THE MET
Met my Ancestors.
I hated my “big hooked” aquiline nose—now I love it!
Elizabeth I (The Rainbow Portrait) ca.1602 Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
At the start of the Pandemic I found out that I am a descendant of Edward III King of England my 19-22x great grandfather. Turns out if you go back far enough you have over a million relatives in your family tree. So if you are of English descent you are also most likely related to a King or Queen of ole.
This fall I visited NYC! I have not felt the crisp east coast fall air of my favorite season I grew up in for 14 years. Truthfully I wasn’t planning on going to The MET thinking we wouldn’t have enough time to see it. But go anyway! We were only there for 3 hours & it was worth it! The MET had curated an exhibit — The Tudors: Art & Majesty in Renaissance England — I had to go - it was a sign!
“A thousand
generations live
in you now but,
this is your fight.”
- Luke Skywalker
This quote & new found knowledge gave me strength during lockdown & at present. I carry it with me always knowing that this is my fight & historically I come from great fighters. I think we all do, given all the worlds past & present plagues, daily hardships & mans general horrible & otherwise useless & self destructive pathetic need for power, control & greed at any cost— it’s a miracle that any of us are here today.But like - let’s look at some art & talk about some history. ^_^
Queen Elizabeth I (The Darnley Portrait) ca. 1575 Artist Unknown —deep set eyes, hollow cheeks & aquiline nose claims to capture her likeness best & became the prototype for numerous images of her
Fantastical
Tudor Paintings
Elizabeth I The Rainbow Portrait painted at the end of her reign in her 60s. As a propaganda image she is shown as a supernatural figure; youthful & vibrant; virginal in the symbol of pearls. The latin inscription“NON SINE SOLE IRIS” no rainbow without a sun; she is the sun & the rainbow she holds is peace. As noted in this Lucy Worsley BBC segment — love her! I am drawn to this image because her white embroidered floral dress is the only remaining article of her clothing that exists today. Does this mean that the artist painted from real articles of clothing? Those all seeing eyes & ears are grotesquely realist; they hardly look embroidered in contrast to the flowers, on her fantastically brilliant orange perhaps heavy shot silk taffeta mantle - a long, loose cape-like cloak worn indoors from the 12th - 16th century by both sexes.
Regardless of reality - what a statement! On her sleeve is a snake with a heart in it’s mouth implying she ruled with wisdom & love.
poetry in portraiture-
Portrait of Unknown Woman ca. 1590-1600 Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
Look at the majestic weeping stag in a crown & those blue shoes! ✨
Combining painting & poetry the inscribed sonnet adds to the painting’s melancholy atmosphere, describing her “restless mind & pensive thoughts” as she contemplates “cruelty unkind” Shrouded in mystery about who this unknown woman is - scholars have proposed that it’s Mary Sidney-Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. A poet whose life was marked by personal tragedy in the years the painting is dated.
Everyday art Objects
Bougie Books-
*You should know - during the Renaissance, ultramarine was the most expensive blue that could be used by painters. Natural ultramarine is the most difficult pigment to grind by hand. Grinding and washing produces only a pale grayish blue powder. The pigment was most extensively used during the 14th through 15th centuries, as a complemented to vermillion & gold of manuscripts and Italian panel paintings. European artists used the pigment sparingly, reserving their highest quality blues for the robes of Mary & the Christ child — & the bougiest. These are both bibles for King Henry the VIII one containing his portrait as well.
Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse ca. 1519-27 Tempera on vellum the bright colors are astonishing
Here the artist has even depicted part of Henry VIII’s daily routine. He can read his Bible & see himself reading his bible.
Acts of the Apostles & the Apocalypse illustrated by the Horenbout siblings from Ghent, Lucas & Susanna. The sunlight study is bordered by the arms of England, supported by the Tudor dragon & greyhound, Tudor roses, and the Beaufort portcullis of Henry VIII’s grandmother the fleur-de-lis for Henry’s great-grandmother of House Valois showing England’s continued claim to French sovereignty. The monogram against Tudor green dates this gift to Henry’s union with his first wife, Spanish princess Kathrine of Aragon.
Sandglass ca.1540 Design attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger gilded silver, blown glass, sand & gold thread decorated w/ acanthus leaves simpler to operate & maintain than modern clocks & watches of it’s time yet a technical feat to craft. Used in an oratory, chapel or study the sandglass is flipped by switching it’s hinged bracket between the left and right hand sockets of the wall mount.
Symbolic reminder of the passing of time & the transience of life & more practically, to mark half-hour periods for prayer, meditation or study.
a love token-
Pair of Gloves ca. 1600 leather, satin worked with silk & metal threads: seed pearls, satin couching & darning stitches; metal bobbin lace: paper— I love the weeping eye, green parrot & shimmering pansies. These were intended as a love token. In the Tudor period, the exchange of gifts was essential to courtship. Gloves were fashionable for both men & women.
The Armory
19 year old public dandy
Henry III of France…
once called Queen Elizabeth I of England “the public whore” when is mother set him up to court the 37 year old queen.*snap*
It was costly to entertain the Queen & knowing she wasn’t going to marry him — entertained the idea of his courtship anyway; his cost his loss. *snap*
Henry III was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, he was 38. Also King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575. His story & family is fascinating! must do more research but this I do know —
his mother was Catherine de' Medici — from a family that were the godfathers of the Renaissance They clawed their way to the top through bribery, corruption and violence. Those who stood in their way often wound up humiliated - or dead.
Seldom in history had the homosexual activity of a monarch been so public and undisguised. The twenty-three-year-old dandy Henry III a day after his coronation as the king of France, participated in an arranged marriage to Louise of Lorraine, and it was expected that they would conceive a child. Never happened. Though Louise fell deeply in love with Henry, the sexual feelings were not reciprocated. Henry treated his wife as a doll, dressing her up, applying makeup to her face, teaching her how to flirt. Her mild and gentle virtues contrasted her husband’s vice, vulgarity and coarseness. Louise soon learned that her husband was a flamboyant omni-sexual given to wild sadomasochistic orgies while dressed in drag. Among the passions he was unable to restrain was an obsession for outrageous jewelry. He surrounded himself with legions of twenty-something boyfriends, favorites known as “mignons de cœur” (darlings of the heart), and they scandalized the public with their effeminate mannerisms. They also copied their king’s fashion innovations, protecting their hands by carrying small muffs, wearing outsized earrings and keeping pet parrots and monkeys.
This is Henry III’s
ceremonial armor.
grotesque meets classical
THE MET highlights
Ancient Egypt
Furniture all the Furniture
sexy clawfoot legs!
int bedroom past -
OVERDOOR CRESTING Italian, Venice 18th century as well as some of the furnishings inside the bedroom, this overdoor cresting comes from the Venetian Palazzo Sagredo. The three sheaves of wheat on a red band are part of the arms of the Sagredo family, while the overdoor’s sinuous curved lines echo a similar crest held aloft by amorini— cherubs or cupids - art w/ bow & arrows symbolizing love, above the alcove inside the bedroom.
int living room future -
Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room, recreates the home of a Black Seneca Village resident as it might exist in our time, and in some distant future, including a five-sided television by Jenn Nkiru, William Henry Johnson’s “Jitterbugs II” screenprint, ca. 1941. Chandelier by Ini Archibong and Matteo Gonet. Representing the 1857 destruction of Seneca Village - vibrant, predominantly free Black community whose members had owned land along West 82nd to West 89th Streets starting in 1825, but were forced out in order to make Central Park.
It’s amazing that any of these artifacts are here today & should all be preserved & studied so that history does not repeat it’s self & we can learn from our past & build a better today & tomorrow. Art is the study of humans & as many lies as there are in history - there is also truth in art & artifacts; what remains is part of us & part of our future. But also art doesn’t matter if we have no future to preserve to save. So please recycle & shop sustainably, read support museums & be kind to yourself & to others. Make art.
xoxo
Magic & Monsters are real. - C