Porcelains and Peacocks

A Tale of Two Cities: California Homes Magazine February 2012

2012-02-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday: To a Son of Ireland

2012-01-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

'I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
'Come out of charity,
Come dance with me in Ireland.'

One man, one man alone
In that outlandish gear,
One solitary man
Of all that rambled there
Had turned his stately head.
That is a long way off,
And time runs on,' he said,
'And the night grows rough.'

'I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
'Come out of charity
And dance with me in Ireland.'

'The fiddlers are all thumbs,
Or the fiddle-string accursed,
The drums and the kettledrums
And the trumpets all are burst,
And the trombone,' cried he,
'The trumpet and trombone,'
And cocked a malicious eye,
'But time runs on, runs on.'

I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
"Come out of charity
And dance with me in Ireland.'
William Butler Yeats

Happy Birthday Frank Carr!

Age of Aquarius: The Star

2012-01-21T08:35:00.001-08:00

We have entered into the Sun sign of Aquarius the Water-Carrier. Aquarius is associated with the Greek mythical figure of the youth Ganymede. The most beautiful of mortals he was abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle to be the cup-bearer to the gods. The ruler of the Olympians granted Ganymede eternal youth and immortality placing him in the sky as the constellation Aquarius. The cup bearer is shown on an Attic red figure krater fleeing the advances of Zeus while rolling along a hoop and holding high the gift of a cockerel. Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) depicted Ganymede being abducted by the eagle Zeus as a banquet is being held on Mt. Olympus. The goddess Hēbē hands him a gold cup in anticipation of his new role. Over time the image of Aquarius evolved into that of a beautiful young woman. In the Tarot deck it is The Star card. English occultist Aleister Crowley's (1875-1947) Thoth Tarot shows a naked woman kneeling at the edge of a small pool carrying two urns of water. She has one foot on the ground indicating the practical world and the other aloft representing intuition. Above her she is illuminated by The Star.

Happy Birthday Suzanna Allen, You are always The Star!

Red January: Garnets and Carnations

2012-01-14T20:51:00.001-08:00

The icy month of January is warmed by its red birthstone the garnet and its corresponding birth flower the carnation. The name garnet may have derived from the jeweled fruit the pomegranate. A garnet body centers the mid-seventeenth century Polish eagle that was commissioned by Władysław IV Vasa for his wife Cecilia Renata of Austria. In a detail from the painting of a Madonna and Child by Flemish painter Joos Van Cleve (1485-1540), a single carnation is surmounted by a passion flower. The passion flower was not discovered by Europeans until 1610; the new world flower was added to the old world one by a later artist. Italian artist Antonio del Pollaiolo (1429-1498) depicts a reflective young woman gazing into the future wearing a red dress with a pomegranate motif.

Dreamscapes: The Cult of Beauty

2012-01-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

San Francisco will be graced in February with The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde, 1860–1900 exhibition at the Legion of Honor. It will explore the evolution of the British Aesthetic Movement that promoted "Art for Art's Sake". In contrast to the rigid restraints of Victorian society, followers created an enigmatic world. Ideas on art, sex and death were commingled. One of the artists represented in the show will be American born, British based James Abbott McNeil Whistler (1834-1903). The man who painted like a butterfly but had the verbal sting of a wasp, captured Christine Spartali wearing a sensuous Japanese kimono posed in front of an oriental screen. The Aesthetic Movement was influenced by the exotic wares that had become available in Europe during the nineteenth century from the Far East. Pre-Raphaelite artist Frederick Sandys (1829-1904) painted the Arthurian temptress Vivien crowned with peacock feathers holding the apple of temptation. The model was his gypsy lover Keomi, who he took up with after abandoning his wife. Louise Jopling (1843-1933) was a prominent woman artist of Victorian England, she was painted by one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, John Everett Millais (1829-1896). In addition to being remembered for his contributions to "The Cult of Beauty", Millais is notable for marrying Effie Gray the former wife of the art critic John Ruskin. Sadly Ruskin was not able to consummate their six year marriage. The art critic had been a strong supporter of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood but did not understand the Aesthetic Movement. Ruskin believed that art had to be realistic and have a moral reason, not the nuanced dreamscapes of "The Cult of Beauty".

Dreams: Happy New Year

2011-12-30T08:49:00.000-08:00

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Langston Hughes

American

(1901-1967)

Images:

Charles R. Knight, American (1874-1953)

Sukenobu, Japanese (1671-1750)

Al-Jazari, Mesopotamian (1136-1206)

Blue Winter: Happy Holidays

2011-12-24T09:33:00.000-08:00

Winter uses all the blues there are.

One shade of blue for water, one for ice,

Another blue for shadows over snow.

The clear or cloudy sky uses blue twice-

Both different blues. And hills row after row

Are colored blue according to how for.

You know the bluejay's double-blur device

Shows best when there are no green leaves to show.

And Sirius is a winterbluegreen star.

Robert Francis

American

(1901-1987)

Images:

Harald Sohlberg, Norwegian (1869-1935)

Errol Le Cain, British (1941-1989)

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German (1880-1938)

Sagittarius: Animal Nature Versus Civilized Man

2011-12-09T09:02:00.000-08:00

We are now in the astrological sign of Sagittarius the Archer. It is also the sun sign of Porcelains and Peacocks' friend Kirk Phillips of Shears & Window. The Archer is a centaur, half- man and half- horse symbolizing the conflict between animal nature and civilized man. Those born under the sign share with the centaur of Greek mythology an adventurous spirit and the wisdom of Chrion. They are also honest and direct like the point of an arrow. A sixteenth century Persian tile mosaic of Sagittarius depicts the Archer aiming at his own dragon headed tail. In the constellation card from the English Urania's Mirror of 1825, he is shooting into the heavenly sky. Lithuanian painter and composer, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911) painted Sagittarius as a man hunting a large bird of prey, part of his Cycle of Twelve Pictures (1907).

Happy Birthday Kirk!

California's Unique Masterpieces: California Homes Magazine December 2011

2011-12-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

From the Fairy Realm or Rats in High Heels

2011-11-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

A dear friend of Porcelains and Peacocks refers to deer as "rats in high heels" because they dine on his perfectly landscaped property. P & P is seduced by their graceful independence. Many cultures have viewed them as supernatural; the Celts believed they were connected to the fairy realm. American artist Virginia Frances Sterrett (1900-1931) illustrated the fairy tale Princess Blondine with the cat Beau Minon and his mother, the deer Bonne-Biche. Franz Marc (1880-1916) was a German Expressionist who is remembered for his vibrant renderings of animals including deer. A WPA poster created in the late 1930's reminds us Don't Kill Our Wild Life , especially those controversial deer.

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

2011-11-19T10:20:00.001-08:00

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.
~ Meister Eckhart

The first Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1621 was a harmonious collaboration between the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag nation. Celebrating the colony's first successful harvest it featured cornbread made from the crop that the Native Americans had taught the staving Colonists to grow. The banquet also included venison, wild fowl, eel, lobster, onions, squash, and berries. Relations between the settlers and the original inhabitants did not remain cordial. In the early nineteenth century the American artist Charles Bird King (1785-1862) was commissioned by the government to create portraits of Native American leaders and their vanishing life. William H. Bradley (1868-1962) introduced Art Nouveau style to America in his 1895 Thanksgiving color lithograph for the literary journal The Chap-Book. The Boston born artist depicted two women wearing voluminous pumpkin shaped dresses and carrying abundant trays of food. A poster from 1880 promotes California as The Cornucopia of the World. It encouraged farmers to migrate West to a new land of health and wealth leaving behind cyclones and blizzards.

Change and Transformation: Autumn in Art

2011-11-10T14:04:00.001-08:00

Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.

Faith Baldwin

The vivid colors of Autumn's foliage and harvest have inspired many writers and artists. Belgian painter and decorative artist, Xavier Mellery (1845-1921) depicts leaves as women dancing through air catching on a spider's web. Autumn is also portrayed as a woman by Polish-Armenian artist Teodor Axentowicz (1859-1938). She lies languorously in a bed of leaves covered by cobwebs and supported by a mischievous fawn. In The Tuileries Garden a marble term of Vertumnus, the roman god of seasons, change and transformation hides amid the leaves ready to seduce Pomona the goddess of fruitful abundance.

Golden November: Topaz and Chrysanthemum

2011-11-04T12:01:00.001-07:00

November is a golden month with the birthstone of yellow topaz and the birth flower Chrysanthemum. During the Middle Ages the topaz was thought to be a talisman that could heal illnesses of both the mind and body while postponing death. One of the largest known deposits of the gemstone is located in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The stone was incorporated into Portuguese jewelry of the eighteenth century like the intricate bodice ornament. Sprays of flowers composed of rock crystal set in silver flank an oval sherry topaz that terminates in a bow with a large pear drop. Alphonse Mucha, the Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist depicted the gemstone as a beautiful tawny woman. Chrysanthemum is from the Greek meaning gold flower. Because it is a perennial it is a symbol of returning wisdom. Austrian painter Egon Schiele (1890-1918) painted a white Chrysanthemum, signifying truth.

Photo of bodice ornament from Victoria & Albert collections.

Vilian or Vision: The Changing Face of the Witch

2011-10-21T16:45:00.001-07:00

In the painting Love Magic, the unknown artist from the Lower Rhine depicts an alluring witch. Painted at the end of the fifteen century it shows her naked except for a diaphanous veil and phallic shaped patten slippers. The witch is pouring an intoxicating liquid over a red heart while being observed by a mysterious man in black. Is he a voyeur or her conjured lover? This erotic image is in contrast to the terrifying reality of the witch hunts that went on in Europe and North America between 1480 to 1750. The world was in chaos with rapid social, economic and political changes resulting in the witch becoming a symbol of life out of control. With the Age of Enlightenment there came an end to the hunts, trials, and executions of those accused of witchcraft. A more romanticized view of sorcery is seen in the watercolor by Australian artist Christian Waller (1894-1954) of Morgan le Fay. The figure of Arthurian myth was schooled in not only witchcraft but also powers of healing. In a 1930s illustration from Child Magazine three young witches dance under a full moon, happily unaware of any discord in the world.

Visions in a Mirror: Husband or Skull

2011-10-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

October is a favorite month for Porcelains and Peacocks because of the wonderfully pagan holiday of Halloween. Going back to the Celts. the last night of October was viewed as a portal between the worlds of the living and the dead which gave the Druids clarity to see into the future. Perhaps this is where the tradition of an unmarried woman peering into a mirror on Halloween originates. She would sit in a darkened room with a candle lit and if she were lucky she would see the visage of her future husband in the mirror but if she saw the image of a skull she would die unwed. American illustrator C. Allan Gilbert (1873-1929) played with the theme by creating an optical illusion of a woman gazing into a boudoir mirror that forms the shape of a skull in All is Vanity. A happier outcome is revealed in a Halloween card of the same era. Hans Baldung Grien (1484-1545) was a German Renaissance artist; when his maiden gazes into the mirror she is met with an image of a skull as she accidentally treads on a deadly serpent.

Fire & Ice on the Bay: California Homes Magazine October 2011

2011-09-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

Truth and Balance: Happy Birthday Libra

2011-09-26T08:15:00.001-07:00

Porcelains and Peacocks is blessed to have two very special Libra friends whose birthdays are this week: Heidi Gerpheide of California Homes Magazine and Kelly Hartgraves of Epoca San Francisco. Each of them lives their life in truth and balance much like the figure of Libra holding the celestial pair of scales.

Imagery for Libra is associated with the personification of Justice dating back to antiquity. The Roman Goddess Justitia, was shown wearing the blindfold of objectivity holding the scales of truth and fairness in one hand and the sword of reason in the other. In ancient Egypt she was known as Ma'at and would assist Osiris in the judgement of the dead by weighting their hearts

Dutch painter and draftsman Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574) was greatly influenced by Italianate style as seen in his illustration Justitia, His fellow countryman Johan Vermeer (1632-1675) painted an interior scene of a housewife holding an empty balance with a painting of The Last Judgement behind her. The Litany of Loreta Embroideries are a mysterious set of panels that incorporate Pre-Raphaelite style with exquisite needlework. From it the Mirror of Justice depicts the Virgin Mary holding a pair of balanced scales.(Image courtesy of Stitch Magazine)

Happy Birthday to our Just Friends.

The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show: California Homes Magazine October 2011

2011-09-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Light Filled Spaces: California Homes Magazine October 2011

2011-09-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Heroes Just For One Day: Remembering 9/11

2011-09-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Courage easily finds its own eloquence. Plautus

As we reflect on the tenth anniversary of September 11, we remember the courage of the heroes and heroines of this tragic event. Courage or Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues in Christian tradition. Adopted from Classical Greek philosophy, courage is defined as an ability to confront fear, uncertainty, or intimidation. Symbolically Fortitude is represented by a calm woman subduing a ferocious lion in the Tarot deck. The fiftieth century Visconti-Sforza tarot deck was hand painted using precious materials. The Milanese model shown on the Fortitude card may have been a member of either the Sforza or Viscounti families. Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) also depicted courage as a woman in his Allegory of Fortitude using tempera on a wood panel. But our heroes are often viewed as masculine as in the subjects of Greek mythology. The hero Perseus decapitated the underworld monster Medusa resulting in the birth of the winged stallion Pegasus. Sired by the god Poseidon, the white horse is shown with Perseus as they ride across the heavens to rescue Andromeda in the painting by English artist Sir Frederick Leighton (1830-1896).

Celebrating Labor Day: The Photographs of Lewis Wickes Hine

2011-09-03T09:04:00.001-07:00

Photography can light-up darkness

and expose ignorance

Lewis Wickes Hine

As Labor Day marks the end of Summer it also honors American workers and their achievements. It became a federal holiday in 1894 at a time when the Industrial Revolution had caused the American workforce to leave farms to toil in factories, canneries, textile mills and mines. Children along with adults worked twelve hour days and seven day weeks in what were often unsafe conditions that lacked fresh air and sanitation. Out of necessity labor unions organized strikes and rallies resulting in sometime violent conflicts between workers and police. From this turmoil came the peaceful tradition of Labor Day celebrated with parades, parties and sports events. From labor unions to photojournalism, the camera captured American workers and helped improve their conditions. Wisconsin born photographer and sociologist Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940) gave us images of poverty, child labor, and workers on the job. Early in his career he documented immigrants coming through Ellis Island with the same dignity as a painter depicting the Mayflower pilgrims. These immigrants entered the work force that Wickes would passionately photograph.

Blue Island: The Hydrangea in Art

2011-08-31T09:35:00.001-07:00

"Their blue, is the blue that adorns the Azores on lipid days...this is a blue that is even more blue, the bunches of flowers of a colour more intense and more fresh. They are in every direction: rising along the roads and the fields forming hedges; they serve to divide the parcels and to cover the peaceful animals."

- Raul Brandão, As Ilhas Desconhecidas

The Portuguese writer Raul Brandão (1867-1930) was describing the blue hydrangeas that cover the island of Faial in the Archipelago of the Azores. The native flowering plant of southern and eastern Asia was introduced to the Portuguese island by explorers returning from Japan to the mainland. The acidic soil on Faial is what produces the blue color of the hydrangea and Brandão poetically called the island, Ilha Azul.

The blue flowers have also inspired artists. Agnes Goodsir (1864-1939) was an Australian painter who lived in Paris during the 1920's and '30's. Although remembered primarily for her portraits, her still life of blue hydrangeas with Tahitian pearls is enchanting. The Belle Époque painter Paul César Helleu (1859-1927) was also known for his portraits as in his pastel The Lioness with Blue Hydrangeas. English painter Augustus William Enness (1876-1948) specialized in landscapes of the Lake District but incorporated a bouquet of blue flowers into his From a Lakeland Window: Hydrangeas.

Le Singe et le Chat: Bertrand and Raton

2011-08-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

Currently Epoca San Francisco's inventory includes an enchanting set of French posters depicting the fables of Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695) illustrated by Benjamin Rabier (1864-1939). One of the nine panels tells the story of Le Singe et le Chat (The Monkey and the Cat) in which Bertrand the monkey manipulates Raton the cat through flattery to retrieve roasting chestnuts from their master's burning hearth. As Raton reaches for the nuts she repeatedly singes her paw but manages to pull the bounty from the cinders. Bertrand had promised to share the chestnuts but instead he eats them all. When the master returns the pets are shooed away and Raton is left with a burnt paw and nothing to show for it. The moral of the story, the flatterer seeks some benefit at your expense. From the fable comes the English idiom a cat's paw meaning one used by another as a tool. For this reason it became a popular theme for political cartoons. One such satirical view reveals a French red uniformed monkey directing a blue uniformed cat in Bertrand avec Raton s'amusent à tirer les marrons du feu. A 1900 black and white children's book illustration by Percy J. Billinghurst shows the cunning Bertrand anticipating the hot delicacy that the gullible Raton grabs from the fire.

Blue Melody: Forget-Me-Nots and Sapphires

2011-08-21T05:01:00.000-07:00

Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of Heaven,

Blossom the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Although it is still August, Porcelains and Peacocks is very excited about the approach of September. The flower for the month is the forget-me-not and the birthstone is the sapphire; both are blue, P & P's favorite color. Forget-me-nots have long been a symbol of true love and remembrance. A medieval legend tells the story of a knight strolling by a river with his lady. He stops to pick her a posy of small blue flowers but the weight of his armor causes him to fall into the water. As he is drowning he tosses the bouquet to his love saying, "Forget me not". Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard (1803-1847) who is better known by the pseudonym of J. J. Grandville, depicts the forget-me- not in the guise of a woman tossing flowers into the river in the engraving from Les Fleurs Animées. Fellow Frenchman Louis-Aristide-Léon Constan (fl.1830's-1860's) shows a more academic approach to the flower in his chromolithograph Moyosotis azorica. Like the forget-me-not, the sapphire has symbolic associations. Its blue color is connected to the sky, heaven and angelic realm. An Art Nouveau brooch by Louis Zorra combines a cluster of sapphires with opal and pearl in an enamel and gold setting.

Little Flowers: Babylon Baroque visits Bagdad by the Bay

2011-08-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

Recently Porcelains and Peacocks had the pleasure of meeting Leonard Greco Jr. of the artfully esoteric blog Babylon Baroque, www.babylonbaroque.wordpress.com. He had come on his first visit to San Francisco along with his spouse, David and their four dogs. Len reminded P&P that Bagdad by the Bay was originally named for Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.

Francis was born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone (1181-1226) to a rich textile merchant in Assisi. He became known as Francesco perhaps because of his father's commercial success in France or in honor of his French mother. Early in life he enjoyed the pleasures of wealth and position. He gradually became disillusioned and abandoned it all to choose a life of poverty and the spirit. Francis is particularly remembered for his love of animals. Fioretti di San Francesco, Little Flowers of St. Francis tells the legends of the saint preaching to a flock of birds and convincing a lone wolf not to kill the people of Gubbio.

Russian painter and writer Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) who was influenced by both Western and Eastern cultures shows an Asian tinged Francis speaking to his winged friends. A Chiaroscuro styled saint is rendered by Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664). Like Zurbarán, Italian Baroque painter Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639) was a follower of Caravaggio's strong contrasts between light and dark as depicted in his St. Francis and the Angel.

In Black and White: My New Web Site

2011-07-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

I consider myself an accidental writer. Having worked in the interior design industry for twenty-five years selling and marketing the esoteric and exquisite, I have seen it all change in the last few years. Now that much of what was special has been replaced by cartoonish mediocrity, I have turned to writing about what I still find unique about interior design. Please view a selection of my writings on my new website, www.kendraboutellwriter.com.

The Versatile Blogger Award: Celebrating Galicia

2011-07-27T09:11:00.001-07:00

Thank you Coco from My Galician Garden, mygaliciangarden.blogspot.com for nominating Porcelains and Peacocks to The Versatile Blogger Award. Rather than follow the rules of the award I will use this post to honor the culture of Galicia, Spain.

Located to the north of Portugal, the Galician language is descended from the Romance language Galician-Portuguese of the Middle Ages. From the twelfth to fourteenth centuries Galician-Portuguese was used to write the lyric poetry of Spain and Portugal. The Cantigas de Santa Maria were manuscripts written in Galician-Portuguese during the rein of Alonso X of Castile (1221-1264). The songs all mention the Virgin Mary and some are accompanied by colored miniatures showing musicians playing a wide variety of instruments. The language was also utilized for the Cantiga d'amigo, medieval erotic love poetry. Love is the theme of Galician painter's Xesús Rodríguez Corredoira (1889-1939) Love and its Pain which was influenced by the work of El Greco. A sixteenth century illustration of the coat of arms of the Galicia kingdom depicts a covered chalice on an azure field scattered with gold crosses.

Ennui: The Princess Who Never Smiled

2011-07-21T22:26:00.001-07:00

"The only horrible thing in the world is ennui, Dorian. That is the one sin for which there is no forgiveness."

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Porcelains and Peacocks has been remiss about postings lately and perhaps it had been due to a case of ennui. In the Russian fairy tale The Princess Who Never Smiled the subject of the story is so melancholy that she has never laughed. Her father the King offers her hand in marriage as a reward to the man who can amuse her. Those that fail have their skin stripped from their backs and salt rubbed into their wounds. Russian artist Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926) shows The Unsmiling Tsarevna suffering the attentions of fortune seekers. Venetian painter Federico Zandomenegh (1841-1917) was influenced by his friendship with Edgar Degas concentrated on depicting women as seen in his pensive painting Languor. Regarded as one of Australia's greatest artists, Norman Lindsay (1879-1969) worked in many mediums. His voluptuous nudes such as the oil painting Languor were controversial at the time; in 1940 sixteen crates of his work were impounded by American officials and burned as pornography.

Mad as a Hatter: Illustrations of The Hatter

2011-07-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

English author Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) created the fictional character of The Hatter for his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass. Known culturally as the Mad Hatter, he attends A Mad Tea-Party and is referred to by the Cheshire Cat as mad. The colloquial phrase "Mad as a hatter" describes a crazy person but has ambiguous origins. It may relate to the hat making industry's use of mercury salts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Unaware of the consequences hatters used a mercury solution to transform rabbit fur into felt, breathing in toxic fumes in poorly ventilated workshops. Over time mercury poisoning effected the nervous system causing hallucinations, anxiety, irritability and depression; the hatters went mad.

Wearing multiple top hats, The Hatter is shown partaking in a Mad Tea-Party as illustrated by the American writer and author Blanche McManus (1870-1935), McMannus primarily authored and illustrated travel books. Fellow American illustrator and landscape painter Gertrude Kay (1884-1939) was also influenced by her foreign travels in her use of rich colors and strong compositions. English cartoonist and illustrator William Heath Robinson (1872-1944) came from a family of artists. He is best know for his drawings of eccentric machines.

Lewis may have also modeled his crazy hatter on Theophilus Carter (1825-1895) an eccentric furniture dealer and inventor who wore a top hat. Carter is remembered for inventing The Alarm Clock Bed which woke the sleeper up by tossing them into a bathtub filled with cold water.

Lighting America: Luminism

2011-06-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

In observing the 4th of July we also celebrate the diverse physical beauty of the United States. Luminism was a poetic art movement of the late nineteenth century that captured light as it played across the American landscape. It was derived from the Hudson River School that was influenced by European Romanticism. Luminist paintings often depicted cool waterscapes reflecting nuanced skies. These dramatic works were America's counterpart to French Impressionism. American painter and printmaker Fritz Henry Lane (1804-1865) was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts and would have pursued a maritime career if it were not for a life-long handicap. He instead translated his knowledge of nautical subjects to paintings such as Boston Harbor. Connecticut born artist and engraver John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872) is best known for his landscapes and seascapes of upstate New York and New England as characterized by his painting Hudson River. Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) was a German American painter who is remembered for his panoramic paintings of the mythic West; in The Shore of the Turquoise Sea he painted translucent tropical waves.

A Standard To Inspire: California Homes Magazine June 2011

2011-06-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

A Colorful Bouquet: California Homes Magazine June 2011

2011-06-27T14:49:00.001-07:00

Dressed to Kill: The Paintings of Ignacio Zuloago

2011-06-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Spanish Basque painter Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (1870-1945) created dramatic images using the culture, landscape and folklore of Iberia. Although he studied painting in Rome and Paris it was the great Spanish masters, Francisco de Zurbarán, Diego Velázquez, El Greco, and Francisco Goya, that ultimately influenced his work. A reoccurring theme in his paintings is the figure of the Terero or bullfighter in the traditional traje de luces (suit of lights). Zuloaga also depicted his female subjects wearing the Spanish mantilla and peineta (comb) as seen in his portrait of the aristocrat and socialite, María del Rosario de Silva, Duchess of Alba. The painting is reminiscent of another Duchess of Alba, María Cayetana de Silva, Thirteenth Duchess of Alba. Goya painted her in white, known as The White Duchess and in black, which is called The Black Duchess.

Argus, Hermes and Hera: How the Peacock got his Eyes

2011-06-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

The month of June is named for the Roman Goddess Juno. Her Greek counterpart Hera was associated with the peacock. It was the goddess who retrieved the hundred eyes of her slain servant Argus and set them like jewels amid the feathers of her favorite bird. At Hera's request the ever watchful giant was guarding the nymph Io from her unfaithful husband Zeus. The god had transformed her into a beautiful white heifer in an attempt to hide her from his jealous wife. Zeus sent Hermes to sing Agrus to sleep, sealing his eyes with his magic staff and then decapitating him. Russian painter Pyotr Ivanovich Sokolov (1753-1791) depicted Argus in human form being enchanted by Hermes. The god holds his caduceus and wears a winged hat in the painting by German artist Hans Thoma (1839-1924). Italian Baroque painter Orazio Riminaldi (1586-1631) shows Hera putting the eyes on the peacock's tail while Hermes flies away in the distance.

Truth is Fire: Verita in Art

2011-06-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Perugian born Cesare Ripa (1560 -1622) wrote Iconologia, an emblem book depicting allegorical figures of virtues, vices, passions, arts and sciences. The woodcut Verita personifies truth as a naked woman holding the sun in her right hand while standing on a globe of the world. In her left hand she holds an open book with a palm leaf. The sun represents the clarity and illumination of truth. French figure painter Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911) replaced the sun with a mirror reflecting the truth in his La Vérité. The French-Russian theatre actress Sophie Croizette (1847-1901) modeled for the painting. Nuda Veritas or Naked Truth by Viennese Secessionist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is accompanied by a quote from German poet, novelist and composer Leopold Schefer (1784-18620), "Truth is fire, and to speak the truth means to shine and to burn".

The Wolf and the Lamb: The Tyrant and the Innocent

2011-05-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

In Aesop’s Fable of The Wolf and the Lamb, a tyrannical wolf justifies taking the life of an innocent lamb. French Art Deco artist Benjamin Rabier (1864-1939) illustrated the tale in the 1906 copy of Les fables de la Fontaine. Wolves have often been depicted in literature and art as fearsome villains. In the children’s novel The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by English author Joan Aiken (1924-2004) the animal is used as a metaphor for the evil people that surround two young cousins. American writer and artist Edward Gorey (1925-2000) provided a macabre illustration for the book cover. In Eastern European fairy tales, the wolf is a sinister creature of the forest along with Baba Yagas as seen in the Art Nouveau watercolor Three Women and Three Wolves by Swiss decorative artist Eugène Grasset (1845-1917). In America the wolf was at one time hunted to near extinction in the lower 48 states and very few have survived in Europe. Man has become the Wolf and the wolf has become the Lamb.

Haply I may remember, And haply may forget: Arnold Eric Say

2011-05-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

Christina Georgina Rossetti

Dedicated to the memory of Arnold Eric Say;

January 3, 1966 - May 23, 2011

Amazing Grace: The Prodigal Son

2011-05-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

I'll go home to my parents, confess what I've done

And I'll ask them to pardon their prodigal son.

And, when they've caressed me as oft times before

I never will play the wild rover no more.

~The Wild Rover, Traditional Irish Song

Forgiveness is one of the hardest lessons in life. The Parable of the Prodigal Son or the Lost Son tells the story of a foolish young man who squanders his fortune with high living only to end up impoverished as a swineherd. When he begins to envy the pigs he is feeding he decides to return to his father and ask forgiveness. His father embraces his son because he was lost and is now found, was dead and is now alive. The subject has been popular in art. A Pennsylvania Dutch Fraktur shows the son leaving his father in finery only to be reduced to herding pigs in rags. The Lost Son was given a Symbolist treatment by French painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898). Italian Surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) depicts the prodigal son as mannequin-like hybrid figure welcomed by a ghostly father who has stepped down from a pedestal to forgive his wild rover.

Emeralds and May: Spring, Hope and Rebirth

2011-05-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Emerald is the birthstone for the month of May. The green beryl was believed to bring good luck and enhance well being in ancient India. Like the color green, its beauty has symbolized spring, hope and rebirth; it was often worn as a talisman. One such piece is the lavish gold and emerald pendant from seventeenth century Spain. Its materials came from Spanish colonies in South America. On its reverse is an intricate engraving of springlike floral and foliate motifs. An earlier pendant was designed by German painter Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) using five emeralds and a pearl. A Mogul flat carved emerald has a floral motif and was probably attached to a turban or cloak. It was later set as a pendant necklace in France around the turn of the twentieth century. The Mackay Enerald Necklace contains a Colombian stone that is enclosed by an Art Deco diamond and platinum frame from Cartier.

Ephemeral Beauty: The Art of Amadeo de Souza Cardoso

2011-04-20T20:07:00.001-07:00

Thirty-one years is a short time in the life of an artist. Amadeo de Souza Cardoso (1887-1918) was born in Northern Portugal, studying architecture in Lisbon. On his nineteenth birthday he left for bohemian Paris where he decided to become a painter. Although he was close friends with Amedeo Modigliani, Juan Gris, and Robert Delaunay he did not forget his Portuguese heritage. Souza Cardoso's work wove modern influences of Expressionism,Cubism and Futurism with elements of Portuguese folk art, Catholic pageantry and the beauty of his native landscape. He participated in several important exhibitions including Salon des Indépendants of 1911 and the legendary New York Armory Show that took place in 1913. Along with his vivid paintings he published elegant drawings; illustrations for Gustave Flaubert's La Légende de Saint Julien to l'Hospitalier and the folio XX dessins. The modern visionary returned to Northern Portugal and married Lúcia Peretto. Souza Cardoso died there at the age of thirty-one, a victim of the 1918 flu pandemic.

Made in California: California Homes Magazine April 2011

2011-04-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Color and Dignity: California Homes Magazine April 2011

2011-04-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Spanish Beauty: Art and Fashion

2011-04-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

Basque born Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895-1972) was influenced by the art and culture of Spain to create masterpieces of couture fashion. The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum is currently exhibiting Balenciaga and Spain. Spanish Renaissance painters such as Greek born Domenicos Theotokopoulos(1541-1614) provided inspiration for the designer's work. Better known as El Greco, his Lady in the Fur Wrap is a departure from his signature blue white tortured bodies. The beautiful pink skinned woman with dark eyes and hair is believed to be El Greco's long time companion, Doña Jerónima de las Cuevas. She is elegantly dressed in Iberian lynx. Later painters including Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) also gave Balenciaga motifs for his designs. Goya depicted the boy Victor Guye in the uniform of the Order of Pages to Joseph Bonaparte. Although the costume is French in origin, the gold braid on black is given a Spanish flair by the artist. Perhaps Balanciaga's fashion genius was intrinsic to his heritage. Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Eboli (1540-1592) was a Spanish aristocrat who accidentally lost an eye as a child. She went on to be considered one of the greatest beauties of Spain and her eye patch a fashion accessory.

Spring and Rebirth: Easter and the Golden Egg

2011-04-03T22:24:00.001-07:00

Peter Carl Fabergé's (1846-1920) The Lilies of the Valley Egg was an Easter gift for the Empress Alexandra (1872-1918) from her husband Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (1868-1918). The Russian jeweler’s ateliers fabricated the Art Nouveau style egg in 1898. Comprised of gold covered in a translucent rose pink enamel ground, it is decorated with green leaves, pearl lilies, and diamond dewdrops. The surprise of the gift is revealed when twisting a gold-mounted pearl button at the side of the egg causes the ruby and diamond set crown at top to rise, exposing the miniature portraits of the Tsar and the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana. Eggs have been a symbol of spring and rebirth since Pagan times. For Christians the egg is seen as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus; its hard shell corresponds to the sealed tomb of Christ, holding a new life. Italian painter Mariotto di Cristofano (1393-1457) rendered the resurrection of Christ from a porphyry tomb in the International Gothic Style. In Aesop's Fables, an egg has a different meaning. Killing The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs warns us not to be seduced by greed. American illustrator Milo Winter (1888- 1956) portrays the foolish farmer with his golden goose.

Lynd Ward: The Wordless Storyteller

2011-03-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Lynd Kendall Ward (1905-1985) was an American artist and storyteller. He specialized in wood engravings, illustrating over 200 adult and children's books. Raised by a Methodist minister who was also a prominent political organizer, Ward decided to become an artist as a child when he realized his surname spelled "draw" backwards. He studied printmaking and book design in Leipzig, Germany where he encountered the work of Frans Masereel (1889-1972) a Flemish painter who told a story in woodcuts. Ward went on to create wordless novels with dramatic wood engravings.

Happy St. Patrick's Day: The Art of Harry Clarke

2011-03-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day is a favorite holiday of Porcelains and Peacocks and it is an excuse to look at the genius of Irish artist Harry Clarke (1889–1931). Born in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day he was a major contributor to the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. Clarke's work centered on stained glass and book illustration. An early visit to Chartres Cathedral inspired him to use brilliant jewel toned stain glass for both his religious and secular themed windows. Clarke was associated with the An Túr Gloine, Irish for “Tower of Glass”, a cooperative studio for stained glass artists that offered Irish architects and builders an alternative to the commercial stained glass imported from England and Germany. As a book illustrator he was a part of The Golden Age of Illustration. Clarke’s illustrations ranged from the beautifully grotesque Faust to the poetic "They danced with shawls that were woven of mist and moonshine" of the Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen.

Kitagawa Utamaro: The Enduring Beauty of Japan

2011-03-15T09:17:00.001-07:00

Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) was a Japanese printmaker and painter. He is known for his elegantly restrained studies of women called bijinga or "beautiful person picture". The style is a part of the genre called Ukiyo-e, "pictures of the floating world", woodcut prints featuring motifs of landscapes, kabuki theater, courtesans and geisha. It is a world that is ephemeral and of the moment. Utamaro also created many erotic works including the Poem of the Pillow. One scene depicts two abalone divers interacting with two kappas, or sea monsters. In the nineteenth century the ukyio-e prints of Utamaro and other Japanese artists became available to the European market resulting in the development of Japonisme in the West.

Sonho de uma terça-feira gorda: A Dream of Fat Tuesday

2011-03-07T16:57:00.001-08:00

I was with you. Our dominoes were black,

(And black were our masks.

We went, amid the throng, with solemnity,

Well aware of our darkness

As contrasted with the feeling of happiness

That we penetrated. A slow, gentle joy

…..That which we penetrated the penetrated as a

(Sword of fire...

As the flaming sword that stabbed the holy ecstatic.

Manuel Bandeira

Manuel Carneiro de Souza Bandeira Filho (1886-1968) was a Brazilian poet who is remembered for his contributions to Modernismo. Suffering from tuberculosis he was forced to abandon his architectural studies. While he traveled in Europe searching for a cure he encountered many of the prominent authors and painters of the time. Bandeira’s poetry deals with the limits of the human body but also explores distinctive Brazilian themes such as Terça-feira Gorda or Fat Tuesday. Carnival is a wild celebration that precedes the deprivation of Lent much as the poet’s work wanders between life and mortality.

Sir William Orpen: A Man Between Two Worlds

2011-03-02T14:53:00.001-08:00

Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen (1878-1931) was a successful Irish painter and a man of contradictions. He was a society portrait painter who went to the Western Front as an official painter of World War I. Living in London he was a part of the New English Art Club, which favored Impressionism and included Americans James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1902) and John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Traveling back to Ireland, Orpen was involved with The Celtic Revival along with playwright John Millington Synge (1871-1909) and poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). He considered himself ugly, which he exaggerated in self-portraits yet the women he depicted where beautifully nuanced. He died at the age of fifty-two having seen his brilliant career as a portrait painter dim and never recovering from seeing the lost souls of war.

Puss-in-Boots: The Trickster Cat

2011-02-20T14:11:00.000-08:00

The fairy tale Puss-in-Boots has its origins in European oral traditions of the trickster cat as hero. One of the best known versions was written by French writer Charles Perrault (1628–1703). In The Master Cat, a miller dies leaving three sons, the youngest receives as his inheritance a granary cat. Out of desperation the young man thinks of eating the cat and making a muff of his fur. The magical talking cat makes a bargain that in exchange for a bag and pair of boots he would make his master's fortune. Through ingenuity and trickery, Puss transforms the miller's son into The Marquis of Carabas. The bogus Marquis marries a Princess and lives in a castle rewarding Puss with the life of a Lord.

An earlier version of the tale is found in Le piacevoli notti by Italian writer Giovanni Francesco Straparola (1480-1557). The story Costantino Fortunato casts Costantino as the third son of a Bohemian woman who leaves him a cat when she dies. This feline is really a fairy who aids his peasant master to become the King of Bohemia. The rag to riches story is repeated in Italian poet Giambattista Basile's (1575-1632) Pippo. Pippo is the younger of two sons of an impoverished old man. The cat he is left with when his father dies is known as Pusseyship. She transforms her begging master into Lord Pippo and through her wit and manners he acquires wealth and marries a princess. Pippo promises to honor Pusseyship with a golden coffin when she dies. The cat feigns death and her false master says to throw her body out the window. Pusseyship jumps up berating Pippo leaving him behind to fend for himself, exclaiming, "Heaven keep me from the rich grown poor, And from the beggar who of wealth gains store."

Felix Lorioux (1872-1964) was a French illustrator who began his career as a fashion illustrator, but because of his love of fables and fairy tales became a children's book illustrator. His Art Noveau influences with elements of modern and Japanese style can be seen in the colorful depictions of animals such as Le Chat Botté. German born silhouette animator and film director, Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981) was inspired by Chinese shadow puppetry. She shows Puss in a black and gold illustration with an evil magician; the clever cat tricks his foe into changing himself into a mouse that he eats. The third illustration by French artist Adrienne Ségur (1901-1981) is one of the many magical cats she created in both The Fairy Tale Book and My Big Book of Cats.

The Cat and the Fiddle: Queen Elizabeth I as the Cat

2011-02-20T09:02:00.000-08:00

High diddle diddle,
The Cat played the Fiddle,
The Cow jump'd over the Moon,
The little dog laugh'd to see such Craft,
And the Dish ran away with the Spoon.

Originally published in 1765 as High Diddle, Diddle, the nursery rhyme that was written from oral tradition, is believed to be either nonsense or something more intriguing. One theory is that the Cat represents Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603) who often played or fiddled with her cabinet members as if they were mice being toyed with by a predatory feline. The little dog signifies Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (1532-1588), the favorite of the Queen who she referred to as her lap dog. The Cow and Moon were nicknames for other cabinet members. An unknown artist rendered Elizabeth in a the of style Italian Mannerist painter Federigo Zuccaro c. 1580. English Golden Age illustrator Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) portrays the cat exotically dressed in his 1913 edition of Mother Goose. Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (1857–1941), the English Arts & Crafts architect, furniture, and textile designer created an equally whimsical wallpaper, Hey Diddle, Diddle.

The Carnation Revolution: When Flowers Replaced Bullets

2011-02-11T09:20:00.001-08:00

With the sea change in Egypt one is reminded of other countries that have transformed themselves. Portugal's Carnation Revolution started early on April 25, 1974. After being signaled by the airing of Zeca Afonso's song Grândola,Vila Morena, a group of army rebels drove tanks into the center of Lisbon. The left-leaning military coup was a reaction to the authoritarian dictatorship Estado Novo that was installed in 1933 by António de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970).

Salazar was conservative, pro Roman Catholic and opposed to liberalism, socialism, communism and anti-colonialism. Because of him, Portugal was led into the unpopular Portuguese Colonial War fought in their African colonies between 1961 and 1974. Opponents of Salazar were persecuted by the secret police who used torture, imprisonment and death to repress elemental civil liberties and political freedoms.

Marcelo Caetano (1906-1980) replaced an ailing Salazar as prime-minister in 1968. Although Caetano made some attempts to soften the severity of the Estado Novo, he was ultimately an authoritarian who did not understand democracy. The Portuguese people wanted civil rights, freedom and an end to the Colonial Wars. On April 25, the Captains of April took over the airport, television and radio stations. Citizens placed red carnations in the soldiers' rifles to symbolize change without violence.

The day is celebrated for bringing democracy to Portugal and independence to their African colonies. Portuguese street artist Adres depicts a soldier firing red carnations into the air. Spanish painter Juan Pantoja de La Cruz's (1553-1608) beautifully severe portrait shows a young boy holding a single red carnation.

Sacred in San Francisco: California Homes Magazine February 2011

2011-02-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

Violence and Violets: The Month of February

2011-02-07T14:19:00.001-08:00

Amethyst is the birthstone for the month of February. In Greek mythology she was a beautiful virgin who on her way to pay tribute to the goddess Artemis became the victim of Dionysius. The god of wine having previously been insulted by a mortal vowed that the next human who crossed his path would die. Seeing the fierce tigers that Dionysius was about to set upon her, Amethyst prayed to Artemis who transformed her into a statue of pure crystalline quartz. When the god saw the exquisite statue he cried tears of wine, which stained the quartz purple. The gemstone is associated with purity; February’s birth flower the blue violet is symbolic of faithfulness. Both are believed to protect those who wear them from the intoxicating affects of Dionysius’ wine. The dissipated god is depicted in the painting by Dutch painter Paulus Bor (1601-1669). Amethyst was used for an intaglio portrait of the Roman Emperor Caracalla, which was later transformed to represent St. Peter. English Pre-Raphaelite painter Henry Meynell Rheam’s (1859-1920) gives us a beautiful maiden offering a bouquet of violets on a winter’s day.

A Fortuitous Partnership: 3D Magazine February 2011

2011-01-31T08:51:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the Five Senses: The Stylish Blogger Award

2011-01-29T20:56:00.000-08:00

Kelly T. Keating, of the extremely stylish blog The Great Within, www.thegreatwithin.org has honored Porcelains and Peacocks with the Stylish Blogger Award. In response the honoree must tell seven aspects of themselves and favor ten other bloggers with the award.

In lieu of seven items, I offer five images that stir my senses:

Sight: James McNeil Whistler, Nocturne en bleu et argent

Sound: Tim Buckley, Goodbye and Hello

Taste: Vinho do Porto

Smell: Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Mimosa

Touch: David Lynch, Blue Velvet

For symmetry I've listed five stylish blogs that I enjoy. They are in random order:

1. It's About Time http://bjws.blogspot.com

2. Designed Squared http://ashfieldhansendesign.blogspot.com

3. A Discourse on the Arts and Sciences http://www.adiscourseontheartsandsciences.net/blog

4. Art Inconnu http://www.artinconnu.com

5. A Journey Round My Skull http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com

For a more complete list of my stylish blogs please check out Fine Plumed Friends.

Alchemy with Antiques: 3D Magazine February 2011

2011-01-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

Simeon Solomon: The Rise and Fall of an Artist

2011-01-14T19:54:00.000-08:00

Simeon Solomon (1840-1905) was a British painter associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and the Aesthetic Movement. For a time his work was dismissed because of his "degenerate habits"; he is now celebrated for his accomplishments as well as for being a gay man living in Victorian England. Born in London to an artistic Jewish family he attended Royal Academy Schools where he became known for his remarkable paintings of Old Testament subjects. There he met Pre-Raphaelite artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones along with their creative circle.

Through this group he was introduced to the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) who influenced him with his love of classicism and erotica. Solomon illustrated Swinburn's pornographic novel Lesbia Brandon and his ode to flagellation, The Flogging-Block. He was also informed by the classical world he saw on his visits to Italy and used allegory and personification in his art. In 1873, at the height of his popularity he was arrested at a public urinal in London for attempting to commit sodomy and fined £100. The following year he was arrested in Paris on a similar charge. This time he was sentenced to three months in prison.

As a result of the scandal his influential friends shunned him including Swinburne with whom he once romped naked at Rossetti's home. By 1884 Solomon was living in a workhouse and died as a pauper from a heart failure as a result of alcoholism. He is shown at a happier time in Oriental costume photographed by David Wilkie Wynfield (1837-1887).

The Artist and the Muse: James Tissot and Mrs. Kathleen Newton

2011-01-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

French painter Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902) took the Anglicized first name James after meeting James McNeil Whistler. Known for his paintings of fashionable women and his later religious studies, Tissot studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Ingres, Flandrin, and Lamothe. His friendships included fellow painters Degas and Manet. Tissot left Paris to live in London because of his alleged evolvement in the Paris Commune of 1871. It was in London he met Kathleen Irene Ashburnham Kelly Newton (1854-1882) who would become his muse, model and mistress.

Mrs. Newton was a hauntingly beautiful Irish Catholic divorcee who had spent her childhood in Lahore and Agra. The family moved to London when her father, an Irish army officer retired. Charles Frederick Ashburnham Kelly betrothed his stunning seventeen year old daughter to a surgeon in India, Dr. Isaac Newton. On her voyage to India, Captain Palliser unsuccessfully tried to seduce her. She confessed this to her husband on their wedding night who considered her damaged goods. The marriage was not consummated and Newton divorced her. Mrs. Newton's passage back to England was paid by Palliser who as compensation insisted she become his mistress. Although she became pregnant, she refused to marry him and she and her daughter went to live with her sister in St. John's Wood.

Tissot's paintings which depicted an ephemeral world of elegant women in glamorous settings, feature Mrs. Newton as the model. She moved into his household in St. John's Wood in 1876 and bore him a son. It was an ideal life that Tissot described as "domestic bliss" until she contracted tuberculosis. At the age of twenty-eight, in the last stages of the disease Mrs. Newton chose to take an overdose of laudanum. After losing his "delightful Irish", Tissot left London and eventually the material world he showed in his paintings. Turning to religion and spirituality he traveled to Palestine where he illustrated The Life of Christ. In Tissot's The Annunciation, the face of the Angel Annunciate bears a likeness to his beloved muse, Mrs. Newton.

Harmony in Blue and Green, 2: The Peacock and Renewal

2011-01-04T00:47:00.000-08:00

For ancient cultures the Peacock became a symbol of rebirth and immortality. The bird lost its tail feathers each year only to re-grow them and it was believed that their flesh did not decay after death. Peacocks are the perfect symbol for renewal on the cold days of winter. French naturalist Charles D'Orbigny (1802-1857) did highly detailed and scientifically accurate illustrations of nature including his rendering of The Peacock from Dictionnaire Universel d'Histoire Naturelle. Edgar Maxence (1871-1954) was a French Symbolist who studied under Gustave Moreau. Influenced by early Italian Renaissance and late English Pre-Raphaelite artists he painted Portrait with Peacock, using gouache, pastels and silver foil. American Art Nouveau illustrator and artist William H. Bradley (1868-1962) studied the Arts and Crafts Movement and Japanese block prints. His bold, elegant style can be seen in his depiction of the immortal Peacock.