Social History
Chinese Kingfisher Ornaments – Beauty and Decoration
Drawn by their iridescent beauty, many races and peoples have used feathers as adornment or accessory to decorate themselves using entire feathers from the bird
Heartbreak and Happiness – Being a Bibliophile
Heartbreak and happiness is part of the story of being a bibliophile. In a way surrounding myself with books has been part of my looking to value myself and to conserve my health and wellbeing for a very long time. They have also aided my life’s journey and over the years practically helped me plan many adventures, both at home and overseas.
Architectural Heritage – Integral to Cultural Development
The intellectual ideas of every period in world history have always been reflected in its architecture. It is important we consider well the consequences of the decisions we make in tearing down our living heritage, even in regard to modern buildings of great merit.
The Bed – Sleeping Stylishly in the Chamber of Love
We spend at least one third of our lives in bed. Every culture is steeped in customs superstitions and folklore surrounding this unique piece of furniture. But what about the bedroom? When did the bed gain a room of its own? How was it decorated? Where can we begin to relate its story?
Tapestry Tales, heavy with meaning and intention
A commission of six tapestries for William Knox D’arcy’s Dining Room at Stanmore Hall in Middlesex illustrates the story of the Holy Grail quest, as told in Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur. They took five years to weave and are considered among the most significant works made during the nineteenth century when romanticism was at its height and they paint a beguiling picture of lovely maidens and dashing knights in a style that was very appealing.
Progressing and maturing by fault, leadership for a new age
Progress hinges not on eradicating mistakes but on our success at perpetuating them? By making good mistakes we learn to forgive, progress and mature by fault
What is a Mirror, more than just Glass?
The mirror, more than just glass, has occupied a unique place in his imagination as a site of the divine or demonic, of lucidity or madness. It is the ‘matrix of the symbolic’ and accompanies the human quest to know and understand our identity.
Towers – Symbols of Hope and Freedom
Prior to the twentieth century towers were built as symbols to the heights of material wealth and prosperity the western world had yet achieved.
The City of Bath in the Age of Pleasure
It was not until the fifteenth century when King Henry V111 came to see Bath for himself that the therapeutic value of the waters became, once again, well known and people came to be cured. However it would only become a centre for fashionable people following the arrival of Richard ‘Beau’ Nash in 1702.
Love Jewellery – Rome to Renaissance
If you bring both gold and precious or semi precious stones together skilfully a add a dash of passion, smidgen of sentiment, make them expressive of romance as well as symbolic of true love then you have a ‘tour de force’, a triumph of Cupid’s D’art Love Jewellery, Rome to Renaissance
An important aspect of every human society yet recorded is a belief that gold and gemstones had an enormous effect on the affairs of many. This has not been limited to any age or culture some of the first tokens of human affection were worn as treasured souvenirs.
Women of Influence, Marquise de Pompadour
French painter François Boucher (1703-1770) produced many of the images that we have of the enigmatic Jeanne Antoinette, Marquise de Pompadour, Maîtresse-en-titre, or the official Mistress of Louis XV of France.
Women of Influence, Diane de Poitiers
If beauty was accompanied by intelligence those who used both attributes skilfully seemed to have been the most successful. Fifteenth century beauty Diane de Poitiers (1499-1566) was considered an ‘ardent feminist sure of her own worth – and a child of her time’. She had all the attributes, plus a strong will and a great strength of purpose. These were both very necessary skills for survival in the world of political intrigue that surrounded the court of the last medieval and first Renaissance King of France Francois I whose court was the envy of Europe.
Flights of Garden Fantasy
Gardens throughout Europe and England in the C17 required that their designers, apart from an extensive knowledge of plant material, were also skilled at engineering and aesthetics.
That which we are we are…new year’s eve reflection
We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Alfred, Lord Tennyson was a controversial figure in his [...]
Asides
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