Thursday, December 13, 2007
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
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.
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)
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
(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
I love his music.
Useful links:
www.donhenley.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Henley
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
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.
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
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)
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)
(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
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
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
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
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.
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