(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Occasionally he received a commission for a painting, and his noble portrait of Mrs Mary Ann Collmann at the National Gallery, was painted in 1854, the lady being the wife of an architect, Leonard Collmann, who sometimes employed Stevens.
In 1850 Stevens began the chief work of his life with his competition model for the Wellington Monument. Originally he was placed only sixth in the competition and awarded a prize of £100, but fortunately on further consideration the superior merit and appropriateness of his design was perceived and the commission for the monument was definitely given to Stevens. For the remaining seventeen years of his life the artist was at work on this monument, which was all but completed at his death, with the exception of the crowning equestrian statue of the Duke, which, by a strange caprice, was ruled out by the Dean because he did not like the idea of a horse in a church! Eventually this pedantic objection was overruled, and the equestrian statue, carried out from Steven’s model, was placed in position as recently as 1911, so that the whole monument as conceived by Stevens may now be seen in St Pauls. Other memorials of the genius of Stevens in St Paul’s are the four mosaics of Prophets in the spandrels under the dome, which he designed in 1862. The original cartoon for the mosaic of ‘Isaiah’ is now in the Tate Gallery, and nothing equal to it can be found nearer than the Sistine Chapel at Rome. Concurrently with these great masterpieces, Stevens worked at the decoration of Dorchester House, Park Lane, where he completed for Mr Holford two chimney-pieces, a buffet, and other features, and designed a painted ceiling, the whole being a scheme of unequalled splendor in English interior decoration. Worn out by the strain of his monument and his severe battle with life, Alfred Stevens died on May 1, 1875, in the house he had designed and built for himself at 9 Eaton Villas, Haverstock Hill. Apart from the works already mentioned, only a few fragments remain of the art of Alfred Stevens, but while we must always deplore that more opportunities were not given to so great and various an artist, enough exists to prove to all time the measure of his genius.
The Victorian Age (continued)
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The Peruzzi Legend
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The idea that the Brilliant Cut was invented was based on nothing more than armchair speculation by Caire, who wrote in La Science des Pierres Précieuses (1813): ‘C’est par une suite de recherches sur le diamant brut qui avait de la couleur, qu’on parvint à la taille dit diamant recoupé. Les renseignements que j’ai pu me procurer semblent en attribuer la glorie à Vincent Peruzzi, de Venise, qui vivait vers la fin du dix-septième siècle.’ This very tentative and unsubstantiated statement was at once accepted, and repeated verbatim throughout the nineteenth century even by such respected authoritites as the Dutch diamond cutter and trade union leader, Henri Polak. Squares were well-known and highly prized all through the eighteenth century, but it is possible that they were first produced and marketed commercially around 1690, frequently quoted in the literature as the date when the Brilliant Cut was supposed to have been created.
The term Peruzzi Cut has never been used in the diamond trade itself, but has become so firmly established that there is no point in trying to abolish it. It has come to represent absolute perfection. Wilhelm Maier (1949) was full of admiration for its symmetry. He described the central star formation and the facet edges parallel throughout, and added that the balance of the facet edges is the most perfect ever achieved.
The idea that the Brilliant Cut was invented was based on nothing more than armchair speculation by Caire, who wrote in La Science des Pierres Précieuses (1813): ‘C’est par une suite de recherches sur le diamant brut qui avait de la couleur, qu’on parvint à la taille dit diamant recoupé. Les renseignements que j’ai pu me procurer semblent en attribuer la glorie à Vincent Peruzzi, de Venise, qui vivait vers la fin du dix-septième siècle.’ This very tentative and unsubstantiated statement was at once accepted, and repeated verbatim throughout the nineteenth century even by such respected authoritites as the Dutch diamond cutter and trade union leader, Henri Polak. Squares were well-known and highly prized all through the eighteenth century, but it is possible that they were first produced and marketed commercially around 1690, frequently quoted in the literature as the date when the Brilliant Cut was supposed to have been created.
The term Peruzzi Cut has never been used in the diamond trade itself, but has become so firmly established that there is no point in trying to abolish it. It has come to represent absolute perfection. Wilhelm Maier (1949) was full of admiration for its symmetry. He described the central star formation and the facet edges parallel throughout, and added that the balance of the facet edges is the most perfect ever achieved.
The Making Of Second Life
The Making of Second Life: Notes from the New World by Wagner James Au is a fascinating book on the creators of the concept + I am a big fan of Second Life.
Useful link:
http://nwn.blogs.com
Useful link:
http://nwn.blogs.com
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Art Fair
Carol Vogel writes about the European Fine Art Fair at Maastricht, the Netherlands + dealers and collectors from around the world + other viewpoints @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/10/arts/10fair.php
Useful links:
www.tefaf.com
www.haunchofvenison.com
www.mfa.org
www.artic.edu
www.artsmia.org
www.toledomuseum.org
www.clarkart.edu
www.lacma.org
www.nelson-atkins.org
www.noortman.com
www.johnnyvanhaeften.com
Useful links:
www.tefaf.com
www.haunchofvenison.com
www.mfa.org
www.artic.edu
www.artsmia.org
www.toledomuseum.org
www.clarkart.edu
www.lacma.org
www.nelson-atkins.org
www.noortman.com
www.johnnyvanhaeften.com
Wellcome Images
I found the Wellcome Image Awards 2008 interesting + the images via Optical Projection Tomography is so beautiful + I hope to see the concept applied in gemology in the near future at an affordable cost.
Useful links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2008/mar/10/medicalresearch.photography?picture=332890990
www.wellcomecollection.org
Useful links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2008/mar/10/medicalresearch.photography?picture=332890990
www.wellcomecollection.org
The Victorian Age
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
3
Apart from all the other artists of his time stands the lonely figure of Alfred Stevens (1817-75), who, though never fully appreciated by his own contemporaries, is now generally recognized to have been probably the greatest and most complete artist that England ever produced. Stevens was cast in a heroic mould and ought to have lived in a heroic age; painter, sculptor, and architect, he possessed the universality of some giant of the Renaissance; and no other artist of any country has approached more closely in his work to the temper of Michael Angelo. Yet this great Englishman was never recognized or honored by the Royal Academy; throughout his life he had a hard struggle to make a living, and while his Wellington Monument and Prophets for St Paul’s Cathedral prove that he was capable of executing works of the mightiest genius both in painting and in sculpture, for want of more appropriate employment Stevens was condemned to spend a great part of his life in designing stoves, fenders, etc., for commercial firms.
Alfred Stevens was born at Blandford in Dorset in 1817. He was the son of an heraldic painter, whom he assisted from an early age, and while he was still in his teens his rare genius was recognized by some of the better-off residents in the district, who subscribed a purse to enable him to study art in Italy. Thus assisted, Stevens went to Italy in 1833, and stayed there for nearly nine years, studying painting, sculpture, and architecture, chiefly in Florence and Rome. In the latter city he was for two years (1841-2) assistant to the Danish sculptor Thornwaldsen (1770-1844), author of the famous Lion of Lucerne, carved in the solid rock in memory of the Swiss Guards who died in defense of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette.
When Alfred Stevens returned to England in 1842 he was, according to modern authorities, ‘the most thoroughly educated artist the country has seen,’ but his erudition and genius long failed to find suitable employment. In 1844 he competed, unsuccessfully, for a commission to to execute decoration in Westminster Hall, and in the following year he accepted an appointment as Master of Architectural Drawing, Perspective, Modelling, and Ornamental Painting to a new school of Design at Somerset House. To Stevens, however, teaching was never more than a stopgap; he knew that his real business in life was to create works of art, and consequently as soon as he was given an opportunity to do creative work he resigned his appointment and in 1847 he began to decorate Deysbrook, near Liverpool. For the next few years he managed to make a living by working for other architects; in 1849 and 1854 he worked for Cockerell on St George’s Hall, Liverpool; he designed the bronze doors for Pennethorn’s Geological Museum in Jermyn Street; he designed the lions for the British Museum railings in 1852; but work of this kind was so uncertain that in 1850 he had been glad to accept a position as designer in the firm of Hoole at Sheffield. Thanks to Alfred Stevens, this firm secured first prize for their stoves and fenders in the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The Victorian Age (continued)
3
Apart from all the other artists of his time stands the lonely figure of Alfred Stevens (1817-75), who, though never fully appreciated by his own contemporaries, is now generally recognized to have been probably the greatest and most complete artist that England ever produced. Stevens was cast in a heroic mould and ought to have lived in a heroic age; painter, sculptor, and architect, he possessed the universality of some giant of the Renaissance; and no other artist of any country has approached more closely in his work to the temper of Michael Angelo. Yet this great Englishman was never recognized or honored by the Royal Academy; throughout his life he had a hard struggle to make a living, and while his Wellington Monument and Prophets for St Paul’s Cathedral prove that he was capable of executing works of the mightiest genius both in painting and in sculpture, for want of more appropriate employment Stevens was condemned to spend a great part of his life in designing stoves, fenders, etc., for commercial firms.
Alfred Stevens was born at Blandford in Dorset in 1817. He was the son of an heraldic painter, whom he assisted from an early age, and while he was still in his teens his rare genius was recognized by some of the better-off residents in the district, who subscribed a purse to enable him to study art in Italy. Thus assisted, Stevens went to Italy in 1833, and stayed there for nearly nine years, studying painting, sculpture, and architecture, chiefly in Florence and Rome. In the latter city he was for two years (1841-2) assistant to the Danish sculptor Thornwaldsen (1770-1844), author of the famous Lion of Lucerne, carved in the solid rock in memory of the Swiss Guards who died in defense of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette.
When Alfred Stevens returned to England in 1842 he was, according to modern authorities, ‘the most thoroughly educated artist the country has seen,’ but his erudition and genius long failed to find suitable employment. In 1844 he competed, unsuccessfully, for a commission to to execute decoration in Westminster Hall, and in the following year he accepted an appointment as Master of Architectural Drawing, Perspective, Modelling, and Ornamental Painting to a new school of Design at Somerset House. To Stevens, however, teaching was never more than a stopgap; he knew that his real business in life was to create works of art, and consequently as soon as he was given an opportunity to do creative work he resigned his appointment and in 1847 he began to decorate Deysbrook, near Liverpool. For the next few years he managed to make a living by working for other architects; in 1849 and 1854 he worked for Cockerell on St George’s Hall, Liverpool; he designed the bronze doors for Pennethorn’s Geological Museum in Jermyn Street; he designed the lions for the British Museum railings in 1852; but work of this kind was so uncertain that in 1850 he had been glad to accept a position as designer in the firm of Hoole at Sheffield. Thanks to Alfred Stevens, this firm secured first prize for their stoves and fenders in the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The Victorian Age (continued)
Blessed Unrest
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming by Paul Hawken is a fabulous book on environmental social justice on this planet + I liked it.
Useful link:
www.paulhawken.com
Useful link:
www.paulhawken.com
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