title: "The Lady Vanity Takes A Break From Mirroring To Dream Of An Unusual Garden"
original 11" x 14" painting (presently available)
© 2019 Lise Winne
I have a lot of catching up to do! I have been painting and uploading a lot of art recently, and this is just one of them. More to come!
This piece is in the millefleurs tradition (and is part of my millefleurs series HERE). Millefleurs is a French word and means "many flowers". Alternatively it can mean a million flowers, but most art cannot hope to have that number of flowers all in one piece!
Millefleurs works of art became popular during the Renaissance. The most well known are The Lady and the Unicorn series and The Hunt of the Unicorn series.
Renaissance art is imbued with a lot of symbolism.
The fact that The Lady Vanity is small relative to the songbirds near her head and the foliage, is intentional, for instance. It is meant to be an allegory of vanity.
In the usual style of Renaissance art, she is dressed in Renaissance attire, with a cone hat (hennin).
The white bird is a Sapientes Pacis bird, and translates from Latin into Wise Peace bird. They are a species of my own invention, started during this painting from my blue period series. When I draw from my own imagination, such as when I'm gallery sitting and have no materials to reference for a drawing, these kinds of birds keep popping up. I had to decide what they were, and when looking at them, I decided that they had to be related to peace (as they are a bit dove-like, only bigger), and since they were always examining or questioning something in my art creations, I felt they had to be wise too.
Please note: Sapientes is a different word from Serpientes (tongue-in-cheek reference directed at a person who uses allegories and metaphors to hurt others, rather than to help humanity).
Millefleurs represent plenty, freedom from poverty and hunger, and luxury. For me, painting in this style is a backlash and a rebellion against modernist traditions, particularly depicting landscapes, for example, in bright orange and purple, simply rendered broad brush-stroke paintings with boxy buildings and with very little detail or the natural world in them. Why is this the acceptable norm for getting into shows?
If I'm going to bother spending my time making art, I want to either make art with statements and meaning, or art that is lush and full of nature. This piece hopefully has a little of both.
One reason I like working in the millefleurs tradition is that it affords me "authentic expression". It was the first style of art that brought tears to my eyes (during my first trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art). After that, I wanted to stop pandering to modernist tastes and to try to give something to the world that might last past the present painting traditions.
William Morris who I highly respect (and see quite a bit of in myself), went "the millefleurs way" too in the 1800s, long after the Renaissance. If he can do it, so can I, yes?
It won't get me in the trendiest places, but customers like it, and they help me going in this direction.
If you find you cannot live without this piece (lol), you can contact me by e-mail (sales(att)LiseWinne.com). It has a gold frame. Or you can purchase an archival print, wall hangings, totes, pillows, etc, HERE.
Here are pictures and products (for possibilities). This first is a framed print:
the framed prints are available here:
go HERE for a framed print
This frame is under the brown category (found in the drop-down). It is #CUL7
and the mat is manor white ... or pick your own frame.
For the depiction on this blog, the print is roughly a 16" x 20" print.
For the depiction on this blog, the print is roughly a 16" x 20" print.
note: the watermark in the right hand corner will not appear in the actual purchased product
This is what it looks like as a canvas print:
canvas prints available HERE
choose the size.
Note the size here on this blog is the smallest.
Don't forget to look at it in 3-D to see if you like how everything lines up on the edges.
Other products:
throw pillows HERE
use this color green or another that suits your fancy
large round beach towel: purchase HERE
As a tote bag. Purchase HERE
Thank you, as always, for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment