Grace & Manners

Out Of Frame

 
This editorial from a recent issue of GLAMOUR hits all the buttons for me: the rich colours, the clothes, the jewells, the Old Master Painting set-up....

It reminds me of the amazing series of recreated old master paintings by German photographer Rainer Elstermann:

 
“Portrait of a Chambermaid”, 1625 by Peter Paul Rubens

and a similarly beautiful folio by Yelena Zhavoronkova:

 
"Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini", 1435 by Jan van Eyck

Well, this editorial is less recreation and more interpretation but it certainly has the same spirit.

Love the lady in green, her little capelet, leather gloves and Medieval-ish hair.

 

 
 

 

Images sourced from Glamour, TrendHunter and Yelena Zhavoronkova

Have a Bite

 
I love the new campaign by vegetarian uber-restaurant Hiltl. It's funny, it's cute and, more importantly from a commercial point of view, it's memorable. The bat is particuarly endearing - they even hung it upside down, as it should be!

 
 
 
 

© Werbeagentur Ruf Lanz / Hiltl

Easter

  Scenes from the Passion of Christ by Hans Memling - ArtRenewal

He Speaks in His Own Language

Study for the Lady Clare Small

 

My Mom and I went to the J.W. Waterhouse exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts yesterday. His paintings are, of course, ubiquitous but there is nothing quite like seeing an artist's work in original. The detail and vividness of Waterhouse's paintings is extraordinary; it felt as if one could step right into them. There were also a couple of his sketchbooks on display. It's always fascinating to see how an artist's idea evolved from an initial sketch to the final painting. But even in these 'simple' drawings there is a wonderful richness of detail and texture. Fascinating and inspiring!

Picture from The Art Renewal Center

A Renaissance Face

© Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome

This arresting portrait of Agatha van Schoonhoven by Jan van Scorel made me think that we could do with a few Renaissance women in our time. She was idealised, of course, in paintings, poetry and music but her essence is worth recapturing.

It was thought during that cultural movement that outer beauty reflected inward virtue. Our society is predominantly obsessed with the former, the latter just an added bonus. Beauty will get you far, very far indeed; if you have a brain, well, that's nice dear...The possible marriage of both, an exquisite face and a cultivated mind, seems not even worth contemplating. And yet we know that one quality does not exclude the other. Indeed, there are numerous examples in our age, if we allow ourselves to look beyond the polished covers of magazines, airbrushed adverts and stereotypes.

Let your concept of beauty, accomplishment and virtue be challenged by the 'ideal' Renaissance women. See the excellent Renaissance Faces exhibition at the National Gallery. And if you think you lack in outward beauty, remember Elizabeth I who said:

'The face, I grant, I might well blush to offer, but the mind I shall never be ashamed to present'.