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After struggling up the Acton grade, CN L53331-28 passes through Guelph where Metrolinx is currently rebuilding the second track. 2296, 8864, 5775 lead this 123 car train.
You can see the way the flake has broken off on this piece in a kind of cone shape, following the shock wave applied to the rock.
That's a hard hammer in John's hand. Those are generally pebbles. Soft hammers are made of bone.
My flint knapping photos were taken on a day course with John and Val Lord. They have a website here:
John has also written a book that's very useful as a beginner:
www.flintknapping.co.uk/shop.html
And John's son Will is also an expert in flint knapping and excellent teacher. He also runs courses, and will teach hide working, prehistoric jewellery making, bow-making and so forth as well.
© Susannah Relf All Rights Reserved
Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited
With a fresh dusting of snow from overnight flurries, the Virginia & Truckee Railroad's former McCloud River #18 takes a short freight over the high fill above the Overman Pit, just south of Gold Hill, NV at Milepost 49.4. The massive fill that the train is crossing was the result of a lot of engineering and construction work in the early 2000s, when the State of Nevada decided to rebuild much of the old V&T Virginia City Branch. Since the tracks of the original railroad were lifted in 1941, much had changed in the Gold Hill area, including the excavation of a large, open pit mine, which pretty much wiped out the original right of way. Finding a way to get around that big hole in the ground represented the single, largest obstacle to the reconstruction effort. It was ultimately decided to build a large, curved fill around the eastern side of the mine, known as "Overman Pit", and construction of that fill took over 300,000 cubic yards of earth and stone. In the critical area where you see the train in this photo, that fill was buttressed by a large, brick wall. Although the project was very successful, and the resulting track provided passengers with a very spectacular view of the deep pit, this section of track does require continual monitoring and maintenance to deal with settling issues.
This image was captured during a February 2014 photo shoot on Nevada's Virginia & Truckee Railroad, organized by Lerro Photography.
Successfully avoiding the sun, 50008 Thunderer passes Burn heading 5Z19, the 11.52 Gascoigne Wood Sidings - Chaddesden Sidings empty stock for the next days special from Derby to Paignton. Friday 13 January 2023.
Pied Wagtails must be one of the most successful birds in the UK. You see them everywhere in all sorts of habitats. Although they're common, they're not always easy to photograph because they're in perpetual motion. However, I didn't have any problems with this bird as it stayed on the fence post for some time. The photo was taken in early June so I'm pretty certain there was a nest nearby and it was waiting for me to clear off before delivering this tasty morsel.
Now with a successful connection, 1106 and QBX004 smile for the drone, as they run train 2SM7 to Melbourne through Maldon curve.
2020-09-21 Qube 1106-QBX004 Maldon 2SM7
This Cheetah Mum now can serve a delicious breakfast to her Cub. One of them is always on alert. Now this is a moment they are themselves vulnerable to other hunters such as Lions. This was a really rare sighting
Two plastic stacking chairs. one of the most successful chair designs in the world
North arm of the Fraser River
River District, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
After a long overnight trip from Kaskinen, the broken class Dr12 diesel electric locomotive number 2216 has returned back to Haapamäki thanks to the little, but brave class Dv16 diesel locomotive number 2038. At Haapamäki mood is relaxing and relieving, as soon the train returns back to the museum depot and the successful rescue operation come to an end.
The decor and ambience of this pizza parlour and bar suggest a successful and thriving business, but unfortunately a couple of months later this establishment closed
During a fantastic holiday in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, I captured this shot of a Great Blue Heron successfully fishing in the mangroves of the biosphere at Sian Ka'an.
Once the jet lag has worn off, I'll be back lineside for my more usual shots!
Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams (shown here) and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA successfully installed the first of two international docking adapters (IDAs) Friday Aug. 19, 2016, during a five hour and 58-minute spacewalk. The IDAs will be used for the future arrivals of Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew spacecraft in development under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi assisted the duo from inside the station, while all three cleaned up the Quest airlock afterward where they stowed their spacesuits and tools.
On Sept. 1, the two NASA astronauts will spacewalk outside the International Space Station for the second time in less than two weeks. Working on the port side of the orbiting complex’s backbone, or truss, Williams and Rubins will retract a thermal radiator that is part of the station’s cooling system. They’ll also tighten struts on a solar array joint, and install the first of several enhanced high-definition television cameras that will be used to monitor activities outside the station, including the comings and goings of visiting cargo and crew vehicles.
For more information about the International Space Station, click here.
NASA successfully launched the third in a series of polar-orbiting weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at 1:49 a.m. PST, Thursday, November 17, as well as an agency technology demonstration on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
In addition to the newest Joint Polar Satellite System or JPSS-2, also aboard was NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, a test of inflatable heat shield technology that could one day help land astronauts on Mars.
Following JPSS-2's deployment, the LOFTID heat shield autonomously inflated and re-entered Earth's atmosphere, splashing down about 500 miles off the coast of Hawaii just over two hours and ten minutes after launch.
Image credit: United Launch Alliance
#NASA #NASAMarshall #TDM #TechnologyDemonstration #LOFTID
My first successful lens flare with the Nikon (I did these all the time, to a fault maybe, with the Samsung).... I'm happy with this one.
It's also kind of an homage to my St. Louis Gateway Arch shots (seen in my Arch Study set! --> www.flickr.com/photos/christiaan_25/sets/72157602046715515/ ). I used the same motif. The maple arch has many more extra branches than the Gateway Arch has. ;)
Continuing Rarity
Female
Rusty Blackbird RUBL (Euphagus carolinus)
near
King’s Pond
Cedar Hill Golf Course
Saanich BC
DSCN7966
Not often i see Passerines so at home in the water -- this individual is at times with Brewer's Blackbird flock - and at times doing its own thing.
In some ways it has taken blackbird water foraging to the next level
♥ Faga. Successful Hair ♥
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♥ Faga. ♥
♥ N-Uno - Fanny Outfit ♥
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serena%20Almeria/65/97/2002
♥ Numer0Un0 ♥
♥ Pure Poison - Diamond Pumps ♥
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SIXTEEN SHADES OF BLADES. Pt. 2.
[Another repost that got lost when my Insta account was closed down (November 2020)]
Another successful surgery for Dr. Kildare. I had this lovely early Asahi Kogaku Takumar 100mm f3.5, all chrome M37 version taking dust in the 'desperation box' which represents my lens limbo... the place where I store parts, pieces and prospective recoveries. I rescued it for peanuts at a junk auction for mold, fog and an aperture issue quite some time ago.
It turned out that everything was very good (just in need of clean up), but one of the blades was out of order since it had lost its rotating fulcrum. The wait for a cheap recyclable donor to restoring got endless. So, after 'improvising' the way of fixing that issue on the past CZJ Tessar 80mm f2.8, I took it out and did the same job here.
Most luckily at the time the fulcrum was still inside the blades' pit, so I ended up by boxing everything together. And, when I noticed it, I became able to fix it right away.
Now the problem is putting everything back together since this oldie ain't ordinary stuff and the preset aperture is a bit tricky. No bottom fulcrum-housing since blades have a small vertical ridge that makes the blade move up and down a thin rail, when the aperture is operated. And they can't be reset in the pit and covered with the circular holder. I figure I'll have to insert the assembly head-over-heels, with the risk of messing them up. We'll see... Anyway, they look so cool spread open, don't they?
[Eventually the operation ended well].
Hunting season is well underway in Alaska - and I have already seen quite a few moose and caribou racks in hunter's vehicles, as they head back to their urban homes. Returning to our cabin, we came upon this successful hunter with a beautiful caribou rack in the bed of his truck. I sure hope he packed out the meat as well - or at least donated it to a needy family.
Lucrezia, my adorable niece, is just 16. She has won her shyness and posed successfully for me. I'm proud of her and dramatically happy that she loves these portraits!
See it in the Model Republic Elite group.
Nikon Z7 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G @ 1/400s f/2.2 64 ISO + triggered Nikon SB5000 in Walimex modifier + white bounce panel
Having successfully delivered a bicycle to Southampton, but wishing to avoid the traffic jams around the Berkshire County Show, I decided to take a very roundabout but scenic route home.
I cut through the New Forest, and found myself on the Jurassic Coast. I had Monty with me, so there was a good excuse to go for a walk on the shingle beach by Durdle Door - which for the uninitiated, is this spectacular sea arch.
Being a Saturday there were still a few folk about even though it was starting to get on in the evening - but a long exposure does make a few disappear....
Much to my annoyance I did have to wait for a rather over-amorous couple to shift out of the way. Fortunately for me, and perhaps less fortunately for these two would-be exhibitionist Porn-stars, the sea temperature was a bit on the chilly side so they gave up fairly quickly. I really am turning into a grumpy old man.....
Ybor City is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually.
Ybor City was unique in the American South as a successful town almost entirely populated and owned by immigrants. The neighborhood had features unusual among contemporary communities in the south, most notably its multiethnic and multiracial population and their many mutual aid societies. The cigar industry employed thousands of well-paid workers, helping Tampa grow from an economically depressed village to a bustling city in about 20 years and giving it the nickname "Cigar City".
Ybor City grew and flourished from the 1890s until the Great Depression of the 1930s, when a drop in demand for fine cigars reduced the number of cigar factories and mechanization in the cigar industry greatly reduced employment opportunities in the neighborhood. This process accelerated after World War II, and a steady exodus of residents and businesses continued until large areas of the formerly vibrant neighborhood were virtually abandoned by the late 1970s. Attempts at redevelopment failed until the 1980s, when an influx of artists began a slow process of gentrification. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a portion of the original neighborhood around 7th Avenue developed into a nightclub and entertainment district, and many old buildings were renovated for new uses. Since then, the area's economy has diversified with more offices and residences, and the population has shown notable growth for the first time in over half a century.
Ybor City has been designated as a National Historic Landmark District, and several structures in the area are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, 7th Avenue, Ybor City's main commercial thoroughfare, was recognized as one of the "10 Great Streets in America" by the American Planning Association. In 2010 Columbia Restaurant was named a "Top 50 All-American icon" by Nation's Restaurant News magazine.
In the early 1880s, Tampa was an isolated village with a population of less than 1000 and a struggling economy. However, its combination of a good port, Henry Plant's new railroad line, and humid climate attracted the attention of Vicente Martinez Ybor, a prominent Spanish cigar manufacturer.
Ybor had moved his cigar-making operation from Cuba to Key West, Florida, in 1869, due to political turmoil in the then-Spanish colony. But, labor unrest and the lack of room for expansion had him looking for another base of operations, preferably in his own company town.
Ybor considered several communities in the southern United States and decided that an area of sandy scrubland just northeast of Tampa would be the best location. In 1885, the Tampa Board of Trade helped broker an initial purchase of 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land, and Ybor quickly bought more. However, Ybor City very nearly didn't happen at all. Vicente Ybor initially failed to come to an agreement with the owner of the 40 acre parcel. The Tampa Board of Trade was horrified to find that the purchase had failed and hatched a plan to get the buyer and seller back together. Vicente Ybor was sitting in the train station on his way to Jacksonville to look at more property when the Board of Trade (a group of five, one of whom was Frederick Salomonson, future 3-time mayor of Tampa) arrived and persuaded Ybor to reconsider and the deal went forward from there, the birth of Ybor City.
Italians were also among the early settlers of Ybor City. Most of them came from a few villages in southwestern Sicily. The villages were Santo Stefano Quisquina, Alessandria della Rocca, Bivona, Cianciana, and Contessa Entellina. Sixty percent of them came from Santo Stefano Quisquina. Before settling in Ybor City, many first worked in the sugar cane plantations in St. Cloud, central Florida. Some came by way of Louisiana. A number of families migrated from New Orleans after the lynching of eleven Italians in 1891 during the "Mafia Riot". Italians mostly brought their entire families with them, unlike other immigrants. The foreign-born Italian population of Tampa grew from 56 in 1890 to 2,684 in 1940. Once arriving in Ybor City, Italians settled mainly in the eastern and southern fringes of the city. The area was referred to as La Pachata, after a Cuban rent collector in that area. It was also called "Little Italy".
In 1887, Tampa annexed the neighborhood. By 1900, the rough frontier settlement of wooden buildings and sandy streets had been transformed into a bustling town with brick buildings and streets, a streetcar line, and many social and cultural opportunities. Largely due to the growth of Ybor City, Tampa's population had jumped to almost 16,000.
Ybor City grew and prospered during the first decades of the 20th Century. Thousands of residents built a community that combined Cuban, Spanish, Italian, and Jewish culture. "Ybor City is Tampa's Spanish India," observed a visitor to the area, "What a colorful, screaming, shrill, and turbulent world."
Circulo Cubano de Tampa, one of Ybor City's social clubs
An aspect of life were the mutual aid societies built and sustained mainly by ordinary citizens. These clubs were founded in Ybor's early days (the first was the Centro Español, established in 1891) and were run on dues collected from their members, usually 5% of a member's salary. In exchange, members and their whole family received services including free libraries, educational programs, sports teams, restaurants, numerous social functions like dances and picnics, and free medical services. Beyond the services, these clubs served as extended families and communal gathering places for generations of Ybor's citizens.
There were clubs for each ethnic division in the community – the Deutscher-Americaner Club (for German and eastern Europeans), L'Unione Italiana (for Italians), El Circulo Cubano (for light-skinned Cubans), La Union Marti-Maceo (for darker-skinned Cubans), El Centro Español (for Spaniards), and the largest, El Centro Asturiano, which accepted members from any ethnic group[20]
Although there was little racism in Ybor City, Tampa's Jim Crow laws at the time forbade Afro-Cubans from belonging to the same social organization as their lighter-skinned countrymen. Sometimes, differences in skin color within the same family made joining the same Cuban club impossible. In general, the rivalries between all the clubs were friendly, and families were known to switch affiliations depending on which one offered preferred services and events.
Cigar production reached its peak in 1929, when 500 million cigars were rolled in the factories of Ybor City. Not coincidentally, that was also the year that the Great Depression began.
In the early 1980s, an influx of artists seeking interesting and inexpensive studio quarters started a slow recovery, followed by a period of commercial gentrification. By the early 1990s, many of the old long-empty brick buildings on 7th Avenue had been converted into bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and other nightlife attractions.Traffic grew so much that the city built parking garages and closed 7th Ave. to traffic to deal with the visitors.
Cigar making display, Ybor City Museum State Park
Since around 2000, the city of Tampa and the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce have encouraged a broader emphasis in development. With financial help from the city, Centro Ybor, a family-oriented shopping complex and movie theater, opened in the former home of the Centro Español social club.
The Florida Brewing Company building was restored into a commercial building in 2001. New apartments, condominiums and a hotel have been built on long-vacant lots, and old buildings have been restored and converted into residences and hotels. New residents began moving into Ybor City for the first time in many years. The blocks surrounding 7th Avenue also thrive with restaurants, nightlife and shopping. Reflecting the district's status as a party destination, Ybor City is referenced extensively in the lyrics of Brooklyn-based rock band The Hold Steady. The song "Killer Parties", for instance, contains the line "Ybor City is très speedy, but they throw such killer parties." In May 2009 Swedish super-retailer IKEA opened its long-awaited Tampa location in the southern edge of Ybor City.
The local museum is the Ybor City Museum State Park in the former Ferlita Bakery building (originally La Joven Francesca) building on 9th Avenue. Tours of the gardens and the "casitas" (small homes of cigar company workers) are provided by a ranger. Exhibits, period photos and a video cover the founding of Ybor City and the cigar making industry.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ybor_City
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
from Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Rooms, at Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington
Japan’s most-successful living artist, Yayoi Kusama, once wrote, "polka dots are a way to infinity."
On our trip from Jo'burg to Cape Town we met another pair of lion brothers in Addo Elephant National Park. Like their brethren in the Kruger, these two had just been successful in bringing down a kudu bull and were busy devouring it. This guy probably took some time off to digest while his brother, whose head we occasionally saw pop out from the undergrowth, at one point with the kudu's neck between his fangs, kept munching away on their kill.
Phillip Mould:
This image, and those generated around it, represent one of the most successful sovereign statements of English history. It was painted under the aegis of the Queen’s own official Serjeant painter, George Gower, in the late 1580s, the decade in which she finally defeated the Spanish threat, and assured her place as one of England’s most successful and popular monarchs. The portrait was owned by Edward Drewe MP, one of Elizabeth’s ablest lawyers, and has remained in his family ever since. A family legend suggests that the portrait was the gift of Elizabeth herself. It is in part through such portraits that the mystique and power of Elizabeth I was conveyed in her day. As such it is not merely a portrait of a monarch, but a symbolic statement of national supremacy.
George Gower was Elizabeth’s Serjeant Painter from 1581 until his death in 1596. He was also a ‘gentleman’, being the grandson of Sir John Gower of Stettenham, Yorkshire. This was not only unusual for the time (hitherto, artists were effectively ranked as servants), but reveals the increasing status – and importance – of portraiture in sixteenth century England. There is little documentary evidence on Gower’s career, but there is no doubt that he was one of the leading English artists of his generation. His documented portraits, such as those of Sir Thomas and Lady Kytson (1573 Tate Gallery, London) show that he commanded the patronage of the important and wealthy from an early age, while his self-portrait (1579, the first known example by an English artist on such a scale) gives a clear indication of the bold characterization with which he depicted his subjects.
Gower’s technique and style is distinct, and perfectly suited to the display of power, and conspicuous monarchical grandeur seen here. His use of strong light on the head enables his subject’s face to stand out from the rest of the painting, and was perfectly suited to Elizabeth’s personal wish to avoid any shadows across her face. His reluctance to rely too heavily on drawing is made up by strong flesh tones and subtle shadows, so that the face is rendered with precision and power, aided by bold features such as the well-delineated eyes. The unmistakably warm and dry palette has the happy effect of seeming to depict the Queen in the heavy make-up on which she increasingly came to rely. In this example, the overall effect is one of power rather than beauty – but such is Gower’s skill that our focus is held unmistakably by Elizabeth’s face and strong gaze, despite the rich and bright details of her luxurious costume.
There are elsewhere in the portrait signs of a master’s touch. The subtle but noticeable pink tones in the ruff under Elizabeth’s chin skillfully illustrates the reflection of her face in the white lace, giving the ruff a three-dimensional effect so often lacking in sixteenth century portraiture. The deft modeling (with even the hint of veins) in the long and elegant hands of which Elizabeth was so proud is superb, while the folds and lace on the golden silk of her sleeves is redolent of Holbein’s supreme skill in depicting the rich quality of Royal costumes.
As with all portraits of the Queen, there comes the question of the level of her personal involvement. Of course, she did not sit for the many contemporary portraits of her that survive. Instead, artists would have followed patterns of her face, and then either have imagined her costume, or in some cases have painted the actual garment itself. The patterns would have been widely-circulated, and the Queen’s likeness then either traced onto a panel or drawn freehand. Surviving examples of patterns are rare, but those of Bishop John Fisher and Sir Henry Sidney can be found in the National Portrait Gallery, as can one previously believed to show Elizabeth herself.
Which ‘pattern’, therefore, is the Drewe portrait based on? Sir Roy Strong’s catalogue of 1963, Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, and subsequent Gloriana, The Portraits of Elizabeth I were vital works in dating and attributing the many (invariably unsigned) portraits. According to Strong’s categorization, the Drewe portrait is based on the ‘Darnley’ face pattern, after a painting dated c. 1575 once owned by the Earls of Darnley, and now in the National Portrait Gallery attributed to Federico Zuccaro, an Italian landscape and religious painter to whom the Queen sat for a drawing in May 1575.[1] The Darnley pattern, Strong points out, does not change until the ‘Armada pattern’ is developed, apparently by Gower, c.1588.
And yet, such categorization carries with it the disappointing notion that all portraits of the Queen between c.1575 and 1588 are derivatives, completed at a distance from Elizabeth herself. This clearly cannot be the case with the Drewe portrait. Though Elizabeth is shown in a similar (if reversed) profile, she is unquestionably a different woman to that in the Darnley portrait: noticeably hierarchical, sepulchral in characterization, perhaps reflecting the progression of her historical achievements. It seems implausible that Gower, the Queen’s Serjeant Painter, would have been content to follow a pattern. Rather, he may instead have felt constrained by the dictates of Royal iconography to follow an approved pose – just as Henry VIII was invariably portrayed full-face.
It is to the Queen herself that we should seek an explanation for the repetitive nature of her portraits. From the note of her conversation with Nicholas Hilliard in c.1572 it seems she resolved that her portraits should have no “shadowe at all”[2]. After all, Royal portraits were primarily symbols of power combined with obsequious flattery, not simple likenesses. Considerations of deference (and by the 1580s her fading beauty) further forbade any attempt at realism. And artist’s had to operate within an accepted Royal iconography that began in the fifteenth century. It is certain, however, that Gower’s official position, and the fact that he was a gentleman by birth, would have guaranteed him access to the Queen. The Drewe portrait, with its delicately observed facial contours and expressive, piercing eyes, is a world away from the pallid and formulaic pattern portraits of Elizabeth, reflecting an authority derived from one who had access to the royal presence.
The provenance of this portrait is of interest, and helps confirm the attribution to George Gower. It has traditionally hung in the Grange, the Devon seat of the Drewe family, since its construction by Edward Drewe in the 1590s. Drewe was one of the ablest lawyers of the 16th Century. After a spell at Oxford (while apparently a teenager) he began to practice law at the Inner Temple in 1560. He was called to the Bar in 1574. From then he rose rapidly through the legal ranks; a Justice of the Peace in 1579, and a Member of Parliament (for Lyme Regis) in 1584. He must then have been well-known to the Queen and Privy Council, for in 1588 he was amongst those sharp legal minds, along with Francis Bacon, called to draft Government legislation. The letter makes flattering reading;
“Her Majestie… hath made especiall choice of you, upon knowledge of your sinceritie and sufficiencie in that behalfe, to proceede to the consideracion what statutes in your opinion were requisite to be either established or perfected for the better…
We bid you very hertely farewll.”[3]
In 1589 he was appointed a Serjeant-at-law, and became more familiar to the key members of Elizabeth’s Government. Perhaps his most powerful ally was Francis Russell, the second Earl of Bedford. He corresponded regularly with William Cecil, Lord Burghley. And in 1593 he is recorded as making a speech before the Queen when introducing the Lord Mayor of London to Court. Drewe’s correspondence with the Privy Council typically revolved around interrogations of suspects such as Jesuit spies, often in the Tower of London, and he became an important part of the security apparatus first set-up by Francis Walsingham. One case involved the hapless Yorke and Williams, who, “when confronted together, Yorke swore that they took the sacrament to kill the Queen, and that Williams had wished his sword in her belly.”[4] By 1593 Drewe held the prestigious parliamentary seat of the City of London, and in 1596 he was made a Queen’s Serjeant, and a judge on the Northern circuit. He died suddenly, of ‘gaol fever’, in 1598.
Drewe’s central role in the legal apparatus of the Government helps confirm an attribution to George Gower as the artist of this portrait. Gower had been appointed, in 1581, as the Queen’s Serjeant Painter. In 1584 an attempt was made to make Gower solely responsible for portraits of the Queen, a move that reinforced the government’s wish to maintain control of the Queen’s image. Some twenty years earlier, the Privy Council, at the Queen’s behest, had also attempted a similar measure in reaction to the increasing number of debased images of Elizabeth in circulation. And in 1596, the Privy Council ordered that public officers should aid Gower in seeking out and destroying those unofficial images which caused the Queen “great offence”[5].
The Council’s failure, and that of Gower in the 1580s, is belied by the profusion of awkward and unsatisfactory images of the Queen which survive to this day. Nevertheless, a man of Drewe’s public position would have been the most unlikely person to either commission or own in the 1580s and 90s a portrait of the Queen that did not come from the Serjeant Painter’s ‘official’ workshop. Furthermore, in 1593 Drewe made a speech in Parliament against foreign workers in London, advocating support for “our countrymen” over charity to “strangers”, which sentiments would appear to rule out his patronage of any Flemish or Italian artist.[6] Finally, it may also be worth noting the connection between Drewe and the Bedford family, who commissioned the Armada portrait from Gower in 1588.
The Queen’s jewelry is worth noting here, and may assist in the precise dating of this portrait. Here, the jewelry worn by the Queen (aside from that embroidered into her costume) is surprisingly simple – only a double row of pearls. This is identical to the jewelry worn in the Darnley portrait dated c.1575, as is the chain of pearls and jewels around her waist. And such a combination can again be found in other portraits by Gower of the 1580s, Cornelius Ketel’s ‘Sieve’ portrait c.1580-3, and Marcus Gheerearts the Elder’s c.1585 full length. Furthermore, the lack of certain jewelry again suggests a date in the 1580s, for when Leicester died in 1588 he bequeathed to his 2most dear and gracious Sovereign whose creature under God I have been”[7] an extraordinarily large and elaborate jewel of emeralds, with a rope of 600 pearls. Elizabeth, who locked herself in her room on hearing Leicester’s demise, is shown wearing his gift in the Armada portraits of post c.1588, and other later variants – but not here.
Notes;
[1] Zuccaro had traveled to England apparently at the behest of Lord Leicester. Though some have assumed his purpose was to paint the Queen, it is possible that he had been summoned by Leicester to decorate the interior of Kenilworth Castle (now ruined), before the Queen was due to stay there in July 1575. The exquisite chalk and pencil drawing of the Queen by Zuccaro survives (British Museum), along with a pendant of Leicester. However, there seems little connection between the drawing, either in likeness or style, to the ‘Darnley’ portrait in the NPG.
[2] Strong, loc.cit., p16
[3] Letter from Privy Council to Drewe 27th December 1588, in Acts of the Privy Council of England 1588. Official Publications 1897 Vol XVI
[4] Calendar of State Papers (Domestic) Elizabeth I, 1591-94, August 28th 1594
[5] Strong, loc.cit., p14
[6] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, citing House of Commons Journal
[7] In Public and Private, Elizabeth I and her world, Susan Watkins, London 1998
I had what was probably my most successful birding morning ever this week on my way to work. I stopped at a spot I have driven by many, many times. I had done drive by birding there but never stopped. There are lots of trees along a lake and I thought I would walk that line of trees. I started off with seeing a kestrel, then a flicker, then lots of yellow rumped warblers, lesser goldfinches, house finches, white crowned and song sparrows and heard a kingfisher. There were lots of gulls, ducks and grebes and a green heron in the lake as well. As I proceeded down the path scanning the trees I was overjoyed to spot a Great Horned Owl perched in a tree not far from the trail. The only bad thing was the dark stormy skies, windblown trees plus the early time of day meant photography was going to be difficult. Luckily I had my tripod in my car and was able to go back and get it to take some great shots. I proceeded down the trail, chasing some sparrows and other birds in the swamp grass. I could hear that the kingfisher had come back to my side of the lake and so I thought I would try to sneak up on it to get a picture. That is a bird for which I really want to get a good pic but have failed over and over again. I have seen a lot of them this year and they are always too wary. Well On my way back towards the kingfisher I decided to check out a little alcove that gave me a view to some willows across a small stream. I scanned the blowing willow branches hoping to see something interesting when Bam. Is that white thing what I think it is? It is, a barn owl! I have seen these many times at night but never during the day and I have really wanted to get a pic of one. I thought any pics I ended up getting would be in a shed or barn but this was better and totally unexpected. Here was a barn owl hiding in a blowing willow tree. I had to wonder if they ever visited the huge willow trees in my yard without me even knowing it.
That feeling of finally focusing in on something in the wild that you have been longing to see never gets old and keeps me returning to nature again and again.
As far as the kingfisher goes, he was too smart and wary for me. Despite my best efforts to crawl on the ground and hide behind bushes, he still flew off. I was left with shots at 800mm again under stormy skies where the bird was still very far off. Better than nothing and still cool to see but very frustrating never-the-less and barely post-worthy.
I also saw a red-tailed hawk and several other unknown hawks on the way to and from this location. I was amazed that this short stop produced so well for me. Unfortunately weekday mornings are the only time to hit it as it is packed with fishermen and scouts at all other times.
Bald Eagle fishing at Conowingo, MD 2010
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After an successful and well-choreographed hunt, these lions set about the next task...making sure the 1600+ lb. guest of honor would not be jumping up and making a vengeance scene over dinner.
Buffalo hides are incredibly thick and tough - not easily perforated even by lion claws and jaws. Also, a bloodied and ripped-up kill only invites other predators to interrupt the hunt, making the kill even more dangerous and less productive for the pride.
The large male lion on left had the job of firmly clamping his jaws over the muzzle of the downed-buffalo; to asphyxiate the creature.
He continued to do so even as the rest of the pride began the overtures, then actual “carving” of dinner via the softer tissues in the “rear car”, so to speak; ensuring that there would be no surprises, like a 1600 pound buffalo coming to, jumping up and killing/maiming any number of them!
We watched in the background during this entire drama and observed movement of other creatures that would be dining on the kill after the lions were sated; hyenas, smaller carnivores, unique scavenging birds, etc. began moving in early as the pride sprang their strategic trap...and first in line for the lion leftovers. 😉
Returning to the scene early next morning, a few well-picked vertebrae were the only visible leftovers... in less than 24 hours.
1600+ pounds of Cape Buffalo!
In the wild on the crater floor @ Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania