the new emotional blackmailer's handbook

Saturday, December 16, 2023

WHEEL OF FORTUNE ... ROTA FORTUNAE ... and the goddess FORTUNA ... this is a random scrapbook of images ...

... a song i would have heard in the background during my infancy ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeIce5NsWKk

... it came to mind because dante invokes Fortune in INFERNO CANTO 15 ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortuna

and of course it is a "meme" that goes back a very long way ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rota_Fortunae

wikipedia have a link for goddesses of fortune, luck, fate, etc ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Time_and_fate_goddesses

... to be continued ...

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Jacques Callot's 1616 set of tiny 3" by 4" prints, VARIE FIGURE GOBBI

The grotesque characters from Varie Figure Gobbi were inspired by a early 17^th century travelling troupe of dwarfs who performed for the amusement of the court of Cosimo II during Callot’s time there in Florence.

Records in the National Library in Florence show that dwarves performed in the city during the festivities of San Romolo in 1612. Furthermore it is documented that a troupe of dwarves, who referred to themselves as 'gobbi', was hired by the palace a few days later, on 6 June 1612, in order to cheer up the ailing prince, Cosimo II.

For the title page, it seems that Callot got as far as engraving the title in Florence, which is inscribed 'fatto in firenza. lanno. 1616'. For an unknown reason, the artist then abandoned the project and only completed it upon his return to Nancy, where he etched all the other plates of the series.

THE SHORT ARTISTIC LIFE OF DICK KET ... CONFINED BY CONGENITAL HEART TROUBLE ... how did i never hear of him ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Ket

Friday, December 8, 2023

HUBERT ROBERT's set of six panels for the Comte d'Artois

Based on a bet with Queen Marie Antoinette, King Louis XV’s youngest brother, the comte d’Artois, had a pleasure pavilion built on the outskirts of Paris in a mere sixty-four days through the labor of more than eight hundred craftsmen. Robert’s six paintings of Italian landscapes were installed in an elaborate bathing room, prompting their overarching theme of water. Having spent eleven years in Italy, where he befriended Jean Honoré Fragonard and other French artists abroad, Robert knew ancient architecture and sculpture deeply. In this series, however, instead of antiquarian exactitude, he combined sources freely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Bagatelle