Sunday, June 28, 2015

Randomly


Jupiter Disguised as Diana Seducing Callisto, by Gerrit van Honthorst, circa 1625-1650.

I have a blog-post folder and several sub-folders on my computer. As I flounce about the internet, whenever I find an image, anything I find beautiful or intriguing, I copy it - if I can - and toss it into one of my blog-related folders. Perhaps you can guess where this acquisitiveness has led me. The folders are now very full. So full that I have ever more difficulty finding, sorting things. Difficulty seeing the visual or thematic threads that I would gather together to make up a post. So, along with better organizing - yet more sub-folders - from now on, every so often I'll try and do a bit of theme-less, story-less sharing. These, then, are some images I really enjoy. That is all!

The Marriage of Napoléon I and Marie Louise, 2 April 1810, by Georges Rouget, 1811.
Miniature by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, circa late 1780s.
Photograph identified as being taken in Tokyo during the Thirties.
Mirza Abu'l Hassan Khan, Ambassador for the Shah of Persia, by William Beechey, 1809 or 1810.
Portrait of a Young Woman, by Giovanni Battista Moroni, circa 1560s-70s.
Irina Alexandrovna, Princess Yusupova, by Edward Steichen, 1924.
Lydia Pickering Williams, by Gilbert Stuart, 1824.
Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, Catalina, 1939.
Elisabeth Farnese, Princess of Parma and Queen of Spain, by Jean Ranc, 1723.
The Surprise, by Claude-Marie Dubufe, before 1827.
The Guitarist, by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1757.
Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, by William Beechey, 1818.
Michèle Morgan, circa 1941.
Jean-Louis Buisson-Boissier, by Jean-Étienne Liotard, circa 1762-66.
Carolina Grassi and Bianca Bignami, the sisters Gabrini, by Francesco Hayez,1835.
St. Petersburg (?), circa prior to 1914.
Louis-Philippe Refuses the Crown of Belgium, 17 February 1831, by Nicolas Gosse, 1836.
Miniature by Louis-Lié Périn-Salbreux, circa 1790s.



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7 comments:

  1. Maria RussellJuly 13, 2015 at 6:39 PM

    I greatly admire your artistry, M. O'Donnell!

    P.S. Love that photo of the Tsar's only carnal niece.

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    Replies
    1. StephiliusJuly 13, 2015 at 9:16 PM

      Thank you so much, Maria! I appreciate that.

      But the Tsar's only "carnal" niece; I can't imagine what you mean. I should think Princess Yusupova was the complete opposite - whatever that might be - of someone who could be described as carnal. ; )

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    2. Maria RussellJuly 14, 2015 at 1:50 PM

      M. O'Donnell,

      I don't seem to forget my birth language when I dare write in English...
      Sobrina/o carnal in Spanish means the child of one of your siblings. Tsar Nicholas had many nephews but only one niece, Irina Alexandrovna. A great beauty and the most eligible girl in the Empire.

      Thanks for replying!

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    3. StephiliusJuly 14, 2015 at 2:48 PM

      Oh, that's it! Your written English is otherwise perfect, Maria, so I never suspected that another language was making an "appearance". ; ) I'm certainly familiar with the word "carnal" in Spanish; I used to live in Los Angeles and, among other uses, it's very common to hear Hispanic young men call their friends that. But the use of "carnal" in English is quite a different matter since it always relates to physical/sexual desire. Considering who the beautiful Irina wed, I can't imagine there was a terrific amount of carnality in her married life.... ; )

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    4. Maria RussellJuly 14, 2015 at 7:53 PM

      No?
      I just can't forget what happened to John Maynard Keynes when he saw that Russian ballerina......
      And countless of less famous men and women, who like Yousupov and Keynes, going happily about life in the direction of their orientation when all of a sudden...wham! something makes them decide to take a detour ;-)
      And no amount of reading of that Kinsey report can make us understand the mistery of it all!

      I guess we can always blame God ;-) for making Mother Nature so "caprichosa"

      Thank you for your kind words towards my English.

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    5. StephiliusJuly 14, 2015 at 8:45 PM

      Ah, well said! You can never really make assumptions about a couple's intimate life; there could be many wrong ideas about my wife and me, certainly. : )

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 15, 2023 at 5:07 PM

    The Japanese ladies dressed so modern for the time, when many Japanese still wore traditional clothing. The colorful Oliviers such a happy, beautiful couple.
    Augusta Duchess of Cambridge looks so much like Josephine Bonaparte.
    Michele Morgan, tres chic, tres elegante with her 'Borzois'.
    The Gabrini sisters, brunettes have to stick together to deal with those blondes.
    Gentilhomme a St Petersburg, so formal.
    Salbreau portrait of a young lady with grey hair? - Rj/IE

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