View allAll Photos Tagged Published
My photo from this Sunday, "Leaving Skyfall" was published in this week's Georgia Straight, after they saw it on Flickr! I even got paid ;-) Many thanks to The Georgia Straight for the compliment you made my week!
This is a shot from 2011, I'm posting it because it was recently published in "Our State" magazine. That's a North Carolina magazine that focuses on all things concerning North Carolina. My thanks to Our State for publishing one of my shots.
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by L.L.
Although the card was not posted, someone has used a pencil to write "T. Banfield" on the divided back.
The Notre-Dame de Paris Fire
The Notre-Dame de Paris fire broke out on the 15th. April 2019, just before 18:20 CEST, beneath the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. By the time the fire was extinguished, the building's spire had collapsed, most of its roof had been destroyed, and its upper walls were severely damaged.
Extensive damage to the interior was prevented by its stone vaulted ceiling, which largely contained the burning roof as it collapsed. Many works of art and religious relics were moved to safety early in the emergency, but others suffered smoke damage, and some of the exterior art was damaged or destroyed.
The cathedral's altar, two pipe organs, and its three 13th.-century rose windows suffered little or no damage. Three emergency workers were injured, and contamination of the site and the nearby environment resulted.
French president Emmanuel Macron said that the cathedral would be restored by 2024, and launched a fundraising campaign which brought in pledges of over €1 billion. It was estimated that a complete restoration could require twenty years or more.
On the 25th. December 2019, the cathedral did not host Christmas services for the first time since 1803.
Background to The Fire
The Catholic cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, part of the "Paris, Banks of the Seine" UNESCO World Heritage Site, was begun in the 12th. century.
Its walls and interior vaulted ceiling are of stone; its roof and flèche (spire) were of wood (much of it 13th.-century oak), sheathed in lead to exclude water. The spire was rebuilt several times, most recently in the 19th. century.
The cathedral's stonework has been severely eroded by years of weather and pollution, and the spire had extensively rotted because fissures in its lead sheathing were admitting water.
The roof timbers were dry, spongy and powdery with age. In 2014, the Ministry of Culture estimated necessary renovations would cost €150 million, and in 2016 the Archdiocese of Paris launched an appeal to raise €100 million over the following five to ten years.
At the time of the fire, the spire was undergoing restoration, and scaffolding was being erected over the transept.
Extensive attention had been given to the risk of fire at the cathedral. The Paris Fire Brigade drilled regularly to prepare for emergencies there, including on-site exercises in 2018; a firefighter was posted to the cathedral each day; and fire wardens checked conditions beneath the roof three times daily.
Fortunately the Twelve Apostle and Four Evangelist statues at the spire's base had been removed for conservation days before the fire.
The Notre-Dame Fire
Fire broke out in the attic beneath the cathedral's roof at 18:18. At 18:20 the fire alarm sounded and guards evacuated the cathedral. A guard was sent to investigate, but to the wrong location – the attic of the adjoining sacristy – where he found no fire. About fifteen minutes later the error was discovered, but by the time guards had climbed the three hundred steps to the cathedral attic the fire was well advanced.
The alarm system was not designed to automatically notify the fire brigade, which was summoned at 18:51 after the guards had returned. Firefighters arrived within ten minutes.
Fighting the Notre-Dame Fire
More than 400 firefighters were engaged. A hundred government employees along with police and municipal workers moved precious artefacts to safety via a human chain.
The fire was primarily fought from inside the structure, which was more dangerous for personnel, but reduced potential damage to the cathedral - applying water from outside risked deflecting flames and hot gases (at temperatures up to 800 °C) inwards. Deluge guns were used at lower-than-usual pressures to minimise damage to the cathedral and its contents. Water was supplied by pump-boat from the Seine.
Aerial firefighting was not used because water dropped from heights could have caused structural damage, and heated stone can crack if suddenly cooled. Helicopters were also not used because of dangerous updrafts, but drones were used for visual and thermal imaging, and robots for visual imaging and directing water streams. Molten lead falling from the roof posed a special hazard for firefighters.
By 18:52, smoke was visible from the outside; flames appeared within the next ten minutes. The spire of the cathedral collapsed at 19:50, creating a draft that slammed all the doors and sent a fireball through the attic. Firefighters then retreated from within the attic.
Shortly before the spire fell, the fire had spread to the wooden framework inside the north tower, which supported eight very large bells. Had the bells fallen, it was thought that the damage done as they fell could have collapsed the towers, and with them the entire cathedral.
At 20:30, firefighters abandoned attempts to extinguish the roof and concentrated on saving the towers, fighting from within and between the towers. By 21:45 the fire was under control.
Adjacent apartment buildings were evacuated due to concern about possible collapse, but on the 19th. April the fire brigade ruled out that risk. One firefighter and two police officers were injured.
Damage to Notre-Dame
Most of the wood/metal roof and the spire of the cathedral was destroyed, with about one third of the roof remaining. The remnants of the roof and spire fell atop the stone vault underneath, which forms the ceiling of the cathedral's interior. Some sections of this vaulting collapsed in turn, allowing debris from the burning roof to fall to the marble floor below, but most sections remained intact due to the use of rib vaulting, greatly reducing damage to the cathedral's interior and objects within.
The cathedral contained a large number of artworks, religious relics, and other irreplaceable treasures, including a crown of thorns said to be the one Jesus wore at his crucifixion. Other items were a purported piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, the Tunic of St. Louis, a pipe organ by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, and the 14th.-century Virgin of Paris statue.
Some artwork had been removed in preparation for the renovations, and most of the cathedral's sacred relics were held in the adjoining sacristy, which the fire did not reach; all the cathedral's relics survived. Many valuables that were not removed also survived.
Lead joints in some of the 19th.-century stained-glass windows melted, but the three major rose windows, dating back to the 13th. century, were undamaged. Several pews were destroyed, and the vaulted arches were blackened by smoke, though the cathedral's main cross and altar survived, along with the statues surrounding it.
Some paintings, apparently only smoke-damaged, are expected to be transported to the Louvre for restoration. The rooster-shaped reliquary atop the spire was found damaged but intact among the debris. The three pipe organs were not significantly damaged. The largest of the cathedral's bells, the bourdon, was also not damaged. The liturgical treasury of the cathedral and the "Grands Mays" paintings were moved to safety.
Environmental Damage
Airparif said that winds rapidly dispersed the smoke, carrying it away aloft along the Seine corridor. It did not find elevated levels of particulate air pollution at monitoring stations nearby. The Paris police stated that there was no danger from breathing the air around the fire.
The burned-down roof had been covered with over 400 metric tons of lead. Settling dust substantially raised surface lead levels in some places nearby, notably the cordoned-off area and places left open during the fire. Wet cleaning for surfaces and blood tests for children and pregnant women were recommended in the immediate area.
People working on the cathedral after the fire did not initially take the lead precautions required for their own protection; materials leaving the site were decontaminated, but some clothing was not, and some precautions were not correctly followed; as a result, the worksite failed some inspections and was temporarily shut down.
There was also more widespread contamination; testing, clean-up, and public health advisories were delayed for months, and the neighbourhood was not decontaminated for four months, prompting widespread criticism.
Reactions to the Notre-Dame Fire
President of France Emmanuel Macron, postponing a speech to address the Yellow Vests Movement planned for that evening, went to Notre-Dame and gave a brief address there. Numerous world religious and government leaders extended condolences.
Through the night of the fire and into the next day, people gathered along the Seine to hold vigils, sing and pray.
White tarpaulins over metal beams were quickly rigged to protect the interior from the elements. Nettings protect the de-stabilised exterior.
The following Sunday at Saint-Eustache Church, the Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, honoured the firefighters with the presentation of a book of scriptures saved from the fire.
Investigation Into The Notre-Dame Fire
On the 16th. April, the Paris prosecutor said that there was no evidence of a deliberate act.
The fire has been compared to the similar 1992 Windsor Castle fire and the Uppark fire, among others, and has raised old questions about the safety of similar structures and the techniques used to restore them. Renovation works increase the risk of fire, and a police source reported that they are looking into whether such work had caused this incident.
The renovations presented a fire risk from sparks, short-circuits, and heat from welding (roof repairs involved cutting, and welding lead sheets resting on timber). Normally, no electrical installations were allowed in the roof space due to the extreme fire risk.
The roof framing was of very dry timber, often powdery with age. After the fire, the architect responsible for fire safety at the cathedral acknowledged that the rate at which fire might spread had been underestimated, and experts said it was well known that a fire in the roof would be almost impossible to control.
Of the firms working on the restoration, a Europe Echafaudage team was the only one working there on the day of the fire; the company said no soldering or welding was underway before the fire. The scaffolding was receiving electrical supply for temporary elevators and lighting.
The roofers, Le Bras Frères, said it had followed procedure, and that none of its personnel were on site when the fire broke out. Time-lapse images taken by a camera installed by them showed smoke first rising from the base of the spire.
On the 25th. April, the structure was considered safe enough for investigators to enter. They unofficially stated that they were considering theories involving malfunction of electric bell-ringing apparatus, and cigarette ends discovered on the renovation scaffolding.
Le Bras Frères confirmed its workers had smoked cigarettes, contrary to regulations, but denied that a discarded cigarette end could have started the fire. The Paris prosecutor's office announced on the 26th. June that no evidence had been found to suggest a criminal motive.
The security employee monitoring the alarm system was new on the job, and was on a second eight-hour shift that day because his relief had not arrived. Additionally, the fire security system used confusing terminology in its referencing parts of the cathedral, which contributed to the initial confusion as to the location of the fire.
As of September, five months after the fire, investigators thought the cause of the fire was more likely an electrical fault than a cigarette. Determining the exact place in which the fire started was expected to take a great deal more time and work. By the 15th. April 2020, investigators stated:
"We believe the fire to have been
started by either a cigarette or a
short circuit in the electrical system".
Reconstruction of Notre-Dame Cathedral
On the night of the fire Macron said that the cathedral, which is owned by the state, would be rebuilt, and launched an international fundraising campaign. France's cathedrals have been owned by the state since 1905, and are not privately insured.
The heritage conservation organisation Fondation du Patrimoine estimated the damage in the hundreds of millions of euros, but losses from the fire are not expected to substantially impact the private insurance industry.
European art insurers stated that the cost would be similar to ongoing renovations at the Palace of Westminster in London, which currently is estimated to be around €7 billion.
This cost does not include damage to any of the artwork or artefacts within the cathedral. Any pieces on loan from other museums would have been insured, but the works owned by the cathedral would not have been insurable.
While Macron hoped the cathedral could be restored in time for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, architects expect the work could take from twenty to forty years, as any new structure would need to balance restoring the look of the original building, using wood and stone sourced from the same regions used in the original construction, with the structural reinforcement required for preventing a similar disaster in the future.
There is discussion of whether to reconstruct the cathedral in modified form. Rebuilding the roof with titanium sheets and steel trusses has been suggested; other options include rebuilding in the original lead and wood, or rebuilding with modern materials not visible from the outside (like the reinforced concrete trusses at Reims Cathedral).
Another option would be to use a combination of restored old elements and newly designed ones. Chartres Cathedral was rebuilt with wrought iron trusses and copper sheeting after an 1836 fire.
French prime minister Édouard Philippe announced an architectural design competition for a new spire that would be:
"Adapted to the techniques
and the challenges of our era."
The spire replacement project has gathered a variety of designs and some controversy, particularly its legal exemption from environmental and heritage rules. After the design competition was announced, the French senate amended the government's restoration bill to require the roof to be restored to how it was before the fire.
On the 16th. July, 95 days after the fire, the law that will govern the restoration of the cathedral was finally approved by the French parliament. It recognises its UNESCO World Heritage Site status and the need to respect existing international charters and practices, to:
"Preserve the historic, artistic and architectural
history of the monument, and to limit any
derogations to the existing heritage, planning,
environmental and construction codes to a
minimum".
On the 15th. April 2020, Germany offered to restore some of the large clerestory windows located far above eye level with three expert tradesmen who specialize in rebuilding cathedrals. Monika Grütters, Germany's Commissioner for Culture was quoted as saying that her country would shoulder the costs.
As of the 30th. November all of the tangled scaffolding was removed from the spire area, and was therefore no longer a threat to the building.
The world will now have to wait for Notre-Dame de Paris to be restored to its former magnificence.
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard published by the Photochrom Co. Ltd. The card, which is a glossy real photograph, was printed in Great Britain. The card has a divided back.
Note the motorbike with a sidecar - something that is rarely seen these days in the UK.
The Photochrom Co. Ltd.
The Photochrom Co. Ltd. of London and Royal Tunbridge Wells originally produced Christmas cards before becoming a major publisher and printer of tourist albums, guide books, and postcards.
These mainly captured worldwide views as real photos, or were printed in black & white, monochrome, and color.
They also published many advertising, comic, silhouette, novelty, panoramic, and notable artist-signed cards in named series as well. The huge number of titles that Photochrom produced may well exceed 40,000.
In 1896 they took over Fussli’s London office established three years earlier, and began publishing similar photo-chromolithographic postcards after securing the exclusive English licence for the Swiss photochrom process.
This technique was used to produce a great number of view-cards of both England and Europe. While they captured the same fine details as the Swiss prints, their colours were much softer and reduced.
Apart from their better known photochroms, they produced their Celesque series of view-cards printed in tricolor.
One of the largest unnamed series that Photochrom produced was of view-cards printed in brown rotogravure. Many of these cards were simply hand coloured with a dominant red and blue, which gives these cards a distinct appearance. They are similar to cards produced in their Photogravure and Velvet Finish Series.
Photochrom postcard series include:
-- Night Series - Line block halftone over a blue tint depicting London.
-- Carbofoto Series - Black & white real photo cards.
-- Sepiatone Series - Sepia real photo cards.
-- Grano Series - View-cards printed in black & white.
-- Exclusive Photo-Color Series - View-cards printed in colour.
-- Duotype Process Series - View-cards printed in two tones.
Llandudno
Llandudno is a seaside resort in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. The town's name is derived from its patron saint, Saint Tudno.
Llandudno is the largest seaside resort in Wales, and as early as 1861 was being called 'the Queen of the Welsh Watering Places' (a phrase later also used in connection with Tenby and Aberystwyth; the word 'resort' came a little later).
-- History of Llandudno
The town of Llandudno developed from Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements over many hundreds of years on the slopes of the limestone headland, known to seafarers as the Great Orme and to landsmen as the Creuddyn Peninsula.
The origins in recorded history are with the Manor of Gogarth conveyed by King Edward I to Annan, Bishop of Bangor in 1284.
-- The Great Orme
Mostly owned by Mostyn Estates, the Great Orme is home to several large herds of wild Kashmiri goats originally descended from a pair given by Queen Victoria to Lord Mostyn.
The summit of the Great Orme stands at 679 feet (207 m). The Summit Hotel, now a tourist attraction, was once the home of world middleweight champion boxer Randolph Turpin.
The limestone headland is a haven for flora and fauna, with some rare species such as peregrine falcons and a species of wild cotoneaster (cambricus) which can only be found on the Great Orme.
The sheer limestone cliffs provide ideal nesting conditions for a wide variety of sea birds, including cormorants, shags, guillemots, razorbills, puffins, kittiwakes, fulmars and numerous gulls.
There are several attractions including the Great Orme Tramway and the Llandudno Cable Car that takes tourists to the summit. The Great Orme also has the longest toboggan run in Britain at 750m.
-- The Development of Llandudno
By 1847 the town had grown to a thousand people, served by the new church of St. George, built in 1840. The great majority of the men worked in the copper mines, with others employed in fishing and subsistence agriculture.
In 1848, Owen Williams, an architect and surveyor from Liverpool, presented Lord Mostyn with plans to develop the marshlands behind Llandudno Bay as a holiday resort. These were enthusiastically pursued by Lord Mostyn.
The influence of the Mostyn Estate and its agents over the years was paramount in the development of Llandudno, especially after the appointment of George Felton as surveyor and architect in 1857.
Between 1857 and 1877 much of central Llandudno was developed under Felton's supervision. Felton also undertook architectural design work, including the design and execution of the Holy Trinity Church in Mostyn Street.
The Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Electric Railway operated an electric tramway service between Llandudno and Rhos-on-Sea from 1907, this being extended to Colwyn Bay in 1908. The service closed in 1956.
-- The Beach and The Parade
A beach of sand, shingle and rock curves two miles between the headlands of the Great Orme and the Little Orme.
For most of the length of Llandudno's North Shore there is a wide curving Victorian promenade. The road, collectively known as The Parade, has a different name for each block, and it is on these parades and crescents that many of Llandudno's hotels are built.
-- Llandudno Pier
The pier is on the North Shore. Built in 1878, it is a Grade II listed building.
The pier was extended in 1884 in a landward direction along the side of what was the Baths Hotel (where the Grand Hotel now stands) to provide a new entrance with the Llandudno Pier Pavilion Theatre, thus increasing the pier's length to 2,295 feet (700 m); it is the longest pier in Wales.
Attractions on the pier include a bar, a cafe, amusement arcades, children's fairground rides and an assortment of shops & kiosks.
In the summer, Professor Codman's Punch and Judy show (established in 1860) can be found on the promenade near the entrance to the pier.
-- The Happy Valley
The Happy Valley, a former quarry, was the gift of Lord Mostyn to the town in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. The area was landscaped and developed as gardens, two miniature golf courses, a putting green, a popular open-air theatre and extensive lawns.
Ceremonies connected with the Welsh National Eisteddfod were held there in 1896, and again in 1963.
In June 1969, the Great Orme Cabin Lift, a modern alternative to the tramway, was opened with its base station adjacent to the open-air theatre. The distance to the summit is just over 1 mile (1.6 km), and the four-seater cabins travel at 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) on a continuous steel cable over 2 miles (3.2 km) long.
It is the longest single-stage cabin lift in Great Britain, and the longest span between pylons is over 1,000 feet (300 m).
The popularity of the 'Happy Valley Entertainers' open-air theatre having declined, the theatre closed in 1985. Likewise the two miniature golf courses closed, and were converted in 1987 to create a 280-metre (920 ft) artificial ski slope and toboggan run. The gardens were extensively restored as part of the resort's millennium celebrations, and remain a major attraction.
-- Marine Drive
The first route round the perimeter of the Great Orme was a footpath constructed in 1858 by Reginald Cust, a trustee of the Mostyn Estate. In 1872 the Great Orme's Head Marine Drive Co. Ltd. was formed to turn the path into a carriage road.
Following bankruptcy, a second company completed the road in 1878. The contractors for the scheme were Messrs Hughes, Morris, Davies, a consortium led by Richard Hughes of Madoc Street, Llandudno.
The road was bought by Llandudno Urban District Council in 1897. The 4 mile (6.4 km) one-way drive starts at the foot of the Happy Valley. After about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) a side road leads to St. Tudno's Church, the Great Orme Bronze Age Copper Mine and the summit of the Great Orme.
Continuing on the Marine Drive the Great Orme Lighthouse (now a small hotel) is passed, and, shortly afterwards on the right, the Rest and Be Thankful Cafe and information centre.
Below the Marine Drive at its western end is the site of the wartime Coast Artillery School (1940–1945), now a scheduled ancient monument.
-- The West Shore
The West Shore is a quiet beach on the estuary of the River Conwy. It was here at Pen Morfa that Alice Liddell (of Alice in Wonderland fame) spent the long summer holidays of her childhood from 1862 to 1871.
There are a few hotels and quiet residential streets. The West Shore is linked to the North Shore by Gloddaeth Avenue and Gloddaeth Street, a wide dual carriageway.
-- Mostyn Street
Running behind the promenade is Mostyn Street, leading to Mostyn Broadway and then Mostyn Avenue. These are the main shopping streets of Llandudno. Mostyn Street accommodates the high street shops, the major high street banks and building societies, two churches, amusement arcades and the town's public library.
The last is the starting point for the Town Trail, a planned walk that facilitates viewing Llandudno in a historical perspective.
-- Victorian Extravaganza
Every year in May bank holiday weekend, Llandudno has a three-day Victorian Carnival, and Mostyn Street becomes a funfair.
Madoc Street and Gloddaeth Street and the Promenade become part of the route each day for a mid-day carnival parade. Also the Bodafon Farm fields become the location of a Festival of Transport for the weekend.
-- Venue Cymru
The North Wales Theatre, Arena and Conference Centre, built in 1994, and extended in 2006 and renamed "Venue Cymru", is located near the centre of the promenade on Penrhyn Crescent.
It is noted for its productions of opera, orchestral concerts, ballet, musical theatre, drama, circus, ice shows and pantomimes.
-- The Llandudno Lifeboat
Until 2017, Llandudno was unique within the United Kingdom in that its lifeboat station was located inland, allowing it to launch with equal facility from either the West Shore or the North Shore as needed.
In 2017, a new lifeboat station was completed, and new, high-speed, offshore and inshore lifeboats, and a modern launching system, were acquired. This station is close to the paddling pool on North Shore.
Llandudno's active volunteer crews are called out more than ever with the rapidly increasing numbers of small pleasure craft sailing in coastal waters. The Llandudno Lifeboat is normally on display on the promenade every Sunday and bank holiday Monday from May until October.
-- The Ancient Parish Church
The ancient parish church dedicated to Saint Tudno stands in a hollow near the northern point of the Great Orme, and is two miles (3 km) from the present town.
It was established as an oratory by Tudno, a 6th.-century monk, but the present church dates from the 12th. century and it is still used on summer Sunday mornings.
-- Llandudno's Links with Mametz and Wormhout
(a) Mametz
The 1st. (North Wales) Brigade was headquartered in Llandudno in December 1914, and included a battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, which had been raised and trained in Llandudno.
Skirting the Fricourt salient, the British 7th. Division took the village of Mametz in the afternoon of the 1st. July 1916. However Mametz Wood to the north-east of the village held great German resistance. This blocked all Allied progress in a northeasterly direction.
After eight days of fierce combat, with heavy losses, did the 38th. Welsh Division capture the wood on the 12th. July 1916.
A monument to the 38th. Welsh Division was inaugurated on the 11th. July 1987. The monument takes the form of a plinth surmounted by a red dragon, the emblem of Wales. With its wings held aloft, it carries in its claws pieces of barbed wire, attesting to the fierce nature of the fighting.
The hostilities brought about the total destruction of Mametz village by shelling. After the war, the people of Llandudno (including returning survivors) contributed generously to the fund for the reconstruction of the village of Mametz.
(b) Wormhout
Llandudno is twinned with the Flemish town of Wormhout which is 10 miles (16 km) from Dunkirk. It was near there that many members of the Llandudno-based 69th. Territorial Regiment were ambushed and taken prisoner.
The Site Mémoire de la Plaine au Bois near Wormhout commemorates the massacre of these prisoners on the 28th. May 1940. The men had been retreating towards Dunkirk ahead of the advancing Germans.
About 100 troops, having run out of ammunition, surrendered to the Germans, assuming that they would be taken prisoner according to the Geneva Convention.
However they were all imprisoned in a small barn, and the SS threw stick-grenades into the building, killing many POW's.
However the grenades failed to kill everyone, largely due to the bravery of two British NCO's, Stanley Moore and Augustus Jennings, who hurled themselves on top of the grenades, using their bodies to shield their comrades from the blast.
In order to finish off the remaining soldiers, the SS fired into the barn with rifles and automatic weapons. A few survived to tell the tale, but no-one was ever indicted for war crimes because of insufficient evidence.
A replica of the barn can be seen at the site of the massacre.
-- Llandudno's Cultural Connections
Matthew Arnold gives a vivid and lengthy description of 1860's Llandudno - and of the ancient tales of Taliesin and Maelgwn Gwynedd that are associated with the local landscape - in the first sections of the preface to 'On the Study of Celtic Literature' (1867).
Llandudno is also used as a location for dramatic scenes in the stage play and film 'Hindle Wakes' by Stanley Houghton, and the 1911 novel, 'The Card', by Arnold Bennett, and its subsequent film version.
Elisabeth of Wied, the Queen Consort of Romania and also known as writer Carmen Sylva, stayed in Llandudno for five weeks in 1890.
On leaving, she described Wales as "A beautiful haven of peace". Translated into Welsh as "Hardd, hafan, hedd", it became the town's official motto.
Other famous people with links to Llandudno include the Victorian statesman John Bright and multi-capped Welsh international footballers Neville Southall, Neil Eardley, Chris Maxwell and Joey Jones.
Australian ex-Prime Minister Billy Hughes attended school in Llandudno. Gordon Borrie QC (Baron Borrie), Director General of the Office of Fair Trading from 1976 to 1992, was educated at the town's John Bright Grammar School when he lived there as a wartime evacuee.
The international art gallery Oriel Mostyn is in Vaughan Street next to the post office. It was built in 1901 to house the art collection of Lady Augusta Mostyn. It was requisitioned in 1914 for use as an army drill hall, and later became a warehouse, before being returned to use as an art gallery in 1979. Following a major revamp the gallery was renamed simply 'Mostyn' in 2010.
Llandudno has its own mini arts festival 'LLAWN' (Llandudno Arts Weekend). It is a mini festival that rediscovers and celebrates Llandudno’s past in rather a unique way; via art, architecture, artefact, sound, performance, and participation.
The festival takes place over three days of a weekend in late September, originally conceived as a way to promote what those in the hospitality sector refer to as the ‘shoulder season’, which means a lull in the tourist calendar.
In January 1984 Brookside character Petra Taylor (Alexandra Pigg) committed suicide in Llandudno.
In 1997, the English cookery programme "Two Fat Ladies" with Jennifer Patterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright filmed an episode in Llandudno.
First try, first published and a first win in a comp :)
Now thats what you call a beginners luck!
Digital Camera Magazine - Sept Issue
Normally I don't bother sending my pics to any places but the reasons behind submitting my photo to this magazine was that I needed to have a photo published somewhere so that it would be favourable to pass the interview to join the photography course at TAFE. (TAFE = like a college)
Never thought I'd win anything so it's a huge surprise!
... and a little more on TAFE:
For anyone who wanted to enrol in photography course at TAFE, you have to present your portfolio and go through an interview where you'll get questions like "Do you work or have worked in photography industry?" or "Have you ever had your photo published?" which unfortunately I had answer "no" and had me wondering why I needed experience since I wanted to learn from the beginning.
Anyways, I found out the reason behind the strict student selection was due to limited seat as their photography course is so popular. On my initial application, I was not offered a spot but now with this, I may have a better luck at the next year's interview. :)
Thanks DC mag for the awesome Manfrotto tripod! It's an awesome trophy!
Another tutorial published on trendyTUTS.com. Want to learn how I have don this? Follow this link...
trendytuts.com/web-layout-tutorials/how-to-design-an-eleg...
Photograph published 31st December 1918
During the Great War the Illustrated Chronicle published photographs of soldiers and sailors from Newcastle and the North East of England, which had been in the news. The photographs were sent in by relatives and give us a glimpse into the past.
The physical collection held by Newcastle Libraries comprises bound volumes of the newspaper from 1910 to 1925. We are keen to find out more about the people in the photographs. If you recognize anyone in the images and have any stories and information to add please comment below.
[Published by the Illustrated Postal Card Co., New York - Germany] Circa 1917.
From the postcard collection of the Ohio County Public Library Archives
▶ Visit the Library's Wheeling History website
The photos on the Ohio County Public Library's Flickr site may be freely used by non-commercial entities for educational and/or research purposes as long as credit is given to the "Ohio County Public Library, Wheeling WV." These photos may not be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation without the permission of The Ohio County Public Library.
Published by DC Comics in 1950. Cover art by Rube Grossman. "Comic Cavalade," always priced at 15 cents, began at 96 pages with stories of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The Flash. It switched to funny animals with #30, staying with Fox & Crow, etc until its 68-page final issue (#63).
This photograph was published in the Illustrated Chronicle on the 29th of March 1916.
During the Great War the Illustrated Chronicle published photographs of soldiers and sailors from Newcastle and the North East of England, which had been in the news. The photographs were sent in by relatives and give us a glimpse into the past.
The physical collection held by Newcastle Libraries comprises bound volumes of the newspaper from 1910 to 1925. We are keen to find out more about the people in the photographs. If you recognise anyone in the images and have any stories or information to add please comment below.
Copies of this photograph may be ordered from us, for more information see: www.newcastle.gov.uk/tlt Please make a note of the image reference number above to help speed up your order.
The Postcard
A postcard published by The Coast Publishing Co. of Vancouver B.C. The card was posted in Vancouver on Thursday the 19th. February 1920 to:
Miss Waub,
63, Gore Road,
Victoria Park,
London E.,
England.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear G,
Thought you might like to
put this amongst your other
PCs.
Tell Mother to hurry along
and send me a line - it seems
such an age since she last
wrote.
I am comfortably settled at
last in a house of my own.
With lots of love to Wally,
Dad, Mum and Self.
A."
Flumes
A flume is a man-made channel for water in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch.
Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to transport water, rather than transporting materials using flowing water as a flume does. Flumes route water from a diversion dam or weir to a collection location.
Many flumes took the form of wooden troughs elevated on trestles, often following the natural contours of the land. Originating as a part of a mill race, they were later used in the transportation of logs in the logging industry, known as a log flumes. They were also extensively used in hydraulic mining and working placer deposits for gold, tin and other heavy minerals.
George Rose (Actor)
So what else happened on the day the card was posted?
Well, the 19th. February 1920 marked the birth in Bicester, of George Rose.
George Walter Rose was an English actor and singer in theatre and film.
Born the son of a butcher, Rose studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. After graduation, he was briefly a farmer and secretary. After wartime service and studies at Oxford, he made his Old Vic stage debut in 1946.
George Rose's Acting Career
Rose spent four years with the Old Vic company, and made his Broadway debut in a 1946 production of Henry IV, Part I. George continued to play in New York City and London's West End for the remainder of the decade.
He spent most of the 1950's appearing in broad comedy roles in the UK, later joining the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He returned to Broadway to portray Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing in 1959. Two years later, he co-starred to much acclaim in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, first in London and then in New York. This included Variety naming him best supporting actor for his portrayal of the Common Man. From then on he appeared primarily in American plays and films.
Rose made his screen debut in Midnight Frolics in 1949 and went on to make more than 30 films. Notable film credits include The Pickwick Papers (1952), Track the Man Down (1955), A Night to Remember (1958), The Flesh and the Fiends (1959), Hawaii (1966), and A New Leaf (1971).
Rose starred in the 1975 television series Beacon Hill, an Americanised version of Upstairs, Downstairs. Other television credits include Naked City, Trials of O'Brien, the mini-series Holocaust (1978), and several appearances on the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
On Broadway, among other roles, he played the First Gravedigger in John Gielgud's 1964 production of Hamlet starring Richard Burton, a suspicious storekeeper in William Hanley's Slow Dance on the Killing Ground (1964), a bitter soldier in Peter Shaffer's Royal Hunt of the Sun (1965), and the detective in Joe Orton's Loot (1968).
His first Tony Award nomination was for his portrayal of Louis Greff, Coco Chanel's friend, in the musical Coco in 1969. In the 1974 comedy My Fat Friend, opposite Lynn Redgrave, he won a Drama Desk Award and received another Tony nomination. In 1976, he finally won a Tony as Alfred P. Doolittle in the Broadway revival of My Fair Lady.
George received further acclaim in the role of General Burgoyne in The Devil's Disciple, as Mr. Darling and Captain Hook in Peter Pan and as one of the replacements for Rex Harrison in The Kingfisher; he won a 1979 Drama Desk Award for the last.
In 1980, he appeared as Major General Stanley in the hit Joe Papp adaptation of The Pirates of Penzance, co-starring Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt, being nominated for another Tony award. He also starred in the film adaptation of the production, released in 1983.
Rose won his second Tony in 1986, for Rupert Holmes' musical adaptation of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Rose was appearing in a national tour of Drood at the time of his death in 1988. His last film role was Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw, in which he voiced the villain Marvin McNasty (and also sang one of the film's songs).
Personal Life and Murder of George Rose
Rose owned a pet lynx, birds and other exotic creatures. He had a music collection numbering around 17,000 records.
In 1984, he purchased a holiday home in Sosúa, Dominican Republic, where he spent much of his time between his performances. Rose was gay and had no immediate family or permanent partner. He reportedly longed to have an heir.
Shortly after moving, he took in a 14-year-old boy whom he supported financially and to whom he planned to leave his estate. He adopted the boy in January 1988.
(No good turn ever goes unpunished - below is a good example of this).
On the 5th. May 1988, during a two-week hiatus from the national tour of Drood, Rose was tortured and beaten to death by his adopted son, the boy's biological father, an uncle, and a friend of the father.
The assailants tried to make the death look like a car accident, but soon confessed to killing Rose. Though all four men were charged and spent time in prison, no trial was ever held, and eventually all were released.
Rose is buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery near his holiday home in Sosúa.
Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr. (a.k.a. Busta Rhymes)
Secret Solstice Festival
June, 2015
Reykjavik, Iceland
© 2015 LEROE24FOTOS.COM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED,
BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
One of my panoramas from Sandakphu trek (Bengal State, India) published in the Spring 2017 Issue 57 of Alpinist Magazine, an archival-quality, quarterly publication dedicated to world alpinism and adventure climbing.
Thanks to www.flickr.com/photos/michaelbarnes/ for the cover preview.
Photosho is a new All Canadian content independent Magazine put together by Mike and Rachel Barnes thanks guys for choosing my photo .
For more info on the magazine Here is there flickr group www.flickr.com/groups/photosho/ and the magazines web site www.photosho.ca/issue1.html
The Postcard
A postcard that was published by Francis Frith & Co. Ltd. of Reigate. Note the complete absence of traffic other than the Coca Cola delivery van.
The card was posted in Croydon on Wednesday the 12th. November 1952 to:
Mrs. Joyce,
Late Partington,
146, Charlotte Road,
Sheffield.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"Thank you my dear Joyce
for your nice long letter
which I will answer in a few
days.
This is the new Thornton
Heath.
I am so very busy after
moving in here,
I have a lot to tell you,
and not all very nice news.
I never hear from anyone
in Sheffield, especially
Tinsley.
I only wish you were nearer
to me.
Please send me next time
your married name, I have
forgotten it.
Anyhow, my fondest love
to you all,
Grandma."
Laurence Juber
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 12th. November 1952 marked the birth in Stepney, East London of Laurence Juber.
Laurence Ivor Juber is an English musician, fingerstyle guitarist and studio musician. He played guitar in the rock band Paul McCartney and Wings from 1978 to 1981.
-- Laurence Juber - The Early Years
Juber was raised and went to school in North London. By his own account, he began playing guitar the week that the single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles was released.
Beginning on a cheap acoustic guitar, he learned to read music early. He began to earn money playing the guitar at 13, and began to study classical guitar at the age of 15.
-- Laurence Juber's Studio Work in London
Enraptured by the sounds on records of the mid- to late 1960's, Laurence set his sights on becoming a session guitarist in London's music studios.
While playing with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, he earned his music degree at London University's Goldsmiths College, where he expanded his horizons by playing the lute.
Upon graduation, he immediately began work as a session guitarist, working on his first project with former Beatles producer George Martin on an album for Cleo Laine.
Amongst other studio work, in 1977, Juber was booked by London-based orchestral contractor David Katz along with session drummer Peter Boita to go to Paris for a week to record an album with Charles Aznavour.
Sung entirely in French, the album, Je n'ai pas vu le Temps Passer, went on to become one of Aznavour's biggest-selling French language albums.
Most famously, Juber played the James Bond theme for the movie The Spy Who Loved Me.
-- Laurence Juber and Wings
Juber gave up a lucrative and successful studio career when invited to join the band Paul McCartney and Wings in 1978. Juber later said:
I agreed to join immediately
because you don't turn down
that kind of job".
He played on the band's Back to the Egg album (1979), as well as in their subsequent UK tour. In 1980, he garnered his first Grammy Award, when the Wings' track "Rockestra Theme" won the award for Best Rock Instrumental.
Juber acknowledges that whilst he was a sideman with Wings, he considered himself a member of the band.
Laurence was mis-credited as Lawrence Tuber on the sleeve of Ringo Starr's album, Stop and Smell the Roses.
From this period dates his first solo album, Standard Time (only released on vinyl). McCartney and former Wings guitarist Denny Laine played on the track "Maisie".
-- Laurence Juber's Life After Wings
After Wings disbanded in early 1981, Juber moved to the United States. In New York City, he met his future wife, Hope, and soon moved to her native California.
He subsequently resumed work as a studio musician, and played guitar for numerous television shows, including Happy Days, Family Ties, Home Improvement and 7th. Heaven.
He composed the music for A Very Brady Christmas (1988), World Gone Wild (1988), and Little Sweetheart (1990).
He played guitar on Belinda Carlisle's "Mad About You", Eric Carmen's "Make Me Lose Control" and "Time of My Life" and "She's Like The Wind" on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.
Juber co-composed the soundtrack for the award-winning video game Diablo III, and crafted the score to the Dateline NBC documentary Children of the Harvest. His music is also featured in the Ken Burns TV documentary The Tenth Inning.
With his wife, Hope Juber, he has composed the scores to the musical comedies Gilligan's Island: The Musical, A Very Brady Musical and It's The Housewives!
In addition to his own recording and performances, Laurence Juber has produced, arranged and played on Al Stewart's albums Between the Wars (1995), Down in the Cellar (2000), A Beach Full of Shells (2005) and Sparks of Ancient Light (2008), and occasionally performs with Stewart.
In 2014 he released a "photo memoir" Guitar With Wings which featured previously unpublished pictures of his time working with Paul McCartney.
-- Laurence Juber's Solo Career
In 1990, Juber released his second solo album, Solo Flight. During the next decade he began to explore altered tunings, especially "DADGAD".
In 2000, Juber released the solo album LJ plays the Beatles and The Collection and in 2003 the album Guitarist was released to critical acclaim.
Juber's credentials as a top-tier fingerstyle guitarist continue to grow. Having been voted "Guitarist of the Year" by readers of Fingerstyle Guitar magazine, as well as one of the top acoustic players of all time by Acoustic Guitar magazine, Juber is an ambassador for his instrument as well as his own music.
He has released many critically acclaimed solo albums, and has earned a second Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental for his solo guitar arrangement of "The Pink Panther Theme" on the CD Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar.
Juber has also released a series of instructional CDs that teach basic music theory and arrangement techniques for guitarists and has three folios of his arrangements of pop songs published by Hal Leonard.
-- Laurence Juber's Personal Life
Juber is married to former actress Hope Schwartz, whose father Sherwood was producer of Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch - she was a guest multiple times on the latter show.
They have two daughters, Nico Juber and songwriter Ilsey Juber.
The Postcard
A Coloured Enamelette View Series postcard that was published by Giesen Bros. & Co. of London E. C.
The card was posted in Fareham on Monday the 14th. September 1908 to:
Mr. J. Green,
32, Eldon Terrace,
Windmill Hill,
Bedminster,
Bristol.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear Jim and Dolly,
We are getting along
alright down here and
having grand weather
and the old place &
Paddy is having a high
time down Charlotte
Street.
Love to everyone".
Southsea
Southsea is a seaside resort located in Portsmouth at the southern end of Portsea Island, Hampshire. The name originates from Southsea Castle, a fort located on the seafront and constructed in 1544 to help defend the Solent and approaches to Portsmouth Harbour.
When Henry VIII was in the castle he witnessed the sinking of the warship Mary Rose in the Solent.
By the mid to late Victorian era, Southsea had become a largely middle-class neighbourhood, with many naval officers and other professionals in residence. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle moved from Portsmouth to Southsea in 1882 with less than £10 (about £900 today) to his name. He set up a medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove.
Southsea Common
Southsea Common was created when about 480 acres (2sq. km.) of marshland was drained. Because the castle required clear lines of fire, the area was not built on, and remains today as a park and garden.
The Common is home to a remarkable collection of mature elm trees, believed to be the oldest and largest surviving in Hampshire. They escaped Dutch elm disease because of their isolation.
The Ladies' Mile was set out within the Common in 1925. The Ladies' mile is home to several semi-mature date palms. Planted in 1996, these palms are now some of the largest in the UK, and for the last few years have fruited and produced viable seeds, the first time this species of palm has been recorded as doing so in the UK.
The Arts Benefactor Peter Watson
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted to Jim and Dolly?
Well, the 14th. September 1908 marked the beginning of the short life of Peter Watson.
Victor William (Peter) Watson was a wealthy English art collector and benefactor. He funded the literary magazine, Horizon, edited by Cyril Connolly.
Peter Watson's Life and Work
Watson was the son of Sir George Watson, and was the youngest of three children - his brother Norman was born in 1897 and his sister Florence in 1894. He was educated at Eton College and St John's College, Oxford.
Watson was an avid art collector, acquiring works by such artists as Miró, Klee, and Pablo Picasso, which were displayed in his Paris apartment in the 1930's.
He was the principal benefactor of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and also provided financial assistance to English and Irish painters including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and John Craxton.
In 1930, society photographer, artist and set designer Sir Cecil Beaton began a lifelong obsession with Watson, though the two never became lovers. One chapter from Hugo Vickers' authorised biography of Cecil Beaton is titled "I Love You, Mr. Watson".
In 1940 Watson provided funding for Cyril Connolly's Horizon, and became its arts editor from 1940 to 1949. Stephen Spender was also initially involved with the magazine.
Peter rarely contributed articles, but gave many opportunities for his friends to have their pictures reproduced in the magazine, and also encouraged Horizon to look beyond British Art, particularly to Paris.
Watson commissioned articles on artists barely known at the time in England, such as Balthus, Morandi and Klee. He persuaded Picasso's dealer, Daniel Kahnweiler, to comment on the contemporary art market; and he also got Michel Leiris to write about Giacometti.
Spender recalled to Connolly's biographer, Clive Fisher, that:
"Watson hated priggishness, pomposity
and almost everything to do with public
life".
Spender claimed that:
"Peter had educated himself through a
love of beautiful works and of people in
whom he saw beauty.
When I think of him then, I think of his
clothes, which were beautiful, his general
neatness and cleanness, which seemed
almost those of a handsome young
Bostonian."
Fisher wrote that:
"Peter Watson was a figure of striking
attractiveness; women in particular seem
to have found his manners irresistible...
almost everyone appears to have liked him."
One of Watson's lovers was the American male prostitute and socialite Denham Fouts, whom he continued to support even after they separated as a result of Fouts's drug addiction.
The Death of Peter Watson
Watson was found drowned in his bath on the 3rd. May 1956. Some have suggested that he was murdered by his young American lover, Norman Fowler. Fowler inherited the bulk of Watson's estate and died 14 years later in the West Indies; he was also found drowned in his bathtub.
Watson's sister, Florence Nagle, fought a prolonged battle against Britain's Jockey Club, the controlling body for horse racing.
Peter's brother Norman provided funding for the early development of Lake Louise, a ski resort in Alberta, Canada.
The Teddy Bears' Picnic
Also on the 14th. September 1908, the first disk recording of Teddy Bears' Picnic was made.
"The Teddy Bears' Picnic" is a song consisting of a melody by American composer John Walter Bratton, written in 1907, and lyrics added by Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy in 1932. It remains popular as a children's song, having been recorded by numerous artists over the decades.
Kennedy lived at Staplegrove Elm and is buried in Staplegrove Church, Taunton, Somerset, England. Local folklore has it that the small wooded area between the church and Staplegrove Scout Hut was the inspiration for his lyrics.
Background to Teddy Bears' Picnic
Bratton composed the music and assigned the copyright to M. Witmark & Sons, New York City, who published it later in 1907 as "The Teddy Bears' Picnic: Characteristic Two Step".
Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy didn't write the now-familiar lyrics for it until 1932.
After Bratton wrote "The Teddy Bears' Picnic", however, many people felt that the composer plagiarized portions of the melody. Music aficionados pointed out in particular that the refrain echoed the theme from Robert Browne Hall's 1895 "Death or Glory March". Nevertheless, charges were not filed and Bratton's song still has the same tune it had in 1907.
The first recording of the piece was by the Edison Symphony Orchestra, made at Edison Records' studio at 79 Fifth Avenue, New York City, in November 1907 and was released as an Edison two-minute cylinder in March 1908.
Arthur Pryor's Band made the first disc recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey, on the 14th. September 1908. It was released in November 1908 as a Victor single-faced disc and as side A of the company's first double-faced disc, with the title "The Teddy Bears' Picnic/Descriptive Novelty".
An early UK recording was made by the Black Diamonds Band for Zonophone records in 1908.
The first vocal version was recorded in 1932 on BBC Radio by Henry Hall with his BBC Orchestra, with Val Rosing singing Kennedy's lyrics. The song has subsequently been recorded by numerous artists, including: Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Jerry Garcia, John Inman, Anne Murray, and Dave Van Ronk.
Notable non-solo artists to record the song include the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Rosenshontz, and Trout Fishing in America.
The Teddy Bear's Picnic in Popular Culture
In the late 1940's and early 1950's, a version performed by organist Ethel Smith was used as the theme song for the Big Jon and Sparkie radio program, an American children's show presented on weekdays and Saturday mornings.
John Inman's 1975 recording of the song (as featured on his first album Are You Being Served Sir?) was regularly playlisted on BBC Radio Saturday morning children's show Ed Stewart's Junior Choice in the late 1970's.
In 1983, Green Tiger Press turned Kennedy's lyrics into a children's book, with illustrations by company co-founder Sandra Darling. Original printings included a 7" record, with the Bing Crosby recording on the A side, and a recording by a local klezmer band, dubbed "The Bearcats", on the B-side.
The song appears in the 2006 film Open Season. The original lyrics are sung by Beth and Shaw, and a version with different lyrics is sang by Elliot.
In 1989, a short film entitled The Teddy Bears' Picnic was released, featuring two teddy bears named Benjamin (voiced by Jonathan Crombie) and Wally (voiced by Stuart Stone) attending the said picnic. Ann Stevens performed the song, which served as the film's theme song.
Two other films based on the film were released called The Teddy Bears' Christmas (1992) and The Teddy Bears' Scare (1998) and later a television series called The Secret World of Benjamin Bear.
Teddy Bears' Picnic Day is the 10th. July.
Use of the Song by BBC Radio Engineers
The 1932 Henry Hall recording was of especially good quality with a large tonal range. It was used for more than 30 years by BBC audio engineers (up until the early 1960's) to test and calibrate the frequency response of audio equipment.
Specimen book published by Dave Greer, 1984:
www.flickr.com/photos/39182740@N04/3687440726/in/album-72...
Nicolette Gray [177] traces this stunning face with complex floral embellishment to Egyptian Ornamented by Bower & Bacon, 1830.
It is clearly different from the wood type design reported by Rob Roy Kelly [97], who illustrates a specimen tradenamed Rose Ornamental shown by Nesbitt in 1838.
Nesbitt, a New York printer, was the distributor of wood types produced by Edwin Allen [1811-1891] of Connecticut [Kelly 38].
Super-strong "Egyptian" letterforms, originated by Figgins in 1815 [Gray 149], are still unbeatable today for irresistible attention-grabbing!
This letterpress typeface has been digitized for posterity by THP Partner Paul Smith of Octopi Fonts: www.myfonts.com/fonts/octopi/egypt-rose/.
More about this font: forums.typeheritage.com/topic/rose-egyptian/
Lady Gaga
ARTRAVE "THE ARTPOP BALL"
Boardwalk Hall
Atlantic City, NJ
June 28th, 2014
© 2014 LEROE24FOTOS.COM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED,
BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
A Dodge Charger Special Edition at the Big Bumper Meet in Oldenburg.
© Dennis Matthies
My photographs are copyrighted and may not be altered, printed, published in any media and/or format, or re-posted in other websites/blogs.
Sir Joshua Reynolds
West Building, Main Floor—Gallery 59
•Date: 1784
•Medium: Oil on Canvas
•Dimensions:
oOverall: 91.6 × 76.4 cm (36 1/16 × 30 1/16 in.)
oFramed: 108 × 93.7 × 5.7 cm (42½ × 36⅞ × 2¼ in.)
•Credit Line: Andrew W. Mellon Collection
•Accession Number: 1942.8.21
•Artists/Makers:
oPainter: Gilbert Stuart: American, 1755-1828
Provenance
Commissioned by John Boydell [1719-1804], London; probably inherited by his nephew and business partner, Josiah Boydell [1752-1817], London. Possibly sold by an unidentified consigner at (Greenwood & Co., London, 3 April 1806, no. 49) and (Greenwood & Co., London, 21 May 1807, no. 40), purchaser not recorded.[1] Murrough O’Brien, 5th Earl of Inchiquin and 1st Marquis of Thomond [d. 1808];[2] by descent to his nephew, James O’Brien, 7th Earl of Inchiquin and 3rd Marquis of Thomond [1769-1855], Bath.[3] (T.H. Robinson, London, and M. Knoedler & Co., New York), October 1919; sold 11 December 1919 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[4] his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection on 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York) to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1]The Index of Paintings Sold in the British Isles during the Nineteenth Century, Burton B. Fredericksen, ed. (Santa Barbara, California and Oxford, England, 1990), 2: 951, as “Stuart, An Original Protrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds,” consigned by “a gentleman,” and as “G. Stuart, A Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds.” Only the second price is recorded, with some question, as three pounds, six pence. Since this is a very small price for a full-size portrait, perhaps these sales are instead for the “Small head, Sir Joshua Reynolds, sketch” attributed to Sturart that was sold at Christie’s on 5 February 1818 by a Mr. Rising, with a small head of the Marquis of Landsown, also attributed to Stuart. The pair went for five guineas. (Information courtesy of The Getty Provenance Index, 7 April 1992).
[2]Jane Stuart, “The Youth of Gilbert Stuart,” Scribner’s Monthly 13, no. 5 (March 1877), 644 recorded that “Lord Inchiquin” paid 250 guineas for her father’s portrait of Reynolds. It has been assumed that this was the 5th Earl, whose wife was Mary Palmer [d. 1820], Reynolds niece and heiress. On the Earls of Inchiquin see Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 104th ed., London, 1967, 1325-1330.
[3]According to Knoedler’s records (letter from Melissa De Medeiros, librarian, 5 June 1992, NGA curatorial file), the portrait was from the estate of James O’Brien, the 3rd and last marquis of Thomond, and “the present Lord Inchiquin is unable to say when the picture left the family.” Henry William Beechey, ed., The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, First President of the Royal Academy, rev. ed., 2 vols., London, 1855, 300, records the portrait and reproduces an engraving of it as his frontispieces, but he does not record any owner after Boydell.
[4]Knoedler purchased a joint share from T.H. Robinson in October 1919 and sold the painting to Clarke in December. The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early American Painters of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, (Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928) annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library).
Associated Names
•Boydell, John
•Boydell, Josiah
•Clarke, Thomas Benedict
•Greenwood & Co.
•Greenwood & Co.
•Knoedler & Company, M.
•Knoedler & Company, M.
•Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
•O’Brien, 5th Earl Inchiquin, Murrough
•O’Brien, 7th Earl Inchiquin, James
•Robinson, T.H.
Exhibition History
•1786—John Boydell’s Gallery, London, 1786.
•1792—Possibly Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, London, 1792-1802.
•1922—Portraits Painted in Europe by Early American Artists, The Union League Club, New York, January 1922, no. 1.
•1928—Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928-1931, unnumbered and unpaginated catalogue.
•1944—Gilbert Stuart: Portraits Lent by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1944-1945, no. 1.
•1967—Gilbert Stuart, Portraitist of the Young Republic, National Gallery of Art; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1967, no. 12.
•2004—Gilbert Stuart, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art (for the National Portrait Gallery), Washington, D.C., 2004-2005, no. 14, repro.
Bibliography
•1784—Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Diary, 1784, at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
•1786—”Fabius.” “The Arts. No. II. Alderman Boydell’s Gallery.” The Morning Post, and Daily Advertiser. 14 November 1786: 2.
•1792—Felton, Samuel. Testimonies to the Genius and Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds. London, 1792: 67.
•1804—”Monthly Retrospect of the Fine Arts.” Monthly Magazine; or British Register 17 (1 July 1804): 595.
•1855—Beechy, Henry William, ed. The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Renolds, First President of the Royal Academy. Rev. ed., 2 vols. London, 1855:1:frontispiece, engraving by E. Scriven, 300.
•1865—Leslie, Charles Robert and Tom Taylor. Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with Notices of some of his Contemporaries. 2 vols. London, 1865:2:468
•1869—Dunlap, William. A History of the Rise and Progress of The Arts of Design in the United States. 2 vols. Reprinted in 3. New York, 1969 (1834): 1:184, 219.
•1877—Stuart, Jane. “The Youth of Gilbert Stuart.” Scribner’s Monthly 13, no. 5 (March 1877):644
•1879—Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 248.
•1880—MFA 1880, 52, no. 508
•1913—Strickland, Walter G. A Dictionary of Irish Artists. 2 vols. Dublin and London, 1913: 2:416
•1922—Sherman, Frederick Fairchild. “Current Comment: Exhibitions.” ArtAm 10, no. 3 (April, 1922):139 repro., 143-144.
•1926—Park 1926, 641-642, no. 702, repro.
•1928—Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, unnumbered.
•1932—Whitley 1932, 46-47, 55-56
•1949—Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 133, repro.
•1959—Mount, Charles Merril. “A Hidden Treasure in Britain.” The Art Quarterly 22, no. 3 (Autumn, 1959): 220, 223
•1964—Mount 1964, 90, 362
•1970—American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 104, repro.
•1974—Bruntjen, Hermann Arnold. John Boydell (1719-1804): A Study of Art Patronage and Publishing in Georgian London. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1974:28-29, 36, 58, 63
•1975—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 382, color repro.
•1980—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 233, repro.
•1981—Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 50, 62.
•1984—Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 378, no. 534, color repro.
•1985—Bruntjen, Sven H. A. John Boydell (1719-1804): A Study of Art Patronage and Publishing in Georgian London. New York and London, 1985: 28-29. 36, 58, 63.
•1986—McLanathan, Richard. Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1986:51, 54, color repro.
•1990—Harris, Eileen. “Robert Adam’s Ornament for Alderman Boydell’s Picture Frames.” Furniture History: The Journal of the Furniture History Society. 26 (1990): 93-96, figs. 1-3
•1992—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 346, repro.
•1993—Rather, Susan. “Stuart and Reynolds: A Portrait of Challenge.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 27, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 61-84.
•1995—Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 172-177, color repro. 175.
•2000—Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Materials and Meaning in the Fine Arts 1. New Haven, 2000: 262.
•2016—Rather, Susan. The American School: Artists and Status in the Late Colonial and Early National Era. New Haven, 2016: 172-174, color fig. 128.
From American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century:
1942.8.21 (574)
Sir Joshua Reynolds
•1784
•Oil on canvas, 91.6 × 76.4 (36 1/16 × 30 1/16)
•Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Technical Notes
The primary support is a mediumweight, plain-weave fabric with a vertical seam 4.5 cm from the left side. A second, almost identical fabric is stretched beneath this support. Both the added strip and the lining appear to be original to the painting, as only one set of tack holes is found in the fabric, which has its original tacking margins. The four-member mortise-and-tenon, keyed stretcher also appears to be original. The thin, grayish white ground extends over the edges of the fabric, indicating that the canvas was prepared before stretching. The ground color contributes generally to the tonality in the more thinly painted passages in the hair, scroll, and column. In the more thickly painted coat, face, and hands, the ground is visible around the eyes and in the sitter’s left hand.
A mild, retouched abrasion is in the more thinly painted passages, with an untouched area of abrasion in the sitter’s left hand. Heavy retouching is evident in the areas of abrasion in the jacket. The varnish is a somewhat discolored, thick, and uneven glossy layer of natural resin.
Provenance
Commissioned by John Boydell [1719-1804], London; probably inherited by his nephew and business partner Josiah Boydell [1752-1817], London. Possibly sold by an unidentified consignor at (Greenwood & Co., London, 3 April 1806, no. 49) and (Greenwood & Co., London, 21 May 1807, no. 40), purchaser not recorded.1 Murrough O’Brien, 5th Earl of Inchiquin and 1st Marquis of Thomond [d. 1808];2 by descent to his nephew James O’Brien, 7th Earl of Inchiquin and 3rd Marquis of Thomond [1769-1855], Bath.3 (T.H. Robinson, London, and M. Knoedler & Co., New York), October 1919; sold 11 December 1919 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;4 his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection on 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh.
Exhibited
John Boydell’s Gallery, London, 1786. Possibly at Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, London 1792-1802. Union League Club, January 1922, no. 1. Philadelphia 1928, unnumbered. Richmond 1944-1945, no. 1. Gilbert Stuart, NGA; RISD; PAFA, 1967, no. 12.
Gilbert Stuart painted this portrait of sixty-one-year-old Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), the celebrated English painter and president of the Royal Academy of Arts, in July 1784. It is one of fifteen portraits of painters and engravers commissioned from Stuart by John Boydell, the London print publisher, of the men associated with his commercial success. In addition to Reynolds, Stuart painted portraits of John Singleton Copley (National Portrait Gallery, London), Benjamin West (National Portrait Gallery, London), Ozias Humphrey (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford), William Miller, and Richard Patón, and engravers James Heath (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford), William Woollett (Tate Gallery, London), John Hall (National Portrait Gallery, London), Johann Gottlieb Facius, Georg Sigmund Facius, John Browne, and Richard Earlom, as well as Boydell and his nephew and partner Josiah Boydell.5 He completed the portraits of Copley, Heath, and Josiah Boydell by 3 April 1784, when Robert Adam, the Scottish architect, designed an elaborate frame that positioned the portraits as a group above Copley’s history painting The Death of Major Peirson (1782-1784, Tate Gallery, London).6 Boydell had commissioned the Death of Peirson and had employed Heath as its engraver. He exhibited these paintings at 28 Haymarket, London, before moving them to the gallery in his print shop at 90 Cheapside.7 On 12 June, Robert Adam designed a second grouping of a number of circular, oval, and rectangular frames on one wall, perhaps for the display of some of Stuart’s fifteen portraits with other, horizontal works.8
Reynolds sat for his portrait that July. He listed the sittings in his pocket diary : on 23 July, “9½ Mr. Stewart” (fractions indicate the half-hour), and on 28 and 30 July, also at half past nine.9 A month later, on 27 August, “Mr. Stewart” had a final appointment at nine o’clock.10 The result shows Reynolds in a black suit, white shirt, and powdered gray wig. His cheeks are ruddy and his wig frizzy, in a natural style. Seated in an upholstered chair, Reynolds rests his hands in his lap as he holds a gold snuffbox in his left hand. Between the thumb and index finger of his right hand he takes a pinch of snuff. On a red-draped table beside him are rolled sheets of paper; a column and a red curtain fill the background.11 Stuart’s technique, with its loose, dry brushwork, is similar to that in his full-length of The Skater (Portrait of William Grant of 1782 [1950. 18.1] and his portrait of Sir John Dick of 1783 [1954.1.10], English works that mark the artist’s transition from the more evenly painted colonial American manner to his later fully calligraphic style. This transitional quality can be seen in his modeling of Reynolds’ face, where hatched brushwork defines the features, the shadows, and the wig, while a more thickly applied paint layer depicts the skin. The looser brushwork was undoubtedly a conscious imitation of Reynolds’ own technique.
In this portrait, Reynolds appears slightly older than in his self-portrait in academic robes with the bust of Michelangelo (c. 1780, Royal Academy of Arts, London). Instead, he more closely resembles his self-portrait of about 1789 (Royal Collection, London).12 Despite this similarity, Sir Joshua remarked about Stuart’s painting, according to American painter Charles Fraser, that “if that was like him, he did not know his own appearance.”13 As Susan Rather indicates in her close reading of the portrait, Reynolds no doubt was referring to the characterization. As she aptly points out, the two men, one a young artist and the other the most admired British portrait painter of the time, shared the habit of taking snuff. She suggests that Reynolds might have though the gesture of taking snuff was inappropriate for his portrait. Through this response to the portrait, however, she interprets Stuart as satirizing Reynolds “by coded references to his deafness and irascibility, while overtly presenting the Royal Academy president in a manner that Reynolds, in his public addresses on art, condemned.”14 The gesture of pinching snuff might, on the other hand, be seen as an early example of Stuart’s exceptional gift of interpreting personality through the choice of a characteristic pose, in this case, one with which he was very familiar.
Stuart’s series of artists’ portraits was completed by the fall of 1786, when it was exhibited at Boydell’s gallery at 90 Cheapside. Among the many visitors who saw the portraits there was Sophie de la Roche, a young traveler to London who noted in her journal on 28 September 1786 that Boydell’s second floor exhibition room was “devoted to works by native artists, and contains portraits of famous English painters, especially engravers.”15 “Fabius” wrote a more detailed description for the 14 November issue of the Morning Post, and Daily Advertiser. “The inner room is now furnishing wholly with modern paintings—around it on the top are portraits of the most eminent English artists, whose works have been purchased, and engraved from by the Alderman, or of engravers, whom he hath at different times employed to engrave for him—They are strong likenesses, and by Stuart.” A writer for the London Monthly Magazine; or British Register later wrote about the group of portraits when remarking on the generally commonplace appearance of the artists of his time in their portraits, compared to the distinguished air of Van Dyck’s portraits of seventeenth-century painters.
Very different are the portraits of the painters of the present day. A large number of them sat to Gilbert Stuart the American, who painted them for Alderman Boydell; they were afterwards shown at his gallery. They were all strong resemblances, but a set of more uninteresting, vapid countenances it is not easy to imagine; neither dignity, elevation nor grace appear in any of them; and had not the catalogue given their names they might have passed for a company of cheesemongers or grocers. The late President of the Royal Academy [Reynolds] was depicted with a wig that was as tight and close as a hackney coachman’s caxon, and in the act of taking a pinch of snuff. The present President [West] and many others were delineated as smug upon the mart as so many mercers or haberdashers of small wares, all of which originated in the bad taste of the sitters.16
The commission for this series of artists’ portraits predates by two years Boydell’s announcement in December 1786 of plans for a collection of paintings by English artists on subjects from Shakespeare. He intended to commission the series and to offer two sizes of engravings for public subscription. By the time the Shakespeare Gallery opened at 52 Pall Mall in 1789, thirty-four of the paintings were completed.17 Boydell moved Stuart’s portrait of Reynolds there by 1792, when Samuel Felton, the author of Testimonials to the Genius and Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds (London, 1792), listed a number of portraits and self-portraits of Reynolds, including one “in Mr. Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, among those of the other painters who are now engaged in painting scenes for Mr. Boydell’s edition of that poet.” Felton declared the Boydell portrait “undoubtedly the best painted Head of Sir Joshua,” thinking it was a self-portrait.18 That he was referring to Stuart’s portrait is confirmed by an engraving of it by Johann and Georg Facius that Boydell published in 1802. Crediting Stuart as the painter, it is inscribed “From the Original Picture in the Shakespeare Gallery.”19 The Shakespeare Gallery project went bankrupt in 1804, and Boydell offered the collection for sale by lottery to raise funds to repay extensive loans. His Plan of the Shakespeare Lottery lists sixty-two prizes, the last being the entire contents of the Shakespeare Gallery. The lottery was held on 28 January 1805.20 None of Stuart’s portraits was included, however. The most likely scenario is that they remained at the print gallery at 90 Cheapside, which became the property of Boydell’s nephew Josiah after Boydell’s death in 1804.21 In 1825 Henry Graves acquired the holdings of the Boydell firm when he, Francis Graham Moon, and J. Boys purchased the company’s stock and leasehold and changed the firm’s name to Moon, Boys and Graves.22 Three of the Stuart portraits—those of John Hall and Benjamin West (National Portrait Gallery, London) and James Heath (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford)—can be traced to Henry Graves and Company, the successor firm of Moon, Boys and Graves.23
Charles Bestland (b. 1764?) copied the portrait in miniature.24
EGM
Notes
1.Fredericksen 2:951, as “Stuart, An Original Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds,” consigned by “a gentleman,” and as “G. Stuart, A Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds.” Only the second price is recorded, with some question, as three pounds, six pence. Since this is a very small price for a full-size portrait, perhaps these sales are instead for the “Small head, Sir Joshua Reynolds, sketch” attributed to Stuart that was sold at Christie’s on 5 February 1818 by a Mr. Rising, with a small head of the Marquis of Lansdowne, also attributed to Stuart. The pair went for five guineas. (Information courtesy of the Getty Provenance Index, 7 April 1992.)
2.Stuart 1877, 644, recorded that “Lord Inchiquin” paid 250 guineas for her father’s portrait of Reynolds. It has been assumed that this was the 5th earl, whose wife was Mary Palmer [d. 1820], Reynolds’ niece and heiress. On the Earls of Inchiquin see Burke 1967, 1325-1330.
3.According to Knoedler’s records (letter from Melissa De Medeiros, librarian, 5 June 1992; NGA), the portrait was from the estate of James O’Brien, the 3rd and last Marquis of Thomond, and “the present Lord Inchiquin is unable to say when the picture left the family.” Beechey 1855, 300, records the portrait and reproduces an engraving of it as his frontispiece, but he does not record any owner after Boydell.
4.Knoedler purchased a joint share from T.H. Robinson in October 1919 and sold the painting to Clarke in December. The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in an annotated copy of Clarke 1928 in the NGA library.
5.Whitley 1932, 55, lists the portraits without giving his source. It may have been the catalogue to which the anonymous author in Monthly Magazine 1804 referred; no copy has been located. On the portrait of West see Walker 1985,11543-544; 2 :pl. 1352. A portrait at the Holburne of Menstrie Museum, Bath, has been identified as that of Josiah Boydell, but the identity is open to some question. Many of the portraits are unlocated today.
6.Harris 1990, 93, and fig. 1 (Sir John Soane’s Museum, London); this reference courtesy of Jacob Simon, National Portrait Gallery, London.
7.Prown 1966, 2:307.
8.Harris 1990, 94 and fig. 3, dated 12 June 1784 (Sir John Soane’s Museum).
9.Reynolds’ pocket ledger for 1784, Royal Academy of Arts, London. The entries are also cited in Leslie and Taylor 1865, 2:468, and in Whitley 1932, 46.
10.Mount 1959, 223, proposed without documentation that the August appointment was for Stuart to finish a copy of one of Reynolds’ self-portraits (the attribution of the copy to Stuart is Mount’s). Stuart has also been credited, without apparent documentation, with the copy of a Reynolds self-portrait that was exhibited at the Maryland Historical Society in 1853 and is now in the Charles J.M. Eaton Collection, Peabody Institute, Baltimore. See Peabody Institute 1949, 19; Yarnall and Gerdts 1986,3418.
11.Stuart widened the canvas of the portrait from the standard kit-cat proportions of 91.4 by 71 cm (36 by 28 inches) by adding a 5~cm (2-inch) strip of canvas on the left, which did not change the composition appreciably. It may have been done in keeping with its setting in Boydell’s gallery.
12.Penny 1986, 287-288, no. 116, repro., and 320-322, no. 149, repro.
13.Dunlap 1834, 1:184, quoting Fraser, who added that the remark “was certainly not made in the spirit of his usual courtesy.”
14.Rather 1993, 63-65.
15.Her description of BoydelPs shop is quoted in Bruntjen 1985, 28-29, from Sophie in London (London, 1933), 237-239.
16.Monthly Magazine 1804, 595, quoted by Rather 1993, 63.
17.Friedman 1976, 3, 71-73.
18.Felton 1792, 67; Whitley 1932, 47.
19.See Park 1926, 642; an example of the engraving is in the NGA curatorial file. Another engraving by E. Scriven is listed in O’Donoghue 1906, 3 (1912): 564.
20.For an example of the Plan, published in London on 5 April 1804, see the scrapbook collection of Press Cuttings 3 : 815-81 8. William Tassie, a gem engraver, won the lot that included the Shakespeare paintings, which he sold at Christie’s, 17-20 May 1805. The catalogue is discussed in Fredericksen 1:52; the paintings are indexed under Boydell’s name and listed by the name of each artist.
21.Boydell also acquired Copley’s Death of Major Peirson, which he sold at Christie’s on 8 March 1806, lot 98; it was bought in and sold to Copley; Prown 1966, 2:440, and Fredericksen 2:264.
22.Bruntjen 1985, 242-243; on the history of this firm see also Graves 1897, 143-148 (the author was the son of Henry Graves), and the entry on Henry Graves (1806-1892) in DNB 22 (supplement), 771-772.
23.Information on the provenance of these portraits is courtesy of Jacob Simon, Keeper of i8th Century Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, and Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, curator of American Art, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford.
24.Foskett 1972, 1:163.
References
•1786—”Fabius.” “The Arts. No. II. Alderman Boydell’s Gallery.” Morning Post, and Daily Advertiser. 14 November: 2.
•1792—Felton : 67.
•1804—Monthly Magazine : 595 .
•1834—Dunlap: 1:184, 219.
•1855—Beechey: 1:300, and frontispiece engraving by E. Scriven.
•1865—Leslie and Taylor: 2:468.
•1877—Stuart: 644.
•1879—Mason: 248.
•1880—MFA: 52.no. 508.
•1913—Strickland: 2:416.
•1922—Sherman: 139 repro., 143-144.
•1926—Park: 641-642, no. 702, repro.
•1932—Whitley: 46-47, 55-56.
•1959—Mount: 220, 223.
•1964—Mount: 90, 362.
•1981—Williams: 62, color repro. 50.
•1984—Walker: 378, no. 534, color repro.
•1985—Bruntjen: 28-29, 36, 58, 63.
•1986—McLanathan: 51 , color repro. 54.
•1990—Harris: 93-96 and figs. 1-3.
•1993—Rather: 61-84.
Bantam Spectra hardbound edition - published August 1994
comments by CR:
"Furious Gulf" by Gregory Benford - [0723 - August 29, 2016 - Science Fiction]
"Furious Gulf" (1994) is the 4th book in author Gregory Benford's 5 book science fiction series Ocean/Galactic Center. The overall concept of the stories is a Universe encompassing conflict between intelligences: biological life vs electro-mechanical life - the Mechs. To be more specific the Mechs have initialed a centuries long campaign to exterminate all intelligences based upon biology and for the most part they are succeeding. I have commented upon the other titles in the series if interested see those titles. Those titles are: "Across the Sea of Stars" (1984); "The Great Sky River" (1987); and "Tides of Light" (1989).
Starship Argo heads into the heart of a Black Hole in it attempt to outrun the Mechs. Toby, son of Starship Captain Killeen is conflicted by his father's behavior and discovers some uncomfortable truths in company with the alien insect-like Quath.
For this reader "Furious Gulf" was a disappointment. I regret having to say that since I found the previous three books stimulating and thoughtful science fiction. The six-year hiatus between this volume and "Tides of Light" may be an issue. The books reads like a collection of story fragments, extended notes and wild speculative scientific rants. I regret admitting I skimmed many pages in the last third of the book finding them almost unreadable.
Another thing that irritated me was the lack of a glossary or an introduction. The author uses numerous terms and references to incidents that happened in previous books with minimal exposition.
I can only honestly recommend this book to readers of the first three titles listed above.
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard that was published by the B. S. Reynolds Co. of 1202, D. Street Northwest, Washington, D.C. The card was produced by C. T. American Art Colored of Chicago.
The card has a divided back. In the space for the stamp it states:
'Place One Cent
Stamp Here.'
Also printed on the back of the card is the following:
'The Printing Press.
By John W. Alexander.
Mural Painting in the
Library of Congress
in Washington, D.C.
Gutenberg, the inventor of
printing, is reading a proof
which has just come from
the press.'
The man on the right seems to have adopted a very peculiar stance - unless he is bracing his feet against a wall on the right, he is about to fall over.
The Evolution of the Book
The Evolution of the Book is a series of six murals painted circa 1896 by John W. Alexander in the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building.
John White Alexander
John White Alexander was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania on the 7th. October 1856. He was an American portrait, figure, and decorative painter and illustrator.
John White Alexander - The Early Years
John was orphaned in infancy, and was reared by his grandparents. At the age of 12, he became a telegraph boy in Pittsburgh.
Edward J. Allen became an early supporter and patron of John, adopting him while he worked at the Pacific and Atlantic Telegraph Co. as a young man.
Allen brought Alexander to the Allen home at "Edgehill" where Alexander painted various members of the Allen family, including Colonel Allen.
John moved to New York City at the age of 18 and worked in an office at Harper's Weekly, where he was an illustrator and political cartoonist at the same time that Abbey, Pennell, Pyle, and other celebrated illustrators worked there.
After an apprenticeship of three years, he traveled to Munich for his first formal training. Owing to a lack of funds, he moved to the village of Polling, Bavaria, and worked with Frank Duveneck. They traveled to Venice, where he profited by the advice of Whistler, and then he continued his studies in Florence, Italy; the Netherlands; and Paris.
John White Alexander's Career
In 1881, John returned to New York City and speedily achieved great success in portraiture, numbering among his sitters Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Burroughs, Henry G. Marquand, R.A.L. Stevenson, and president McCosh of Princeton University.
John's first exhibition in the Paris Salon of 1893 was a brilliant success, and was followed by his immediate election to the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts.
Many additional honors were bestowed on him. In 1889 he painted for Mrs. Jeremiah Milbank a well-received portrait of Walt Whitman and one of her husband.
In 1901, he was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, and in 1902, he became a member of the National Academy of Design, where he served as president from 1909 to 1915. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Among the gold medals received by him were those of the Paris Exposition (1900) and the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri (1904). He served as President of the National Society of Mural Painters from 1914 to 1915.
John White Alexander's Personal Life and Death
Alexander was married to Elizabeth Alexander, to whom he was introduced in part because of their shared last name. Elizabeth was the daughter of James Waddell Alexander, President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society at the time of the Hyde Ball scandal. The Alexanders had one child, the mathematician James Waddell Alexander II.
Alexander died at the age of 58 in New York on the 31st. May 1915.
John White Alexander's Works
Many of John's paintings are in museums and public places in the United States and in Europe, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Butler Institute, and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
In addition, in the entrance hall to the Art Museum of the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a series of Alexander's murals titled "Apotheosis of Pittsburgh" (1905–1907) covers the walls of the three-story atrium area.
Alexander's artist's proof of his portrait of Whitman, signed by the artist in April 1911, is in the Walt Whitman Collection at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Hyde Ball Scandal
James Hazen Hyde (June 6, 1876 — July 26, 1959) was the son of Henry Baldwin Hyde, the founder of The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.
James Hazen Hyde was twenty-three in 1899 when he inherited the majority shares in the billion-dollar Society. Five years later, at the pinnacle of social and financial success, efforts to remove him from The Equitable set in motion the first great Wall Street scandal of the 20th. century, which resulted in his resignation from The Equitable and relocation to France.
James Hazen Hyde's Career
James was appointed a vice president of The Equitable after graduating from college. In addition, he served on the boards of directors of more than 40 other companies, including the Wabash Railroad and Western Union.
His homes included a large estate on Long Island, where he maintained horses, stables, roads, and trails to engage in coach racing. He also took part in horse shows and horse racing. Hyde accumulated a collection of coaches and carriages, which he later donated to the Shelburne Museum.
Removal from The Equitable
Following his father's death, Hyde was the majority shareholder and in effective control of The Equitable. By the terms of his father's will, he was scheduled to assume the presidency of the company in 1906.
Members of the board of directors, including E. H. Harriman, Henry Clay Frick, J.P. Morgan, and company President James Waddell Alexander attempted to wrest control from Hyde through a variety of means, including an unsuccessful attempt to have him appointed as Ambassador to France.
On the last night of January 1905, Hyde hosted a highly publicized Versailles-themed costume ball. Falsely accused through a coordinated smear campaign initiated by his opponents at The Equitable of charging the $200,000 party ($6,032,000 today) to the company, Hyde soon found himself drawn into a maelstrom of allegations of corporate malfeasance.
The allegations almost caused a Wall Street panic, and eventually led to a state investigation of New York's entire insurance industry which resulted in laws to regulate activities between insurance companies, banks and other corporations.
Hyde's personal net worth in 1905 was about $20 million ($603,200,000 today). After the negative press generated by the efforts to remove him from The Equitable, Hyde resigned from the company later that same year, gave up most of his other business activities, and moved to France.
Johanna Constantine (Future Feminism)
Webster Hall
New York City
September 7th, 2014
© 2014 LEROE24FOTOS.COM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED,
BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
Three of my photos are in the Alaska Pocket Wildlife Guide available at ultimaterivers.com. Nice guide with viewing tips and locations for Alaska's birds and mammals.
No need for comments...
My stocklist