View allAll Photos Tagged synthesizing
Oil on canvas; 130.2 x 159.4 cm.
Roger de La Fresnaye was a French painter who synthesized lyrical color with the geometric simplifications of Cubism. From 1903 to 1909 he studied at the Académie Julian, the École des Beaux-Arts, and the Ranson Academy in Paris. In his early work he was influenced by the Symbolist paintings of Maurice Denis (who was his teacher at the Ranson Academy), but about 1910 he developed an interest in Cubism. From 1912 to 1914 he was a member of the Section d’Or, a Cubist association that met regularly at the studio of the painter Jacques Villon.
Although La Fresnaye incorporated Cubist techniques into his paintings, he retained a naturalistic style, never fully embracing the radical analysis of form employed by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. La Fresnaye’s sensitivity to color gave his Cubism an unorthodox sensuousness. He was influenced by the French painter Robert Delaunay’s Orphist style, a strain of Cubism that emphasized lyricism and color. La Fresnaye employed colorful prismatic shapes reminiscent of Orphism in works such as The Conquest of the Air (1913), but unlike Delaunay’s abstract compositions, La Fresnaye’s images are representational.
After being discharged from the French army in 1918 because he had contracted tuberculosis, La Fresnaye went to the south of France to recover. There he continued to draw and paint in watercolor; he still worked with Cubist techniques, but he increasingly emphasized color and emotion. Although his paintings did much to popularize Cubism and to broaden its influence just before World War I, he later abandoned avant-garde art and became one of France’s most influential advocates of traditional realism. During the last years of his life, he began to paint realistic works such as Portrait of Guynemer (1921–23).
published in Y Sin Embargo #18 . . inout-side issue . .
__________________________________________________
Outlining a Theory of General Creativity . .
. . on a 'Pataphysical projectory
Entropy ≥ Memory ● Creativity ²
__________________________________________________
Allegory of the day:
Pour explorer les mondes, Philo creuse toujours le fond des choses. Plus il creuse, plus il affine l’acuité de son entendement. Rien ne lui échappe, de fond en comble, jusqu’à l’extrême tréfond. Il ne peut saisir l’espace dans sa totalité, mais il peut égrainer chaque parcelle microscopique d’éternité à chaque nouvelle profondeur.
Sa grande perspicacité lui permet de tout inventorier sans exception, mais toutes ces choses dégagées individuellement lui semblent fâcheusement clairsemées. Ne pouvant en classer aucune dans des regroupements suffisamment stables, il en induit qu’il ne peut que les recenser au fur et à mesure, et seulement les reconstruire par associations successives.
Alors Philo s’efforce d’étiqueter chaque objet dégagé, de se souvenir de la position de chaque fragment à chaque profondeur. Faute de tout extirper à la fois, il lui faut dégager chaque chose par unité singulière. Il lui faut se souvenir de chacune, ne rien laisser tomber jusqu’au bout, pour espérer synthétiser, un jour, cette interminable et obscure énumération.
Parviendra-t-il à résister à toute tentation réductionniste ? A trouver un classement stable et pérenne pour chacune des choses parmi toutes à la fois ? Une seule chose dans chaque catégorie, de sorte que chaque chose donnera son sens à sa catégorie, substance et essence enfin réunies, sensibles et intelligibles à la fois.
__________________________________________________
To explore the worlds, Philo always digs down the depth of things. The more he burrows, the more he refines the acuteness of his understanding. Nothing escape him, from top to bottom, until the extreme depths. He can not take the space in its entirety, but he can pick off each microscopic piece of eternity at each new depth.
His great insight allows him to inventoy everything without any exception, but all these things individually extracted seem sadly sparse. Unable to categorize them in sufficiently stable regroupments, he induces that he can only identify them bit by bit, and only reconstruct them by successive clusters.
So Philo strives to label each extracted object, to remember the position of each fragment at each depth. Unable to mine eveything at once, he must identify each thing
as one singularity. He must remember all of them, not to drop until the end, to hope to synthesize, one day, this endless and obscure enumeration.
Will he resist to any reductionist temptation ? To find a lasting and stable classification for each thing among all at once ? Only one thing for each category, so that each thing gives its meaning to its category, substance and essence finally joined, sensitive and intelligible at once ?
__________________________________________________
Para explorar los mundos, Philo excava en la profundidad de las cosas. Cuanto más se entierra, más se refina la agudeza de su entendimiento. Nada se le escapa, de arriba abajo, hasta las extremas profundidades. No puede abarcar el espacio en su totalidad, pero puede desgranar cada pedazo microscópico de eternidad a cada nueva profundidad.
Su gran perspicacia le permite inventariar todo sin excepción, pero todas estas cosas individualmente extraídas parecen tristemente dispersas. Incapaz de categorizarlas en reagrupaciones lo suficientemente estables, infiere que puede solamente identificarlas gradualmente, y solamente reconstruirlas en asociaciones sucesivas.
Así que Philo se esfuerza en etiquetar cada objeto extraído, en recordar la posición de cada fragmento a cada profundidad. Incapaz de extirparlo todo a la vez, debe identificar cada cosa por una singularidad. Debe recordarlas todas, no abandonarlas hasta el final, para esperar sintetizar, un día, esta enumeración interminable y oscura.
¿Se resistirá a toda tentación reduccionista? ¿A encontrar una clasificación estable y perenne para cada una de las cosas entre todas ellas a la vez? ¿Una sola cosa para cada categoría, de modo que cada cosa dé significado a su categoría, sustancia y esencia finalmente reunidas, sensibles e inteligibles a la vez?
( the complete spanish translation by Alicia Pallas, alias Alificacion,
is published in YSE#online. French & english versions in E ≥ m.C² )
__________________________________________________
rectO-persO | E ≥ m.C² | co~errAnce | TiLt
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)
Genus/species: Heliconius sara
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Upper wing surface is black with large patch of metallic blue framed by two white bands. Underside is brown-black with faded white bars above and small red spots near the body.
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Widespread throughout Central America and the tropics of South America, including the Amazon Basin. Occurs from sea level to 1,300 m along the edges of rainforests.
REPRODUCTION: Pupal maters. Males don't even wait until the female emerges from the pupa. Instead they physically break open her pupa and copulate as soon as her genitalia are accessible.
LONGEVITY: Adult life span: 2–3 months.
REMARKS: Passion flowers contain toxic compounds to which caterpillars are immune; like monarchs, the caterpillars concentrate the toxin in their tissues and pass it along to the adult during metamorphosis. Research suggests that adult Heliconian butterflies may be able to synthesize their own toxins with the amino acids they absorb through the protein-rich pollen they feed on.
Rainforest butterflies
7-31-13, 4-13-17
Mudcracks along the western shoreline of Storr's Lake, eastern San Salvador Island, eastern Bahamas.
San Salvador Island has numerous inland bodies of water. Christopher Columbus remarked upon them during his visit in October 1492. These ponds and lakes can have freshwater, brackish water, hyposaline water, normal marine-salinity water, or hypersaline water. Many of these lakes have aquatic biotas quite distinctive from adjacent lakes.
Storr's Lake is a moderately large, elongated body of water that represents a cutoff lagoon/estuary. This depression was formerly connected to the ocean, essentially identical to modern day North Pigeon Creek, a tidal estuary in the southeastern part of the island. Storr's Lake does have a few conduits (connections with the modern ocean), but they have little impact on the lake (little seawater enters). Before it was even a lagoon, before the Holocene highstand, this feature was a terrestrial depression.
Storr's Lake is shallow (less than 2 meters deep) and has very salty water (60 to over 80 ppt, or 6 to over 8%, cf. normal marine salinity of 35 ppt, or 3.5%). The high salinity is the result of dry seasonal conditions and high evaporation rates. The water is frequently turbid, with a brownish or light greenish or greenish-brown color. The turbidity is due to suspended organic matter - algae, halophilic bacteria, dinoflagellate cysts, diatoms, etc. The high turbidity allows very little light to reach the lakefloor.
Storr's Lake is famous for being a stromatolite locality. Mineralized microbial buildups are common in the lake - they form by bacteria inducing local precipitation of calcium carbonate minerals, not by trapping or binding of sediments. The general term for mineralized microbial buildups is "microbialites". If microbialites are layered, they are stromatolites. If they are massive (non-layered), with a clotted fabric, they are thrombolites. If they are non-layered, and have meso-scale bundled branching structures, they are dendrolites. Storr's Lake has stromatolites and thrombolites (see above photo). The dominant mineral in these microbial buildups is high-magnesian calcite, plus minor aragonite. Five microbialite morphologies are present in the lake, and have been characterized as: 1) calcareous knobs; 2) plateau-shaped structures; 3) pinnacle mound structures; 4) "sharpy"-shaped structures; and 5) mushroom-shaped structures.
Traditional stromatolites are constructed by photosynthesizing cyanobacteria. They are common in the Proterozoic fossil record, but are uncommon to scarce in the Phanerozoic. Living stromatolites occur at few localities - reported examples include Shark Bay, Australia; the Gulf of California; and the Exuma Islands in the Bahamas. The water of Storr's Lake is frequently turbid, resulting in little light reaching even shallow depths (light penetration here is 10 to 20 cm deep). It's been speculated that some or many of Storr's Lake's microbialites were constructed by non-photosynthesizing microbes, such as sulfate-reducing bacteria (the lake is stinky - there's lots of sulfur activity & the water there has 3.3 times more sulfate than seawater). Light measurements taken at the bottom of the lake show that small levels of light do reach the substrate, so photosynthesizing cyanobacteria could be responsible for the microbialites. Suspended cyanobacteria occur in the lake, but stromatolites at deeper depths (>10 cm) may be constructed, at least in part, by heterotrophic bacteria (aphotic microbial activity). Five genera of sulfate-reducing bacteria have been identified in Storr's Lake microbialites.
Other organisms in Storr's Lake include over 20 species of ostracods, known from modern lakefloor sediments and cores of Holocene, shallow subsurface sediments (see list & photos in Corwin, 1985). Gastropods at Storr's Lake include Cerithidea costata (costate horn snail) and Cerithium eburneum aliceae.
The mudcracks shown above are some of the most spectacular examples I've ever seen. Mudcracks are sedimentary structures that form under alternating wet and dry conditions - they typically develop in fine-grained sediments (clay and mud). They are often preserved in the nonmarine sedimentary rock record. The examples shown above have especially wide cracks and thick polygon crusts.
---------------
Much of the above is synthesized from info. provided by Lisa Park and Varun Paul and Russel Shapiro and:
Corwin, B.N. 1985. Paleoenvironments, using Holocene Ostracoda, in Storr's Lake, San Salvador, Bahamas. M.S. thesis. University of Akron.
Paul, V. 2012. Characterization of modern microbialiates and the Storr's Lake ecosystem. The 16th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 14-June 18, 2012, Abstracts with Program: 39-40.
Paul, V., D.J. Wronkiewicz, M.R. Mormile & C. Sanchez Botero. 2012. A biogeochemical investigation of the ecosystem and the microbialites in Storr's Lake, San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 44(7): 74.
The green chloroplasts in the plant cells synthesize chlorophyll. Kixor® selectively blocks a key enzyme in chlorophyll biosynthesis, thus preventing weeds from performing photosynthesis and stopping their growth.
Die grünen Chloroplasten der Pflanzenzellen synthetisieren das Chlorophyll. Kixor® blockiert selektiv ein Schlüsselenzym der Chlorophyllbiosynthese und unterbindet damit bei Unkräutern die Photosynthese und damit das Wachstum.
Oil on canvas; Two pieces: 40 x 40 cm.
Chen Wenji’s works are synthesized to a very high degree, a formal language of realism and concepts of abstraction have been integrated into one space. The synthesis he demonstrates manifests itself on multiple levels: a synthesis of people and objects, history and symbols, materials and their implications; it also takes as its foundation what Lee Ambrozy calls “duality.” Significantly, Chen Wenji’s works simultaneously display the synthesis of presence and absence.
Taken from “Chen Wenji’s Art and Synthesis” written by Yin Jinan
I finally managed to get some more imaging time on the Horsehead and enough data to make my first ever color image using filters. This is a false(-ish) color image using 3 hours of hydrogen alpha images (Ha) for the red channel, 3 hours of ionized oxygen (OIII) images for the green channel and the blue channel synthesized as a 90%-10% mix of OIII and Ha.
I'm in the process of saving up for a modern CCD camera but in the meantime... Not too bad for a 10 year old camera (Starlight MX716) with a chip the size of a gnat!
Astro-Tech 65EDQ 65mm f/6.5 telescope, Starlight Xpress MX-716 CCD camera, Astronomik H-Alpha and OIII filters, Losmandy G11 mount. Guided using an Orion StarShoot autoguider attached to a 9x50 finderscope and PHD software.
18 x 10 minute integrations (3 hours total time each) for H-Alpha and OIII, 10 x 10 minute darks, 10 x 1/10th second bias frames.
Zozobra ("Old Man Gloom") is the name of a giant marionette effigy which is built and burned every autumn during Fiestas de Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, usually during the second week of September. As his name suggests, he embodies gloom; by burning him, people destroy the worries and troubles of the previous year in the flames. Today more than 40,000 people go to watch Zozobra, who stands fifty feet tall.
Zozobra "Viejo hombre Gloom" es el nombre de una efigie gigante de la marioneta que se construya y quemó cada otoño durante las fiestas de Santa Fe en Santa Fe, New México, generalmente durante la segunda semana de septiembre. Mientras que su nombre sugiere, él incorpora el abatimiento; quemándolo, la gente destruye las preocupaciones y los apuros del año pasado en las llamas. Más de 40.000 personas van hoy a mirar Zozobra, que coloca cincuenta pies de alto.
Flickr Meet with Martini Mike.
© 2009 Photo by Lloyd Thrap Photography for Halo Media Group
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
Sagrada Família, Barcelona, España.
El Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, conocido simplemente como la Sagrada Familia, es una basílica católica de Barcelona (España), diseñada por el arquitecto Antoni Gaudí. Iniciada en 1882, todavía está en construcción (noviembre de 2016). Es la obra maestra de Gaudí, y el máximo exponente de la arquitectura modernista catalana.
La Sagrada Familia es un reflejo de la plenitud artística de Gaudí: trabajó en ella durante la mayor parte de su carrera profesional, pero especialmente en los últimos años de su carrera, donde llegó a la culminación de su estilo naturalista, haciendo una síntesis de todas las soluciones y estilos probados hasta aquel entonces. Gaudí logró una perfecta armonía en la interrelación entre los elementos estructurales y los ornamentales, entre plástica y estética, entre función y forma, entre contenido y continente, logrando la integración de todas las artes en un todo estructurado y lógico.
La Sagrada Familia tiene planta de cruz latina, de cinco naves centrales y transepto de tres naves, y ábside con siete capillas. Ostenta tres fachadas dedicadas al Nacimiento, Pasión y Gloria de Jesús y, cuando esté concluida, tendrá 18 torres: cuatro en cada portal haciendo un total de doce por los apóstoles, cuatro sobre el crucero invocando a los evangelistas, una sobre el ábside dedicada a la Virgen y la torre-cimborio central en honor a Jesús, que alcanzará los 172,5 metros de altura. El templo dispondrá de dos sacristías junto al ábside, y de tres grandes capillas: la de la Asunción en el ábside y las del Bautismo y la Penitencia junto a la fachada principal; asimismo, estará rodeado de un claustro pensado para las procesiones y para aislar el templo del exterior. Gaudí aplicó a la Sagrada Familia un alto contenido simbólico, tanto en arquitectura como en escultura, dedicando a cada parte del templo un significado religioso.
The Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Familia, known simply as the Sagrada Familia, is a Roman Catholic basilica in Barcelona, Spain, designed by architect Antoni Gaudí. Begun in 1882, it is still under construction (November 2016). It is Gaudí's masterpiece and the greatest exponent of Catalan modernist architecture.
The Sagrada Familia is a reflection of Gaudí's artistic plenitude: he worked on it for most of his professional career, but especially in his later years, where he reached the culmination of his naturalistic style, synthesizing all the solutions and styles he had tried up to that point. Gaudí achieved perfect harmony in the interrelationship between structural and ornamental elements, between plasticity and aesthetics, between function and form, between content and container, achieving the integration of all the arts into a structured and logical whole. The Sagrada Familia has a Latin cross plan, five central naves, a three-aisled transept, and an apse with seven chapels. It boasts three façades dedicated to the Birth, Passion, and Glory of Jesus. When completed, it will have 18 towers: four at each portal, making a total of twelve for the apostles, four over the transept invoking the evangelists, one over the apse dedicated to the Virgin, and the central dome tower in honor of Jesus, which will reach 172.5 meters in height. The temple will have two sacristies next to the apse and three large chapels: the Assumption Chapel in the apse and the Baptism and Penance Chapels next to the main façade. It will also be surrounded by a cloister designed for processions and to isolate the temple from the exterior. Gaudí applied a highly symbolic content to the Sagrada Familia, both in architecture and sculpture, dedicating each part of the temple to a religious significance.
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by Madame Moreau of Versailles. The card has a divided back.
The Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles are situated to the west of the palace. They cover some 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French formal garden style perfected here by André Le Nôtre.
Beyond the surrounding belt of woodland, the gardens are bordered by the urban areas of Versailles to the east and Le Chesnay to the north-east, by the National Arboretum de Chèvreloup to the north, the Versailles plain (a protected wildlife preserve) to the west, and by the Satory Forest to the south.
In 1979, the gardens along with the château were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its cultural importance during the 17th. and 18th. centuries.
The gardens are now one of the most visited public sites in France, receiving more than six million visitors a year.
The gardens contain 200,000 trees, 210,000 flowers planted annually, and feature meticulously manicured lawns and parterres, as well as many sculptures.
50 fountains containing 620 water jets, fed by 35 km. of piping, are located throughout the gardens. Dating from the time of Louis XIV and still using much of the same network of hydraulics as was used during the Ancien Régime, the fountains contribute to making the gardens of Versailles unique.
On weekends from late spring to early autumn, there are the Grandes Eaux - spectacles during which all the fountains in the gardens are in full play. Designed by André Le Nôtre, the Grand Canal is the masterpiece of the Gardens of Versailles.
In the Gardens too, the Grand Trianon was built to provide the Sun King with the retreat that he wanted. The Petit Trianon is associated with Marie-Antoinette, who spent time there with her closest relatives and friends.
The Du Bus Plan for the Gardens of Versailles
With Louis XIII's purchase of lands from Jean-François de Gondi in 1632 and his assumption of the seigneurial role of Versailles in the 1630's, formal gardens were laid out west of the château.
Claude Mollet and Hilaire Masson designed the gardens, which remained relatively unchanged until the expansion ordered under Louis XIV in the 1660's. This early layout, which has survived in the so-called Du Bus plan of c.1662, shows an established topography along which lines of the gardens evolved. This is evidenced in the clear definition of the main east–west and north–south axis that anchors the gardens' layout.
Louis XIV
In 1661, after the disgrace of the finance minister Nicolas Fouquet, who was accused by rivals of embezzling crown funds in order to build his luxurious château at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis XIV turned his attention to Versailles.
With the aid of Fouquet's architect Louis Le Vau, painter Charles Le Brun, and landscape architect André Le Nôtre, Louis began an embellishment and expansion program at Versailles that would occupy his time and worries for the remainder of his reign.
From this point forward, the expansion of the gardens of Versailles followed the expansions of the château.
(a) The First Building Campaign
In 1662, minor modifications to the château were undertaken; however, greater attention was given to developing the gardens. Existing bosquets (clumps of trees) and parterres were expanded, and new ones created.
Most significant among the creations at this time were the Versailles Orangerie and the "Grotte de Thétys". The Orangery, which was designed by Louis Le Vau, was located south of the château, a situation that took advantage of the natural slope of the hill. It provided a protected area in which orange trees were kept during the winter months.
The "Grotte de Thétys", which was located to the north of the château, formed part of the iconography of the château and of the gardens that aligned Louis XIV with solar imagery. The grotto was completed during the second building campaign.
By 1664, the gardens had evolved to the point that Louis XIV inaugurated the gardens with the fête galante called Les Plaisirs de L'Île Enchantée. The event, was ostensibly to celebrate his mother, Anne d'Autriche, and his consort Marie-Thérèse but in reality celebrated Louise de La Vallière, Louis' mistress.
Guests were regaled with entertainments in the gardens over a period of one week. As a result of this fête - particularly the lack of housing for guests (most of them had to sleep in their carriages), Louis realised the shortcomings of Versailles, and began to expand the château and the gardens once again.
(b) The Second Building Campaign
Between 1664 and 1668, there was a flurry of activity in the gardens - especially with regard to fountains and new bosquets; it was during this time that the imagery of the gardens exploited Apollo and solar imagery as metaphors for Louis XIV.
Le Va's enveloppe of the Louis XIII's château provided a means by which, though the decoration of the garden façade, imagery in the decors of the grands appartements of the king and queen formed a symbiosis with the imagery of the gardens.
With this new phase of construction, the gardens assumed the design vocabulary that remained in force until the 18th. century. Solar and Apollonian themes predominated with projects constructed at this time.
Three additions formed the topological and symbolic nexus of the gardens during this phase of construction: the completion of the "Grotte de Thétys", the "Bassin de Latone", and the "Bassin d'Apollon".
The Grotte de Thétys
Started in 1664 and finished in 1670 with the installation of the statuary, the grotto formed an important symbolic and technical component to the gardens. Symbolically, the "Grotte de Thétys" related to the myth of Apollo - and by association to Louis XIV.
It represented the cave of the sea nymph Thetis, where Apollo rested after driving his chariot to light the sky. The grotto was a freestanding structure located just north of the château.
The interior, which was decorated with shell-work to represent a sea cave, contained the statue group by the Marsy brothers depicting the sun god attended by nereids.
Technically, the "'Grotte de Thétys" played a critical role in the hydraulic system that supplied water to the garden. The roof of the grotto supported a reservoir that stored water pumped from the Clagny pond and which fed the fountains lower in the garden via gravity.
The Bassin de Latone
Located on the east–west axis is the Bassin de Latone. Designed by André Le Nôtre, sculpted by Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy, and constructed between 1668 and 1670, the fountain depicts an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Altona and her children, Apollo and Diana, being tormented with mud slung by Lycian peasants, who refused to let her and her children drink from their pond, appealed to Jupiter who responded by turning the Lycians into frogs.
This episode from mythology has been seen as a reference to the revolts of the Fronde, which occurred during the minority of Louis XIV. The link between Ovid's story and this episode from French history is emphasised by the reference to "mud slinging" in a political context.
The revolts of the Fronde - the word fronde also means slingshot - have been regarded as the origin of the use of the term "mud slinging" in a political context.
The Bassin d'Apollon
Further along the east–west axis is the Bassin d'Apollon. The Apollo Fountain, which was constructed between 1668 and 1671, depicts the sun god driving his chariot to light the sky. The fountain forms a focal point in the garden, and serves as a transitional element between the gardens of the Petit Parc and the Grand Canal.
The Grand Canal
With a length of 1,500 metres and a width of 62 metres, the Grand Canal, which was built between 1668 and 1671, prolongs the east–west axis to the walls of the Grand Parc. During the Ancien Régime, the Grand Canal served as a venue for boating parties.
In 1674 the king ordered the construction of Petite Venise (Little Venice). Located at the junction of the Grand Canal and the northern transversal branch, Little Venice housed the caravels and yachts that were received from The Netherlands and the gondolas and gondoliers received as gifts from the Doge of Venice.
The Grand Canal also served a practical role. Situated at a low point in the gardens, it collected water that drained from the fountains in the garden above. Water from the Grand Canal was pumped back to the reservoir on the roof of the Grotte de Thétys via a network of windmill- and horse-powered pumps.
The Parterre d'Eau
Situated above the Latona Fountain is the terrace of the château, known as the Parterre d'Eau. Forming a transitional element from the château to the gardens below, the Parterre d'Eau provided a setting in which the symbolism of the grands appartements synthesized with the iconography of the gardens.
In 1664, Louis XIV commissioned a series of statues intended to decorate the water feature of the Parterre d'Eau. The Grande Command, as the commission is known, comprised twenty-four statues of the classic quaternities and four additional statues depicting abductions from the classic past.
Evolution of the Bosquets
One of the distinguishing features of the gardens during the second building campaign was the proliferation of bosquets. Expanding the layout established during the first building campaign, Le Nôtre added or expanded on no fewer that ten bosquets between 1670 and 1678:
-- The Bosquet du Marais
-- The Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau, Île du Roi
-- The Miroir d'Eau
-- The Salle des Festins (Salle du Conseil)
-- The Bosquet des Trois Fontaines
-- The Labyrinthe
-- The Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
-- The Bosquet de la Renommée (Bosquet des Dômes)
-- The Bosquet de l'Encélade
-- The Bosquet des Sources
In addition to the expansion of existing bosquets and the construction of new ones, there were two additional projects that defined this era, the Bassin des Sapins and the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses.
-- The Bassin des Sapins
In 1676, the Bassin des Sapins, which was located north of the château below the Allée des Marmoset's was designed to form a topological pendant along the north–south axis with the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses located at the base of the Satory hill south of the château.
Later modifications in the gardens transformed this fountain into the Bassin de Neptune.
-- Pièce d'Eau des Suisses
Excavated in 1678, the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses - named after the Swiss Guards who constructed the lake - occupied an area of marshes and ponds, some of which had been used to supply water for the fountains in the garden.
This water feature, with a surface area of more than 15 hectares (37 acres), is the second largest - after the Grand Canal - at Versailles.
(c) The Third Building Campaign
Modifications to the gardens during the third building campaign were distinguished by a stylistic change from the natural aesthetic of André Le Nôtre to the architectonic style of Jules Hardouin Mansart.
The first major modification to the gardens during this phase occurred in 1680 when the Tapis Vert - the expanse of lawn that stretches between the Latona Fountain and the Apollo Fountain - achieved its final size and definition under the direction of André Le Nôtre.
Beginning in 1684, the Parterre d'Eau was remodelled under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Statues from the Grande Commande of 1674 were relocated to other parts of the garden; two twin octagonal basins were constructed and decorated with bronze statues representing the four main rivers of France.
In the same year, Le Vau's Orangerie, located to south of the Parterrre d'Eau was demolished to accommodate a larger structure designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
In addition to the Orangerie, the Escaliers des Cent Marches, which facilitated access to the gardens from the south, to the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses, and to the Parterre du Midi were constructed at this time, giving the gardens just south of the château their present configuration and decoration.
Additionally, to accommodate the anticipated construction of the Aile des Nobles - the north wing of the château - the Grotte de Thétys was demolished.
With the construction of the Aile des Nobles (1685–1686), the Parterre du Nord was remodelled to respond to the new architecture of this part of the château.
To compensate for the loss of the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys and to meet the increased demand for water, Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed new and larger reservoirs situated north of the Aile des Nobles.
Construction of the ruinously expensive Canal de l'Eure was inaugurated in 1685; designed by Vauban it was intended to bring waters of the Eure over 80 kilometres, including aqueducts of heroic scale, but the works were abandoned in 1690.
Between 1686 and 1687, the Bassin de Latone, under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, was rebuilt. It is this final version of the fountain that one sees today at Versailles.
During this phase of construction, three of the garden's major bosquets were modified or created. Beginning with the Galerie des Antiques, this bosquet was constructed in 1680 on the site of the earlier and short-lived Galerie d'Eau. This bosquet was conceived as an open-air gallery in which antique statues and copies acquired by the Académie de France in Rome were displayed.
The following year, construction began on the Salle de Bal. Located in a secluded section of the garden west of the Orangerie, this bosquet was designed as an amphitheater that featured a cascade – the only one surviving in the gardens of Versailles. The Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1685 with a ball hosted by the Grand Dauphin.
Between 1684 and 1685, Jules Hardouin-Mansart built the Colonnade. Located on the site of Le Nôtre's Bosquet des Sources, this bosquet featured a circular peristyle formed from thirty-two arches with twenty-eight fountains, and was Hardouin-Mansart's most architectural of the bosquets built in the gardens of Versailles.
(d) The Fourth Building Campaign
Due to financial constraints arising from the War of the League of Augsburg and the War of the Spanish Succession, no significant work on the gardens was undertaken until 1704.
Between 1704 and 1709, bosquets were modified, some quite radically, with new names suggesting the new austerity that characterised the latter years of Louis XIV's reign.
Louis XV
With the departure of the king and court from Versailles in 1715 following the death of Louis XIV, the palace and gardens entered an era of uncertainty.
In 1722, Louis XV and the court returned to Versailles. Seeming to heed his great-grandfather's admonition not to engage in costly building campaigns, Louis XV did not undertake the costly rebuilding that Louis XIV had.
During the reign of Louis XV, the only significant addition to the gardens was the completion of the Bassin de Neptune (1738–1741).
Rather than expend resources on modifying the gardens at Versailles, Louis XV - an avid botanist - directed his efforts at Trianon. In the area now occupied by the Hameau de la Reine, Louis XV constructed and maintained les Jardins Botaniques.
In 1761, Louis XV commissioned Ange-Jacques Gabriel to build the Petit Trianon as a residence that would allow him to spend more time near the Jardins Botaniques. It was at the Petit Trianon that Louis XV fell fatally ill with smallpox; he died at Versailles on the 10th. May 1774.
Louis XVI
Upon Louis XVI's ascension to the throne, the gardens of Versailles underwent a transformation that recalled the fourth building campaign of Louis XIV. Engendered by a change in outlook as advocated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Philosophes, the winter of 1774–1775 witnessed a complete replanting of the gardens.
Trees and shrubbery dating from the reign of Louis XIV were felled or uprooted with the intent of transforming the French formal garden of Le Nôtre and Hardouin-Mansart into a version of an English landscape garden.
The attempt to convert Le Nôtre's masterpiece into an English-style garden failed to achieve its desired goal. Owing largely to the topology of the land, the English aesthetic was abandoned and the gardens replanted in the French style.
However, with an eye on economy, Louis XVI ordered the Palisades - the labour-intensive clipped hedging that formed walls in the bosquets - to be replaced with rows of lime trees or chestnut trees. Additionally, a number of the bosquets dating from the time of the Sun King were extensively modified or destroyed.
The most significant contribution to the gardens during the reign of Louis XVI was the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon. The rockwork grotto set in an English style bosquet was the masterpiece of Hubert Robert in which the statues from the Grotte de Thétys were placed.
Revolution
In 1792, under order from the National Convention, some of the trees in the gardens were felled, while parts of the Grand Parc were parcelled and dispersed.
Sensing the potential threat to Versailles, Louis Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821) – director of the Jardins Botaniques and grandson of Claude Richard – lobbied the government to save Versailles. He succeeded in preventing further dispersing of the Grand Parc, and threats to destroy the Petit Parc were abolished by suggesting that the parterres could be used to plant vegetable gardens, and that orchards could occupy the open areas of the garden.
These plans were never put into action; however, the gardens were opened to the public - it was not uncommon to see people washing their laundry in the fountains and spreading it on the shrubbery to dry.
Napoléon I
The Napoleonic era largely ignored Versailles. In the château, a suite of rooms was arranged for the use of the empress Marie-Louise, but the gardens were left unchanged, save for the disastrous felling of trees in the Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines. Massive soil erosion necessitated planting of new trees.
Restoration
With the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, the gardens of Versailles witnessed the first modifications since the Revolution. In 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the conversion of the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau into an English-style garden - the Jardin du Roi.
The July Monarchy; The Second Empire
While much of the château's interior was irreparably altered to accommodate the Museum of the History of France (inaugurated by Louis-Philippe on the 10th. June 1837), the gardens, by contrast, remained untouched.
With the exception of the state visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1855, at which time the gardens were a setting for a gala fête that recalled the fêtes of Louis XIV, Napoléon III ignored the château, preferring instead the château of Compiègne.
Pierre de Nolhac
With the arrival of Pierre de Nolhac as director of the museum in 1892, a new era of historical research began at Versailles. Nolhac, an ardent archivist and scholar, began to piece together the history of Versailles, and subsequently established the criteria for restoration of the château and preservation of the gardens, which are ongoing to this day.
Bosquets of the Gardens
Owing to the many modifications made to the gardens between the 17th. and the 19th. centuries, many of the bosquets have undergone multiple modifications, which were often accompanied by name changes.
Deux Bosquets - Bosquet de la Girondole - Bosquet du Dauphin - Quinconce du Nord - Quinconce du Midi
These two bosquets were first laid out in 1663. They were arranged as a series of paths around four salles de verdure and which converged on a central "room" that contained a fountain.
In 1682, the southern bosquet was remodeled as the Bosquet de la Girondole, thus named due to spoke-like arrangement of the central fountain. The northern bosquet was rebuilt in 1696 as the Bosquet du Dauphin with a fountain that featured a dolphin.
During the replantation of 1774–1775, both the bosquets were destroyed. The areas were replanted with lime trees and were rechristened the Quinconce du Nord and the Quinconce du Midi.
Labyrinthe - Bosquet de la Reine
In 1665, André Le Nôtre planned a hedge maze of unadorned paths in an area south of the Latona Fountain near the Orangerie. In 1669, Charles Perrault - author of the Mother Goose Tales - advised Louis XIV to remodel the Labyrinthe in such a way as to serve the Dauphin's education.
Between 1672 and 1677, Le Nôtre redesigned the Labyrinthe to feature thirty-nine fountains that depicted stories from Aesop's Fables. The sculptors Jean-Baptiste Tuby, Étienne Le Hongre, Pierre Le Gros, and the brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy worked on these thirty-nine fountains, each of which was accompanied by a plaque on which the fable was printed, with verse written by Isaac de Benserade; from these plaques, Louis XIV's son learned to read.
Once completed in 1677, the Labyrinthe contained thirty-nine fountains with 333 painted metal animal sculptures. The water for the elaborate waterworks was conveyed from the Seine by the Machine de Marly.
The Labyrinthe contained fourteen water-wheels driving 253 pumps, some of which worked at a distance of three-quarters of a mile.
Citing repair and maintenance costs, Louis XVI ordered the Labyrinthe demolished in 1778. In its place, an arboretum of exotic trees was planted as an English-styled garden.
Rechristened Bosquet de la Reine, it would be in this part of the garden that an episode of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, which compromised Marie-Antoinette, transpired in 1785.
Bosquet de la Montagne d'Eau - Bosquet de l'Étoile
Originally designed by André Le Nôtre in 1661 as a salle de verdure, this bosquet contained a path encircling a central pentagonal area. In 1671, the bosquet was enlarged with a more elaborate system of paths that served to enhance the new central water feature, a fountain that resembled a mountain, hence the bosquets new name: Bosquet de la Montagne d'Eau.
The bosquet was completely remodeled in 1704 at which time it was rechristened Bosquet de l'Étoile.
Bosquet du Marais - Bosquet du Chêne Vert - Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon - Grotte des Bains d'Apollon
Created in 1670, this bosquet originally contained a central rectangular pool surrounded by a turf border. Edging the pool were metal reeds that concealed numerous jets for water; a swan that had water jetting from its beak occupied each corner.
The centre of the pool featured an iron tree with painted tin leaves that sprouted water from its branches. Because of this tree, the bosquet was also known as the Bosquet du Chêne Vert.
In 1705, this bosquet was destroyed in order to allow for the creation of the Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon, which was created to house the statues had once stood in the Grotte de Thétys.
During the reign of Louis XVI, Hubert Robert remodeled the bosquet, creating a cave-like setting for the Marsy statues. The bosquet was renamed the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon.
Île du Roi - Miroir d'Eau - Jardin du Roi
Originally designed in 1671 as two separate water features, the larger - Île du Roi - contained an island that formed the focal point of a system of elaborate fountains.
The Île du Roi was separated from the Miroir d'Eau by a causeway that featured twenty-four water jets. In 1684, the island was removed and the total number of water jets in the bosquet was significantly reduced.
The year 1704 witnessed a major renovation of the bosquet, at which time the causeway was remodelled and most of the water jets were removed.
A century later, in 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau to be completely remodeled as an English-style garden. At this time, the bosquet was rechristened Jardin du Roi.
Salle des Festins - Salle du Conseil - Bosquet de l'Obélisque
In 1671, André Le Nôtre conceived a bosquet - originally christened Salle des Festins and later called Salle du Conseil - that featured a quatrefoil island surrounded by a channel containing fifty water jets. Access to the island was obtained by two swing bridges.
Beyond the channel and placed at the cardinal points within the bosquet were four additional fountains. Under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the bosquet was completely remodeled in 1706. The central island was replaced by a large basin raised on five steps, which was surrounded by a canal. The central fountain contained 230 jets that, when in play, formed an obelisk – hence the new name Bosquet de l'Obélisque.
Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau - Bosquet du Rond-Vert
The central feature of this bosquet, which was designed by Le Nôtre between 1671 and 1674, was an auditorium/theatre sided by three tiers of turf seating that faced a stage decorated with four fountains alternating with three radiating cascades.
Between 1680 and Louis XIV's death in 1715, there was near-constant rearranging of the statues that decorated the bosquet.
In 1709, the bosquet was rearranged with the addition of the Fontaine de l'Île aux Enfants. As part of the replantation of the gardens ordered by Louis XVI during the winter of 1774–1775, the Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau was destroyed and replaced with the unadorned Bosquet du Rond-Vert. The Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau was recreated in 2014, with South Korean businessman and photographer Yoo Byung-eun being the sole patron, donating €1.4 million.
Bosquet des Trois Fontaines - Berceau d'Eau
Situated to the west of the Allée des Marmousets and replacing the short-lived Berceau d'Eau (a long and narrow bosquet created in 1671 that featured a water bower made by numerous jets of water), the enlarged bosquet was transformed by Le Nôtre in 1677 into a series of three linked rooms.
Each room contained a number of fountains that played with special effects. The fountains survived the modifications that Louis XIV ordered for other fountains in the gardens in the early 18th. century and were subsequently spared during the 1774–1775 replantation of the gardens.
In 1830, the bosquet was replanted, at which time the fountains were suppressed. Due to storm damage in the park in 1990 and then again in 1999, the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines was restored and re-inaugurated on the 12th. June 2004.
Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
This bosquet was originally planned in 1672 as a simple pavillon d'eau - a round open expanse with a square fountain in the centre. In 1676, this bosquet was enlarged and redecorated along political lines that alluded to French military victories over Spain and Austria, at which time the triumphal arch was added - hence the name.
As with the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines, this bosquet survived the modifications of the 18th. century, but was replanted in 1830, at which time the fountains were removed.
Bosquet de la Renommée - Bosquet des Dômes
Built in 1675, the Bosquet de la Renommée featured a fountain statue of Fame. With the relocation of the statues from the Grotte de Thétys in 1684, the bosquet was remodelled to accommodate the statues, and the Fame fountain was removed.
At this time the bosquet was rechristened Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon. As part of the reorganisation of the garden that was ordered by Louis XIV in the early part of the 18th. century, the Apollo grouping was moved once again to the site of the Bosquet du Marais - located near the Latona Fountain - which was destroyed and was replaced by the new Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon.
The statues were installed on marble plinths from which water issued; and each statue grouping was protected by an intricately carved and gilded baldachin.
The old Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon was renamed Bosquet des Dômes due to two domed pavilions built in the bosquet.
Bosquet de l'Encélade
Created in 1675 at the same time as the Bosquet de la Renommée, the fountain of this bosquet depicts Enceladus, a fallen Giant who was condemned to live below Mount Etna, being consumed by volcanic lava.
From its conception, this fountain was conceived as an allegory of Louis XIV's victory over the Fronde. In 1678, an octagonal ring of turf and eight rocaille fountains surrounding the central fountain were added. These additions were removed in 1708.
When in play, this fountain has the tallest jet of all the fountains in the gardens of Versailles - 25 metres.
Bosquet des Sources - La Colonnade
Designed as a simple unadorned salle de verdure by Le Nôtre in 1678, the landscape architect enhanced and incorporated an existing stream to create a bosquet that featured rivulets that twisted among nine islets.
In 1684, Jules Hardouin-Mansart completely redesigned the bosquet by constructing a circular arched double peristyle. The Colonnade, as it was renamed, originally featured thirty-two arches and thirty-one fountains – a single jet of water splashed into a basin center under the arch.
In 1704, three additional entrances to the Colonnade were added, which reduced the number of fountains from thirty-one to twenty-eight. The statue that currently occupies the centre of the Colonnade - the Abduction of Persephone - (from the Grande Commande of 1664) was set in place in 1696.
Galerie d'Eau - Galerie des Antiques - Salle des Marronniers
Occupying the site of the Galerie d'Eau (1678), the Galerie des Antiques was designed in 1680 to house the collection of antique statues and copies of antique statues acquired by the Académie de France in Rome.
Surrounding a central area paved with colored stone, a channel was decorated with twenty statues on plinths, each separated by three jets of water.
The Galerie was completely remodeled in 1704 when the statues were transferred to Marly and the bosquet was replanted with horse chestnut trees - hence the current name Salle des Marronniers.
Salle de Bal
This bosquet, which was designed by Le Nôtre and built between 1681 and 1683, features a semi-circular cascade that forms the backdrop for a salle de verdure.
Interspersed with gilt lead torchères, which supported candelabra for illumination, the Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1683 by Louis XIV's son, the Grand Dauphin, with a dance party.
The Salle de Bal was remodeled in 1707 when the central island was removed and an additional entrance was added.
Replantations of the Gardens
Common to any long-lived garden is replantation, and Versailles is no exception. In their history, the gardens of Versailles have undergone no less than five major replantations, which have been executed for practical and aesthetic reasons.
During the winter of 1774–1775, Louis XVI ordered the replanting of the gardens on the grounds that many of the trees were diseased or overgrown, and needed to be replaced.
Also, as the formality of the 17th.-century garden had fallen out of fashion, this replantation sought to establish a new informality in the gardens - that would also be less expensive to maintain.
This, however, was not achieved, as the topology of the gardens favored the Jardin à la Française over an English-style garden.
Then, in 1860, much of the old growth from Louis XVI's replanting was removed and replaced. In 1870, a violent storm struck the area, damaging and uprooting scores of trees, which necessitated a massive replantation program.
However, owing to the Franco-Prussian War, which toppled Napoléon III, and the Commune de Paris, replantation of the garden did not get underway until 1883.
The most recent replantations of the gardens were precipitated by two storms that battered Versailles in 1990 and then again in 1999. The storm damage at Versailles and Trianon amounted to the loss of thousands of trees - the worst such damage in the history of Versailles.
The replantations have allowed museum and governmental authorities to restore and rebuild some of the bosquets that were abandoned during the reign of Louis XVI, such as the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines, which was restored in 2004.
Catherine Pégard, the head of the public establishment which administers Versailles, has stated that the intention is to return the gardens to their appearance under Louis XIV, specifically as he described them in his 1704 description, Manière de Montrer les Jardins de Versailles.
This involves restoring some of the parterres like the Parterre du Midi to their original formal layout, as they appeared under Le Nôtre. This was achieved in the Parterre de Latone in 2013, when the 19th. century lawns and flower beds were torn up and replaced with boxwood-enclosed turf and gravel paths to create a formal arabesque design.
Pruning is also done to keep trees at between 17 and 23 metres (56 to 75 feet), so as not to spoil the carefully designed perspectives of the gardens.
Owing to the natural cycle of replantations that has occurred at Versailles, it is safe to state that no trees dating from the time of Louis XIV are to be found in the gardens.
Problems With Water
The marvel of the gardens of Versailles - then as now - is the fountains. Yet, the very element that animates the gardens, water, has proven to be the affliction of the gardens since the time of Louis XIV.
The gardens of Louis XIII required water, and local ponds provided an adequate supply. However, once Louis XIV began expanding the gardens with more and more fountains, supplying the gardens with water became a critical challenge.
To meet the needs of the early expansions of the gardens under Louis XIV, water was pumped to the gardens from ponds near the château, with the Clagny pond serving as the principal source.
Water from the pond was pumped to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys, which fed the fountains in the garden by means of gravitational hydraulics. Other sources included a series of reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau south of the château.
The Grand Canal
By 1664, increased demand for water necessitated additional sources. In that year, Louis Le Vau designed the Pompe, a water tower built north of the château. The Pompe drew water from the Clagny pond using a system of windmills and horsepower to a cistern housed in the Pompe's building. The capacity of the Pompe 600 cubic metres per day - alleviated some of the water shortages in the garden.
With the completion of the Grand Canal in 1671, which served as drainage for the fountains of the garden, water, via a system of windmills, was pumped back to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys.
While this system solved some of the water supply problems, there was never enough water to keep all of the fountains running in the garden in full-play all of the time.
While it was possible to keep the fountains in view from the château running, those concealed in the bosquets and in the farther reaches of the garden were run on an as-needed basis.
In 1672, Jean-Baptiste Colbert devised a system by which the fountaineers in the gardens would signal each other with whistles upon the approach of the king, indicating that their fountain needed to be turned on. Once the king had passed a fountain in play, it would be turned off and the fountaineer would signal that the next fountain could be turned on.
In 1674, the Pompe was enlarged, and subsequently referred to as the Grande Pompe. Pumping capacity was increased via increased power and the number of pistons used for lifting the water. These improvements increased the water capacity to nearly 3,000 cubic metres of water per day; however, the increased capacity of the Grande Pompe often left the Clagny pond dry.
The increasing demand for water and the stress placed on existing systems of water supply necessitated newer measures to increase the water supplied to Versailles. Between 1668 and 1674, a project was undertaken to divert the water of the Bièvre river to Versailles. By damming the river and with a pumping system of five windmills, water was brought to the reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau. This system brought an additional 72,000 cubic metres water to the gardens on a daily basis.
Despite the water from the Bièvre, the gardens needed still more water, which necessitated more projects. In 1681, one of the most ambitious water projects conceived during the reign of Louis XIV was undertaken.
Owing to the proximity of the Seine to Versailles, a project was proposed to raise the water from the river to be delivered to Versailles. Seizing upon the success of a system devised in 1680 that raised water from the Seine to the gardens of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, construction of the Machine de Marly began the following year.
The Machine de Marly was designed to lift water from the Seine in three stages to the Aqueduc de Louveciennes some 100 metres above the level of the river. A series of huge waterwheels was constructed in the river, which raised the water via a system of 64 pumps to a reservoir 48 metres above the river. From this first reservoir, water was raised an additional 56 metres to a second reservoir by a system of 79 pumps. Finally, 78 additional pumps raised the water to the aqueduct, which carried the water to Versailles and Marly.
In 1685, the Machine de Marly came into full operation. However, owing to leakage in the conduits and breakdowns of the mechanism, the machine was only able to deliver 3,200 cubic metres of water per day - approximately one-half the expected output. The machine was nevertheless a must-see for visitors. Despite the fact that the gardens consumed more water per day than the entire city of Paris, the Machine de Marly remained in operation until 1817.
During Louis XIV's reign, water supply systems represented one-third of the building costs of Versailles. Even with the additional output from the Machine de Marly, fountains in the garden could only be run à l'ordinaire - which is to say at half-pressure.
With this measure of economy, the fountains still consumed 12,800 cubic metres of water per day, far above the capacity of the existing supplies. In the case of the Grandes Eaux - when all the fountains played to their maximum - more than 10,000 cubic metres of water was needed for one afternoon's display.
Accordingly, the Grandes Eaux were reserved for special occasions such as the Siamese Embassy visit of 1685–1686.
The Canal de l'Eure
One final attempt to solve water shortage problems was undertaken in 1685. In this year it was proposed to divert the water of the Eure river, located 160 km. south of Versailles and at a level 26 m above the garden reservoirs.
The project called not only for digging a canal and for the construction of an aqueduct, it also necessitated the construction of shipping channels and locks to supply the workers on the main canal.
Between 9,000 to 10,000 troops were pressed into service in 1685; the next year, more than 20,000 soldiers were engaged in construction. Between 1686 and 1689, when the Nine Years' War began, one-tenth of France's military was at work on the Canal de l'Eure project.
However with the outbreak of the war, the project was abandoned, never to be completed. Had the aqueduct been completed, some 50,000 cubic metres of water would have been sent to Versailles - more than enough to solve the water problem of the gardens.
Today, the museum of Versailles is still faced with water problems. During the Grandes Eaux, water is circulated by means of modern pumps from the Grand Canal to the reservoirs. Replenishment of the water lost due to evaporation comes from rainwater, which is collected in cisterns that are located throughout the gardens and diverted to the reservoirs and the Grand Canal.
Assiduous husbanding of this resource by museum officials prevents the need to tap into the supply of potable water of the city of Versailles.
The Versailles Gardens In Popular Culture
The creation of the gardens of Versailles is the context for the film 'A Little Chaos', directed by Alan Rickman and released in 2015, in which Kate Winslet plays a fictional landscape gardener and Rickman plays King Louis XIV.
I'm going to do what the spirit says do, laugh, cry, touch the sky, sing, shout, let it out, dance, paint, sing with the saints, hug love, give thanks above.
This is a great ol traditional gospel style tune with a few lyrics of my own but its a celebration of life with some wonderful children singing with me, sublime jazzy parts with synthesized piano, trumpets, clarinet, drums, bass and more.
Get up and dance, Share this with your friends in a link to listen to more great songs
Ask Spotify, Alexa, Siri and Google to play music by
JOHN WILLIAM HAMMOND (use all 3 names.
or visit my site on johnwilliamhammond.bandcamp.com/
Object Details: The Rosette Nebula is part of a massive molecular cloud and star forming region located in the constellation of Monoceros. Lying approximately 5,200 light-years from Earth it is about 130 light-years in diameter.
At the heart of the Rosette lies the open star cluster NGC 2244 that lights up the nebula. Fairly young (relatively speaking), this cluster formed out of the surrounding gas 'only' a few million years ago and the hot solar wind emanating from these stars adds to the complexity of dust and gas filaments as it hollows out the center of the nebula.
Image Details: Having an affinity for surreal imagery, the attached composite shows the results of separating out the Hydrogen-Alpha and Oxygen III wavelengths of the dualband filter, synthesizing a third channel from the these two, and utilizing the luminance from the H-alpha channel in various LRGB combinations using a variety of different pallets.
Since the human eye tends to see detail in an image more via differences in brightness and contrast (as opposed to color), I've included a greyscale image of the H-alpha channel at center.
The data for the attached image were taken by Jay Edwards on October 29, 2022 using an Orion 80mm f/6 carbon-fiber triplet apochromatic refractor (i.e. an ED80T CF) connected to a Televue 0.8X field flattener / focal reducer and an IDAS NBZ dual band filter which has narrowband passes centered on the emissions of Hydrogen-alpha (656.3 nanometers) and Oxygen III (495.9 & 500.7 nanometers) on an ASI2600MC Pro cooled astronomical camera.
The 80mm was piggybacked on a vintage 1970, 8-inch, f/7, Criterion newtonian reflector and was tracked using a Losmandy G-11 mount running a Gemini 2 control system and guided using PHD2 to control a ZWO ASI290MC planetary camera / auto-guider in an 80mm f/5 Celestron 'short-tube' refractor, which itself was piggybacked on top of the 80mm apo.
The image consists of 2 1/2 hours of total integration time (not including applicable dark, flat and flat dark calibration frames) and was constructed using a stack of fifty 3 minutes sub-exposures. Processed using a combination of PixInsight, Maxim/DL and PaintShopPro, as presented here it has been cropped. resized down to 3x HD, and the bit depth has been lowered to 8 bits per channel.
I'm looking forward to processing additional objects in these alternate palettes.
Wishing clear, dark & calm skies to all !
Western Arabia Terra imaged by the Mars Express HRSC instrument. This image captures the transition from the rugged equatorial highland terrain of Arabia Terra as it transitions into the relatively featureless northern lowland region of Acidalia Planitia. Although this region is among the oldest locations on the Martian surface, the geology is unspectacular, consisting of generally unmodified craters, few tectonic features, and relatively few channels carved by water. In the absence of attention from geologists, very few of the craters in this region have been named.
This image was captured in the middle of Martian summer, when Mars is near its furthest from the Sun. During this period, the Martian atmosphere cools substantially, allowing daytime water ice clouds to form at equatorial latitudes across the entire planet for a few months. This phenomenon, called the Aphelion Cloud Belt, was active in this photo, although the clouds associated with it were beginning to thin for the season when this image was taken.
This image was created using two limb-scan images taken through Mars Express' blue and green filters. These sequences are designed to study Martian atmospheric layers. These sequences require a complex geometric correction to resemble what a human eye might see. In addition, a red channel has been synthesized by subtracting blue channel data from the green channel data.
This image was taken during Mars Express' 15481st orbit of the red planet, March 19, 2016.
Image Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/J. Cowart, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
You never know who's lurking in the garden.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The California newt or orange-bellied newt (Taricha torosa), is a species of newt endemic to California, in the Western United States. Its adult length can range from 5 to 8 in (13 to 20 cm).[2] Its skin produces the potent toxin tetrodotoxin.[3]
Subspecies
Taricha torosa was divided into two subspecies until 2007, when it was determined that the Sierra and coastal populations represent distinct evolutionary lineages.[4] The former subspecies Taricha torosa sierrae was elevated to full species level and it is now known as Taricha sierrae, the Sierra newt.[citation needed] Taricha torosa torosa has been retired and now all coastal populations are simply known as Taricha torosa, the California newt.[citation needed]
Range and habitat
California newts reside in the coastal counties of California and in the southern Sierra Nevada and occupy a diverse array of habitats found near the small ponds and creeks where they breed, including woodlands and chaparral.[5][6]
Description
The California newt has warty, slate-gray skin on its back and bright orange-yellow skin underneath. It is very similar in appearance to the rough-skinned newt and they are often indistinguishable without dissection, but in general, the California newt has orange skin around the bottom of its eye while the Rough-skinned has gray skin at the bottom of its eye. The California newt also has eyes that protrude beyond the edge of the jaw line when viewed from above (while the eyes of the rough-skinned do not protrude), giving its head a more bullet-like appearance. The red-bellied newt is also similar but has dark irises vs. yellow in the California newt, more red coloration underneath, and a dark band across the vent that is lacking in the California newt.[7][citation needed].Newts are amphibians. They are related to salamanders (in a subfamily called Pleurodelinae). They live in North America, Europe and Asia. Their skin tends to be rougher than the skin of salamanders.
Reproduction
Reproduction occurs generally between December and early May[citation needed]. Typically, the adult newts will return to the pool in which they hatched. After a mating dance, the male mounts the female and rubs his chin on her nose. He then attaches a spermatophore to the substrate, which she will retrieve into her cloaca.
The egg mass released by the female contains between seven and 30 eggs, and is roughly the consistency of a thick gelatin dessert[citation needed]. Typically, the egg masses are attached to stream plant roots or to rocky crevices in small pools of slow-moving water, but they have also been known to be attached to underwater rocks or leaf debris. While shallow in a wide sense, these pools are rather deep relative to the average depth of a Southern California stream, varying in depth from about 1–2 metres (3.3–6.6 ft).
Adult newts typically leave the pools shortly after breeding has concluded, however, some adults may remain in the pools for an additional few months to feed.[8] Larvae hatch sometime in early to midsummer, depending on local water temperature. Larvae are difficult to find in streams, as they blend in well with the sandy bottom, to which they usually stay close.
The size of maternal eggs influence the sizes of larvae. The larvae from larger eggs will not only experience shorter time period on metamorphose than larvae from smaller eggs, but also grow larger.[9]
California Newt Eggs
Vocalization
California newt
Newts are mistakenly believed not to vocalize. Their vocalizations exhibit a wide frequency range from 1.4 kHz to 8 kHz, with varying duration times ranging from less than 0.1 second to 0.4 seconds.[10]
The vocalizations of California newts are functional and are usually related to defense and sexual behaviors. They have three primary vocalizations: clicks, squeaks, and whistles. Clicks are most frequently produced, usually occurring in response to unfamiliar environments or confrontations. Squeaks are associated with defense behavior and may serve to startle predators, potentially reinforcing the recognition of the species as toxic. Whistles appear to be related to sex recognition or hierarchical interactions.[10]
Toxicity and predation
Like other genus Taricha members, the glands in the skin of Taricha torosa secrete the potent neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, which is hundreds of times more toxic than cyanide. This is the same toxin found in pufferfish and harlequin frogs. Researchers believe bacteria synthesize tetrodotoxin, and the animals that employ the neurotoxin acquire it through consumption of these bacteria. This neurotoxin is strong enough to kill most vertebrates, including humans.
Due to their toxicity, California newts have few natural predators. Garter snakes are the most common, and some species have developed a genetic resistance to tetrodotoxin. The mutations in the snake's genes that conferred resistance to the toxin have resulted in a selective pressure that favors newts that produce more potent levels of toxin. Increases in newt toxicity then apply a selective pressure favoring snakes with mutations conferring even greater resistance. This evolutionary arms race has resulted in the newts producing levels of toxin far in excess of what is needed to kill any other conceivable predator.[11][12][13][14]
Taricha torosa has also been known to utilize the "unken reflex" in response to threats from predators. In this posture the California Newt stretches out flexes the dorsal side of their body shooting their head and tail into the air, and exposing their brightly colored underbelly.[15][16] This variation of the unken reflex seems to be species-specific and differs from Taricha granulosa due to the tail remaining straight instead of curling.
California Newt Unken Reflex
Diet
Earthworms, snails, slugs, woodlice, bloodworms, mosquito larvae, crickets, and other invertebrates are among the California newt's prey. Adult newts have also been known to cannibalize their own eggs and larvae.[17] In the Sierra Nevada, the newt will also consume trout eggs. In an aquarium habitat, earthworms provide the newt with all necessary nutrients. Other natural prey items would benefit the captive newt. Pellets tend to be inappropriate for terrestrial caudates, and fish food should be avoided completely.
Conservation status
California newt in a Southern Californian riparian habitat.
Taricha torosa, the California newt, is currently a California Special Concern species (DFG-CSC). Some populations have been greatly reduced in southern California coastal streams due to the introduction of non-native, invasive species and human habitation. The mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) and red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) have caused the greatest reduction in newt populations.[18]
Introduced as fish bait and stock pond prey, red swamp crayfish are an incredibly aggressive, prolific, and stalwart species that will prey upon newt larvae and egg masses. The crayfish will also disrupt newt breeding via competition for space during the summer mating season and physically antagonizing adults. Crayfish will typically maul the adult newts with their claws, and subsequent infection can lead to death. Taricha torosa that are present in streams with introduced crayfish often sport tails with several notches removed.[18]
Ambrotype on black plastic 13х18 cm. Collodion on basis self-synthesized nitrocellulose and zinc salts. Sensitivity - 2 ISO.
Go check these absurdly brilliant photographers out!
1. I Like You So Much Better When You Are Naked, 2. Michael, 3. Packard Guardian, 4. Art House 5, 5. Between love and madness, 6. Bring the rain, 7. I Once Had a Tiny Little Doll, 8. Detroit @ 1300, 9. picaresque, 10. FeDress - RRR, 11. The Hazards Of Love, 12. Synthesize, 13. anticipation
Western Arabia Terra imaged by the Mars Express HRSC instrument. This image captures the transition from the rugged equatorial highland terrain of Arabia Terra as it transitions into the relatively featureless northern lowland region of Acidalia Planitia. Although this region is among the oldest locations on the Martian surface, the geology is unspectacular, consisting of generally unmodified craters, few tectonic features, and relatively few channels carved by water. In the absence of attention from geologists, very few of the craters in this region have been named.
This image was captured in the middle of Martian summer, when Mars is near its furthest from the Sun. During this period, the Martian atmosphere cools substantially, allowing daytime water ice clouds to form at equatorial latitudes across the entire planet for a few months. This phenomenon, called the Aphelion Cloud Belt, was active in this photo, although the clouds associated with it were beginning to thin for the season when this image was taken.
This image was created using two limb-scan images taken through Mars Express' blue and green filters. These sequences are designed to study Martian atmospheric layers. These sequences require a complex geometric correction to resemble what a human eye might see. In addition, a red channel has been synthesized by subtracting blue channel data from the green channel data.
This image was taken during Mars Express' 15569th orbit of the red planet, April 13, 2016.
Image Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/J. Cowart, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Quartz-gold hydrothermal vein rock (gold ore) from the Precambrian of Ontario, Canada.
This high-grade gold ore sample is from the famous Hollinger Mine in Timmins, Ontario, one of the richest gold mines on Earth. The whitish-gray material is quartz and the buttery, metallic-lustered material is native gold (Au). Occasional, very small pyrite crystals are present. Not sure what the blackish material is (it’s actually very dark brown) - other minerals reported from the quartz-gold veins in the area include ankerite, albite feldspar, pyrite and other sulfides, scheelite, tourmaline, and various tellurides. Several gold mines in the Timmins area, called the Porcupine Gold Camp, targeted auriferous rocks in and immediately adjacent to a hydrothermal vein system about 5 x 2 kilometers in areal extent. The vein system and its host rocks are Late Archean in age, between 2.8 and 2.6 billion years old.
The gold occurrence at the Hollinger Mine site was discovered in 1909 by Benjamin Hollinger as he removed vegetation from a mound on his claim - this exposed a vein with native gold. Mining occurred from 1909 to 1968. After a half-decade of inactivity, operations resumed at Hollinger in 1973. Gold mining continues today, after several corporate ownership changes in recent decades. The current operator of the Hollinger Mine is a company called Newmont. Remote-controlled, automated drilling equipment is currently used at the site.
The gold-bearing hydrothermal vein system in the Hollinger Mine area occurs in a northeast-southwest striking shear zone that has intensely deformed the vein’s host rocks. The stratigraphy of the area’s host rocks includes three major units (from youngest to oldest):
Porcupine Group
Tisdale Group
Deloro Group
The Porcupine Group is a ~3 kilometer thick succession of metamorphosed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks, including turbidites and coarse-grained fluvial deposits. The Tisdale Group is a ~4 kilometer thick succession of 2.703 billion year old ultramafic to intermediate volcanic rocks, including komatiites, basalts, and alkaline dacitic volcaniclastics. The Deloro Group is a ~4.5 to 5 kilometer thick succession of 2.725 billion year old mafic to felsic to alkaline volcanics, plus some iron formation. These rocks have been subjected to regional greenschist-facies metamorphism and structural folding - this occurred during an Archean mountain-building event (orogeny). Various igneous intrusions are also present. Diabase dikes cut, and therefore postdate, the quartz-gold veins. The diabase dikes are ~2.633 Ga, but that date has significant error bars. Albitite dikes in the Porcupine Gold Camp cut and are cut by the gold veins. Emplacement of the albitite dikes occurred at 2.673 Ga. Molybdenite samples from vein rocks at nearby mines date to 2.670-2.672 Ga. These ages are likely good approximate dates for emplacement of the gold veins - albitite dike intrusions apparently generated hydrothermal activity and gold mineralization.
Most gold at the Hollinger Mine (about 95%) comes from altered wall rocks adjacent to the quartz veins. It principally occurs as micron-scale blebs of native gold within pyrite masses. Macroscopic native gold in the veins themselves contributes about 5% of the mine’s gold production. Both vein gold and wall rock gold is naturally mixed with silver (Ag), plus traces of other elements such as iron (Fe) and copper (Cu). Hollinger Mine’s gold is about 10 weight percent silver.
Geologic unit: Hollinger-McIntyre-Coniaurum-Vipond-Moneta-Crown Gold-Quartz Vein System, Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Superior Province, Canadian Shield, Neoarchean, ~2.67 Ga
Locality: unrecorded site at the Hollinger Mine, eastern side of the town of Timmins, Porcupine Gold Camp (Porcupine Mining District), eastern Ontario, southeastern Canada (vicinity of 48º 28’ 15.85” North latitude, 81º 19’ 06.21” West longitude)
----------------------------
Info. mostly synthesized from:
Brisbin (2000) - World class intrusion-related Archean vein gold deposits of the Porcupine Gold Camp, Timmins, Ontario. pp. 19-35 in Geology and Ore Deposits: the Great Basin and Beyond Symposium Proceedings.
MacDonald & Piercey (2019) - Geology, lithogeochemistry, and significance of porphyry intrusions associated with gold mineralization within the Timmins-Porcupine gold camp, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 56: 399-418.
Wood (1991) - The Hollinger-McIntyre Gold-Quartz Vein System, Timmins, Ontario: Geologic Characteristics, Fluid Properties and Light Stable Isotope Geochemistry. Ontario Geological Survey Open File Report 5756. 289 pp.
was out of his enclosure for a moment while he got fresh water. He's a Banded Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum cinctum). Gila monsters are venomous and are native to the Southwestern United States. A peptide in their venom has been synthesized into an insulin replacement treatment for diabetes. "Grumpy is most likely about 22 years old. Gila monsters may live more than 30 years. Photo by Frank.
Oil on canvas; 115.8 x 88.5 cm.
Gino Severini was an Italian painter who synthesized the styles of Futurism and Cubism.
Severini began his painting career in 1900 as a student of Giacomo Balla, an Italian pointillist painter who later became a prominent Futurist. Stimulated by Balla’s account of the new painting in France, Severini moved to Paris in 1906 and met leading members of the French avant-garde, such as the Cubist painters Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso and the writer Guillaume Apollinaire. Severini continued to work in the pointillist manner—an approach that entailed applying dots of contrasting colors according to principles of optical science—until 1910, when he signed the Futurist painters’ manifesto.
The Futurists wanted to revitalize Italian art (and, as a consequence, all of Italian culture) by depicting the speed and dynamism of modern life. Severini shared this artistic interest, but his work did not contain the political overtones typical of Futurism. Whereas Futurists typically painted moving cars or machines, Severini usually portrayed the human figure as the source of energetic motion in his paintings. He was especially fond of painting nightclub scenes in which he evoked the sensations of movement and sound by filling the picture with rhythmic forms and cheerful, flickering colors. In Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin (1912), he retained the nightlife theme but incorporated the Cubist technique of collage (real sequins are fixed to the dancers’ dresses) and such nonsensical elements as a realistic nude riding a pair of scissors.
Only briefly, in wartime works such as Red Cross Train Passing a Village (1914), did Severini paint subjects that conformed to the Futurist glorification of war and mechanized power. Over the next few years, he turned increasingly to an idiosyncratic form of Cubism that retained decorative elements of pointillism and Futurism, as seen in the abstract painting Spherical Expansion of Light (Centrifugal) (1914).
About 1916 Severini embraced a more rigorous and formal approach to composition; instead of deconstructing forms, he wanted to bring geometric order to his paintings. His works from this period were usually still lifes executed in a Synthetic Cubist manner, which entailed constructing a composition out of fragments of objects. In portraits such as Maternity (1916), he also began to experiment with a Neoclassical figurative style, a conservative approach that he embraced more fully in the 1920s. Severini published a book, Du cubisme au classicisme (1921; “From Cubism to Classicism”), in which he discussed his theories about the rules of composition and proportion. Later in his career he created many decorative panels, frescoes, and mosaics, and he became involved in set and costume design for the theater. The artist’s autobiography, Tutta la vita di un pittore (“The Life of a Painter”), was published in 1946.
One of the most impressive and influential science fiction movies ever filmed, Forbidden Planet is, by any measure, a landmark picture. With an outstanding cast, an intelligent script - based, in part, on William Shakespeare's The Tempest - and exceptional special effects, the movie can be enjoyed on a variety of levels, and has remained a favorite for more than half a century.
Opening scene
It is late in the 22nd Century. United Planet cruiser C57D a year out from Earth base on the way to Altair for a special mission. Commander J.J Adams (Leslie Neilsen) orders the crew to the deceleration booths as the ship drops from light speed to normal space.
Adams orders pilot Jerry Farman (Jack Kelly) to lay in a course for the fourth planet. The captain then briefs the crew that they are at their destination, and that they are to look for survivors from the Bellerophon expedition 20 years earlier.
As they orbit the planet looking for signs of life, the ship is scanned by a radar facility some 20 square miles in area. Morbius (Walter Pigeon) contacts the ship from the planet asking why the ship is here. Morbius goes on to explain he requires nothing, no rescue is required and he can't guarantee the safety of the ship or its crew.
Adams confirms that Morbius was a member of the original crew, but is puzzled at the cryptic warning Morbius realizes the ship is going to land regardless, and gives the pilot coordinates in a desert region of the planet. The ship lands and security details deploy. Within minutes a high speed dust cloud approaches the ship. Adams realizes it is a vehicle, and as it arrives the driver is discovered to be a robot (Robby). Robby welcomes the crew to Altair 4 and invites members of the crew to Morbious residence.
Adams, Farman and Doc Ostrow (Warren Stevens) arrive at the residence and are greeted by Morbius. They sit down to a meal prepared by Robbys food synthesizer and Morbius shows the visitors Robbys other abilities, including his unwavering obedience. Morbius then gives Robby a blaster with orders to shoot Adams. Robby refuses and goes into a mechanical mind lock, disabling him till the order is changed.
Morbius then shows the men the defense system of the house (A series of steel shutters). When questioned, Morbius admits that the Belleraphon crew is dead, Morbius and his wife being the only original survivors. Morbius's wife has also died, but months after the others and from natural causes. Morbius goes on to explain many of the crew were torn limb from limb by a strange creature or force living on the planet. The Belleraphon herself was destroyed when the final three surviving members tried to take off for Earth.
Adams wonders why this force has remained dormant all these years and never attacked Morbius. As discussions continue, a young woman Altaira (Anne Francis) introduces herself as Morbius daughter. Farman takes an immediate interest in Altaira, and begins to flirt with her . Altaira then shows the men her ability to control wild animals by petting a wild tiger. During this display the ship checks in on the safety of the away party. Adams explains he will need to check in with Earth for further orders and begins preparations for sending a signal. Because of the power needed the ship will be disabled for up to 10 days. Morbius is mortified by this extended period and offers Robby's services in building the communication facility
The next day Robby arrives at ship as the crew unloads the engine to power the transmitter. To lighten the tense moment the commander instructs the crane driver to pick up Cookie (Earl Holliman) and move him out of the way. Quinn interrupts the practical joke to report that the assembly is complete and they can transmit in the morning.
Meanwhile Cookie goes looking for Robby and organizes for the robot to synthesize some bourbon. Robby takes a sample and tells Cookie he can have 60 gallons ready the next morning for him.
Farman continues to court Altair by teaching her how to kiss, and the health benefits of kissing. Adams interrupts the exercise, and is clearly annoyed with a mix of jealous. He then explains to Altair that the clothes she wears are inappropriate around his crew. Altair tries to argue till Adams looses patience and order Altair to leave the area.
That night, Altair, still furious, explains to her father what occurred. Altair takes Adams advice to heart and orders Robby to run up a less revealing dress. Meanwhile back at the ship two security guards think they hear breathing in the darkness but see nothing.
Inside the ship, one of the crew half asleep sees the inner hatch opened and some material moved around. Next morning the Captain holds court on the events of the night before. Quinn advises the captain that most of the missing and damaged equipment can be replaced except for the Clystron monitor. Angry the Capt and Doc go back to Morbius to confront him about what has occurred.
Morbius is unavailable, so the two men settle in to wait. Outside Adams sees Altair swimming and goes to speak to her. Thinking she is naked, Adams becomes flustered and unsettled till he realizes she wants him to see her new dress. Altair asks why Adams wont kiss her like everyone else has. He gives in and plants one on her. Behind them a tiger emerges from the forest and attacks Altair, Adams reacts by shooting it. Altair is badly troubled by the incident, the tiger had been her friend, but she can't understand why acted as if she was an enemy.
Returning to the house, Doc and Adams accidently open Morbius office. They find a series of strange drawings but no sign of Morbius. He appears through a secret door and is outraged at the intrusion. Adams explains the damage done to the ship the previous night and his concern that Morbius was behind the attack.
Morbius admits it is time for explanations. He goes on to tell them about a race of creatures that lived on the planet called the Krell. In the past they had visited Earth, which explains why there are Earth animals on the planet. Morbius believes the Krell civilization collapsed in a single night, right on the verge of their greatest discovery. Today 2000 centuries later, nothing of their cities exists above ground.
Morbius then takes them on a tour of the Krell underground installation. Morbius first shows them a device for projecting their knowledge; he explains how he began to piece together information. Then an education device that projects images formed in the mind. Finally he explains what the Krell were expected to do, and how much lower human intelligence is in comparison.
Doc tries the intelligence tester but is confused when it does not register as high as Morbius. Morbius then explains it can also boost intelligence, and that the captain of the Belleraphon died using it. Morbius himself was badly injured but when he recovered his IQ had doubled.
Adams questions why all the equipment looks brand new. It is explained that all the machines left on the planet are self repairing and Morbius takes them on a tour of the rest of the installation. First they inspect a giant air vent that leads to the core of the planet. There are 400 other such shafts in the area and 9200 thermal reactors spread through the facilities 8000 cubic miles.
Later that night the crew has completed the security arrangements and tests the force field fence. Cookie asks permission to go outside the fence. He meets Robby who gives him the 60 gallons of bourbon. Outside, something hits the fence and shorts it out. The security team checks the breach but finds nothing. A series of foot like depressions begin forming leading to the ship. Something unseen enters the ship. A scream echos through the compound.
Back at the Morbius residence he argues that only he should be allowed to control the flow of Krell technology back to Earth. In the middle of the discussion, Adams is paged and told that the Chief Quinn has been murdered. Adams breaks of his discussions and heads back to the ship.
Later that night Doc finds the footprints and makes a cast. The foot makes no evolutionary sense. It seems to have elements of a four footed and biped creature; also it seems a predator and herbivore. Adams questions Cookie who was with the robot during the test and decides the robot was not responsible.
The next day at the funeral for Chief Morbius again warns him of impending doom facing the ship and crew. Adams considers this a challenge and spends the day fortifying the position around the ship. After testing the weapons and satisfied all that could be done has, the radar station suddenly reports movement in the distance moving slowly towards the ship.
No one sees anything despite the weapons being under radar fire control. The controller confirms a direct hit, but the object is still moving towards the ship. Suddenly something hits the force field fence, and a huge monster appears outlined in the energy flux. The crew open fire, but seem to do little good. A number of men move forward but a quickly killed.
Morbious wakes hearing the screams of Altair. Shes had a dream mimicking the attack that has just occurred. As Morbious is waking the creature in the force field disappears. Doc theories that the creature is made of some sort of energy, renewing itself second by second.
Adams takes Doc in the tractor to visit Morbius intending to evacuate him from the planet. He leaves orders for the ship to be readied for lift off. If he and Doc dont get back, the ship is to leave without them. They also want to try and break into Morbious office and take the brain booster test.
They are met at the door by Robby, who disarms them. Altair appears and countermands the orders given to Robby by her father. Seeing a chance Doc sneaks into the office. Altair argues with Adams about trying to make Morbius return home, she ultimately declares her love for him.
Robby appears carrying the injured Doc. Struggling to speak and heavy pain, Doc explains that the Krell succeeded in their great experiment. However they forgot about the sub conscious monsters they would release. Monsters from the id.
Morbius sees the dead body of Doc, and makes a series of ugly comments. His daughter reminds him that Doc is dead. Morbius lack of care convinces Altair she is better off going with Adams. Morbius tries to talk Adams out of taking Altair.
Adams demands an explanation of the id. Morbius realizes he is the source of the creature killing everyone. The machine the Krell built was able to release his inner beast, the sub conscious monster dwelling deep inside his ancestral mind.
Robby interrupts the debate to report something approaching the house. Morbius triggers the defensive shields of the house, which the creature begins to destroy. Morbius then orders Robby to destroy the creature, however Robby short circuits. Adams explained that it was useless; Robby knew it was Morbius self.
Adams, Altair and Morbius retreat to the Krell lab and sealed themselves in by sealing a special indestructible door. Adams convinces Morbius that he is really the monster, and that Morbius can not actually control his subconscious desires.
The group watch as the creature beings the slow process of burning through the door. Panicked Morbius implores Altair to say it is not so. Suddenly the full realization comes, and he understands that he could endanger or even kill Altair.
As the creature breaks through Morbius rushes forward and denies its existence. Suddenly the creature disappears but Morbius is mortally wounded. With his dying breath he instructs Adams to trigger a self destruct mechanism linked to the reactors of the great machine. The ship and crew have 24 hours to get as far away from the planet as possible
The next day we see the ship deep in space. Robby and Altair are onboard watching as the planet brightens and is destroyed. Adams assures Altair that her fathers memory will shine like a beacon.
Diploria - in-situ fossil brain coral colony on the Devil's Point Hardground in the reef facies of the Cockburn Town Member, upper Grotto Beach Formation at the Cockburn Town Fossil Reef, western margin of San Salvador Island.
The Cockburn Town Fossil Reef is a well-preserved, well-exposed Pleistocene fossil reef. It consists of non-bedded to poorly-bedded, poorly-sorted, very coarse-grained, aragonitic fossiliferous limestones (grainstones and rubblestones), representing shallow marine deposition in reef and peri-reef facies. Cockburn Town Member reef facies rocks date to the MIS 5e sea level highstand event (early Late Pleistocene).
Notice that the fossil brain coral shown above is encrusting an irregular surface. This surface is an unconformity and is traceable throughout the outcrop. It represents a limestone hardground surface that formed during a short-lived, mid-5e regression called the Devil's Point Event, dated to somewhere between 120 and 123 ka. After the event, high sea level returned. This coral was one of the earliest inhabitants of this locality’s shallow seafloor after the mid-5e regression. The Devil's Point Unconformity is present on most Bahamian islands and is traceable to Florida and Mexico. The more deeply flooded carbonate platforms in the Bahamas, such as Mayaguana Island, were not significantly affected by the mid-5e regression.
The rocks and fossils below the unconformity are referred to as "Reef 1". The rocks and fossils above are called "Reef 2". Isotopic dating has been done on 122 coral samples from the Cockburn Town Fossil Reef. The oldest is 127 ka and the youngest is 114.3 ka. Including dates from San Salvador Island to Great Inagua Island, Reef 1 has an average age of 123.5 ka, and Reef 2 has an average age of 119.5 ka.
---------------------------------------
The surface bedrock geology of San Salvador consists entirely of Pleistocene and Holocene limestones. Thick and relatively unforgiving vegetation covers most of the island’s interior (apart from inland lakes). Because of this, the most easily-accessible rock outcrops are along the island’s shorelines.
------------------------------
Stratigraphic Succession in the Bahamas:
Rice Bay Formation (Holocene, <10 ka), subdivided into two members (Hanna Bay Member over North Point Member)
--------------------
Grotto Beach Formation (lower Upper Pleistocene, 119-131 ka), subdivided into two members (Cockburn Town Member over French Bay Member)
--------------------
Owl's Hole Formation (Middle Pleistocene, ~215-220 ka & ~327-333 ka & ~398-410 ka & older)
------------------------------
San Salvador’s surface bedrock can be divided into two broad lithologic categories:
1) LIMESTONES
2) PALEOSOLS
The limestones were deposited during sea level highstands (actually, only during the highest of the highstands). During such highstands (for example, right now), the San Salvador carbonate platform is partly flooded by ocean water. At such times, the “carbonate factory” is on, and abundant carbonate sediment grains are generated by shallow-water organisms living on the platform. The abundance of carbonate sediment means there will be abundant carbonate sedimentary rock formed after burial and cementation (diagenesis). These sea level highstands correspond with the climatically warm interglacials during the Pleistocene Ice Age.
Based on geochronologic dating on various Bahamas islands, and based on a modern understanding of the history of Pleistocene-Holocene global sea level changes, surficial limestones in the Bahamas are known to have been deposited at the following times (expressed in terms of marine isotope stages, “MIS” - these are the glacial-interglacial climatic cycles determined from δ18O analysis):
1) MIS 1 - the Holocene, <10 k.y. This is the current sea level highstand.
2) MIS 5e - during the Sangamonian Interglacial, in the early Late Pleistocene, from 119 to 131 k.y. (sea level peaked at ~125 k.y.)
3) MIS 7 - ~215 to 220 k.y. - late Middle Pleistocene
4) MIS 9 - ~327-333 k.y. - late Middle Pleistocene
5) MIS 11 - ~398-410 k.y. - late Middle Pleistocene
Bahamian limestones deposited during MIS 1 are called the Rice Bay Formation. Limestones deposited during MIS 5e are called the Grotto Beach Formation. Limestones deposited during MIS 7, 9, 11, and perhaps as old as MIS 13 and 15, are called the Owl’s Hole Formation. These stratigraphic units were first established on San Salvador Island (the type sections are there), but geologic work elsewhere has shown that the same stratigraphic succession also applies to the rest of the Bahamas.
During times of lowstands (= times of climatically cold glacial intervals of the Pleistocene Ice Age), weathering and pedogenesis results in the development of soils. With burial and diagenesis, these soils become paleosols. The most common paleosol type in the Bahamas is calcrete (a.k.a. caliche; a.k.a. terra rosa). Calcrete horizons cap all Pleistocene-aged stratigraphic units in the Bahamas, except where erosion has removed them. Calcretes separate all major stratigraphic units. Sometimes, calcrete-looking horizons are encountered in the field that are not true paleosols.
----------------------------
Subsurface Stratigraphy of San Salvador Island:
The island’s stratigraphy below the Owl’s Hole Formation was revealed by a core drilled down ~168 meters (~550-feet) below the surface (for details, see Supko, 1977). The well site was at 3 meters above sea level near Graham’s Harbour beach, between Line Hole Settlement and Singer Bar Point (northern margin of San Salvador Island). The first 37 meters were limestones. Below that, dolostones dominate, alternating with some mixed dolostone-limestone intervals. Reddish-brown calcretes separate major units. Supko (1977) infers that the lowest rocks in the core are Upper Miocene to Lower Pliocene, based on known Bahamas Platform subsidence rates.
In light of the successful island-to-island correlations of Middle Pleistocene, Upper Pleistocene, and Holocene units throughout the Bahamas (see the Bahamas geologic literature list below), it seems reasonable to conclude that San Salvador’s subsurface dolostones may correlate well with sub-Pleistocene dolostone units exposed in the far-southeastern portions of the Bahamas Platform.
Recent field work on Mayaguana Island has resulted in the identification of Miocene, Pliocene, and Lower Pleistocene surface outcrops (see: www2.newark.ohio-state.edu/facultystaff/personal/jstjohn/...). On Mayaguana, the worked-out stratigraphy is:
- Rice Bay Formation (Holocene)
- Grotto Beach Formation (Upper Pleistocene)
- Owl’s Hole Formation (Middle Pleistocene)
- Misery Point Formation (Lower Pleistocene)
- Timber Bay Formation (Pliocene)
- Little Bay Formation (Upper Miocene)
- Mayaguana Formation (Lower Miocene)
The Timber Bay Fm. and Little Bay Fm. are completely dolomitized. The Mayaguana Fm. is ~5% dolomitized. The Misery Point Fm. is nondolomitized, but the original aragonite mineralogy is absent.
----------------------------
The stratigraphic information presented here is synthesized from the Bahamian geologic literature.
----------------------------
Supko, P.R. 1977. Subsurface dolomites, San Salvador, Bahamas. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 47: 1063-1077.
Bowman, P.A. & J.W. Teeter. 1982. The distribution of living and fossil Foraminifera and their use in the interpretation of the post-Pleistocene history of Little Lake, San Salvador, Bahamas. San Salvador Field Station Occasional Papers 1982(2). 21 pp.
Sanger, D.B. & J.W. Teeter. 1982. The distribution of living and fossil Ostracoda and their use in the interpretation of the post-Pleistocene history of Little Lake, San Salvador Island, Bahamas. San Salvador Field Station Occasional Papers 1982(1). 26 pp.
Gerace, D.T., R.W. Adams, J.E. Mylroie, R. Titus, E.E. Hinman, H.A. Curran & J.L. Carew. 1983. Field Guide to the Geology of San Salvador (Third Edition). 172 pp.
Curran, H.A. 1984. Ichnology of Pleistocene carbonates on San Salvador, Bahamas. Journal of Paleontology 58: 312-321.
Anderson, C.B. & M.R. Boardman. 1987. Sedimentary gradients in a high-energy carbonate lagoon, Snow Bay, San Salvador, Bahamas. CCFL Bahamian Field Station Occasional Paper 1987(2). (31) pp.
1988. Bahamas Project. pp. 21-48 in First Keck Research Symposium in Geology (Abstracts Volume), Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, 14-17 April 1988.
1989. Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas, June 17-22, 1988. 381 pp.
1989. Pleistocene and Holocene carbonate systems, Bahamas. pp. 18-51 in Second Keck Research Symposium in Geology (Abstracts Volume), Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 14-16 April 1989.
Curran, H.A., J.L. Carew, J.E. Mylroie, B. White, R.J. Bain & J.W. Teeter. 1989. Pleistocene and Holocene carbonate environments on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. 28th International Geological Congress Field Trip Guidebook T175. 46 pp.
1990. The 5th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas, June 15-19, 1990, Abstracts and Programs. 29 pp.
1991. Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas. 247 pp.
1992. The 6th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas, June 11-15, 1992, Abstracts and Program. 26 pp.
1992. Proceedings of the 4th Symposium on the Natural History of the Bahamas, June 7-11, 1991. 123 pp.
Boardman, M.R., C. Carney, B. White, H.A. Curran & D.T. Gerace. 1992. The geology of Columbus' landfall: a field guide to the Holcoene geology of San Salvador, Bahamas, Field trip 3 for the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Cincinnati, Ohio, October 26-29, 1992. Ohio Division of Geological Survey Miscellaneous Report 2. 49 pp.
Carew, J.L., J.E. Mylroie, N.E. Sealey, M. Boardman, C. Carney, B. White, H.A. Curran & D.T. Gerace. 1992. The 6th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas, June 11-15, 1992, Field Trip Guidebook. 56 pp.
1993. Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas, June 11-15, 1992. 222 pp.
Lawson, B.M. 1993. Shelling San Sal, an Illustrated Guide to Common Shells of San Salvador Island, Bahamas. San Salvador, Bahamas. Bahamian Field Station. 63 pp.
1994. The 7th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas, June 16-20, 1994, Abstracts and Program. 26 pp.
1994. Proceedings of the 5th Symposium on the Natural History of the Bahamas, June 11-14, 1993. 107 pp.
Carew, J.L. & J.E. Mylroie. 1994. Geology and Karst of San Salvador Island, Bahamas: a Field Trip Guidebook. 32 pp.
Godfrey, P.J., R.L. Davis, R.R. Smtih & J.A. Wells. 1994. Natural History of Northeastern San Salvador Island: a "New World" Where the New World Began, Bahamian Field Station Trail Guide. 28 pp.
Hinman, G. 1994. A Teacher's Guide to the Depositional Environments on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. 64 pp.
Mylroie, J.E. & J.L. Carew. 1994. A Field Trip Guide Book of Lighthouse Cave, San Salvador Island, Bahamas. 10 pp.
1995. Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas, June 16-20, 1994. 134 pp.
1995. Terrestrial and shallow marine geology of the Bahamas and Bermuda. Geological Society of America Special Paper 300.
1996. The 8th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas, May 30-June 3, 1996, Abstracts and Program. 21 pp.
1996. Proceedings of the 6th Symposium on the Natural History of the Bahamas, June 9-13, 1995. 165 pp.
1997. Proceedings of the 8th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, May 30-June 3, 1996. 213 pp.
Curran, H.A., B. White & M.A. Wilson. 1997. Guide to Bahamian Ichnology: Pleistocene, Holocene, and Modern Environments. San Salvador, Bahamas. Bahamian Field Station. 61 pp.
1998. The 9th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 4-June 8, 1998, Abstracts and Program. 25 pp.
Wilson, M.A., H.A. Curran & B. White. 1998. Paleontological evidence of a brief global sea-level event during the last interglacial. Lethaia 31: 241-250.
1999. Proceedings of the 9th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 4-8, 1998. 142 pp.
2000. The 10th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 8-June 12, 2000, Abstracts and Program. 29+(1) pp.
2001. Proceedings of the 10th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 8-12, 2000. 200 pp.
Bishop, D. & B.J. Greenstein. 2001. The effects of Hurricane Floyd on the fidelity of coral life and death assemblages in San Salvador, Bahamas: does a hurricane leave a signature in the fossil record? Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 33(4): 51.
Gamble, V.C., S.J. Carpenter & L.A. Gonzalez. 2001. Using carbon and oxygen isotopic values from acroporid corals to interpret temperature fluctuations around an unconformable surface on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 33(4): 52.
Gardiner, L. 2001. Stability of Late Pleistocene reef mollusks from San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Palaios 16: 372-386.
Ogarek, S.A., C.K. Carney & M.R. Boardman. 2001. Paleoenvironmental analysis of the Holocene sediments of Pigeon Creek, San Salvador, Bahamas. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 33(4): 17.
Schmidt, D.A., C.K. Carney & M.R. Boardman. 2001. Pleistocene reef facies diagenesis within two shallowing-upward sequences at Cockburntown, San Salvador, Bahamas. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 33(4): 42.
2002. The 11th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 6th-June 10, 2002, Abstracts and Program. 29 pp.
2004. The 12th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 3-June 7, 2004, Abstracts and Program. 33 pp.
2004. Proceedings of the 11th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 6-10, 2002. 240 pp.
Martin, A.J. 2006. Trace Fossils of San Salvador. 80 pp.
2006. Proceedings of the 12th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 3-7, 2004. 249 pp.
2006. The 13th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 8-June 12, 2006, Abstracts and Program. 27 pp.
Mylroie, J.E. & J.L. Carew. 2008. Field Guide to the Geology and Karst Geomorphology of San Salvador Island. 88 pp.
2008. Proceedings of the 13th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 8-12, 2006. 223 pp.
2008. The 14th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 12-June 16, 2006, Abstracts and Program. 26 pp.
2010. Proceedings of the 14th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 12-16, 2008. 249 pp.
2010. The 15th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 17-June 21, 2010, Abstracts and Program. 36 pp.
2012. Proceedings of the 15th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 17-21, 2010. 183 pp.
2012. The 16th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other Carbonate Regions, June 14-June 18, 2012, Abstracts with Program. 45 pp.
Never have I dealt with anything more difficult than my own soul, which sometimes helps me and sometimes opposes me.
Al-Ghazali
At first glance, the comparison of these two monuments seems only to be a source of antithesis; however contradictory the suggestion may seem, it will only be a question of analogies. In an ingenious and documented study, Mr Knauth, architect of Strasbourg Cathedral, demonstrated that, under an absolutely different appearance, the basilica entrusted to his care and the Great Pyramid of Egypt, known as Cheops, were designed according to an identical formula.
After the work of Colonel Howard Vyse and John Taylor, Piazzi Smyth did further research. At the entrance to the antechamber of the royal tomb, in the middle of a granite slab, a round button protrudes a fifth of its thickness. Smyth claims to find there the unit of measurement of the master builder of the pyramid; he calls the meter pyramidal five times the thickness of this button, that is to say a measure of 0.6356 m, and for this meter he adopts a division into twenty-five inches of pyramid; this mysterious detail would thus have a thickness of five inches and a projection of one inch. "It is hardly doubtful, writes Smyth, that this measure served as a unit to the builder as well in his project as in the execution, because all the measurements of lanes and chambers give rise to the most surprising relations, if they are carried out by means of this measure. "The pyramidal metre represents exactly the twenty millionth part of the earth's diameter. The latter has 12 712 178 meters[8]. The pyramidal metre is therefore worth 0.6 356 089 metre.Faced with these similarities, one naturally begins to wonder whether certain architectural principles dating back to the highest antiquity have not been perpetuated by tradition through the ages. As a result of the frequent surveys required by the floods of the Nile, the Egyptians were familiar with the surveying and geometric layouts; the Gothic masters were not inferior on these points; the marvellous monuments of all sizes they left us prove this overabundantly.
Were the rules put into practice kept by each other in the construction workshops as mysterious secrets? So many questions that it is easier to ask than to solve.
Thus reduced to his mathematical data alone, Mr. Knauth's work takes on a categorical appearance that he does not have in the original work. The eminent architect does not attempt to draw absolute and reckless consequences from his study. He only hopes that the same surveying process will be applied to other medieval édifices. In the future now to tell us if new experiences will come confirmer his thesis.
In the records of the city of London, the term "alchemy" appears as early as 1375. In those days, this referred to working fith fire permitted to freely travel the country at a time when the feudal system shackled most peasants closely to the land. They gathered in groups to work on large projects, moving from one finished castle or cathedral to the planning and building of the next. For mutual protection, education, and training, they bound themselves together into a local lodge - the building, put up at a construction site, where workmen could eat and rest. Eventually, a lodge came to signify a group of macigians based in a particular locality. The premier alchemist lodge was formed in England in 1717, the official date of the organization of the various lodges and the start of Alchemy proper. Although the style of Alchemic ritual suggest Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Templar, Rosicrucian and qabalistic origins, nothing less is true. A historical link cannot be established and given the fact that in those days no alchemists was able to read Egyptian, no direct connection with Egyptian spirituality was available. Unmistakably, the Founding Fathers of Alchemy incorporated Egyptian symbols in their various rituals and grades, as every one dollar bill makes clear. These archaisms prove the need of Alchemy to root its teachings and practices in a nonexistent, fictional historical past in order to give itself, its rituals and precepts an air of antiquity. This is especially the case in the Romantic era, when exotic tastes became fashionable. With egyptomania no longer served isolated individuals & groups, but fed the ruling classes, who were desperately trying to cope with the antagonisms and lack of humanity of emergent capitalism and the religious wars raging in Europe since the days of Luther (1483 - 1546). Alchemy and its founding myth was deemed the alternative of the educated. The God of revelation was also the "Great Architect", and in every lodge a Bible or a Koran was present. This to show the "God of the philosophers" was not a priori in conflict with the God of revelation. But the Roman Church was antagonistic, as could be expected. As a system of personal growth within a closed community of kindred spirits, alchemy survived to this day, divided between those who accept God and those who do not, between those who see symbols as instruments of growth and those who use them as gates to occult regions of the universe. Alchemy has become (or has always been ?) conservative and opaque. Its non-transparant and non-democratic (military) features may run against non-strategic, open communication, which is the foundation of social-economical justice and equality. Philosophy is more of an interest group than a spiritual organization, although some lay claim to precisely the opposite. As none of the original Egyptian teachings were available to its Founding Fathers, Alchemy, in order to accommodate the new times ahead, is bound to be reformed.
► the Rosicrucian Order...As a system of belief, Rosicrucianism came to the notice of the general public in the 17th century. In the two Rosicrucian Manifestoes, a mysterious personage called "Christian Rosenkreutz" is mentioned. But according to legend, the symbolism of the Rose and the Cross was first displayed in 11th century Spain. During a fierce battle against the Moors, an Aragonese Knight named Arista saw a cross of light in the sky with a rose on each of its arms. A monastery to commemorate his victory was erected and time later an Order of Chivalry with the emblem of these Roses and the Cross founding the monastery. The Rose and the Cross appeared in the banner of Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse when he tried to defend the Cathars against the armies of Pope Innocent III. It was in the form of a cross, described as "de gueules à la croix et pommettée d'or" ("gueule" means "red", derived from the Arabic "gul", which means "rose"). The emblem of the Cross with the red Rose in the middle square became the emblem of the Rosicrucian movement and its many orders, lodges and societies. In the Fama Fraternitatis (or Laudable Fraternity of the Rosy Cross), Christian Rosenkreutz is said to have journeyed to Damascus, Damcar, Egypt and Fez. He met those in possession of "secret teachings". He synthesized the best of these teachings and went to Spain. Finally, he returned to Germany and chose three men with whom he founded an order, meant to instruct its members in the knowledge he had obtained in the Middle East. So the typical founding myth goes. After the publication of the Manifestos, the Rosicrucians influenced the culture of Western Europe. Rosicrucianism developed along two lines, on the one hand, the scientists, intellectuals and reformers in the social, political and philosophical fields (like Descartes and Boyle) and, on the other hand, those (like Fludd, Dee, Comenius and Ashmole) concerned with occultism and mysticism (cf. the distinction between philosophical and technical Hermetica). In France, Rosicrucianism had a revival climaxing in the early 19th and the first years of the 20th century. Especially Martinez de Pasqually (1727 - 1774), Louis-Claude de Saint Martin (1743 - 1803) and Papus (1865 - 1918) are noted. ► the Golden Dawn...In 1865, and Englishman named Robert Wentforth Little founded an esoteric society, the Rosicrucian Society in Anglia. Membership was limited to Master Masons. When Little died in 1878, three men took over, a retired medical doctor, William Woodman (1828 - 1891), a coroner, Wynn Westcott (1848 - 1925) and Samuel Liddell "MacGregor" Mathers (1854 - 1918), who, as a young man, spent much of his time in the British Museum, working through piles of dusty manuscripts. He translated three Medieval magical texts : The Greater Key of King Solomon, The Kaballah Unveiled and The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. In 1887, so the story goes, Westcott received from Reverend Woodward, an elderly parson and author on Alchemy, a set of cipher manuscripts. He asked the clairvoyant and inspired Mathers to assist him (one legend says both men forged the document, in another Westcott found it on a bookstall in Farringdon Street, and in yet another the document was inherited). Both men found the code of the cipher was contained in a work of Trithemius, the influential Steganographia extolled by John Dee (1527 - 1608), the Elizabethan scholar and astrologer of Queen Elisabeth I. It concerned "angel-magic" and Dee had secured a copy of it in Antwerp. They uncovered skeletons of rituals and Mathers expanded them. Together they started the Golden Dawn (GD), a secret Victorian society aiming to harbor true Rosicrucianism and allow its members to accomplish the Great Work. A complete system of ritual magic based on the history of Western occultism was practiced. In contrast with the Theologic policy of the Rosicrucian Society, the order admitted women members as equals. Its members were recruited from every circle of life. In these rituals, Egyptian, Jewish, Greek & Christian elements were combined. However, the combination of these various traditions led to depletion. A spiritual tradition is as strong as it is pure, i.e. devoid of notions, ideas, concepts, symbols, beliefs, rituals etc. foreign to it. Although syncretism may be intellectually satisfying, it hinders spiritual emancipation. This is certainly true if the elements combined are very different, as is the case here. Because Mathers was unable to read Egyptian texts, he could not make the crucial distinction between the Egyptian approach and the Hellenistic view (incorporated in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hermetism and Hermeticism). Neither could he isolate the native Egyptian elements present in historical Hermetism. By nevertheless incorporating Egyptian deities (in particular the Osiris-cycle), the GD walked the path of egyptomania.
► Aleister Crowley...Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947) entered the GD in 1898, introduced to the order by George Cecil Jones (1873 - 1953). The influence of this "Hermetic Order" shaped his life. He continued to ferment the teachings of the GD until he died. In fact, he considered himself and his Thelemic Order of the Silver Star to be its lawful heir. The problems between Crowley and the Adepts of the order started in December 1899 (the first time he met Mathers), i.e. by the time he had taken his Portal grade, the preliminary to the crucial Adept Minor degree. When, in September 1900, he applied to be advanced to the level of Adepthood, the College of Adepts refused. They disliked Crowley, his attitudes and way of life. Some of them probably did not believe an adept should drink, have fun, fornicate and raising hell with enthusiasm. His scandalous reputation won the disapproval of his seniors, who were in their right to refuse him. So, in the same month, Crowley went to Paris, and was initiated in the Ahathoor Temple by Mathers himself ! Between Paris and London a deep schism had been in the making and now tensions truly exploded. When the London adepts heard Mathers had initiated him, the breach was complete. When applying for the lectures he was now entitled, he was again refused and physically thrown out. To Florence Farr, Yeats and many others, Crowley was an outcast, an opportunist who had endangered the link with Mathers. He promptly notified Mathers and the latter arranged a meeting with the "rebels" in London. Crowley acted as Mathers' plenipotentiary, and to protect himself, dressed up in the garb of Highland chieftain, concealing his face with a heavy black mask. Clearly Mathers had been a poor judge of characters, raising lunatic power freaks to Adepthood ...The GD did not recover from the insanity and within a few years became a dispersed organization, with several Temples conducted by different groupings of men, each appointing their own Chiefs. Waite kept the Isis-Urania Temple, but in 1914 he closed it down. Next, Crowley invented his own egyptomanic movement. In Cairo in 1904, the "minister" of Re dictated a new revelation to him, the "Book of the Law" ! Crowley became the "prophet" of the New Age of Horus ! The two major Egyptian deities he incorporated were the sky-goddess Nut and Horus of Edfu ("Hadit"). Had he known the cults of Ancient Egypt well enough, he would have realized they had no revelation or dogma, and certainly no "holy" books (for hieroglyphic writing itself was sacred). Was Crowley's "law" a concoction of his own power driven subconscious mind ? In 1909, he called in the "demon of demons" and turned Satanic. The psychosis had become irreversible ...Do these highlights show the scope of the phantasies, fictions and lies incorporated into the Western Tradition since the start of the Renaissance ? Indeed, to identify the backbone of this Tradition with the Qabalah was the outstanding mistake prompted by the fraud of Moses de Leon. This has perturbated thousands of excellent minds, causing them to constantly replay their own illusions, and loose, unlike Rabbi Akiba, after entering the "garden of delights", their sight, reason or faith in God. "The impeding turn of the millennium nourishes hopes of a new spiritual light for humankind in the aspirations of many. Egypt will surely play a role in such developments in both its forms : pharaonic Egypt and the esoteric-Hermetic Egypt. There has been increasing talk of the relevance of the Hermetic Weltanschauung as a point of view that can contribute to making sense of our modern world by seeking a direct connection with the original wisdom of the oldest cultures and with the core idea of all esoteric thought, according to which the ancient wisdom continues to be valid even in a world that has been transformed."
Can we today turn the page ? Can a spiritual movement emerge which focuses on a thematical reconstruction of Ancient Egyptian spirituality, and this based on the evidence of contemporary science regarding Ancient Egyptian religious practice in general and its basic ritual matrix in particular ? Several individuals work along those lines, coupling study with ritual practice (Hope, 1986, Schueler, 1989, Clark, 2003, Draco, 2003). In such a "Kemetic" reconstruction, no Jewish, Greek, Hermetic, Christian or Hermeticist elements should persist. Is this really possible, and if so, is such spirituality indeed the true backbone of our Western Tradition ? The advantage being the isolation of a tradition untouched by what today may be called "foreign elements". Such an exercise is not easy (not to speak of the contextual limitations of any author). For Hermetism did retain parts of the Egyptian Mystery Tradition, and in a lesser degree, the same goes for Hermeticism, and yes, even for the revealed religions, Christianity first. The thematical reconstruction sought is approached in two steps :
the influence of Egyptian spirituality on Alexandrian Hermetism ; the form of the basic matrix of native Egyptian religion.
In this paper, the first step is dealt with. The second will only be touched in the Epilogue. In the following ten paragraphs, we study ten basic notions of Hermetism (in other forms present in the mix of Hermeticism and in the "mystical" traditions of the religions). We try to find their Ancient Egyptian equivalent "in embryo" :mentalism : the gods, the world and humanity are the outcome of Divine thought ;correspondence : the same characteristics apply to each unity or plane of the world ;
change : nothing remains the same, everything vibrates, nothing is at rest ; polarity : everything has two poles, there are two sides to everything ; rhythm : all things have their tides, rise and fall, advance and retreat, act and react ; cause & effect : everything happens according to law, there is no coincidence ; gender : male and female are in every body and mind, but not in the soul ; timing : everything happens when the time is ripe, things start at the right time ; intent : nature works according to a purposeful plan, pure will masters the stars ; transformation : everything can be transformed into something else, opposites meet. In earlier studies, the special cognitive features of Ancient Egyptian thought, language & literature have been explained. Grosso modo, these imply the difference between rational thought, initiated by the Greeks, and ante-rationality. The latter is the mode of thought of pre-Greek Antiquity and of societies untouched by the linearizing streak of the Hellenes. Before the advent of rationality, three modes of thought prevailed, as Piaget, genetical epistemology and neurophilosophy made clear. These are mythical, pre-rational and proto-rational thought, in which the Ancient Egyptians excelled. Clearly Hermetism was codified using Greek conceptual rationality (giving birth to the influential systems of Plato and Aristotle). Hence, if we try to correlate these concepts with their native Egyptian equivalent, this cognitive difference has to be taken into account, and the multiplicity of approaches characterizing Egyptian thought has to be made an integral part of the equation. So because of this crucial difference, in all my translations of Egyptian texts and commentary, terms related to the Divine are not capitalized (i.e. god, gods, goddess, goddesses, divine, and pantheon), while in Hermetism and all rational discourses they are. This in accord with the contextualizing feature of anterationality, while rationality always puts context between brackets, and by doing so articulates an abstract, theoretical concept of the Divine.
Both Memphis and Alexandria underline the importance of the spoken and written word. Already in the Old Kingdom, Pharaoh was the Great Speech and his magic powerful, and dreaded, even by the deities. But in Late Ramesside Memphite theology, Ptah was the true primordial "god of gods", superceding Atum, in who's "image" (of totality) the universe was created (as demiurge), and establishing the supremacy of the divine word and speech. Memphite theology is explicit : every thing was made by Ptah's mind and spoken words.
Likewise, in Hermetism, the Divine Logos is the "son of God" coming forth from the Light of the Divine Nous, the teacher who, not unlike the one evoked in the Maxims of Good Discourse, gives his pupil access to the Divine Nous, a direct experience (gnosis) of the Godman Hermes. The idealist notion of the universe as a mental creation of The All, making all mind, being typical for Hermetism. The fact this teacher is "Ogdoadic" and not "Hebdomadic" (as was Pharaoh), may refer to the Greek escape from fate and the physical world (whereas the Egyptians saw the divine at work in all planes of creation).
The magical power of words is acknowledged by both traditions. Magic involves the power of efficiency (effectiveness) and the ability to counter every possible inertia and opposition, executing intent to its full capacity.
Especially Pharaoh is the "Great Magician", who is able, like the gods, to create by means of speech. He alone was the "son of Re", divine and able to encounter the deities face to face. His voice-offerings to Maat ensured the continuity of creation. By speaking the right words, the whole of creation could be rejuvenated. Likewise (but on another ontological level), the "son of God", the Ogdoadic teacher, brings the pupil directly in contact with the Enneadic Light of Nous.
The parallels drawn do not allow for an identification of both traditions, as major category-shifts occur. Indeed, together with the rejection of the physical bodyn (cf. infra), mentalism is an outstanding feature of the Hermetica. Nevertheless, in the overall semantic pattern major points overlap. The mentalism of Hermetism was not implanted on the native Egyptian intellectuals part of the Hermetic lodge "from above", but could make use of the available, longstanding verbal tradition of Egypt, linearize and "perfect" it in Greek style ...and more later in Strassburg and suitable in the city of London?
Firestrike accepts the intimidating mission without issue. She knows that were she to show fear, that fear would be magnified within the hearts of her team of Range Vipers, for capturing the legendary Snake Eyes is a near impossible task. Still, onward she marches, up the slope of the mountain.
Shortly she stops her team and pulls out a map. Her and the Range Viper commander study it closely.
Range Viper Commander: Ma'am, the cabin should be at the top of this mountain...
Firestrike mumbles under her breath, just loud enough to be heard, despite the electronic distortion offered from her mask.
Firestrike: DON'T call me ma'am...
Range Viper Commander: Oh. But I thought I heard Firefly say...
Now Firestrike's synthesized voice rumbles deep with her anger.
Firestrike: Don't worry about what you heard! Just follow orders! Get me to that Cabin!
Range Viper Commander: We can get to the cabin no problem. See? It's right over there! It's not even a dangerous path to climb from here.
Firestrike: Of course I see the cabin you moron! The path isn't the danger I'm worried about.
Firestrike folds the map and calls out to her team.
Firestrike: Now listen up!! This is the plan...
ROSCO GORDON By Steve Walker
Born 10 April 1928, Memphis, Tennessee (also given as 23 Dec, 1933 and 10 April, 1934)
Died 11 July 2002, Queens, New York City
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Rosco Gordon was the youngest of a family which contained six elder sisters and one elder brother. His father, Rosco the first, was a labourer at a lumber mill, right behind their home at 1654 Florida Street (about a 30 minute bus ride from Beale Street). It was his mother, Adele's old piano that provided the initial catalyst: "I would go and play it every day. It became a thing with me. I never idolised any other musicians. I never tried to copy after anyone else. Never in my life. I have no favourite musicians. Favourite music, yes, but not musicians. I am my favourite musician."
After attending Florida Street School in South Memphis, Rosco formed his own band as a teenager and they played most nights of the week. With Ray Jones on alto sax and Man Son or Murry Daley on drums, Rosco played piano and sang, performing a repertoire that included a number of his own compositions. After performing at the Palace Theater on Beale Street, where they won first prize in a talent contest, Rufus Thomas invited the boys onto Radio WDIA in 1950. Soon Gordon was working with the likes of Johnny Ace, Earl Forest, B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland as part of the Beale Streeters.
Rosco first came to 706 Union in early 1951, recording sides that were leased to RPM. The Bihari's Modern/RPM set-up considered that they had Rosco under contract. However, politics dictated that Sam Phillips sent a dub of "Booted" to the Chess brothers in Chicago and they duly released it on Chess 1487. A legal wrangle ensued, and the Biharis had Rosco recut "Booted", which they issued in competition to the Chess release. Despite competing with himself, Rosco achieved a #1 R&B hit with "Booted".
In December, 1951, Rosco cut a session that was destined for Chess, but the masters were held over until the legal dispute between Chess and the Biharis was resolved, and eventually the titles were offered to RPM. The outcome was that Rosco went to RPM and Chess got Howlin' Wolf. Meantime, Chess were offered "Letter From A Trench In Korea" by Bobby Bland singing with Rosco's band behind him, one way of by-passing the legal impasse. A further session cut in January, 1952 was again destined for Chess but was held over, and "Decorate The Counter" and "I Wade Through Muddy Water" remained in the vaults for a couple of decades.
Despite signing with RPM, Rosco was having a lot of trouble collecting his due royalties. He aired his grievances to WDIA programme director David James Mattis who was inspired to form his own label. Along with Bill Fitzgerald, he formed the Tri-State Recording Company and decided upon Duke as the name for his label, inspired by the likes of King and Queen. Mattis recorded Gordon on "Hey Fat Girl" which was issued on Duke R-1, a release number that was later amended to R-101. Duke Records was soon taken over by the Houston-based Don Robey, owner of Peacock Records. Rosco continued recording for both RPM and Duke with scant regard to contracts, until more legal action by the Biharis again established their claim to the artist. Meanwhile, Joe Bihari moved to Memphis with Ike Turner and set up recording studios at Radio WMCA as well as at Tuff Green's house. Amongst the recordings cut by Gordon at Tuff Green's house was "No More Doggin'", which resulted in a #3 R&B hit.
The bewildering convolutions of Rosco's early career are sometimes hard to follow. Suffice to say that with the exception of "No More Doggin'"/"Maria", all his RPM releases were cut at 706 Union, as well as some of his Duke singles. In theory, Gordon was with RPM though until 1953, albeit he also had five singles out on Duke and one on Chess during the same period! He signed with Duke when his RPM contract expired and recorded exclusively for Don Robey for a couple of years, recording his material in Houston.
Here is Gordon on Robey: "The man was an outlaw. He was bad. Used to carry a gun all the time. You know, he put Little Richard in the hospital. He threatened me too, but I had a gun on me; that stopped him."
After something of a recording hiatus in 1954, Rosco's deal with Duke was up in June, 1955 and Sam Phillips promptly signed him to a three-year Sun contract. On 9 June, 1955, he recorded "Just Love Me Baby" and "Weeping Blues", which would combine as his first release on the Sun label (the two sides were also issued on Flip). Backed by Pat Hare on guitar, Tuff Green on bass, saxmen Harvey Simmons and Richard Sanders, with Jeff Grayer on drums, Rosco played piano and sang on these two sides.
The following February, Rosco recorded a number of sides from which "The Chicken (Dance With You)"/"Love For You Baby" were selected for release on Flip and Sun (237). In another of those somewhat irresponsible actions that punctuated Rosco's career in the 50's, he gave the tape of "The Chicken" to Bill Harvey of Duke Records who happened to be in town and called into the Club Handy, where the boys were rehearsing. Harvey took the tape back to Robey, who gave Rosco $450 for the publishing. When the record came out, Robey promptly sued Phillips. "After that, Sam lost interest in me. He thought I betrayed him, which I'm sure I did now." "The Chicken" not only started a dance craze but also made famous a rooster named "Butch", who, decked out in miniature suits to match his owner, gyrated and drank scotch during live performances, to the delight of audiences. However, Butch succumbed to his excesses at an early age, and Rosco could never find an equal talent among the henhouses of the South.
On 25 October, Rosco recorded another fruitful session that yielded "Shoobie Doobie"/"Cheese And Crackers" (Sun 257). The latter credits Hayden Thompson as the writer. Thompson recalls meeting up with Gordon at Taylor's Café, next door to the Sun Studios, where artists would go for a bite to eat and to exchange the latest gossip, and it was there that they wrote "Cheese And Crackers". However, Rosco had no such recollections: "Hayden Thompson? No, I never met him. I never heard of him." Billboard described it as "the weirdest record of the week".
In July, 1957, Rosco re-entered the Sun studios to record "Sally Jo"/"Toro" ("Freddie Travers did the vocals on "Toro". I didn't know no Spanish."). The recording of "Sally Joe" is one of the few examples of black singers recording rockabilly (G.L. Crockett's "Look Out Mabel" and Roy Brown's "Hip Shakin' Baby" are two others). Rosco listened to a lot of country music right throughout his life, "I get most of my ideas from country stuff."
The remaining Sun recordings all date from unidentified sessions. "Do The Bop" and "Bop With Me Baby" were probably contenders for the 1957 film "Rock Baby Rock It", in which Rosco appeared, along with Johnny Carroll, the Belew Twins and Don Coats. The film was made in Dallas for Evelyn Productions. In it, Rosco was billed with the Red Tops and performed "Bop It" and "Chicken In The Rough". Whilst Rosco's early recordings at 706 Union were primitive R&B platters, his later recordings for the Sun label acquired a greater degree of sophistication. The emergence of Rosco Rhythm, a shuffling piano style that was a recognisable forerunner of Ska and Blue Beat music, was a factor that made Rosco's music very popular with the West Indian community, especially his earlier R&B hit "No More Doggin'". Intriguingly, Rosco and his band toured Brazil, Argentina and Jamaica in 1956 and 1957, backing the Platters.
Rosco returned to Sun Studios in August, 1958 for a final session at which he recorded "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White" which was never issued. He moved to Shreveport after his Sun contract expired and signed with Vee-Jay in Chicago in 1959, after failing to impress Ralph Bass at King. Rosco's best-known recording during his short stay at Vee-Jay was "Just A Little Bit", a song inspired by a riff from Jimmy McCracklin, which saw further mileage in 1964 as part of the British Beat scene, recorded by a group called the Undertakers (who performed in full funeral garb).
Rosco's first marriage to Ethel Bolton, at an early age, had lasted only three weeks, but during his stay in Shreveport, he met and married Barbara Kerr, also a native of Memphis. When his contract with Vee-Jay expired, Rosco and his wife moved to New York in 1962. He immediately recorded a session for Columbia which wasn't issued and then signed with ABC-Paramount, where he had two singles released. From there, he moved to Old Town, where his second single, "It Ain't Right", was a duet with his wife. Further releases followed on Jomada, Rae Cox and Calla in the late sixties, and eventually, in 1969, Rosco launched his own label, Bab-Roc, which saw five singles issued.
By the early seventies, Gordon had virtually disappeared from the music scene, having concentrated his efforts on a dry cleaning business, and raising his three sons. It took until 1979 for Hank Davis to track him down in New York. In 1982, Hank organised a Memphis Blues Festival that starred Rosco, and this was followed by tours of Scandinavia and Britain, as well as appearing at the Utrecht Blues Festival. In London, he was reunited on stage with B.B. King at the 100 Club.
In 1984, his wife, Barbara, died after a long struggle against bone cancer. Following her death, Rosco felt the pull of his first and most enduring love, music, and renewed his live performance career in the New York area, while writing and recording new material at home. His uncommon rhythmic expression was ill-suited to the synthesized trend, and Rosco suffered a number of disappointments before pairing with guitar great Duke Robillard for the recording of "Memphis, Tennessee," released in November, 2000, by Stony Plain Records. Duke and his band recreated the shuffling beats and honking saxophones that had characterized Rosco's early career and restored the vigorous appeal of early hits, as well as providing the "Rosco Vibe" on new songs like the title track, a tribute to Gordon's hometown and musical past. As a result of the attention garnered by the album, Rosco was nominated for a Handy Award as "Comeback Artist of the Year."
Although suffering from diabetes, heart disease and a herniated disc in his lower back, Rosco jumped into his second coming with an energy and enthusiasm that delighted audiences everywhere. He participated in several major documentaries about early rock and R&B and performed in festivals at every opportunity. In May 2002, he returned to Memphis, joining old friends B.B. King, Ike Turner and Little Milton for a performance tribute to Sam Phillips during the W.C. Handy Awards Show (broadcast by PBS last year). He culminated the busy weekend of activities and honours with a show featuring blues great Reverend Gatemouth Moore and jazz legend Calvin Newborn.
Rosco was found dead, of natural causes at his Queens, New York, residence on July 11, 2002, and he was laid to rest at the Rosedale Cemetery in Linden, New Jersey.
Recommended listening:
Rosco's Rhythm (706 Union recordings). Charly CP CD 8162 (1996). Liner notes by Adam Komorowski (from which much of the above was generously borrowed).
Bootin'. (RPM releases). Ace CDCHD 694 (1998).
Model: Marie.
Location: Imbibe, Albuquerque, NM. USA
© 2009 2015 Photo by Lloyd Thrap Photography for Halo Media Group
Lloyd-Thrap-Creative-Photography
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
Upper Nob Hill District. Albuquerque New Mexico .USA
© 2010 2013 Lloyd Thrap Photography for Halo Media Group
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS Marigold Parade, Albuquerque NM.USA 2012
www.cabq.gov/fun/fall/day-of-the-dead
© 2012 Lloyd Thrap Photography for Halo Media Group
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
Gouache, charcoal, and pastel on paper; 29.8 x 21.9 cm.
A native of Reggio Calabria, Boccioni studied art through the Scuola Libera del Nudo at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, beginning in 1901. He also studied design with a sign painter in Rome. Together with his friend Gino Severini, he became a student of Giacomo Balla, a divisionist painter. In 1906, Boccioni studied Impressionist and Post-Impressionist styles in Paris. During the late 1906 and early 1907, he shortly took drawing classes at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice. In 1901, Boccioni first visited the Famiglia Artistica, a society for artists in Milan. After moving there in 1907, he became acquainted with fellow Futurists, including the famous poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The two artists would later join with others in writing manifestos on Futurism.
Boccioni became the main theorist of the artistic movement. He also decided to be a sculptor after he visited various studios in Paris, in 1912, among which those of Braque, Archipenko, Brancusi, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and, probably, Medardo Rosso. While in 1912 he exhibited some paintings together with other Italian futurists at the Bernheim-Jeun, in 1913 he returned to show his sculptures at the Gallerie La Boetie: all related to the elaboration of what Boccioni had seen in Paris, they in their turn probably influenced the cubist sculptors, especially Duchamp-Villon.
In 1914, he published Pittura e scultura futuriste (dinamismo plastico) explaining the aesthetics of the group: “While the impressionists make a table to give one particular moment and subordinate the life of the table to its resemblance to this moment, we synthesize every moment (time, place, form, color-tone) and thus build the table.” He exhibited in London, together with the group, in 1912 (Sackville Gallery) and 1914 (Doré Gallery): the two exhibitions made a deep impression on a number of young English artists, in particular C.R.W. Nevinson, who joined the movement: others aligned themselves instead to its British equivalent, Vorticism, led by Wyndham Lewis.
Mobilized in the declaration of war, Boccioni was assigned to an artillery regiment at Sorte, near Verona. On 16 August 1916, Boccioni was thrown from his horse during a cavalry training exercise and was trampled. He died the following day, age thirty-three.
(~6.5 centimeters across at its widest)
-------------------------------------------
This is a slice from the Erg Chech 002 Meteorite, which was found in May 2020 on sand dunes of the Bir Ben Takoul area, western Algeria, northwestern Africa. It is a stony meteorite, the most common category (the others are irons and stony-irons). The two broad types of stony meteorites are chondrites, which have small rounded structures called chondrules, and achondrites, which have no chondrules - this meteorite is an achondrite. Many specific types of achondrites are known - most are from the Asteroid Belt. Asteroidal achondrites include angrites, aubrites, brachinites, ureilites, lodranites, acapulcoites, howardites, eucrites, diogenites, and the so-called winonaites (which may not be a meteorite type at all). Some planetary achondrites are also known - they come from the Moon (lunaites) or Mars (shergottites, nakhlites, and chassignites). The Erg Chech 002 Meteorites falls into none of these categories. Unclassifiable achondrites are referred to as "ungrouped". I'd prefer establishing names for distinctive types of ungrouped achondrites, but this has not been done.
Erg Chech 002 was originally described as a gabbro with pyroxene megacrysts. Gabbro is a mafic, phaneritic, intrusive igneous rock composed of plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene. Subsequent analysis has shown that Erg Chech 002 is a porphyritic andesite, an intermediate, extrusive igneous rock - in other words, a type of volcanic lava (it could also be from a near-surface intrusion). Andesite lavas and ash deposits are relatively common on Earth - they usually form from eruptions of subduction zone stratovolcanoes. Erg Chech 002 is not an Earth rock, so its lithology indicates the former presence of a differentiated parent body in the early Solar System that had surface volcanism of andesite. No known Solar System bodies have this, so the parent body has been disrupted (if so, probably by one or more impact events) or incorporated into a larger Solar System body.
Uncut and sliced samples of Erg Chech 002 show spectacular translucent green crystals (e.g., see: www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/51023828888 and
www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/51024557161 and
www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/50866150703 ). Prima facie, these look like olivine masses, but they're not. The large greenish-colored crystals and the long, dark blades in Erg Chech 002 are pyroxene phenocrysts (= large crystals in a porphyritic rock) (they've also been characterized as megacrysts and xenocrysts). The brownish-colored areas are iron oxide staining from weathering while on Earth.
The pyroxene content of Erg Chech 002 ranges from orthopyroxene to pigeonite to augite. The plagioclase feldspar component is oligoclase to albite, which are sodium-rich feldspars - this is unusual - most meteorites have calcium-rich feldspar. Minor reported minerals include potassium feldspar, chromite, ilmenite, troilite, cristobalite, tridymite, merrillite, FeNi metal, spinel, and a calcium phosphate mineral.
A dating study found that Erg Chech 002 is 4.565 billion years old.
An impact event ejected this rock from its parent body - shock metamorphism is present.
----------------------------------------
Synthesized from info. in:
2020. Meteoritical Bulletin 109.
Yamaguchi et al. (2021) - Petrology and geochemistry of Erg Chech 002, the oldest andesite in the Solar System. 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, no. 1892.
Chaussidon et al. (2021) - 26 Al chronology of Erg Chech 002, the oldest andesite in the Solar System. 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, no. 2222.
Fluorite with color zonation from Illinois, USA. (cut slice)
A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are about 5400 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates.
The halides are the "salt minerals", and have one or more of the following anions: Cl-, F-, I-, Br-.
Fluorite is a calcium fluoride mineral (CaF2). The most diagnostic physical property of fluorite is its hardness (H≡4). Fluorite typically forms cubic crystals and, when broken, displays four cleavage planes (also quite diagnostic). When broken under controlled conditions, the broken pieces of fluorite form double pyramids. Fluorite is a good example of a mineral that can be any color. Common fluorite colors include clear, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and brown. The stereotypical color for fluorite is purple. Purple is the color fluorite "should be". A mineral collector doesn't have fluorite unless it's a purple fluorite (!).
Fluorite occurs in association with some active volcanoes. HF emitted from volcanoes can react with Ca-bearing rocks to form fluorite crystals. Many hydrothermal veins contain fluorite. Much fluorite occurs in the vicinity of southern Illinois (Mississippi Valley-type deposits).
The fluorite specimen shown above is from a Mississippi Valley-type deposit in southern Illinois. Commonly abbreviated "MVT", Mississippi Valley-type deposits are named for a series of mineral deposits that occur in non-deformed platform sedimentary rocks along the Upper Mississippi River Valley, USA. Many specific minerals occur in MVT deposits, but are dominated by galena, sphalerite, barite, and fluorite. These minerals occur in caves and karst, paleokarst structures, in collapse fabrics, in pull-apart structures, etc. MVT deposits in America are mined as important, large sources of lead ore and zinc ore. The classic areas for MVT deposits are southern Illinois, the tristate area of Oklahoma-Missouri-Kansas, northern Kentucky, southwestern Wisconsin, and southeastern Missouri. The minerals are hydrothermal in origin and were precipitated from basinal brines that were flushed out to the edges of large sedimentary basins (e.g., the Illinois Basin and the Black Warrior Basin). In basin edge areas, the brines came into contact with Mississippian-aged carbonate rocks (limestone and dolostone), which caused mineralization. The brines were 15% to 25% salinity with temperatures of 50 to 200 degrees Celsius (commonly 100 to 150 degrees C). MVT mineralization usually occurs in limestone and dolostone but can also be hosted in shales, siltstones, sandstones, and conglomerates. Gangue minerals include pyrite, marcasite, calcite, aragonite, dolomite, siderite, and quartz. Up to 40 or 50 pulses of brine fluids are recorded in banding of mineral suites in MVT deposits (for example, sphalerite coatings in veins have a stratigraphy - each layer represents a pulse event). Each pulse of water was probably expelled rapidly - overpressurization and friction likely caused the water to heat up. Some bitumen (crystallized organic matter) can occur, which is an indication of the basinal origin of the brines. The presence of asphalt-bitumen indicates some hydrocarbon migration occurred. Some petroleum inclusions are found within fluorite crystals and petroleum scum occurs on fluorite crystals. MVT deposits are associated with oil fields and the temperature of mineral precipitation matches the petroleum window. The brines may simply have accompanied hydrocarbon fluids as they migrated updip.
The high temperatures of these basin periphery deposits wasn't necessarily influenced by igneous hydrothermal activity. Hot fluids can occur in basins that are deep enough for the geothermal gradient to be ~100 to 150 degrees Celsius. If a permeable conduit horizon is present in a succession of interbedded siliciclastic sedimentary rocks, migration of hot, deep basinal brines may be quick enough to get MVT deposit conditions at basin margins.
MVT deposits occur in the Upper Mississippi Valley of America as well as in northern Africa, Scandinavia, northwestern Canada, at scattered sites in Europe, and at some sites in the American Cordillera. Some of these occurrences are in deformed host rocks. MVT deposits have little to no precious metals - maybe a little copper (Cu). Mineralization is usually associated with limestone or dolostone in fracture fillings and vugs. Little host rock alteration has occurred - usually only dolomitization of limestones.
The age of the host rocks in the Mississippi Valley area varies - it ranges from Cambrian to Mississippian. Dating of mineralization has been difficult, but published ages indicate a near-latest Paleozoic to Mesozoic timing.
MVT deposits in the Upper Mississippi River area are often divided into three subtypes based on the dominant mineral: 1) lead-rich (galena dominated); 2) zinc-rich (sphalerite dominated); and 3) fluorite-rich.
The fluorite shown here is from the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District ("fluorspar" is a very old name for fluorite), which is an MVT fluoritic subtype. Fluorite and fluorite-rich rocks are mined for the fluorine, which is principally used by the chemical industry to make HF - hydrofluoric acid. Fluorite mineralization in this district occurred at about 277 Ma, during the Early Permian, according to one published study (Chesley et al., 1994). Another study concluded that fluorite mineralization was much later, during the Late Jurassic (see Symons, 1994).
Locality: unrecorded quarry near the town of Cave-in-Rock, far-southern Illinois, USA
------------------------
Photo gallery of fluorite:
www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=1576
-----------------------
Some info. on Mississippi Valley-type deposits was synthesized from:
Chesley et al. (1994) - Direct dating of Mississippi Valley-type mineralization: use of Sm-Nd in fluorite. Economic Geology 89: 1192-1199.
Symons (1994) - Paleomagnetism and the Late Jurassic genesis of the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar deposits. Economic Geology 89: 438-449.
Rakovan (2006) - Mississippi Valley-type deposits. Rocks & Minerals 81(January/February 2006): 69-71.
Fisher et al. (2013) - Fluorite in Mississippi Valley-type deposits. Rocks & Minerals 88(January/February 2013): 20-47.
www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/james-turrell-9/
James Turrell’s recent Constellation works, the focal point of this exhibition, are the culmination of Turrell's lifelong pursuit. Generating what the artist has called “spaces within space,” these luminous portals are instruments for altering our perception; gazing into them results in the slow dissolution of the boundaries of the surrounding room, enveloping the viewer in the radiance of pure color. Fusing the temporal, sensuous, and illusory qualities of his projection works and architectural installations, the Constellations synthesize several aspects of Turrell’s practice. Unlike his early projection pieces, however, they are not about generating an illusion; instead, they greet the viewer with the actual materiality of light, what Turrell calls “the physical manifestation of light, which we have trained our eyes too readily to look through rather than to look at.”
Press L. Please view larger.
View more of the works on myspace, facebook, talenthouse blogger and more.
Lloyd Thrap's Public Portfolio
Lloyd-Thrap-Creative-Photography
© 2008 2013 Lloyd Thrap Photography for Halo Media Group
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
The Postcard
A carte postale bearing no publisher's name. The card was posted in the Saint-Georges area of Paris on Friday the 11th. August 1911 to:
Mrs. P. Newbury,
Bay Road,
Sholing,
Southampton,
Angleterre.
The pencilled message on the divided back was as follows:
"Paris Aug. 11th.
Dear Mother,
It is very hot here again
today.
I do not cycle in the
daytime - there is far too
much traffic - only early
in the morning when it is
cool.
Tomorrow we hope to
spend the day on the
water fishing - not on a
lake, but on the Seine.
I am going to have
another French lesson
tonight.
I am writing this in the
shade of the trees of a
park where we spend
most of our mornings.
Mr. Lewis is going to
London.
With love to all,
Archie xxxxxxxxxx"
The park to which Archie refers was probably the well-wooded Square Hector Berlioz.
The Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles are situated to the west of the palace. They cover some 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French formal garden style perfected here by André Le Nôtre.
Beyond the surrounding belt of woodland, the gardens are bordered by the urban areas of Versailles to the east and Le Chesnay to the north-east, by the National Arboretum de Chèvreloup to the north, the Versailles plain (a protected wildlife preserve) to the west, and by the Satory Forest to the south.
In 1979, the gardens along with the château were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its cultural importance during the 17th. and 18th. centuries.
The gardens are now one of the most visited public sites in France, receiving more than six million visitors a year.
The gardens contain 200,000 trees, 210,000 flowers planted annually, and feature meticulously manicured lawns and parterres, as well as many sculptures.
50 fountains containing 620 water jets, fed by 35 km. of piping, are located throughout the gardens. Dating from the time of Louis XIV and still using much of the same network of hydraulics as was used during the Ancien Régime, the fountains contribute to making the gardens of Versailles unique.
On weekends from late spring to early autumn, there are the Grandes Eaux - spectacles during which all the fountains in the gardens are in full play. Designed by André Le Nôtre, the Grand Canal is the masterpiece of the Gardens of Versailles.
In the Gardens too, the Grand Trianon was built to provide the Sun King with the retreat that he wanted. The Petit Trianon is associated with Marie-Antoinette, who spent time there with her closest relatives and friends.
The Du Bus Plan for the Gardens of Versailles
With Louis XIII's purchase of lands from Jean-François de Gondi in 1632 and his assumption of the seigneurial role of Versailles in the 1630's, formal gardens were laid out west of the château.
Claude Mollet and Hilaire Masson designed the gardens, which remained relatively unchanged until the expansion ordered under Louis XIV in the 1660's. This early layout, which has survived in the so-called Du Bus plan of c.1662, shows an established topography along which lines of the gardens evolved. This is evidenced in the clear definition of the main east–west and north–south axis that anchors the gardens' layout.
Louis XIV
In 1661, after the disgrace of the finance minister Nicolas Fouquet, who was accused by rivals of embezzling crown funds in order to build his luxurious château at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis XIV turned his attention to Versailles.
With the aid of Fouquet's architect Louis Le Vau, painter Charles Le Brun, and landscape architect André Le Nôtre, Louis began an embellishment and expansion program at Versailles that would occupy his time and worries for the remainder of his reign.
From this point forward, the expansion of the gardens of Versailles followed the expansions of the château.
(a) The First Building Campaign
In 1662, minor modifications to the château were undertaken; however, greater attention was given to developing the gardens. Existing bosquets (clumps of trees) and parterres were expanded, and new ones created.
Most significant among the creations at this time were the Versailles Orangerie and the "Grotte de Thétys". The Orangery, which was designed by Louis Le Vau, was located south of the château, a situation that took advantage of the natural slope of the hill. It provided a protected area in which orange trees were kept during the winter months.
The "Grotte de Thétys", which was located to the north of the château, formed part of the iconography of the château and of the gardens that aligned Louis XIV with solar imagery. The grotto was completed during the second building campaign.
By 1664, the gardens had evolved to the point that Louis XIV inaugurated the gardens with the fête galante called Les Plaisirs de L'Île Enchantée. The event, was ostensibly to celebrate his mother, Anne d'Autriche, and his consort Marie-Thérèse but in reality celebrated Louise de La Vallière, Louis' mistress.
Guests were regaled with entertainments in the gardens over a period of one week. As a result of this fête - particularly the lack of housing for guests (most of them had to sleep in their carriages), Louis realised the shortcomings of Versailles, and began to expand the château and the gardens once again.
(b) The Second Building Campaign
Between 1664 and 1668, there was a flurry of activity in the gardens - especially with regard to fountains and new bosquets; it was during this time that the imagery of the gardens exploited Apollo and solar imagery as metaphors for Louis XIV.
Le Va's enveloppe of the Louis XIII's château provided a means by which, though the decoration of the garden façade, imagery in the decors of the grands appartements of the king and queen formed a symbiosis with the imagery of the gardens.
With this new phase of construction, the gardens assumed the design vocabulary that remained in force until the 18th. century. Solar and Apollonian themes predominated with projects constructed at this time.
Three additions formed the topological and symbolic nexus of the gardens during this phase of construction: the completion of the "Grotte de Thétys", the "Bassin de Latone", and the "Bassin d'Apollon".
The Grotte de Thétys
Started in 1664 and finished in 1670 with the installation of the statuary, the grotto formed an important symbolic and technical component to the gardens. Symbolically, the "Grotte de Thétys" related to the myth of Apollo - and by association to Louis XIV.
It represented the cave of the sea nymph Thetis, where Apollo rested after driving his chariot to light the sky. The grotto was a freestanding structure located just north of the château.
The interior, which was decorated with shell-work to represent a sea cave, contained the statue group by the Marsy brothers depicting the sun god attended by nereids.
Technically, the "'Grotte de Thétys" played a critical role in the hydraulic system that supplied water to the garden. The roof of the grotto supported a reservoir that stored water pumped from the Clagny pond and which fed the fountains lower in the garden via gravity.
The Bassin de Latone
Located on the east–west axis is the Bassin de Latone. Designed by André Le Nôtre, sculpted by Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy, and constructed between 1668 and 1670, the fountain depicts an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Altona and her children, Apollo and Diana, being tormented with mud slung by Lycian peasants, who refused to let her and her children drink from their pond, appealed to Jupiter who responded by turning the Lycians into frogs.
This episode from mythology has been seen as a reference to the revolts of the Fronde, which occurred during the minority of Louis XIV. The link between Ovid's story and this episode from French history is emphasised by the reference to "mud slinging" in a political context.
The revolts of the Fronde - the word fronde also means slingshot - have been regarded as the origin of the use of the term "mud slinging" in a political context.
The Bassin d'Apollon
Further along the east–west axis is the Bassin d'Apollon. The Apollo Fountain, which was constructed between 1668 and 1671, depicts the sun god driving his chariot to light the sky. The fountain forms a focal point in the garden, and serves as a transitional element between the gardens of the Petit Parc and the Grand Canal.
The Grand Canal
With a length of 1,500 metres and a width of 62 metres, the Grand Canal, which was built between 1668 and 1671, prolongs the east–west axis to the walls of the Grand Parc. During the Ancien Régime, the Grand Canal served as a venue for boating parties.
In 1674 the king ordered the construction of Petite Venise (Little Venice). Located at the junction of the Grand Canal and the northern transversal branch, Little Venice housed the caravels and yachts that were received from The Netherlands and the gondolas and gondoliers received as gifts from the Doge of Venice.
The Grand Canal also served a practical role. Situated at a low point in the gardens, it collected water that drained from the fountains in the garden above. Water from the Grand Canal was pumped back to the reservoir on the roof of the Grotte de Thétys via a network of windmill- and horse-powered pumps.
The Parterre d'Eau
Situated above the Latona Fountain is the terrace of the château, known as the Parterre d'Eau. Forming a transitional element from the château to the gardens below, the Parterre d'Eau provided a setting in which the symbolism of the grands appartements synthesized with the iconography of the gardens.
In 1664, Louis XIV commissioned a series of statues intended to decorate the water feature of the Parterre d'Eau. The Grande Command, as the commission is known, comprised twenty-four statues of the classic quaternities and four additional statues depicting abductions from the classic past.
Evolution of the Bosquets
One of the distinguishing features of the gardens during the second building campaign was the proliferation of bosquets. Expanding the layout established during the first building campaign, Le Nôtre added or expanded on no fewer that ten bosquets between 1670 and 1678:
-- The Bosquet du Marais
-- The Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau, Île du Roi
-- The Miroir d'Eau
-- The Salle des Festins (Salle du Conseil)
-- The Bosquet des Trois Fontaines
-- The Labyrinthe
-- The Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
-- The Bosquet de la Renommée (Bosquet des Dômes)
-- The Bosquet de l'Encélade
-- The Bosquet des Sources
In addition to the expansion of existing bosquets and the construction of new ones, there were two additional projects that defined this era, the Bassin des Sapins and the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses.
-- The Bassin des Sapins
In 1676, the Bassin des Sapins, which was located north of the château below the Allée des Marmoset's was designed to form a topological pendant along the north–south axis with the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses located at the base of the Satory hill south of the château.
Later modifications in the gardens transformed this fountain into the Bassin de Neptune.
-- Pièce d'Eau des Suisses
Excavated in 1678, the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses - named after the Swiss Guards who constructed the lake - occupied an area of marshes and ponds, some of which had been used to supply water for the fountains in the garden.
This water feature, with a surface area of more than 15 hectares (37 acres), is the second largest - after the Grand Canal - at Versailles.
(c) The Third Building Campaign
Modifications to the gardens during the third building campaign were distinguished by a stylistic change from the natural aesthetic of André Le Nôtre to the architectonic style of Jules Hardouin Mansart.
The first major modification to the gardens during this phase occurred in 1680 when the Tapis Vert - the expanse of lawn that stretches between the Latona Fountain and the Apollo Fountain - achieved its final size and definition under the direction of André Le Nôtre.
Beginning in 1684, the Parterre d'Eau was remodelled under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Statues from the Grande Commande of 1674 were relocated to other parts of the garden; two twin octagonal basins were constructed and decorated with bronze statues representing the four main rivers of France.
In the same year, Le Vau's Orangerie, located to south of the Parterrre d'Eau was demolished to accommodate a larger structure designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
In addition to the Orangerie, the Escaliers des Cent Marches, which facilitated access to the gardens from the south, to the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses, and to the Parterre du Midi were constructed at this time, giving the gardens just south of the château their present configuration and decoration.
Additionally, to accommodate the anticipated construction of the Aile des Nobles - the north wing of the château - the Grotte de Thétys was demolished.
With the construction of the Aile des Nobles (1685–1686), the Parterre du Nord was remodelled to respond to the new architecture of this part of the château.
To compensate for the loss of the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys and to meet the increased demand for water, Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed new and larger reservoirs situated north of the Aile des Nobles.
Construction of the ruinously expensive Canal de l'Eure was inaugurated in 1685; designed by Vauban it was intended to bring waters of the Eure over 80 kilometres, including aqueducts of heroic scale, but the works were abandoned in 1690.
Between 1686 and 1687, the Bassin de Latone, under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, was rebuilt. It is this final version of the fountain that one sees today at Versailles.
During this phase of construction, three of the garden's major bosquets were modified or created. Beginning with the Galerie des Antiques, this bosquet was constructed in 1680 on the site of the earlier and short-lived Galerie d'Eau. This bosquet was conceived as an open-air gallery in which antique statues and copies acquired by the Académie de France in Rome were displayed.
The following year, construction began on the Salle de Bal. Located in a secluded section of the garden west of the Orangerie, this bosquet was designed as an amphitheater that featured a cascade – the only one surviving in the gardens of Versailles. The Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1685 with a ball hosted by the Grand Dauphin.
Between 1684 and 1685, Jules Hardouin-Mansart built the Colonnade. Located on the site of Le Nôtre's Bosquet des Sources, this bosquet featured a circular peristyle formed from thirty-two arches with twenty-eight fountains, and was Hardouin-Mansart's most architectural of the bosquets built in the gardens of Versailles.
(d) The Fourth Building Campaign
Due to financial constraints arising from the War of the League of Augsburg and the War of the Spanish Succession, no significant work on the gardens was undertaken until 1704.
Between 1704 and 1709, bosquets were modified, some quite radically, with new names suggesting the new austerity that characterised the latter years of Louis XIV's reign.
Louis XV
With the departure of the king and court from Versailles in 1715 following the death of Louis XIV, the palace and gardens entered an era of uncertainty.
In 1722, Louis XV and the court returned to Versailles. Seeming to heed his great-grandfather's admonition not to engage in costly building campaigns, Louis XV did not undertake the costly rebuilding that Louis XIV had.
During the reign of Louis XV, the only significant addition to the gardens was the completion of the Bassin de Neptune (1738–1741).
Rather than expend resources on modifying the gardens at Versailles, Louis XV - an avid botanist - directed his efforts at Trianon. In the area now occupied by the Hameau de la Reine, Louis XV constructed and maintained les Jardins Botaniques.
In 1761, Louis XV commissioned Ange-Jacques Gabriel to build the Petit Trianon as a residence that would allow him to spend more time near the Jardins Botaniques. It was at the Petit Trianon that Louis XV fell fatally ill with smallpox; he died at Versailles on the 10th. May 1774.
Louis XVI
Upon Louis XVI's ascension to the throne, the gardens of Versailles underwent a transformation that recalled the fourth building campaign of Louis XIV. Engendered by a change in outlook as advocated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Philosophes, the winter of 1774–1775 witnessed a complete replanting of the gardens.
Trees and shrubbery dating from the reign of Louis XIV were felled or uprooted with the intent of transforming the French formal garden of Le Nôtre and Hardouin-Mansart into a version of an English landscape garden.
The attempt to convert Le Nôtre's masterpiece into an English-style garden failed to achieve its desired goal. Owing largely to the topology of the land, the English aesthetic was abandoned and the gardens replanted in the French style.
However, with an eye on economy, Louis XVI ordered the Palisades - the labour-intensive clipped hedging that formed walls in the bosquets - to be replaced with rows of lime trees or chestnut trees. Additionally, a number of the bosquets dating from the time of the Sun King were extensively modified or destroyed.
The most significant contribution to the gardens during the reign of Louis XVI was the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon. The rockwork grotto set in an English style bosquet was the masterpiece of Hubert Robert in which the statues from the Grotte de Thétys were placed.
Revolution
In 1792, under order from the National Convention, some of the trees in the gardens were felled, while parts of the Grand Parc were parcelled and dispersed.
Sensing the potential threat to Versailles, Louis Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821) – director of the Jardins Botaniques and grandson of Claude Richard – lobbied the government to save Versailles. He succeeded in preventing further dispersing of the Grand Parc, and threats to destroy the Petit Parc were abolished by suggesting that the parterres could be used to plant vegetable gardens, and that orchards could occupy the open areas of the garden.
These plans were never put into action; however, the gardens were opened to the public - it was not uncommon to see people washing their laundry in the fountains and spreading it on the shrubbery to dry.
Napoléon I
The Napoleonic era largely ignored Versailles. In the château, a suite of rooms was arranged for the use of the empress Marie-Louise, but the gardens were left unchanged, save for the disastrous felling of trees in the Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines. Massive soil erosion necessitated planting of new trees.
Restoration
With the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, the gardens of Versailles witnessed the first modifications since the Revolution. In 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the conversion of the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau into an English-style garden - the Jardin du Roi.
The July Monarchy; The Second Empire
While much of the château's interior was irreparably altered to accommodate the Museum of the History of France (inaugurated by Louis-Philippe on the 10th. June 1837), the gardens, by contrast, remained untouched.
With the exception of the state visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1855, at which time the gardens were a setting for a gala fête that recalled the fêtes of Louis XIV, Napoléon III ignored the château, preferring instead the château of Compiègne.
Pierre de Nolhac
With the arrival of Pierre de Nolhac as director of the museum in 1892, a new era of historical research began at Versailles. Nolhac, an ardent archivist and scholar, began to piece together the history of Versailles, and subsequently established the criteria for restoration of the château and preservation of the gardens, which are ongoing to this day.
Bosquets of the Gardens
Owing to the many modifications made to the gardens between the 17th. and the 19th. centuries, many of the bosquets have undergone multiple modifications, which were often accompanied by name changes.
Deux Bosquets - Bosquet de la Girondole - Bosquet du Dauphin - Quinconce du Nord - Quinconce du Midi
These two bosquets were first laid out in 1663. They were arranged as a series of paths around four salles de verdure and which converged on a central "room" that contained a fountain.
In 1682, the southern bosquet was remodeled as the Bosquet de la Girondole, thus named due to spoke-like arrangement of the central fountain. The northern bosquet was rebuilt in 1696 as the Bosquet du Dauphin with a fountain that featured a dolphin.
During the replantation of 1774–1775, both the bosquets were destroyed. The areas were replanted with lime trees and were rechristened the Quinconce du Nord and the Quinconce du Midi.
Labyrinthe - Bosquet de la Reine
In 1665, André Le Nôtre planned a hedge maze of unadorned paths in an area south of the Latona Fountain near the Orangerie. In 1669, Charles Perrault - author of the Mother Goose Tales - advised Louis XIV to remodel the Labyrinthe in such a way as to serve the Dauphin's education.
Between 1672 and 1677, Le Nôtre redesigned the Labyrinthe to feature thirty-nine fountains that depicted stories from Aesop's Fables. The sculptors Jean-Baptiste Tuby, Étienne Le Hongre, Pierre Le Gros, and the brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy worked on these thirty-nine fountains, each of which was accompanied by a plaque on which the fable was printed, with verse written by Isaac de Benserade; from these plaques, Louis XIV's son learned to read.
Once completed in 1677, the Labyrinthe contained thirty-nine fountains with 333 painted metal animal sculptures. The water for the elaborate waterworks was conveyed from the Seine by the Machine de Marly.
The Labyrinthe contained fourteen water-wheels driving 253 pumps, some of which worked at a distance of three-quarters of a mile.
Citing repair and maintenance costs, Louis XVI ordered the Labyrinthe demolished in 1778. In its place, an arboretum of exotic trees was planted as an English-styled garden.
Rechristened Bosquet de la Reine, it would be in this part of the garden that an episode of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, which compromised Marie-Antoinette, transpired in 1785.
Bosquet de la Montagne d'Eau - Bosquet de l'Étoile
Originally designed by André Le Nôtre in 1661 as a salle de verdure, this bosquet contained a path encircling a central pentagonal area. In 1671, the bosquet was enlarged with a more elaborate system of paths that served to enhance the new central water feature, a fountain that resembled a mountain, hence the bosquets new name: Bosquet de la Montagne d'Eau.
The bosquet was completely remodeled in 1704 at which time it was rechristened Bosquet de l'Étoile.
Bosquet du Marais - Bosquet du Chêne Vert - Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon - Grotte des Bains d'Apollon
Created in 1670, this bosquet originally contained a central rectangular pool surrounded by a turf border. Edging the pool were metal reeds that concealed numerous jets for water; a swan that had water jetting from its beak occupied each corner.
The centre of the pool featured an iron tree with painted tin leaves that sprouted water from its branches. Because of this tree, the bosquet was also known as the Bosquet du Chêne Vert.
In 1705, this bosquet was destroyed in order to allow for the creation of the Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon, which was created to house the statues had once stood in the Grotte de Thétys.
During the reign of Louis XVI, Hubert Robert remodeled the bosquet, creating a cave-like setting for the Marsy statues. The bosquet was renamed the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon.
Île du Roi - Miroir d'Eau - Jardin du Roi
Originally designed in 1671 as two separate water features, the larger - Île du Roi - contained an island that formed the focal point of a system of elaborate fountains.
The Île du Roi was separated from the Miroir d'Eau by a causeway that featured twenty-four water jets. In 1684, the island was removed and the total number of water jets in the bosquet was significantly reduced.
The year 1704 witnessed a major renovation of the bosquet, at which time the causeway was remodelled and most of the water jets were removed.
A century later, in 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau to be completely remodeled as an English-style garden. At this time, the bosquet was rechristened Jardin du Roi.
Salle des Festins - Salle du Conseil - Bosquet de l'Obélisque
In 1671, André Le Nôtre conceived a bosquet - originally christened Salle des Festins and later called Salle du Conseil - that featured a quatrefoil island surrounded by a channel containing fifty water jets. Access to the island was obtained by two swing bridges.
Beyond the channel and placed at the cardinal points within the bosquet were four additional fountains. Under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the bosquet was completely remodeled in 1706. The central island was replaced by a large basin raised on five steps, which was surrounded by a canal. The central fountain contained 230 jets that, when in play, formed an obelisk – hence the new name Bosquet de l'Obélisque.
Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau - Bosquet du Rond-Vert
The central feature of this bosquet, which was designed by Le Nôtre between 1671 and 1674, was an auditorium/theatre sided by three tiers of turf seating that faced a stage decorated with four fountains alternating with three radiating cascades.
Between 1680 and Louis XIV's death in 1715, there was near-constant rearranging of the statues that decorated the bosquet.
In 1709, the bosquet was rearranged with the addition of the Fontaine de l'Île aux Enfants. As part of the replantation of the gardens ordered by Louis XVI during the winter of 1774–1775, the Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau was destroyed and replaced with the unadorned Bosquet du Rond-Vert. The Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau was recreated in 2014, with South Korean businessman and photographer Yoo Byung-eun being the sole patron, donating €1.4 million.
Bosquet des Trois Fontaines - Berceau d'Eau
Situated to the west of the Allée des Marmousets and replacing the short-lived Berceau d'Eau (a long and narrow bosquet created in 1671 that featured a water bower made by numerous jets of water), the enlarged bosquet was transformed by Le Nôtre in 1677 into a series of three linked rooms.
Each room contained a number of fountains that played with special effects. The fountains survived the modifications that Louis XIV ordered for other fountains in the gardens in the early 18th. century and were subsequently spared during the 1774–1775 replantation of the gardens.
In 1830, the bosquet was replanted, at which time the fountains were suppressed. Due to storm damage in the park in 1990 and then again in 1999, the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines was restored and re-inaugurated on the 12th. June 2004.
Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
This bosquet was originally planned in 1672 as a simple pavillon d'eau - a round open expanse with a square fountain in the centre. In 1676, this bosquet was enlarged and redecorated along political lines that alluded to French military victories over Spain and Austria, at which time the triumphal arch was added - hence the name.
As with the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines, this bosquet survived the modifications of the 18th. century, but was replanted in 1830, at which time the fountains were removed.
Bosquet de la Renommée - Bosquet des Dômes
Built in 1675, the Bosquet de la Renommée featured a fountain statue of Fame. With the relocation of the statues from the Grotte de Thétys in 1684, the bosquet was remodelled to accommodate the statues, and the Fame fountain was removed.
At this time the bosquet was rechristened Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon. As part of the reorganisation of the garden that was ordered by Louis XIV in the early part of the 18th. century, the Apollo grouping was moved once again to the site of the Bosquet du Marais - located near the Latona Fountain - which was destroyed and was replaced by the new Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon.
The statues were installed on marble plinths from which water issued; and each statue grouping was protected by an intricately carved and gilded baldachin.
The old Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon was renamed Bosquet des Dômes due to two domed pavilions built in the bosquet.
Bosquet de l'Encélade
Created in 1675 at the same time as the Bosquet de la Renommée, the fountain of this bosquet depicts Enceladus, a fallen Giant who was condemned to live below Mount Etna, being consumed by volcanic lava.
From its conception, this fountain was conceived as an allegory of Louis XIV's victory over the Fronde. In 1678, an octagonal ring of turf and eight rocaille fountains surrounding the central fountain were added. These additions were removed in 1708.
When in play, this fountain has the tallest jet of all the fountains in the gardens of Versailles - 25 metres.
Bosquet des Sources - La Colonnade
Designed as a simple unadorned salle de verdure by Le Nôtre in 1678, the landscape architect enhanced and incorporated an existing stream to create a bosquet that featured rivulets that twisted among nine islets.
In 1684, Jules Hardouin-Mansart completely redesigned the bosquet by constructing a circular arched double peristyle. The Colonnade, as it was renamed, originally featured thirty-two arches and thirty-one fountains – a single jet of water splashed into a basin center under the arch.
In 1704, three additional entrances to the Colonnade were added, which reduced the number of fountains from thirty-one to twenty-eight. The statue that currently occupies the centre of the Colonnade - the Abduction of Persephone - (from the Grande Commande of 1664) was set in place in 1696.
Galerie d'Eau - Galerie des Antiques - Salle des Marronniers
Occupying the site of the Galerie d'Eau (1678), the Galerie des Antiques was designed in 1680 to house the collection of antique statues and copies of antique statues acquired by the Académie de France in Rome.
Surrounding a central area paved with colored stone, a channel was decorated with twenty statues on plinths, each separated by three jets of water.
The Galerie was completely remodeled in 1704 when the statues were transferred to Marly and the bosquet was replanted with horse chestnut trees - hence the current name Salle des Marronniers.
Salle de Bal
This bosquet, which was designed by Le Nôtre and built between 1681 and 1683, features a semi-circular cascade that forms the backdrop for a salle de verdure.
Interspersed with gilt lead torchères, which supported candelabra for illumination, the Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1683 by Louis XIV's son, the Grand Dauphin, with a dance party.
The Salle de Bal was remodeled in 1707 when the central island was removed and an additional entrance was added.
Replantations of the Gardens
Common to any long-lived garden is replantation, and Versailles is no exception. In their history, the gardens of Versailles have undergone no less than five major replantations, which have been executed for practical and aesthetic reasons.
During the winter of 1774–1775, Louis XVI ordered the replanting of the gardens on the grounds that many of the trees were diseased or overgrown, and needed to be replaced.
Also, as the formality of the 17th.-century garden had fallen out of fashion, this replantation sought to establish a new informality in the gardens - that would also be less expensive to maintain.
This, however, was not achieved, as the topology of the gardens favored the Jardin à la Française over an English-style garden.
Then, in 1860, much of the old growth from Louis XVI's replanting was removed and replaced. In 1870, a violent storm struck the area, damaging and uprooting scores of trees, which necessitated a massive replantation program.
However, owing to the Franco-Prussian War, which toppled Napoléon III, and the Commune de Paris, replantation of the garden did not get underway until 1883.
The most recent replantations of the gardens were precipitated by two storms that battered Versailles in 1990 and then again in 1999. The storm damage at Versailles and Trianon amounted to the loss of thousands of trees - the worst such damage in the history of Versailles.
The replantations have allowed museum and governmental authorities to restore and rebuild some of the bosquets that were abandoned during the reign of Louis XVI, such as the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines, which was restored in 2004.
Catherine Pégard, the head of the public establishment which administers Versailles, has stated that the intention is to return the gardens to their appearance under Louis XIV, specifically as he described them in his 1704 description, Manière de Montrer les Jardins de Versailles.
This involves restoring some of the parterres like the Parterre du Midi to their original formal layout, as they appeared under Le Nôtre. This was achieved in the Parterre de Latone in 2013, when the 19th. century lawns and flower beds were torn up and replaced with boxwood-enclosed turf and gravel paths to create a formal arabesque design.
Pruning is also done to keep trees at between 17 and 23 metres (56 to 75 feet), so as not to spoil the carefully designed perspectives of the gardens.
Owing to the natural cycle of replantations that has occurred at Versailles, it is safe to state that no trees dating from the time of Louis XIV are to be found in the gardens.
Problems With Water
The marvel of the gardens of Versailles - then as now - is the fountains. Yet, the very element that animates the gardens, water, has proven to be the affliction of the gardens since the time of Louis XIV.
The gardens of Louis XIII required water, and local ponds provided an adequate supply. However, once Louis XIV began expanding the gardens with more and more fountains, supplying the gardens with water became a critical challenge.
To meet the needs of the early expansions of the gardens under Louis XIV, water was pumped to the gardens from ponds near the château, with the Clagny pond serving as the principal source.
Water from the pond was pumped to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys, which fed the fountains in the garden by means of gravitational hydraulics. Other sources included a series of reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau south of the château.
The Grand Canal
By 1664, increased demand for water necessitated additional sources. In that year, Louis Le Vau designed the Pompe, a water tower built north of the château. The Pompe drew water from the Clagny pond using a system of windmills and horsepower to a cistern housed in the Pompe's building. The capacity of the Pompe 600 cubic metres per day - alleviated some of the water shortages in the garden.
With the completion of the Grand Canal in 1671, which served as drainage for the fountains of the garden, water, via a system of windmills, was pumped back to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys.
While this system solved some of the water supply problems, there was never enough water to keep all of the fountains running in the garden in full-play all of the time.
While it was possible to keep the fountains in view from the château running, those concealed in the bosquets and in the farther reaches of the garden were run on an as-needed basis.
In 1672, Jean-Baptiste Colbert devised a system by which the fountaineers in the gardens would signal each other with whistles upon the approach of the king, indicating that their fountain needed to be turned on. Once the king had passed a fountain in play, it would be turned off and the fountaineer would signal that the next fountain could be turned on.
In 1674, the Pompe was enlarged, and subsequently referred to as the Grande Pompe. Pumping capacity was increased via increased power and the number of pistons used for lifting the water. These improvements increased the water capacity to nearly 3,000 cubic metres of water per day; however, the increased capacity of the Grande Pompe often left the Clagny pond dry.
The increasing demand for water and the stress placed on existing systems of water supply necessitated newer measures to increase the water supplied to Versailles. Between 1668 and 1674, a project was undertaken to divert the water of the Bièvre river to Versailles. By damming the river and with a pumping system of five windmills, water was brought to the reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau. This system brought an additional 72,000 cubic metres water to the gardens on a daily basis.
Despite the water from the Bièvre, the gardens needed still more water, which necessitated more projects. In 1681, one of the most ambitious water projects conceived during the reign of Louis XIV was undertaken.
Owing to the proximity of the Seine to Versailles, a project was proposed to raise the water from the river to be delivered to Versailles. Seizing upon the success of a system devised in 1680 that raised water from the Seine to the gardens of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, construction of the Machine de Marly began the following year.
The Machine de Marly was designed to lift water from the Seine in three stages to the Aqueduc de Louveciennes some 100 metres above the level of the river. A series of huge waterwheels was constructed in the river, which raised the water via a system of 64 pumps to a reservoir 48 metres above the river. From this first reservoir, water was raised an additional 56 metres to a second reservoir by a system of 79 pumps. Finally, 78 additional pumps raised the water to the aqueduct, which carried the water to Versailles and Marly.
In 1685, the Machine de Marly came into full operation. However, owing to leakage in the conduits and breakdowns of the mechanism, the machine was only able to deliver 3,200 cubic metres of water per day - approximately one-half the expected output. The machine was nevertheless a must-see for visitors. Despite the fact that the gardens consumed more water per day than the entire city of Paris, the Machine de Marly remained in operation until 1817.
During Louis XIV's reign, water supply systems represented one-third of the building costs of Versailles. Even with the additional output from the Machine de Marly, fountains in the garden could only be run à l'ordinaire - which is to say at half-pressure.
With this measure of economy, the fountains still consumed 12,800 cubic metres of water per day, far above the capacity of the existing supplies. In the case of the Grandes Eaux - when all the fountains played to their maximum - more than 10,000 cubic metres of water was needed for one afternoon's display.
Accordingly, the Grandes Eaux were reserved for special occasions such as the Siamese Embassy visit of 1685–1686.
The Canal de l'Eure
One final attempt to solve water shortage problems was undertaken in 1685. In this year it was proposed to divert the water of the Eure river, located 160 km. south of Versailles and at a level 26 m above the garden reservoirs.
The project called not only for digging a canal and for the construction of an aqueduct, it also necessitated the construction of shipping channels and locks to supply the workers on the main canal.
Between 9,000 to 10,000 troops were pressed into service in 1685; the next year, more than 20,000 soldiers were engaged in construction. Between 1686 and 1689, when the Nine Years' War began, one-tenth of France's military was at work on the Canal de l'Eure project.
However with the outbreak of the war, the project was abandoned, never to be completed. Had the aqueduct been completed, some 50,000 cubic metres of water would have been sent to Versailles - more than enough to solve the water problem of the gardens.
Today, the museum of Versailles is still faced with water problems. During the Grandes Eaux, water is circulated by means of modern pumps from the Grand Canal to the reservoirs. Replenishment of the water lost due to evaporation comes from rainwater, which is collected in cisterns that are located throughout the gardens and diverted to the reservoirs and the Grand Canal.
Assiduous husbanding of this resource by museum officials prevents the need to tap into the supply of potable water of the city of Versailles.
The Versailles Gardens In Popular Culture
The creation of the gardens of Versailles is the context for the film 'A Little Chaos', directed by Alan Rickman and released in 2015, in which Kate Winslet plays a fictional landscape gardener and Rickman plays King Louis XIV.
President Taft's Odyssey
So what else happened on the day that Archie posted the card?
Well, on the 11th. August 1911, U.S. President William H. Taft began a three-month-long stay away from Washington, D.C., starting with a monthlong vacation in Beverly, Massachusetts, where the Taft family rented 'Paramatta' from Mrs. Lucy Peabody for use as his "Summer White House".
On the 15th. September he began a 15,000 mile tour of 30 of the 46 states, and did not return to the White House until the 12th. November.
Erik Hell
Also on that day, the intriguingly-named Erik Hell was born in Kalliokoski, Finland to a Norwegian father and a Finnish mother.
Erik was a Swedish actor who was active between 1942 to 1971.
He moved to Sweden with his family in 1918 during the Finnish Civil War, and married the actress Öllegård Wellton in 1960.
Erik died at the age of 61 in Solna, Sweden on the 11th. March 1973.
Plastic proteins: Unique sequences of side chains (in various colors) hang off the TZP-based backbone (black) in this inexpensive, easy-to-synthesize polymer system that mimics proteins in important ways.
Terms of Use: Our images are freely and publicly available for use with the credit line, "Courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory." Please use provided caption information for use in appropriate context.
Bornite from Poland. (~6.7 centimeters across at its widest)
A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are over 5700 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates.
The sulfide minerals contain one or more sulfide anions (S-2). The sulfides are usually considered together with the arsenide minerals, the sulfarsenide minerals, and the telluride minerals. Many sulfides are economically significant, as they occur commonly in ores. The metals that combine with S-2 are mainly Fe, Cu, Ni, Ag, etc. Most sulfides have a metallic luster, are moderately soft, and are noticeably heavy for their size. These minerals will not form in the presence of free oxygen. Under an oxygen-rich atmosphere, sulfide minerals tend to chemically weather to various oxide and hydroxide minerals.
Bornite is a copper iron sulfide mineral (Cu5FeS4). It's one of several economically significant copper ore minerals (others include chalcocite and chalcopyrite). On fresh, unweathered surfaces, bornite has a metallic copper-orange appearance. Fresh surfaces tarnish relatively quickly. Early-formed bornite tarnish is iridescent, with blues and purples and reds and greens, resulting in the nickname “peacock ore”. As the tarnish thickens, more blues and purples stand out. Late-stage bornite tarnish is a dark purplish-blue. The tarnish material is actually covellite (CuS). With weathering, oxidation, and breakdown, bornite converts to covellite and chalcocite.
Bornite is moderately soft (H=3), has no cleavage, and is noticeably heavy for its size.
This bornite sample comes from a copper mine in Poland. Mining targets a copper sulfide-rich horizon known as the "Kupferschiefer" (= "copper shale"). The unit is a thin (less than 1 meter thick), black shale horizon in the Permian of many parts of northern Europe - for example, Germany, Poland, and parts of Britain. The horizon is estimated to be present at the surface or in the subsurface over an area of at least 20,000 square kilometers.
Reported metallic minerals include chalcocite (Cu2S - copper sulfide), chalcopyrite (CuFeS2 - copper iron sulfide), bornite, pyrite (FeS2 - iron sulfide), galena (PbS - lead sulfide), sphalerite (ZnS - zinc sulfide), tetrahedrite (Cu12Sb4S13 - copper antimony sulfide), and others. Minor amounts of precious metals, such as gold and platinum-group elements, are also known.
The origin of the Kupferschiefer's mineralization has been explained by several hypotheses in the literature. Traditionally, this stratabound copper sulfide deposit was interpreted as having formed by metal sulfide precipitation on an ancient Permian seafloor in stagnant water with reducing conditions.
Subsequent investigations have demonstrated that metal-rich fluids have gone through the Kupferschiefer, plus some overlying and underlying rocks, and precipitated various sulfide minerals. Two pulses of sulfide mineralization have been identified: at around 149 Ma (Late Jurassic) and 53 Ma (Eocene). Suggested causative events for the mineralization are the breakup of Pangaea during the Mesozoic and the closure of the Tethys Sea during the early Tertiary (see Borg et al., 2012).
Stratigraphic context: unrecorded/undisclosed
Locality: Lubin Copper Mine, southwestern Poland
---------------------------------------
Photo gallery of bornite:
www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=727
---------------------------------------
Info. at:
de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Kupferschiefer?_x_...
---------------------------------------
Partly synthesized from:
Guilbert & Park (1986) - The Geology of Ore Deposits. 985 pp.
Borg et al. (2012) - An overview of the European Kupferschiefer Deposits. Society of Economic Geologists Special Publication 16: 455-486.
Fujifilm FinePix SL1000
Crossed-eyes 3D (stereoscopic) viewing: View the two photos cross-eyed until a third image appears in the middle, which will be in stereo 3D. The brain nicely synthesizes a composite image with realistic depth and sharpness. Then put your two hands in front of your face to cover the photos on the left and right so only the middle one remains in your sight.
Galena-calcite from Illinois, USA.
Silvery-gray = galena
Dull yellowish-brown = calcite
A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are over 5200 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates.
The sulfide minerals contain one or more sulfide anions (S-2). The sulfides are usually considered together with the arsenide minerals, the sulfarsenide minerals, and the telluride minerals. Many sulfides are economically significant, as they occur commonly in ores. The metals that combine with S-2 are mainly Fe, Cu, Ni, Ag, etc. Most sulfides have a metallic luster, are moderately soft, and are noticeably heavy for their size. These minerals will not form in the presence of free oxygen. Under an oxygen-rich atmosphere, sulfide minerals tend to chemically weather to various oxide and hydroxide minerals.
Galena is a lead sulfide mineral (PbS). It has a metallic luster, silvery-gray color, cubic crystals, cubic cleavage, is moderately soft, and has a very high specific gravity (it's very heavy for its size).
Galena is the most important lead ore mineral. It's principally found in hydrothermal vein systems and in Mississippi Valley-type deposits. Silver (Ag) can fall into the lead position as an impurity, sometimes in relatively high proportions. This results in argentiferous galena, (Pb,Ag)S.
Historically, lead from galena has been used as a gasoline additive, a paint ingredient, and for making bullets. Lead is also used to make various metal products, batteries, and radiation shielding.
The sample shown above is from a Mississippi Valley-type deposit in southern Illinois. Commonly abbreviated "MVT", Mississippi Valley-type deposits are named for a series of mineral deposits that occur in non-deformed platform sedimentary rocks along the Upper Mississippi River Valley, USA. Many specific minerals occur in MVT deposits, but are dominated by galena, sphalerite, barite, and fluorite. These minerals occur in caves and karst, paleokarst structures, in collapse fabrics, in pull-apart structures, etc. MVT deposits in America are mined as important, large sources of lead ore and zinc ore. The classic areas for MVT deposits are southern Illinois, the tristate area of Oklahoma-Missouri-Kansas, northern Kentucky, southwestern Wisconsin, and southeastern Missouri. The minerals are hydrothermal in origin and were precipitated from basinal brines that were flushed out to the edges of large sedimentary basins (e.g., the Illinois Basin and the Black Warrior Basin). In basin edge areas, the brines came into contact with Mississippian-aged carbonate rocks (limestone and dolostone), which caused mineralization. The brines were 15% to 25% salinity with temperatures of 50 to 200 degrees Celsius (commonly 100 to 150 degrees C). MVT mineralization usually occurs in limestone and dolostone but can also be hosted in shales, siltstones, sandstones, and conglomerates. Gangue minerals include pyrite, marcasite, calcite, aragonite, dolomite, siderite, and quartz. Up to 40 or 50 pulses of brine fluids are recorded in banding of mineral suites in MVT deposits (for example, sphalerite coatings in veins have a stratigraphy - each layer represents a pulse event). Each pulse of water was probably expelled rapidly - overpressurization and friction likely caused the water to heat up. Some bitumen (crystallized organic matter) can occur, which is an indication of the basinal origin of the brines. The presence of asphalt-bitumen indicates some hydrocarbon migration occurred. Some petroleum inclusions are found within fluorite crystals and petroleum scum occurs on fluorite crystals. MVT deposits are associated with oil fields and the temperature of mineral precipitation matches the petroleum window. The brines may simply have accompanied hydrocarbon fluids as they migrated updip.
The high temperatures of these basin periphery deposits wasn't necessarily influenced by igneous hydrothermal activity. Hot fluids can occur in basins that are deep enough for the geothermal gradient to be ~100 to 150 degrees Celsius. If a permeable conduit horizon is present in a succession of interbedded siliciclastic sedimentary rocks, migration of hot, deep basinal brines may be quick enough to get MVT deposit conditions at basin margins.
MVT deposits occur in the Upper Mississippi Valley of America as well as in northern Africa, Scandinavia, northwestern Canada, at scattered sites in Europe, and at some sites in the American Cordillera. Some of these occurrences are in deformed host rocks. MVT deposits have little to no precious metals - maybe a little copper (Cu). Mineralization is usually associated with limestone or dolostone in fracture fillings and vugs. Little host rock alteration has occurred - usually only dolomitization of limestones.
The age of the host rocks in the Mississippi Valley area varies - it ranges from Cambrian to Mississippian. Dating of mineralization has been difficult, but published ages indicate a near-latest Paleozoic to Mesozoic timing.
MVT deposits in the Upper Mississippi River area are often divided into three subtypes based on the dominant mineral: 1) lead-rich (galena dominated); 2) zinc-rich (sphalerite dominated); and 3) fluorite rich.
The crystalline galena-calcite specimen shown above is from the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District ("fluorspar" is a very old name for fluorite), which is an MVT fluoritic subtype. Fluorite and fluorite-rich rocks are mined for the fluorine, which is principally used by the chemical industry to make HF - hydrofluoric acid. Fluorite mineralization in the district occurred at about 277 Ma, during the Early Permian, according to one published study (Chesley et al., 1994). Another study concluded that fluorite mineralization was much later, during the Late Jurassic (see Symons, 1994).
This non-fluorite bearing sample is from the Annabel Lee Mine in southern Illinois. Sulfide, carbonate, silicate, sulfate, and halide minerals have been reported from the site (www.mindat.org/loc-3752.html).
Locality: sub-Rosiclaire Level in the Annabel Lee Mine, Hardin County, Illinois, USA
--------------------------------
Photo gallery of galena:
www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=1641
--------------------------------
Some info. on Mississippi Valley-type deposits was synthesized from:
Chesley et al. (1994) - Direct dating of Mississippi Valley-type mineralization: use of Sm-Nd in fluorite. Economic Geology 89: 1192-1199.
Symons (1994) - Paleomagnetism and the Late Jurassic genesis of the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar deposits. Economic Geology 89: 438-449.
Rakovan (2006) - Mississippi Valley-type deposits. Rocks & Minerals 81(January/February 2006): 69-71.
Fisher et al. (2013) - Fluorite in Mississippi Valley-type deposits. Rocks & Minerals 88(January/February 2013): 20-47.
Photo by Lloyd Thrap Photography
for Halo Media Group and modelshopstudio™
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
Lloyd Thrap's Public Portfolio
Facebook Lloyd-Thrap-Creative-Photography
1979
This was one of the first digital synthesized tuner. It was constructed with a little help from Pioneer. The massive 19 "aluminum front was a typical feature of the Phase Linear series. It looks very good to the famous amp line from Bob Carvers Phase Linear line. Now I'm looking for an amp.
-
Der 5100 II war seinerzeit einer der ersten Tuner mit einer digitalen Abstimmungstechnik. Mit etwas Hilfe von Pioneer wurde er entwickelt. Die solide 19" Front gehörte zum typischen Erscheinungsbild der Phase Linear Serie. In Set mit Bob Carvers sehr leistungsstarken Phase Linear Endverstärkern gibt es einen professionellen Look. Hat jemand noch einen Amp für mich ;-)
Sagrada Família, Barcelona, España.
El Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, conocido simplemente como la Sagrada Familia, es una basílica católica de Barcelona (España), diseñada por el arquitecto Antoni Gaudí. Iniciada en 1882, todavía está en construcción (noviembre de 2016). Es la obra maestra de Gaudí, y el máximo exponente de la arquitectura modernista catalana.
La Sagrada Familia es un reflejo de la plenitud artística de Gaudí: trabajó en ella durante la mayor parte de su carrera profesional, pero especialmente en los últimos años de su carrera, donde llegó a la culminación de su estilo naturalista, haciendo una síntesis de todas las soluciones y estilos probados hasta aquel entonces. Gaudí logró una perfecta armonía en la interrelación entre los elementos estructurales y los ornamentales, entre plástica y estética, entre función y forma, entre contenido y continente, logrando la integración de todas las artes en un todo estructurado y lógico.
La Sagrada Familia tiene planta de cruz latina, de cinco naves centrales y transepto de tres naves, y ábside con siete capillas. Ostenta tres fachadas dedicadas al Nacimiento, Pasión y Gloria de Jesús y, cuando esté concluida, tendrá 18 torres: cuatro en cada portal haciendo un total de doce por los apóstoles, cuatro sobre el crucero invocando a los evangelistas, una sobre el ábside dedicada a la Virgen y la torre-cimborio central en honor a Jesús, que alcanzará los 172,5 metros de altura. El templo dispondrá de dos sacristías junto al ábside, y de tres grandes capillas: la de la Asunción en el ábside y las del Bautismo y la Penitencia junto a la fachada principal; asimismo, estará rodeado de un claustro pensado para las procesiones y para aislar el templo del exterior. Gaudí aplicó a la Sagrada Familia un alto contenido simbólico, tanto en arquitectura como en escultura, dedicando a cada parte del templo un significado religioso.
The Expiatory Church of the Sagrada Familia, known simply as the Sagrada Familia, is a Roman Catholic basilica in Barcelona, Spain, designed by architect Antoni Gaudí. Begun in 1882, it is still under construction (November 2016). It is Gaudí's masterpiece and the greatest exponent of Catalan modernist architecture.
The Sagrada Familia is a reflection of Gaudí's artistic plenitude: he worked on it for most of his professional career, but especially in his later years, where he reached the culmination of his naturalistic style, synthesizing all the solutions and styles he had tried up to that point. Gaudí achieved perfect harmony in the interrelationship between structural and ornamental elements, between plasticity and aesthetics, between function and form, between content and container, achieving the integration of all the arts into a structured and logical whole. The Sagrada Familia has a Latin cross plan, five central naves, a three-aisled transept, and an apse with seven chapels. It boasts three façades dedicated to the Birth, Passion, and Glory of Jesus. When completed, it will have 18 towers: four at each portal, making a total of twelve for the apostles, four over the transept invoking the evangelists, one over the apse dedicated to the Virgin, and the central dome tower in honor of Jesus, which will reach 172.5 meters in height. The temple will have two sacristies next to the apse and three large chapels: the Assumption Chapel in the apse and the Baptism and Penance Chapels next to the main façade. It will also be surrounded by a cloister designed for processions and to isolate the temple from the exterior. Gaudí applied a highly symbolic content to the Sagrada Familia, both in architecture and sculpture, dedicating each part of the temple to a religious significance.
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultanahmet Camii) is an historical mosque in Istanbul. The mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. It was built from 1609 to 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasah and a hospice. While still used as a mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque has also become a popular tourist attraction.
The design of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is the culmination of two centuries of both Ottoman mosque and Byzantine church development. It incorporates some Byzantine elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect has ably synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour. It has one main dome, six minarets, and other eight secondary domes.
- Wikipedia -
Model: Sarah Montano.
Lloyd-Thrap-Creative-Photography
© 2010 2018 Lloyd Thrap Photography for Halo Media Group
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
Green Man (better known as Vertuminus).
"After seven months and nine sessions, He is fully alive and laughing merrily. I am amazed and blown away by how beautiful He is. I am so happy and so proud to bear this beautiful, beautiful piece on my body.....I feel like a walking work of art! I sing the praises of Jespah's talent and amazingness. I just can't believe how it looks. Never in my wildest imaginings could I have thought it would look like this. He is so alive, you can almost hear His deep rumbling laughter and the sound of His leaves rustling in the breeze."
~Jaimie
Ink by: Jespah
© 2007 Photo's by Lloyd Thrap for Halo Media Group
www.flickr.com/groups/790123@N20/
© 2010 Lloyd Thrap Photography for Halo Media Group
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
Oil on canvas with sequins: 161.6 x 156.2 cm.
Gino Severini was an Italian painter who synthesized the styles of Futurism and Cubism.
Severini began his painting career in 1900 as a student of Giacomo Balla, an Italian pointillist painter who later became a prominent Futurist. Stimulated by Balla’s account of the new painting in France, Severini moved to Paris in 1906 and met leading members of the French avant-garde, such as the Cubist painters Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso and the writer Guillaume Apollinaire. Severini continued to work in the pointillist manner—an approach that entailed applying dots of contrasting colors according to principles of optical science—until 1910, when he signed the Futurist painters’ manifesto.
The Futurists wanted to revitalize Italian art (and, as a consequence, all of Italian culture) by depicting the speed and dynamism of modern life. Severini shared this artistic interest, but his work did not contain the political overtones typical of Futurism. Whereas Futurists typically painted moving cars or machines, Severini usually portrayed the human figure as the source of energetic motion in his paintings. He was especially fond of painting nightclub scenes in which he evoked the sensations of movement and sound by filling the picture with rhythmic forms and cheerful, flickering colors. In Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin (1912), he retained the nightlife theme but incorporated the Cubist technique of collage (real sequins are fixed to the dancers’ dresses) and such nonsensical elements as a realistic nude riding a pair of scissors.
Only briefly, in wartime works such as Red Cross Train Passing a Village (1914), did Severini paint subjects that conformed to the Futurist glorification of war and mechanized power. Over the next few years, he turned increasingly to an idiosyncratic form of Cubism that retained decorative elements of pointillism and Futurism, as seen in the abstract painting Spherical Expansion of Light (Centrifugal) (1914).
About 1916 Severini embraced a more rigorous and formal approach to composition; instead of deconstructing forms, he wanted to bring geometric order to his paintings. His works from this period were usually still lifes executed in a Synthetic Cubist manner, which entailed constructing a composition out of fragments of objects. In portraits such as Maternity (1916), he also began to experiment with a Neoclassical figurative style, a conservative approach that he embraced more fully in the 1920s. Severini published a book, Du cubisme au classicisme (1921; “From Cubism to Classicism”), in which he discussed his theories about the rules of composition and proportion. Later in his career he created many decorative panels, frescoes, and mosaics, and he became involved in set and costume design for the theater. The artist’s autobiography, Tutta la vita di un pittore (“The Life of a Painter”), was published in 1946.
Client:: Tammy Anderson.
Location: Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico USA
Photo by: Lloyd Thrap.
Lloyd-Thrap-Creative-Photography
© 2010 Lloyd Thrap Photography for Halo Media Group
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
Istanbul, Blue Mosque
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii) is a historic mosque in Istanbul. The mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior.
It was built from 1609 to 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I. After the Peace of Zsitvatorok and the crushing loss in the 1604-1618 war with Persia, Sultan Ahmet I, decided to build a big mosque in Istanbul to reassert Ottoman power. The mosque was built on the site of the palace of the Byzantine emperors, in front of the basilica Ayasofya (at that time, the primary imperial mosque in Istanbul) and the hippodrome, a site of significant symbolic meaning as it dominated the city skyline from the south.
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque has one main dome, six minarets, and eight secondary domes. The design is the culmination of two centuries of Ottoman mosque development. It incorporates some Byzantine Christian elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect, Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour.
The courtyard is about as large as the mosque itself and is surrounded by a continuous vaulted arcade (revak). It has ablution facilities on both sides. The central hexagonal fountain is small relative to the courtyard.
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is first one of the two mosques in Turkey that have six minarets. When the number of minarets was revealed, the Sultan was criticized for being presumptuous, since this was the same minarets number as at the mosque of the Ka'aba in Mecca. He overcame this problem by ordering a seventh minaret to be built at the Mecca mosque.
Four minarets stand at the corners of the Blue Mosque. Each of these fluted, pencil-shaped minarets has three balconies with stalactite corbels, while the two others at the end of the forecourt only have two balconies. The muezzin or prayer caller used to climb a narrow spiral staircase five times a day to announce the call to prayer.
All of time and space; everywhere and anywhere; every star that ever was. Where do you want to start?
I just realised - the sentence in the back kinda fits:
If the sky was synthesized, you'd probably know...
Brian Eno, MGMT
Halloween.
Model: Erin Bell.
© 2015 2020 Photo by Lloyd Thrap Photography
for Halo Media Group and modelshopstudio™
All works subject to applicable copyright laws. This intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted , published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Lloyd Thrap and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof.
No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright.
Lloyd Thrap's Public Portfolio
Facebook Lloyd-Thrap-Creative-Photography