NUANCES IN STYLE – Château de Moissac III

A palette of changing hues : ochre, sand, grey and rose…..

http://chateaudemoissac.fr/nuances_in_style.html

LONDON INSPIRATION

Walk together into this impressive London home with high ceilings and beautiful windows. I think that we can’t find a better example for classic English coziness of this 19th-century house. Here lives the interior designer Rose Uniacke. Above a Sigmar Polke painting and 17th-century Mughal rug in the study exemplify Uniacke’s passion for well-chosen pieces. Belove a portrait of Roy Orbison by the Polish artist Wilhelm Sasnal in the entry.

Rose has an impressive style, built through her long work as an antiques dealer and interior designer, lived in England and France. She cleverly mixes and combines elegance, comfort, visual interesting and incredibly beautiful furniture.

The entrance hall features a cantilevered staircase carved from Portland stone and a George IV giltwood mirror.

Uniacke’s kitchen.

Uniacke’s bedroom with 17th-century northern European mirrors and a 19th-century French chandelier.

The large marble tub, a George III armchair and a painted Regency chair in the master bath.

The indoor pool made from lava stone.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/02/17/t-magazine/17well-rose.html

http://www.roseuniacke.com/

PARIS, MON AMOUR

Eiffel Tower.

Orsey Museum – 62 Rue de Lille.

Saint Louis des Invalides Church.

Louvre.

Louvre interior.

Arc de Triomphe interior, “La Marseillaise”.

Arc de Triomphe stairs.

Le Sacre Coeur.

Grand Palais colonnade.

Grand Palais dom.

THE VATICAN

Pope Benedict XVI holds up a candle at the window of his private apartment to celebrate the unveiling of the nativity in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

Vatican City at night.

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), officially known in Italian as Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as Saint Peter’s Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within Vatican City. Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St Peter’s is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and remains one of the largest churches in the world. While it is neither the mother church of the Roman Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, Saint Peter’s is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites. It has been described as “holding a unique position in the Christian world” and as “the greatest of all churches of Christendom”.

In Roman Catholic tradition, the basilica is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, also according to tradition, the first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the papal succession. Tradition and some historical evidence hold that Saint Peter’s tomb is directly below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St Peter’s since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century. Construction of the present basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.

Saint Peter’s Basilica, the apse, showing the Catedra of St. Peter supported by four Doctors of the Church, and the Glory, designed by Bernini.

Wide angle View of the altar inside St. Peter’s Basilica.

Michelangelo’s Pietà.

Details of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The altar.

Vaulted ceiling of the Vatican Museum.

Vatican Museum.

Staircase in the Vatican Museum.

Interior of the Sistina Chappel – Vatican.

Detail of the wall decoration. Fresco of Sistina Chapel.

The ceiling of the Sistina Chapel.

Vatican Black & White Tile.

Pope Benedictus XVI –  His native house in Marktl on the Inn river – Baviera.

The young Ratzinger. Goodbye Pope!!!

Source from the web.

 

THE FRAMED STORY

My journey to  Amsterdam was exciting. This old lady is very intriguing with its impressive architecture, lovely canals crossing the city, great shopping, and friendly people. I spent a week going around as much as possible. There is something for every traveller’s taste here, whether you prefer culture and history, serious partying, or just the relaxing charm of a classic European city. In the South district you find the Museum Quarter and the Vondelpark, the most popular park here. I was walking around the park, when I found this fantastic frame (here below) . How can people throw away such lovely things! Without hesitation, I picked it up and it was a real challenge to go through custom to bring it to Italy. Once at the Eindhoven Airport, it was like smuggling hot stuff.

This kind of ornate antique frames are not usually made of carved wood. Instead, the frames have a wooden base with an ornate plaster veneer added to the top of the wood. The finish is then added to the entire frame so it appears to be a single carved piece.

Step 1

Press plastic clay into an undamaged section of the frame that matches the damaged section. Carefully peel the clay off the frame and roll the edges so that it will hold liquid plaster. The purpose of this step is to make a mold.

Step 2

Mix the plaster and pour it into the mold carefully trying to avoid air bubbles. Let it dry and then remove it from the mold. You now have a duplicate of the detail that was damaged.

Step 3

Sand the rough edges and the excess of the casting until the pieces fits into the spot that was damaged.

Step 4

Paint the entire piece of plaster with gesso. This will seal it and prepare it for the final finish.

Step 5

Glue your plaster segment into place.

Step 6

Paint or gild your final finish so that the new segment matches the original color and finish. Now the frame is finished and ready to be rehung!!!!

FLEA MARKET IN AMSTERDAM

Noordermarkt, the historical Jordaan district

Open: Monday mornings (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. (near the Farmers Market)

On Mondays and Saturdays, the charming Noordermarkt square hosts a flea market, which is rather reminiscent of a car boot sale at first sight. But in fact, there is more to it on closer inspection. While there are some antique stalls, also expect to find interesting furniture in particular 20th Century chairs, second-hand clothes (sometimes a matter of picking through a bundle on the ground), a specialist button stall, toys, bric-a-brac, silverware, books, the odd painting and war memorabilia fabrics, records, second-hand clothing etc. The neighboring Westerstraat market, also on Monday mornings, ensures a lively and bustling atmosphere.

 

Wicker chairs.

Provencal pottery originally used to conserve duck fat.

Majolica asparagus plates and tray.

Globes de mariage.

Ice skates.

Vintage oil paintings.

Here below, what I finally decided to buy at the flea market.

A silver toothpicks dispenser.

Twin- set of an English Chinese cookie tins.

Old lithography.

ROOM TEMPERATURE

Above: one painting by Italian artist Carlo Cola. The Gallerist’s Room

My dear, I knew Carlo Cola time ago and I was vey impressed by his art. I literally fell in love with his paintings. That’s why I want to share with you this post reblogged from Extraordinart. Enjoy it!!!!!

Casanova’s Studio

CARLO COLA

When we first met Carlo Cola In Forlimpopoli, a small town in the heartland of Italy, he welcomed us into his house, a very old osteria (wine shop) he personally restored from scratch and then furnished and painted it with contrasting, bright colors. All of a sudden our heart was warmed by a sort of Barragan’s atmosphere mixed with Indian furniture and carpets from Morocco, with their loud patterns quietly absorbed by the wisdom of antique, crumbling walls. The house – scattered on three floors with a garden, a pond, a terrace overlooking the town’s roofs, and a secret room hidden behind a rotating wall – was just an anticipation because Carlo Cola’s space is not limited to the physical world but continues into a Borgesian ‘Biblioteca de Babel’, with endless rooms painted on large canvas. His technique is vigorous, as if to represent a room Cola required the same energy to actually build it. Once he starts, nothing stops him. The painting imposes absolute compliance and discipline on him. At the end the artist is exhausted and doesn’t touch a brush for weeks, even months.

“It’s not a matter of waiting for the right idea or something like that,”  he says. “If I don’t feel to paint, I simply don’t. I haven’t an agent who pushes me to produce a certain ‘amount’ of paintings. I want to be free. To paint is a natural process for me. I always did it, as far as I remember. My learning curve has not been an easy one, and I’m convinced an artist has to face frustration and overcome many difficulties before reaching its plateau. It’s not a matter of inspiration. It’s hard work, mainly, that gives you full control over what you are doing; this is what, ultimately, leads you to master your own technique.”

Standing in front of one of his “rooms” can be hazardous, at times: the risk is to be sucked into the gravitational field of the painting like Alice in Wonderland without ever being able to come out. Under such spell you start moving around this new medium, breathing the oily fragrance of  its colors, respectfully tiptoeing for the fear of breaking some depicted objects. May be you are simply afraid to wake up, blinded by the yellow light of an infinite afternoon. You search for hints, but find none because every room is inhabited (apart from you). Yet, you know that notable people once lived and worked right here, and your journey through space turns into one through time. Carlo Cola, each time, pays a tribute to these people’s lives, stepping aside with such grace you almost forget about him. Cola’s heart is spacious as much as the rooms and the absence he’s painting. He lets you stay on your own, so that you are finally able to get in touch with somebody who’s not here anymore, but somewhere else for sure. That’s extraordinary, in terms of generosity. It has something to do – if you excuse demodé idealism – with the Immortality of Art.

Marguerite Yourcenar’s Studio

The Indian Doctor’s Room

The Archeological Museum’s Patio in palermo (Sicily)

Giacomo Puccini’s Studio

The English Writer’s Room

The Soul of the Room

Devonshire

Virginia’s Bedroom