(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
At Dr Monro’s house Turner met John Robert Cozens (1752-99), a most poetic painter in water colors and the son of a water color artist, Alexander Cozens, who died in 1786; and while Turner owed most to his diligent study of Nature, he always owned his obligation to Cozens, who was indeed his immediate predecessor in water color and the first to produce those atmospheric effects which Turner rivalled and excelled.
In 1799, at age of twenty four, Turner was elected as Associate of the Royal Academy and henceforward, surer of himself and his public, he eschewed the merely topographical imitation of landscape for a nobler art. He looked beyond the mere details to a larger treatment of Nature, seizing all the poetry of sunshine, and the mists of morn and eve, with the grandeur of storm and the glow of sunset. In feeling his way to this period of his first style Turner looked not only to Nature but also to the example of his great predecessors, Claude Richard Wilson, and the Dutch painters of the seventeenth century. The influence of the Dutch School, and particularly of Van de Velde, is apparent in many of these early works, even in ‘Calais Pier’, which, painted in 1803, was held by Ruskin to be ‘the first which bears the sign manual and sign mental of Turner’s colossal power.’ Already, however, Turner had improved on Van de Velde, who was never able to interpret weather so truly and vigorously as it is painted in the rolling sea and windy sky of this stimulating sea piece.
The year before this picture was painted, Turner was elected R A (1802), and during the succeeding years he spent much time in traveling, visiting France, Switzerland, Italy, and the Rhine, and producing innumerable water colors, as well as some of his finest oil paintings.
That splendor of the sky, which was to be peculiar glory of Turner, is first indicated in his ‘Sun rising through Vapor’, painted in 1807, and it was possibly because this was the first picture in which he was able to obtain the effect after which he strove most earnestly that he was so attached to this picture. He sold it, but twenty years later, at the De Tabley sale of 1827, he bought it back for £514 10s. in order that he might bequeath this to the nation, together with his ‘Dido Building Carthage’ on condition they should be hung in perpetuity beside Claude’s ‘Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca’ and ‘Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba.’ Conscious of his own powers and confident in the verdict of posterity, Turner was jealous of other painter’s fame, and he was enraged at the way in which English connoisseurs extolled the pictures of Claude while they neglected his own works.
The pictures already mentioned, together with the lovely ‘Crossing the Brook,’ a view near Weir Head, Tamar, looking towards Plymouth and Mount Edgcumbe, also painted in 1815, may be regarded as the chief masterpieces in oils of Turner’s first period. After 1820 a great change was manifest in his manner of painting. In the early paintings dark predominated, with a very limited portion of light, and he painted solidly throughout with a vigorous and full brush; but his later works are based on a light ground with a small proportion of dark, and using opaque touches of te purest orange, blue purple, and other powerful colors, Turner obtained infinitely delicate gradations which produced a splendid and harmonious effect. This new manner is first seen in his ‘Bay of Baiæ,’ painted in 1823, and six years later, in 1829, it is revealed in all its glory in one of Turner’s most beautiful and poetical works, ‘Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus,’ in which, as Redgrave has said, ‘while in no way gaudy, it seems impossible to surpass the power of color which he has attained, or the terrible beauty in which he has clothed his poetic conception.’ In this glorious picture, ‘a work almost without a parallel in art,’ the nominal subject has little more power over us today than it has in the Claudes. Turner’s painting attracts us primarily, not as an illustration to a familiar story from Homer, but as a glowing piece of color, a magnificently decorative transcription of a flaming sunrise. And with all this the picture is a ‘magic casement’ through which our imagination looks out on a world of romance, for in this color is all the intoxication of triumph, of final victory after perils escaped; and though Turner himself probably did not know it, and few who look upon his masterpiece are conscious of the fact, this picture subconsciously expresses the elation, the pride, and even the touch of insolence, that all England felt after her victorious issue from the Napoleonic wars.
The Rise Of Landscape Painting (continued)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Synthetic Diamond Update
The latest CVD (chemical vapor deposition) synthetic diamonds produced by Apollo Diamond Inc are better in color and clarity (a significant improvement) + well-proportioned, relatively large colorless, near-colorless and fancy-colored diamonds (comparable in quality to many natural diamonds in the gem market) are available (0.14-0.71ct range) + for now CVD synthetic diamonds are identifiable by their (unusual internal graining, fluorescence zoning) unique gemological and spectroscopic features + I think, CVD diamond growth techniques will continue to improve in the coming years and will eventually be in the gem market + if in doubt always consult a reputed gem testing laboratory.
Useful link:
www.apollodiamond.com
Useful link:
www.apollodiamond.com
Monday, February 11, 2008
Gem Scam Lives On
Siriporn Sachamuneewongse writes about the typical gem scams in Bangkok (Thailand) + the official view (s) + the dos and dont's + other viewpoints @ http://www.bangkokpost.com/100208_Perspective/10Feb2008_pers002.php
Useful links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_gem_scam
www.geocities.com/thaigemscamgroup
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AJHi8uC7T8
Useful links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_gem_scam
www.geocities.com/thaigemscamgroup
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AJHi8uC7T8
Eric Touchaleaume
Eric Touchaleaume has been described as the Indiana Jones of furniture collecting + he has spent the past decade scouring remote, often lawless regions in search of valuable relics, often at considerable personal risk + he has been a Prouvé specialist, and has an amazing collection + he is one-of-a-kind-dealer with unique taste for designs + I liked them.
Useful links:
www.galerie54.com
www.designmuseum.org
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/design/story/0,,2253696,00.html
Useful links:
www.galerie54.com
www.designmuseum.org
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/design/story/0,,2253696,00.html
GFI Group
The New York-based GFI Group Inc has been named by the Energy Risk magazine as the top commodity broker in the annual rankings + the group provides brokerage services, market data and analytics software products to institutional clients in markets for a range of credit, financial, equity and commodity instruments.
Useful links:
www.energyrisk.com
www.gfigroup.com
www.eprm.com
Useful links:
www.energyrisk.com
www.gfigroup.com
www.eprm.com
What I Learned Before I Sold To Warren Buffett
What I Learned Before I Sold to Warren Buffett by Barnett C., Jr. Helzberg + Barnett Helzberg is a simple/readable book + it's an entrepreneur's journey with many nuggets of wisdom + I liked it.
Count Basie
William 'Count' Basie was an American jazz pianist + organist + bandleader + composer + he is commonly regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time + his music was characterized by his trademark jumping beat + the contrapuntal accents of his own piano + I liked the music.
Useful links:
www.countbasieorchestra.com
www.countbasietheatre.org
http://countbasie.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Basie
Useful links:
www.countbasieorchestra.com
www.countbasietheatre.org
http://countbasie.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Basie
The Auction House Spin
Economist writes about the colorful auctioneers and their way of doing business + interesting highlights of the week at Sotheby’s and Christie’s + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10673810
Jewelers Of Renaissance
(via 5000 Years of Gems and Jewelry) Frances Rogers and Alice Beard writes:
6. Girdles And Their Pendants
Very useful as well as ornamental in a period of clothes with few if any pockets was the Renaissance girdle and its pendants.
For everyday-wear the housewife’s girdle was usually a long flexible strip of leather or some textile which was worn diagonally from the waistline at the right side, crossing to the left thigh, where the outer skirt was pulled over it in a loop, thus making a graceful arrangement of drapery. Hanging suspended from her girdle where they were handy were the housewife’s keys. In a day when dwellings of the upper classes were spacious and attendants many, locks and keys were very necessary. Also attached to the girdle was her purse and perhaps a knife or whatever small implement she might have occasion to use.
Sometimes instead of being made of leather or stuff the girdle was a flat chain of silver-gilt or bronze silvered or gilded. Whatever its material, the girdle was ornamented, more often than not, with metal. For formal occasions it generally encircled the body firmly and was sumptuously decorated with enamels and gems and fastened by elaborate clasps. The attached collections of such dangling nicknacks as were favored by the wearer included mirrors, fans, miniatures, knives, tiny books and—most universally worn—a pomander containing perfume and perhaps cosmetics. All these appendages were made or embellished by the jeweler.
The books, usually devotional in character, were jewels in themselves. One, supposed to have belonged to Queen Elizabeth, measured two and half by two inches; its cover of gold was decorated with variously colored enamels and set with a shell cameo. Another of Elizabeth’s girdle pendants was a ‘rounde clock fullie garnished with dyamonds hanging thereat,’ although portable ‘clockes’ or watches were not in general use until a century later.
It is interesting to note during our own times a return of the fashion of wearing pendants attached to the belt. The approach of a belle of the nineties was heralded by the rustle of her silk petticoat (specially advertised for its ability to rustle) and the musical tinkle of her chatelaine. From her belt dangled not only her purse but a heterogeneous collection of elaborate silver nicknacks, more or less useful and generally audible. Sound was an accessory to fashionable costume.
Jewelers Of Renaissance (continued)
6. Girdles And Their Pendants
Very useful as well as ornamental in a period of clothes with few if any pockets was the Renaissance girdle and its pendants.
For everyday-wear the housewife’s girdle was usually a long flexible strip of leather or some textile which was worn diagonally from the waistline at the right side, crossing to the left thigh, where the outer skirt was pulled over it in a loop, thus making a graceful arrangement of drapery. Hanging suspended from her girdle where they were handy were the housewife’s keys. In a day when dwellings of the upper classes were spacious and attendants many, locks and keys were very necessary. Also attached to the girdle was her purse and perhaps a knife or whatever small implement she might have occasion to use.
Sometimes instead of being made of leather or stuff the girdle was a flat chain of silver-gilt or bronze silvered or gilded. Whatever its material, the girdle was ornamented, more often than not, with metal. For formal occasions it generally encircled the body firmly and was sumptuously decorated with enamels and gems and fastened by elaborate clasps. The attached collections of such dangling nicknacks as were favored by the wearer included mirrors, fans, miniatures, knives, tiny books and—most universally worn—a pomander containing perfume and perhaps cosmetics. All these appendages were made or embellished by the jeweler.
The books, usually devotional in character, were jewels in themselves. One, supposed to have belonged to Queen Elizabeth, measured two and half by two inches; its cover of gold was decorated with variously colored enamels and set with a shell cameo. Another of Elizabeth’s girdle pendants was a ‘rounde clock fullie garnished with dyamonds hanging thereat,’ although portable ‘clockes’ or watches were not in general use until a century later.
It is interesting to note during our own times a return of the fashion of wearing pendants attached to the belt. The approach of a belle of the nineties was heralded by the rustle of her silk petticoat (specially advertised for its ability to rustle) and the musical tinkle of her chatelaine. From her belt dangled not only her purse but a heterogeneous collection of elaborate silver nicknacks, more or less useful and generally audible. Sound was an accessory to fashionable costume.
Jewelers Of Renaissance (continued)
The Rise Of Landscape Painting
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
3
The establishment of landscape in the popular estimation as a branch of art, equal to the highest achievements of portraiture or historical painting, was finally achieved by Turner, the greatest glory of British art. Joseph Mallord William Turner was born, appropriately enough, on Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23, 1775; appropriately, because he was destined to become the Shakespeare of English painting. He was the son of a London hairdresser in humble circumstances, who lived and had his shop at 26 Maiden Lane. Covent Garden. As a boy he showed ability as a draughtsman and colorist, and his father exhibited some of the lad’s drawings in his shop, where now and again they found a purchaser. One or two artists who went to the elder Turner to be shaved noticed his son’s drawings, and urged the father to give his son a proper artistic training. So at the age of eleven young Turner was sent to the Soho Academy and had lessons from Thomas Malton, who grounded him well in perspective, and also from Edward Dayes; and in 1789, when he was forteen, he was admitted to the school of the Royal Academy.
Meanwhile he was managing to support himself by selling a few sketches now and then, by putting in backgrounds for architects who wanted nice drawings to show their clients, and by coloring prints for engravers. While tinting prints for John Raphael Smith (1752-1812), the mezzotinter, who made a fortune by engraving the work of Morland, Turner met the brilliant water colorist, Girtin, with whom he made friends, and Girtin introduced him to friendly house of Dr Thomas Monro, at 8 Adelphi Terrace. Here the two young men and other students were welcome every evening, for Monro was an enthusiastic connoisseur who had a studio fitted up for his protégés to work in; he gave them oyster suppers, a few shillings for pocket money when they had nothing of their own, and free medical attendance if they became ill.
In 1797 Turner exhibited his first oil picture, a study of moonlight, at the Royal Academy, but most of the views he painted at this time were in water color. In 1792 he was commissioned to make a series of topographical drawings for a magazine, and this enables him to make the first of those sketching tours which ever afterwards were a feature of his artistic life and to which we owe his enormous range of subject. In the following year he opened his own studio in Hand Court, Maiden Lane, where he exhibited and sold the drawings he had made on his tours.
Turner never had any difficulty making a living, and we may account for his success where so many other landscape artists had failed by the fact that he established his reputation in water color before he proceeded to oils. From the time of Richard Wilson there had always been a demand for topographical drawings in water colors, and Wilson’s contemporary, Paul Sandby, R A (1725-1809), the ‘father of water color art’, was one of the first to popularize landscape by going about the country and sketching gentlemen’s mansions and parks. Landowners were pleased to purchase his and other artists’ watercolors of views on their estates, and their pride in their own property was gradually converted by these artists into a real appreciation of the beauties of Nature.
The Rise Of Landscape Painting (continued)
3
The establishment of landscape in the popular estimation as a branch of art, equal to the highest achievements of portraiture or historical painting, was finally achieved by Turner, the greatest glory of British art. Joseph Mallord William Turner was born, appropriately enough, on Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23, 1775; appropriately, because he was destined to become the Shakespeare of English painting. He was the son of a London hairdresser in humble circumstances, who lived and had his shop at 26 Maiden Lane. Covent Garden. As a boy he showed ability as a draughtsman and colorist, and his father exhibited some of the lad’s drawings in his shop, where now and again they found a purchaser. One or two artists who went to the elder Turner to be shaved noticed his son’s drawings, and urged the father to give his son a proper artistic training. So at the age of eleven young Turner was sent to the Soho Academy and had lessons from Thomas Malton, who grounded him well in perspective, and also from Edward Dayes; and in 1789, when he was forteen, he was admitted to the school of the Royal Academy.
Meanwhile he was managing to support himself by selling a few sketches now and then, by putting in backgrounds for architects who wanted nice drawings to show their clients, and by coloring prints for engravers. While tinting prints for John Raphael Smith (1752-1812), the mezzotinter, who made a fortune by engraving the work of Morland, Turner met the brilliant water colorist, Girtin, with whom he made friends, and Girtin introduced him to friendly house of Dr Thomas Monro, at 8 Adelphi Terrace. Here the two young men and other students were welcome every evening, for Monro was an enthusiastic connoisseur who had a studio fitted up for his protégés to work in; he gave them oyster suppers, a few shillings for pocket money when they had nothing of their own, and free medical attendance if they became ill.
In 1797 Turner exhibited his first oil picture, a study of moonlight, at the Royal Academy, but most of the views he painted at this time were in water color. In 1792 he was commissioned to make a series of topographical drawings for a magazine, and this enables him to make the first of those sketching tours which ever afterwards were a feature of his artistic life and to which we owe his enormous range of subject. In the following year he opened his own studio in Hand Court, Maiden Lane, where he exhibited and sold the drawings he had made on his tours.
Turner never had any difficulty making a living, and we may account for his success where so many other landscape artists had failed by the fact that he established his reputation in water color before he proceeded to oils. From the time of Richard Wilson there had always been a demand for topographical drawings in water colors, and Wilson’s contemporary, Paul Sandby, R A (1725-1809), the ‘father of water color art’, was one of the first to popularize landscape by going about the country and sketching gentlemen’s mansions and parks. Landowners were pleased to purchase his and other artists’ watercolors of views on their estates, and their pride in their own property was gradually converted by these artists into a real appreciation of the beauties of Nature.
The Rise Of Landscape Painting (continued)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Heard On The Street
It was not globalization / deregulation / technology / or free markets + it was greed, the root cause of the world’s economic problems + the bankers were greedy to lend to earn interest, while the public were greedy to borrow money + spend on things they couldn’t afford—period.
Deutsche Börse Photography
Some of the highlights of this year's Deutsche Börse Photography Prize @ Deutsche Börse Photography Prize + From Stockport to Ahmedabad (via Guardian) + I liked it.
Marc Choyt + Helen Chantler
I found Marc Choyt + Helen Chantler's ideas interesting because the jewelry company's social activism components + the Fair, Responsible, Ecological system, a unique concept in the industry, is so different from the mainstream + I believe they are transforming jewelry marketing in a socially responsible way + they may inspire others to follow their footsteps.
Useful links:
www.fairjewelry.org
www.celticjewelry.com
www.circlemanifesto.com
www.madisondialogue.org
www.communitymining.org
www.responsiblejewellery.com
www.ethicalmetalsmiths.org
www.fairtradegems.com
www.clearconsciencejewelry.org
Useful links:
www.fairjewelry.org
www.celticjewelry.com
www.circlemanifesto.com
www.madisondialogue.org
www.communitymining.org
www.responsiblejewellery.com
www.ethicalmetalsmiths.org
www.fairtradegems.com
www.clearconsciencejewelry.org
Engagement Rings
This is what I found interesting from ABC News @
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/popup?id=4239795 about engagement rings, I mean, the really pricey ones.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/popup?id=4239795 about engagement rings, I mean, the really pricey ones.
The Mind Of The Market
The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics by Michael Shermer is about the evolutionary roots of our economic behavior + he pulls together ideas from biology, psychology and neuroscience + I liked this book.
Jewelers Of Renaissance
(via 5000 Years of Gems and Jewelry) Frances Rogers and Alice Beard writes:
But the untrammeled imagination of the jeweler chose even more often themes and figures from ancient mythology. Of all the gems provided by nature large baroque pearls seem to have been made especially for the satisfaction of the sixteenth century goldsmith. In their strange and irregular formation he saw fantastic resemblances to varied and innumerable objects such as the torso of a man, the white breast of a woman, the body of a swan, or the bubbling crest of a wave.
Having decided what his baroque pearl looked like, he proceeded to complete the picture by adding its missing parts. Head, arms, wings or whatever was necessary were developed in gold, enamel and gems. Pearls naturally held suggestion of the sea, and mythology teemed with tritons, mermen, nereids, sirens, and fabulous monsters of the deep. The imaginative jeweler delighted in them.
One of the most extraordinary pendants of the period represents a triton whose body is a single baroque pearl, the head and arms of white enamel, and the tail of brilliant green, blue, and yellow enamel encrusted at intervals with gems. In one hand he holds a weapon and in the other the mask of a satyr, by way of shield. Three large pendant pearls dangle from this marvelously wrought creature.
A favorite design was a ship with masts, rigging, forecastle, cabin, even the ship’s lantern and sometimes the mariners, all complete in gold, enamel, and gems. As may readily be understood, many of these jewels required close inspection, so minute and intricate was their detail.
Pendants were used as containers, hinged cases for the relic of a saint, miniature of a sweetheart, perfume, cosmetic, bejeweled toothpick and what not. It is impossible to list the infinite variety of these jewels.
The Renaissance jeweler even impinged on the province of the sculptor and fashioned his precious materials into statuettes not intended to be worn. Some of them are set on standards whose base is seal, but others disdain utility and stand (or fall) on their right to be regarded as objects of art. There are delightfully absurd specimens of the jeweler’s efforts in this direction at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among them is a Roman senator bedecked with diamonds and emeralds; manfully he expands his chest, composed of a single baroque pearl. There is something slightly amiss with the anatomy of that chest—but still it does surprisingly suggest a human torso, especially considering the fact that it was modeled by an oyster.
Diverting also is the little brown negress, carved from ambergris. The figure is nude except for necklace, bracelets and head ornaments of gold and gems. While ambergris is not really a gem material, it was, by reason of its fragrance and supposed curative powers, so highly prized that it is usually listed as one of the ‘marine gems.’
Jewelers Of Renaissance (continued)
But the untrammeled imagination of the jeweler chose even more often themes and figures from ancient mythology. Of all the gems provided by nature large baroque pearls seem to have been made especially for the satisfaction of the sixteenth century goldsmith. In their strange and irregular formation he saw fantastic resemblances to varied and innumerable objects such as the torso of a man, the white breast of a woman, the body of a swan, or the bubbling crest of a wave.
Having decided what his baroque pearl looked like, he proceeded to complete the picture by adding its missing parts. Head, arms, wings or whatever was necessary were developed in gold, enamel and gems. Pearls naturally held suggestion of the sea, and mythology teemed with tritons, mermen, nereids, sirens, and fabulous monsters of the deep. The imaginative jeweler delighted in them.
One of the most extraordinary pendants of the period represents a triton whose body is a single baroque pearl, the head and arms of white enamel, and the tail of brilliant green, blue, and yellow enamel encrusted at intervals with gems. In one hand he holds a weapon and in the other the mask of a satyr, by way of shield. Three large pendant pearls dangle from this marvelously wrought creature.
A favorite design was a ship with masts, rigging, forecastle, cabin, even the ship’s lantern and sometimes the mariners, all complete in gold, enamel, and gems. As may readily be understood, many of these jewels required close inspection, so minute and intricate was their detail.
Pendants were used as containers, hinged cases for the relic of a saint, miniature of a sweetheart, perfume, cosmetic, bejeweled toothpick and what not. It is impossible to list the infinite variety of these jewels.
The Renaissance jeweler even impinged on the province of the sculptor and fashioned his precious materials into statuettes not intended to be worn. Some of them are set on standards whose base is seal, but others disdain utility and stand (or fall) on their right to be regarded as objects of art. There are delightfully absurd specimens of the jeweler’s efforts in this direction at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among them is a Roman senator bedecked with diamonds and emeralds; manfully he expands his chest, composed of a single baroque pearl. There is something slightly amiss with the anatomy of that chest—but still it does surprisingly suggest a human torso, especially considering the fact that it was modeled by an oyster.
Diverting also is the little brown negress, carved from ambergris. The figure is nude except for necklace, bracelets and head ornaments of gold and gems. While ambergris is not really a gem material, it was, by reason of its fragrance and supposed curative powers, so highly prized that it is usually listed as one of the ‘marine gems.’
Jewelers Of Renaissance (continued)
The Rise Of Landscape Painting
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
2
According to a great historian, Dr S R Gardiner, much of the best literature of the early nineteenth century was inspired by the ‘better side’ of the French Revolution, ‘its preference of the natural to the artificial, and of humble to the exalted’. This same preference is clearly visible in the art of George Morland (1763-1804).
Morland, who was born in London on June 26, 1763, was the son and the grandson of artists. His father, Henry Robert Morland (1730-97), discovered his son’s talent at an early age, and proceeded to force it with unparalleled avarice and tyranny, so that his unfortunate son had no life at all outside the garret in which he was kept earning money for the needy household. George Morland began drawing when he was three, at the age of ten he was exhibiting in the Royal Academy; but while his hand and his eyes were trained to accomplish remarkable feats of painting, the rest of his education was absolutely neglected, so that he grew up empty-headed, with a great longing to escape the paternal tyranny and be able to enjoy himself.
Inevitably, when he did at last break away from his father, he plunged into dissipation, and divided his time between drinking and painting. In 1786 he married and pulled himself together for a time, but he was so fond of his liberty that he refused an offer from Romney of £300 a year for three years to be his assistant, and preferred to ramble about the country painting rustic scenes and spending too much time and money in alehouses.
For a little while, before his health was ruined by drink, he was in easy circumstances, for his paintings of domestic scenes and farm life were exceedingly popular, and he was better known to the people than any of his august contemporaries. All his principal works were engraved, and these colored prints after Morland’s pictures found their way into many humble homes. It is probable that his well known painting at the National Gallery, ‘The Interior of a Stable’, was painted about 1791, which would nearly coincide with the period of Morland’s greatest prosperity. The stable is said to be that of the White Lion Inn at Paddington, where Morland once had as many as eight horses, but partly owing to his drinking habits and partly owing to his unbusinesslike methods his prosperity soon dwindled.
Nothwithstanding his dissipation—and a day rarely passed in which he was not drunk—he was not idle, for Morland was the author of four thousand pictures and of a still greater number of drawings. But his intemperance and his dependence on dealers gradually improverished his art, and the man who had a genuine love and understanding of countrylife, and ought to have been one of the world’s greatest rustic painters, sank into ‘pot boiling’, painting what the dealers wanted instead of what he wanted to do himself. His terms were four guineas a day—and his drink! Morland had got into the state when he ‘didn’t care,’ though in his sober moments he must have seen the irony and impropriety of a man of his character painting Hogarthian moralities like ‘The Fruits of Early Industry,’ ‘The Effects of Extravagance and Idleness,’ and so forth. Indeed, these in his own day were Morland’s most popular works, and though some of them show the degeneration of his drawing, and his carelessness in their ‘wooly’ rendering of form, even to the end a little painting more carefully handled and jewel-like in color will now and again show what a great painter he might have been. His last miserable years, 1800-4, were spent in debtor’s prison, yet even here, with a brandy bottle always handy, he was still industrious, and for one dealer alone during this period he painted one hundred and ninety two pictures. At the early age of forty one George Morland died, completely wrecked, the victim of his own want of education and of roguish employers.
The Rise Of Landscape Painting (continued)
2
According to a great historian, Dr S R Gardiner, much of the best literature of the early nineteenth century was inspired by the ‘better side’ of the French Revolution, ‘its preference of the natural to the artificial, and of humble to the exalted’. This same preference is clearly visible in the art of George Morland (1763-1804).
Morland, who was born in London on June 26, 1763, was the son and the grandson of artists. His father, Henry Robert Morland (1730-97), discovered his son’s talent at an early age, and proceeded to force it with unparalleled avarice and tyranny, so that his unfortunate son had no life at all outside the garret in which he was kept earning money for the needy household. George Morland began drawing when he was three, at the age of ten he was exhibiting in the Royal Academy; but while his hand and his eyes were trained to accomplish remarkable feats of painting, the rest of his education was absolutely neglected, so that he grew up empty-headed, with a great longing to escape the paternal tyranny and be able to enjoy himself.
Inevitably, when he did at last break away from his father, he plunged into dissipation, and divided his time between drinking and painting. In 1786 he married and pulled himself together for a time, but he was so fond of his liberty that he refused an offer from Romney of £300 a year for three years to be his assistant, and preferred to ramble about the country painting rustic scenes and spending too much time and money in alehouses.
For a little while, before his health was ruined by drink, he was in easy circumstances, for his paintings of domestic scenes and farm life were exceedingly popular, and he was better known to the people than any of his august contemporaries. All his principal works were engraved, and these colored prints after Morland’s pictures found their way into many humble homes. It is probable that his well known painting at the National Gallery, ‘The Interior of a Stable’, was painted about 1791, which would nearly coincide with the period of Morland’s greatest prosperity. The stable is said to be that of the White Lion Inn at Paddington, where Morland once had as many as eight horses, but partly owing to his drinking habits and partly owing to his unbusinesslike methods his prosperity soon dwindled.
Nothwithstanding his dissipation—and a day rarely passed in which he was not drunk—he was not idle, for Morland was the author of four thousand pictures and of a still greater number of drawings. But his intemperance and his dependence on dealers gradually improverished his art, and the man who had a genuine love and understanding of countrylife, and ought to have been one of the world’s greatest rustic painters, sank into ‘pot boiling’, painting what the dealers wanted instead of what he wanted to do himself. His terms were four guineas a day—and his drink! Morland had got into the state when he ‘didn’t care,’ though in his sober moments he must have seen the irony and impropriety of a man of his character painting Hogarthian moralities like ‘The Fruits of Early Industry,’ ‘The Effects of Extravagance and Idleness,’ and so forth. Indeed, these in his own day were Morland’s most popular works, and though some of them show the degeneration of his drawing, and his carelessness in their ‘wooly’ rendering of form, even to the end a little painting more carefully handled and jewel-like in color will now and again show what a great painter he might have been. His last miserable years, 1800-4, were spent in debtor’s prison, yet even here, with a brandy bottle always handy, he was still industrious, and for one dealer alone during this period he painted one hundred and ninety two pictures. At the early age of forty one George Morland died, completely wrecked, the victim of his own want of education and of roguish employers.
The Rise Of Landscape Painting (continued)
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Coffee Update
Kenneth Davids reviews Colombian coffee lots for its magic mix and match of balance and completeness + other viewpoints @ http://www.coffeereview.com/article.cfm?ID=141
Useful link:
www.juanvaldez.com
Useful link:
www.juanvaldez.com
Fire Obsidian
The experts (using analytical instruments) believe fire obsidian colors are due to the result of light reflecting off thin layers within the material that contain nanometric magnetite crystals + the combination of layer thickness/difference in refractive index causes optical interference giving rise to the spectacular colors.
Useful link:
http://authors.library.caltech.edu/9084
Useful link:
http://authors.library.caltech.edu/9084
Global Economy
According to Warren Buffett, the head of the Berkshire Hathaway Inc, the U.S. dollar will continue to slide because of the huge current account deficit (trade deficit) + force feeding a couple billion a day to the rest of the world is inconsistent with a stable dollar + if the U.S. current account deficit keeps running at current levels, the dollar is certain to be worth less in 5 or 10 years from now against other major currencies such as the Euro and the Canadian dollar + many of the banks who marketed complex investments (the people that brewed this toxic Kool-Aid found themselves drinking a lot of it in the end) which have now crashed are bearing much of the fallout + the ripple effect is dramatic (once somebody says the emperor has no clothes, people start looking at the individuals around them to see whether they've got some of the same/as I've said in the past, it's only when the tide goes out that you find who has been swimming naked/well, the tide has gone out and it has not been a pretty sight) + as for a recession, the United States will do very well over time, despite setbacks such as wars and market bubbles, the country goes forward.
I believe his views are perceived as NFL(near flawless) in the business world + his business operating system is also unique (favors companies with relatively simple businesses, strong management, consistent earnings, good returns on equity, and little debt).
The gem and jewelry sector may have a lot to learn from Warren Buffet.
I believe his views are perceived as NFL(near flawless) in the business world + his business operating system is also unique (favors companies with relatively simple businesses, strong management, consistent earnings, good returns on equity, and little debt).
The gem and jewelry sector may have a lot to learn from Warren Buffet.
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