Please let us know if there's something we've missed!
Flaming June
Frederic Leighton, 1895 ©Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Monday, 21 November 2016
Lots to See and Do
Please let us know if there's something we've missed!
Flaming June
Frederic Leighton, 1895 ©Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Wednesday, 17 August 2016
More Arts and Crafts Delights During a Visit to Italy. Part 2 of 2: Rome
A few more pictures and a bit more information on WMSC member Gianna Wichelow's summer visit to Italy.
I didn't plan to find anything of an Arts and Crafts nature while in Italy; that wasn't in the plans. But when I got to Rome, just a bit of googling resulted in me deciding to carve out some time to visit two promising locations.
Just as Florence has its English church, St. Mark's, so Rome has its American church, St. Paul's Within the Walls (Episcopal), noted for being the first Protestant church built in Rome. Designed by George Edmund Street in Gothic Revival Style, it opened in 1880 and features- wait for it - a stunning set of mosaics by Edward Burne-Jones!
Which is all very exciting until I got there and found out that the murals were OUT FOR REPAIR (estimate time: a year) and so they'd hung printed screens to approximate the look of the mosaics, which I thought was very good of the chuch, but I wanted to see the real thing! Well, I guess I'll have to go back when they're in place once more! You can see pictures of the real things here, on the church's website.
And now this, straight from Wikipedia:
Burne-Jones designed cartoons which he sent to Venice, together with specifications for the colours to be used. The Venice and Murano Glass and Mosaic Company mounted tesserae onto the cartoons, and the resulting assemblies were then installed in the church. The selection of colours, based on sample tiles sent to England by the company, was a collaboration between Burne-Jones and William Morris. Burne-Jones did not travel to Italy to supervise the work, instead sending his assistant, Thomas Rooke. There are four Burne-Jones mosaics. The Annunciation and The Tree of Life, both completed in 1894, are over successive arches of the chancel, leading towards the apse, whose semi-dome displays Christ Enthroned in the Heavenly Jerusalem, completed in 1885. The fourth mosaic, known as The Earthly Paradise or The Church Militant, lower down on the wall of the apse, was completed in 1907 by Rooke, after Burne-Jones's death.
My second point of interest was the Quartiere Coppedè, also known as Rome's fantasy neighbourhood. Okay, this is a little crazy. Architect Gino Coppede was basically given carte blanche and he had fun with it, erecting the buildings between 1913 and 1927. You can read more about it in this New York Times article from 1997, "Rome's Mischevious Architect". My pictures don't do it justice (these do) but you can get an idea of the jumble of styles, all exuberantly justaposed, from Medieval to Baroque, Ancient Greek to Art Deco. Once you go under the massive arch that welcomes you, you'll be in the Piazza Mincia with its ornate frog fountain... it's just gorgeous, fun and untamed, and, not surprisingly horror film director Dario Argento has filmed some of his movies here. The decoration is remarkable, and certainly elements of Art Deco and Art Nouveau feature prominently. Morris may not have thought much of it, but I think it's worth a visit for your next Roman holiday.
I didn't plan to find anything of an Arts and Crafts nature while in Italy; that wasn't in the plans. But when I got to Rome, just a bit of googling resulted in me deciding to carve out some time to visit two promising locations.
Just as Florence has its English church, St. Mark's, so Rome has its American church, St. Paul's Within the Walls (Episcopal), noted for being the first Protestant church built in Rome. Designed by George Edmund Street in Gothic Revival Style, it opened in 1880 and features- wait for it - a stunning set of mosaics by Edward Burne-Jones!
Which is all very exciting until I got there and found out that the murals were OUT FOR REPAIR (estimate time: a year) and so they'd hung printed screens to approximate the look of the mosaics, which I thought was very good of the chuch, but I wanted to see the real thing! Well, I guess I'll have to go back when they're in place once more! You can see pictures of the real things here, on the church's website.
And now this, straight from Wikipedia:
Burne-Jones designed cartoons which he sent to Venice, together with specifications for the colours to be used. The Venice and Murano Glass and Mosaic Company mounted tesserae onto the cartoons, and the resulting assemblies were then installed in the church. The selection of colours, based on sample tiles sent to England by the company, was a collaboration between Burne-Jones and William Morris. Burne-Jones did not travel to Italy to supervise the work, instead sending his assistant, Thomas Rooke. There are four Burne-Jones mosaics. The Annunciation and The Tree of Life, both completed in 1894, are over successive arches of the chancel, leading towards the apse, whose semi-dome displays Christ Enthroned in the Heavenly Jerusalem, completed in 1885. The fourth mosaic, known as The Earthly Paradise or The Church Militant, lower down on the wall of the apse, was completed in 1907 by Rooke, after Burne-Jones's death.
My second point of interest was the Quartiere Coppedè, also known as Rome's fantasy neighbourhood. Okay, this is a little crazy. Architect Gino Coppede was basically given carte blanche and he had fun with it, erecting the buildings between 1913 and 1927. You can read more about it in this New York Times article from 1997, "Rome's Mischevious Architect". My pictures don't do it justice (these do) but you can get an idea of the jumble of styles, all exuberantly justaposed, from Medieval to Baroque, Ancient Greek to Art Deco. Once you go under the massive arch that welcomes you, you'll be in the Piazza Mincia with its ornate frog fountain... it's just gorgeous, fun and untamed, and, not surprisingly horror film director Dario Argento has filmed some of his movies here. The decoration is remarkable, and certainly elements of Art Deco and Art Nouveau feature prominently. Morris may not have thought much of it, but I think it's worth a visit for your next Roman holiday.
Some Arts and Crafts Delights During a Visit to Italy. Part 1 of 2: Florence
WMSC member Gianna Wichelow spent June in Florence and Rome... and on her travels found a few exciting spots that she recommends for future trips if you're an admirer of Morris and his circle. Here are a few photographs:
St. Mark's English Church, Florence, was founded by the Reverend Charles Tooth, and its current site (a 15th-century palazzo) was purchased in 1880. John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, a second-wave Pre-Raphaelite and uncle/teacher to Evelyn de Morgan, designed and created the wall and ceiling decorations at his own expense, with stencil designs by George Frederick Bodley. The church was active by 1881, and the premises were enlarged by the purchase of the site next door. The striking paintings inside the church are by mostly unidentified Italian artists. William Holman Hunt lost his young wife in Florence, where she is buried. He set her wedding ring into the stem of a chalice he designed for the church. The terrible flooding of the Arno in 1966 damaged the lower part of the stencilled walls, now covered up.
Stanhope had close connections to Edward Burne-Jones and George Frederic Watts. And his home, Sandroyd, was designed by Philip Webb, whose only previous house design up to that point had been William Morris's Red House.
The church remains very active and is a warm and welcoming place, featuring opera performances and lots of visiting choirs. But whatever your interest, I urge you to visit it if you're in Florence.
The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum has a stunning exhibition on, "Tra Arte e Moda," which explores the links and inspirations between art and fashion, artists and designers. This is an outstanding collection of ideas and objects, and one of the display cases featured examples of esthetic dress. Photographs of Jane Morris, William's wife, were taken by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (and others) to inspire his paintings, and those paintings helped inspire a new, looser form of dress which Liberty helped popularize.
St. Mark's English Church, Florence, was founded by the Reverend Charles Tooth, and its current site (a 15th-century palazzo) was purchased in 1880. John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, a second-wave Pre-Raphaelite and uncle/teacher to Evelyn de Morgan, designed and created the wall and ceiling decorations at his own expense, with stencil designs by George Frederick Bodley. The church was active by 1881, and the premises were enlarged by the purchase of the site next door. The striking paintings inside the church are by mostly unidentified Italian artists. William Holman Hunt lost his young wife in Florence, where she is buried. He set her wedding ring into the stem of a chalice he designed for the church. The terrible flooding of the Arno in 1966 damaged the lower part of the stencilled walls, now covered up.
Stanhope had close connections to Edward Burne-Jones and George Frederic Watts. And his home, Sandroyd, was designed by Philip Webb, whose only previous house design up to that point had been William Morris's Red House.
The church remains very active and is a warm and welcoming place, featuring opera performances and lots of visiting choirs. But whatever your interest, I urge you to visit it if you're in Florence.
The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum has a stunning exhibition on, "Tra Arte e Moda," which explores the links and inspirations between art and fashion, artists and designers. This is an outstanding collection of ideas and objects, and one of the display cases featured examples of esthetic dress. Photographs of Jane Morris, William's wife, were taken by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (and others) to inspire his paintings, and those paintings helped inspire a new, looser form of dress which Liberty helped popularize.
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Fall into Morris
The two remaining events for the year are a much-anticipated talk by wonderful William Whitla at the Toronto Reference Library, on Morris's utopian News from Nowhere, and the annual holiday dinner, of which members will have received information in their latest mailling. Get all the details on our future events here.
Speaking of members... it’s time to renew your WMSC membership for 2016 and enjoy all the activities planned for the year, including a stained-glass tour, the annual birthday celebration (including cake!) and a special one-day symposium. Memberships run from January to December of each year.
Not yet a member? Join us here! Remember, members get priority booking for trips and other events that require registration and have limited numbers.
Photos by Lera Kotsyuba
Friday, 27 February 2015
Here's a tip to Keeping Warm - Start Making Summer Plans!
Well, that's one good tip anyway. And speaking of making summer plans, under our "OF INTEREST" button above, we list exhibitions and other items of Morris-related interest that are happening here and around the world.
Keep checking back or follow/like us on Facebook to get all the news that will help you plan your travels, and if you hear of anything we haven't got listed, please leave a comment or e-mail us!
Keep checking back or follow/like us on Facebook to get all the news that will help you plan your travels, and if you hear of anything we haven't got listed, please leave a comment or e-mail us!
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