasari relates, Tintoretto, ‘though not with opposition, contrived so to manage matters that the picture still retains its place.’

Though he painted numerous portraits and altar-pieces, Tintoretto was essentially a decorative painter, and his mightiest achievements are on the walls and ceilings of the palaces and public buildings of Venice. His ‘Paradiso’ in the Ducal Palace is the largest painting in the world, eight four feet wide by thirty four feet high, and of this stupendous achievement and of most of his other great works no photograph can give any adequate idea. But fortunately the picture which is universally acknowledged to be Tintoretto’s masterpiece is not on the same colossal scale. ‘The Miracle of St. Mark,’ is one of four large pictures painted by Tintoretto for the School of San Marco in Venice. It represents the Evangelist—who was the Patron Saint of Venice—appearing in the air and ‘delivering a man who was his votary from grievous torments, which an executioner is seen to be preparing for him: the irons which the tormentors are endeavoring to apply break short in their hands, and cannot be turned against that devout man.’

The dramatic element in Titian’s work is seen heightened and intensified in many of Tintoretto’s paintings, but nowhere is it more splendidly manifest than in this impressive imagining of a supernatural event. Again we seem to hear the rush of air caused by the downward sweep of the Saint, from whom a celestial light irradiates. This great picture is not only a illustration of a saintly legend; it had a symbolical meaning of great importance to Tintoretto’s contemporaries. At this time political relations between Venice flattered themselves they were better Christians than the Romans, and were delighted to see in Tintoretto’s masterpiece a picture in which they saw the Popes as the executioners of the Church, which is to be saved only by the fortunate interference of the Republic of St. Mark.

When Tintoretto died in 1594 there were no more great religious painters in Italy. Unlike Titian, who ‘had never received from Heaven aught but favor and felicity,’ and so throughout a long life looked out with ever joyous eyes, Tintoretto, notwithstanding his professional prosperity, was overshadowed by a spiritual gloom which finds expression in his mighty pictures. The works of his manhood and maturity show little of that serene joy in existence which glows from the canvases of Titian; but in the fitful lighting of their sombre depths, in a constantly recurring hint of tragedy, they reveal a consciousness of stormy days to come, of perils for Church and State, which entitle us to see in Tintoretto a harbinger of the Reformation and the wars of religion.

The Splendor Of Venice (continued)

Foundations Of The Bridge: The Technicalities Of Gem Trading

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

I have traveled over the stream from my years of opal to my years of Jade—from childhood to past middle age—from Vienna of the Old Emperor to China eternally the same. I think there are no more gems to symbolize the years that remain. As I write the threat of war hangs over London, a city wide open to the air attacks of an enemy. Putting off the ledgers, the corn-tongs, the balances, of the gem merchant, I put in my lapel the badge of the air warden and proceed to fit several hundreds of my fellow citizens with gas masks instead of with necklaces and rings. There is no gem for this stage of my life, when every day is itself a jewel hung on a brittle thread.

But I cannot stop here without giving you some idea of the procedures and customs of the trade, although I have already mentioned these here and there in passing. Something of the people, too, who deal in gems I must tell you. Many intelligent people with whom I have had occasion to discuss the subject of precious stones have labored under the impression that the dealers in that commodity are necessarily men of considerable affluence, if not of great wealth. That is far from being so, and in fact most of the men engaged in this highly specialized commerce depend upon the credits extended to them by the trade itself or by accommodating and enterprising merchant bankers in such trade centers as Amsterdam, Antwerp and Paris.

Trading in gemstones can at worst be as prosaic, or even as sordid, an occupation as that in any other goods. But at its best it can be sublimated into something that reflects the romance inherent in those beautiful and rare substances, the elite of the mineral kingdom.

An experience extending to well over half a century has taught me that those dealers who concern themselves least with the manifold aspects of the noble merchandise which passes daily through their hands become the greatest successes in a worldly sense. ‘Profits’ is the one beautiful word with them and it cannot materialize until they have got rid of a gem; they are not thrilled at sight of an uncommonly fine jewel, they are not puffed up with the pride of possession when they chance to outbid their competitors for a lovely thing, and they have no pangs of parting when it passes from their hands into those of others. Never having taken the gem into their hearts, its departures creates no void. They neither buy nor avoid selling out of sentiment. Such men die rich, Heavens help them.

But apart from lack of sentiment, there is often a sheer lack of knowledge among dealers about the goods they sell. That the diamond, for instance, is essentially pure crystallized carbon is a fact very well known to most people, and yet I have actually come across diamond merchants to whom they was news, and news to be taken with a grain of salt at that! Nor do many dealers in sapphires and rubies know that the blue stone and the red are full brothers. And as for the dealers who know nothing about any of the precious or semi-precious stones except those in which they themselves happen to deal, their name is legion.

This does not speak well for a large proportion of the merchants who trade habitually in articles which are a perennial source of wonder and romantic interest to the general public. But fortunately there are others and their number is not inconsiderable. They are all well informed, keenly appreciative of the distinguishing features of the many gemstones which go to make up the long list of the precious minerals. Amongst these men there are not a few all-round connoisseurs, and being known as such far and wide, they receive rare specimens from all parts of the world to enrich their collections. While no trader’s pocket is deep enough to permit him to acquire every fine gem which is offered him, these experts do not lightly pass by a stone which appeals to their imagination; and having acquired it, they defer the date of parting from it until the commercial instinct within them gains the upper hand. This is the reason why the connoisseur, who knows all there is to know about gems, frequently has a much less important bank balance than the dealer who does not know and does not care.

I have in mind a dealer friend of mine, to whom £1000 in hard cash would be a godsend, not because he is poor or in want, but because his mania for collecting fine specimens has left him frightfully short of ready money. His latest acquisition is a specimen ruby he could have sold many times over at a good profit. Instead, it sleeps in his wallet on a snowy pad of cotton-wool, eating its head off in interest. In fact, it eats up more in interest on his money than a pedigreed hunter would require for a year’s oats. For the dealer who cannot bear to sell his goods might as well keep a racing stable and be done with it!

But my friend says: ‘I haven’t got wife, child or hobby. When I feel lonesome or depressed I bring out that ruby and know that life is worth living.’

To those unfamiliar with the procedure in marketing gemstones it may of interest to learn that as soon as a consignment of stones in the rough—that is, in the uncut state or in the state which is called ‘Indian cut’ (imperfectly or not fully faceted)—reaches the consignees in London or Paris all the well-known dealers are advised. They inspect the goods, make their choice and submit their offers, which are cabled out to the respective owners, be they in Ceylon, India, Siam, Australia or any part of South America, for all these parts of the world contribute their quota of gem material to the great trading centers. If the offer is accepted, the transaction is closed forthwith; the merchandise is delivered and cash is paid, for spot cash is de rigueur in these transactions.

Foundations Of The Bridge: The Technicalities Of Gem Trading (continued)

Survival Techniques

Bear Grylls explains how to avoid gloom and doom + useful tips to get you out. He is great!

Useful links:
www.beargrylls.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Grylls

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald also known as Lady Ella and undeniably the First Lady of Song, is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century + she had a distinctive tone + she was the winner of thirteen Grammy Awards + she was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan + the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush + the United States Postal Service honored Fitzgerald with her own 39 cent postage stamp.

I love her music, particularly her scat singing.
(via YouTube): Ella Fitzgerald : One note Samba (scat singing) 1969
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbL9vr4Q2LU

Useful links:
www.ellafitzgerald.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Fitzgerald

My Will

All of us are mortal here on Earth and all of our days are numbered. Try and do some good in some way every day.

Hotmail Founder On 'Failure'

(via BBC): Total internal reflections of Sabeer Bhatia @ Hotmail Founder On 'Failure'

UK Wind-Powered By 2020

The British government believes that the country has some of the best wind conditions for generating carbon-free electricity in the world, but high construction costs and a sluggish planning process has limited its growth.

Useful link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071210/sc_nm/britain_wind_power_dc

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity (1944)
Directed by: Billy Wilder
Screenplay: James M. Cain (novel); Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler (screenplay)
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson

(via YouTube): Double Indemnity (1944) Full Film - Part 1/11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N76LY0tmV_M

Double Indemnity (Film Noir)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn-RWYZYbsY

Double Indemnity opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcjfAAOBQx0

Double Indemnity - Trailer (1944)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3wjJcuGsVE

A unique gem + I always enjoy Billy Wilder films + funny + compelling.

Views Of The Void

Total internal reflections of Eve M. Kahn on the World Trade Center + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1006

The Splendor Of Venice

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

Titian’s ideal of womanhood is seen not only in this picture, which inspired Mr Arnold Bennet’s novel with the same title, but in a number of exquisite portraits and figure paintings. According to Vasari, he painted mostly from his own imagination, and only used female models in case of necessity. Titian’s types have little in common with the small, brown, black-eyed maidens we usually associate with Venice. They are nearer akin to the fair-haired Lombard women or the Dianas and Junos of his Alpine home. Further, it is the proud majesty of the mature woman that Titian paints. His beautiful ‘Flora,’ in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, does not suggest spring time but, as Dr Muther has well said, ‘high summer in its rich, mature splendor.’ Never old, but never very young, Titian’s ‘mighty women’ seem to ‘beam in an eternal, powerful beauty.’

The same mature majesty characterises ‘The Magdalen’, to which Titian’s contemporary Vasari pays the following eloquent tribute: ‘Her hair falls about her neck and shoulders, her head is raised, and the eyes are fixed on Heaven, their redness and the tears still within them giving evidence of her sorrow for the sins of her past life. This picture, which is most beautiful, moves all who behold it to compassion.’

‘He touched nothing that he did not adorn.’ So it might be written of Titian, who ennobled all his sitters with something of his own majesty. The supreme example of his powers in this direction is the magnificent ‘Equestrian Portrait of Charles V’, now in the Prado at Madrid. In 1530, when the Emperor Charles V was in Bologna, Titian, by the intervention of his friend the poet Pietro Aretino, was invited to that city and commissioned to paint His Catholic Majesty in full armour. Vasari tells us the Emperor was so delighted with this portrait that he gave the artist a thousand gold crowns, declaring that he would never have his portrait done by any other painter; and he kept his imperial word, frequently employing Titian thereafter and always paying him a thousand crowns for each portrait.

Never was money better spent. This Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Spain still fires our imagination, thanks to Titian. The historical truth about Charles V is that he was a pale, scrofulous, emaciated man, a prey to melancholy, full of hesitations and superstitious fears; so world-weary that in the end he abdicated from his imperial position, and shut himself up in a monastery where, with morbid satisfaction, surrounded by coffins and ticking clocks, he constantly rehearsed his own funeral. Titian shows us nothing of this. His wonderful imagination fastens on one great moment in the Emperor’s life, the day when he was the victor at Augsburg. A Black Knight in steel armor, riding over the battlefield at daybreak, the Emperor in this painting becomes ‘the personification of the coldness of a great general in battle, and of Destiny itself approaching, silent and unavoidable.’ Charles is here Napoleonic—but Napoleon had no Titian to immortalize his grandeur. Who would not pay a thousand crowns to be so transfigured for posterity?

Still painting in his ninetieth year with unabated vigor, still able as a nonagenarian to play the host with undiminished magnificence to King Henry III of France, this grand old patriarch finally went down in 1576, like some battered but indomitable man-of-war, with his colors still proudly flying. Even then it was not of old age that he died; he was a victim to the same pestilence which, sixty six years earlier, had carried off his young fellow pupil Giorgione. All Venice went into mourning when the greatest of her sons passed away, and the Senate set aside the decree that excluded victims of the plague from burial within church walls, so that Titian might be laid to rest in the Church of the Frari, within sight of his own picture of ‘The Assumption’.

The Splendor Of Venice (continued)