A Little Stitchin' and a Little Tudor

 Gentle Friends, I've made a good start on the 9th Part of "For the Birds". This last piece is called "The Last Ripe Berries."  Here's a snaperoo...

... sorry about how wonky it is but as per usual I took the snap with the piece still trapped in the old Q-snap.

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Over the weekend I got us tickets to see the exhibition at the Legion of Honor called " The Tudors: Art and majesty in Renaissance England."  

"Elizabeth I' by Nicholas Hilliard 1592

This painting is on loan from Hardwick Hall... It's an enormous painting and just gorgeous... notice the elaborate kirtle or underskirt a gift from Elizabeth Shrewsbury, or as she is better known as Bess of Harwick, the richest woman in England after Queen Elizabeth I.  The exhibition is here until the 24th of this month so if you're near San Francisco I would highly recommend getting over to the Legion of Honor for a view.  You do need tickets but they can be gotten on the Internet.

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Thanks for stopping by do stop again.  Stay safe!!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds1

edgar

Visiting the Legion of honor - Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn

Gentle Friends, one of the treats this spring here int he city is the loan of a magnificent painting by Raphael - and after we had finished up with the de la Renta show in Golden Gate Park we headed across town to....

... the Legion of Honor.... it is a single piece on loan from the Galleria Borghese in Rome, where I first saw it while on vacation a few years ago.  It is the first time it has ever been on loan in the US and has been here since January and will be leaving next week, so we had to make sure to make time and see it before it left.

Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn - ca. 1505-1506

Oil on canvass transferred from panel

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Here's some info from the exhibit....

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The painting was the end of the long gallery full of lovely things... like...

"The Crucifixion" - Matteo di Giovanni  ca. 1490

Tempera on panel

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  Of course we had to visit the restored rooms....

... and of course the lovely Salon Dore from the Hotel de la Tremoille on the rue Saint-Dominique in Paris...

... and gawk at some of the beautiful silver things.....

.... after leaving the museum we walked out into the park and I got this shot.......

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On the way home we drove through the Castro and I spotted someone carrying a bunch of lilacs...

 I had to have some....

.... and the house was filled with their intoxicating aroma......

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That wraps up the long Easter weekend, I  hope you enjoyed everything.  Thank you for stopping by, do stop again!!  have a super weekend!!

Take care,

edgar

Visiting the Legion of Honor Part 3 - Some of the Permanent Collection.....

Gentle Friends.....after viewing the temporary exhibit "High Style' we headed upstairs to the permanent collections to have a look.  There are some gorgeous pieces here and it was just fun  seeing some old friends.........

... you know me an how I enjoy religiously inspired art, well here is one of the pieces I could stand and look at all day long....  it's by the master of the Retable of the Reyes Catolicos, "The Annuciation" Spanish last quarter of the 15th century - oil on pine panel.

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Bartolomeo di Giovanni "The Adoration of the Magi" - Florentine ca. 1490 - oil on panel

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Master of the St. Lucy Legend "Virgin and Child Enthroned with Angels" Flemish ca 1575 - oil and tempera on panel

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The LoH has a couple of really wonderful "rooms" within the collection......  

 Here is the didactic panel.......

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In the area of the 18th century collections are furniture and decorative pieces....

... The portrait is of an unknown Gentleman by Nicolas de Largilliere, 1710 oil on canvas.  The Commode it hangs over is French made in Paris ca 1755 attributed to Joseph Baumhauer - Marquetry of bois satine (bloodwood) and kingwood, gilt bronze, ebony and marble.  The clock has figures of Study and Philosophy, made in Paris ca 1785-90 by Renacle-Nicolas Sotiau of patinated and gilt bronze, marble, enameled metal and glass.

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There is also a large gallery of piece by Auguste Rodin.....

"The Three Shades" ca 1880

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Here is another room that was recently finished and installed.....  The Salon Dore

.... and the didactic panel..

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I wrap up this last post on our visit with this painting, by John Spencer Stanhope, "Love and the Maiden" British - 1877 - tempera, gold paint, gold leaf on canvas.  Here's a great piece of info from the museum.......

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There are many, many more wonderful things to see in the museum and if you are in San Francisco and have a free afternoon I would highly recommend this as a destination!!!!   I hope you have enjoyed all the snaps and a little look at some Treasures here by the Bay.
 Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Visiting Legion of Honor Part 2 - The Temporary Exhibit

Gentle Friends,  after our breakfast and walk-a-bout,we headed for the museum.......the Legion of Honor is a lovely classically inspired building just full of beautiful things to see.....

....the temporary exhibit we had come to see.......

......  the gowns in the exhibit were spectacular and so worth the visit!!!  Here we go...........

Gilbert Adrian, better known as just Adrian when designing for films, "The Tigress"

Evening ensemble, 1949 - black,gold and orange silk taffeta chine and gold lame....

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... I lost the info about these two pieces, but seem to remember the one of the left was from 1960 or so and the right one from the late 1980's (I do not care for the one on the right)

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This spectacular gown......

Charles James, "Four-leaf Clover" evening gown, 1953 - Duchesse satin, lace and silk Shantung

...close up of the lace overlay......

....and the back of the gown.......

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another lovely gown by......

Charles James - "Ball Gown" 1951 - Ivory Silk Satin - was a gown with four poufs reinterpreting the Victorian bustle...  the bodice looked very tight and not that comfortable to wear....

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This gown was one of the show stopper pieces of the exhibit.....

another Charles James creation called "Tree" Ball Gown 1953 - Dark Pink Silk Taffeta with red, pink and white nylon tulle......

.... here's the back of the gown...

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This ensemble was worn by Ava Gardner in the film "The Barefoot Contessa" 1954.....

Designed by Sorelle Fontana - 1954 - Pink Duchesse Silk Satin, black velvet applique with pearlescent and iridescent sequins and beads.

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Two earlier gowns......

................the one on the left is by J. Suzanne Talbot ca. 1925 - Rust silk crepe with gold, silver and white embroidery.  The one on the right is by Jean Patou ca. 1927 Ivory silk twill with a self-fabric belt.  The Cloche hat is ca. 1923 and is beige glazed linen with self-fabric band.

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Here's a much earlier gown from the House of Worth......

Jean Philippe Worth - Evening Dress 1907-10 - Cream silk Satin, silk tulle, and lavender silk chiffon embroidered with rhinestones, pearls and crystal beads.

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Arthur Silver - from Liberty & Co  - 1900-1915 - silk brocade woven in peacock pattern

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Callot Soeurs (The Callot Sisters) - Two Evening Ensembles ca. 1913 - 

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Elsa Schiaparelli - "Evening Dress" - Summer 1937 - Ivory crepe-backed silk patterned in multicoloured butterflies - with matching umbrella

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Madeleine Vionnet "Evening Ensemble" ca 1935 - magenta silk crepe

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Left - Yves Saint Laurent - "Refrain" cocktail dress - Spring/Summer 1958- White silk surah printed with grey and black pebble pattern

Right - Cristobal Balenciaga - Dress - Autumn/Winter 1957 - Black silk crepe

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There were quite a few other pieces in the Exhibit, but this post is getting, or gotten really long so I'll wrap it up. Do stop by tomorrow for the final Part 3 of our visit to the LoH.

Take care,

edgar

Some Weekend Stuff

Gentle Friend we had a lovely weekend here by the Bay.  It was bright and sunny and although chilly not nearly as cold as the past week had been.  We decided to change things up a bit after our usual grocery shopping Saturday morning.  After unloading the car we headed on over to the Legion of Honor, located at Lands End in Lincoln Park....

What got us over there was the temporary exhibition 

"Royal treasures from the Louvre: Louis XIV to Marie Antoinette."

We knew time was running out (The show closes in a couple of weeks) - we had talked about going for a while.  It was a gorgeous show with lots a beautiful things to see - and so worth the visit!!  We walked around the grounds afterward - as they are so pretty....  here are a couple of snaps...

......  looking toward the Golden Gate - lots of sailing going in the bright sunshine that typified Saturdays weather.

Looking in the other direction across the golf course we could look out to the pacific Ocean.  It was a lovely visit and I am really happy that we made the effort to get there before they packed the Royal "bric-a-brac" up and sent it back to France.

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Yesterday I baked up a tasty coffee cake...  a "Rich Cranberry Coffee Cake" to be precise..

The recipe I found on line over at Taste of Home.  I made two little changes, I added and extra 1/2 Cup of cranberries and deleted the powder sugar on the top - I did not think that the powdered sugar added anything to the finished cake except make it look a bit dusty!!

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On the stitching front I worked a bit on Mary Hutton, and will get a snap up tomorrow.

That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks again for stopping by, do stop again!

take care,

edgar

Everyone is so Thoughtful

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts,
comments and emails it means so much to Rico and me.

It is so hard to read them - every time I tried yesterday - I could read about three comments and start sniveling all over again. Today I am up to about 6 and the snivels start. I think by the end of the weekend I should be able to read through them all at once and then take a breath. It does seem so futile to loose it each time I start to think about her...... my sweet little dog could not have been more loved or spoiled - heaven knows she ran our house with an iron paw!!! For example when ever The Peach was sitting on a pillow, it didn't matter which pillow, on the sofa, if Hunny wanted it she would sort of scooch in there and just nuzzle away or just stand and stare at The Peach until she moved off and jumped down, and then Hunnylicious would flop down on her ready made warm spot. She was a total cuckoo about the puppy beds doing the same thing to Pete - so she could get the warm spot in there - boy she was sure pushy!!

I have hardly put needle to linen in the past few days.
I will have something on Monday I am sure.

Last night the flickers were "Laura" - 1944 - a super movie starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Vincent Price, Clifton Webb and Judith Anderson. A great movie and I would highly recommend it if you have not seen it. This was followed by a really good movie "Knight Without Armour" - 1937 - starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat.
Very entertaining and worth a look.

On Wednesday we did get out of the house and to the Legion of Honor to view "Artistic Luxury" an exhibition of beautiful objects from Faberge, Tiffany and Lalique. We were there when they opened the gates and even though there was quite a few others waiting we hustled up and got into the exhibition space and had the whole show to ourselves for almost 45 mins. The temporary space they continue to use at the LoH is very small. This show the pieces are not very large as most of it is gorgeous jewelry and small decorative things so you need to be able to get near the cases to see the things. With nobody else there it was very easy to see everything close up and not feel the crush of a crowd. Here is one of the pieces -


The Danish Palaces Egg - 1890 - Gift from Alexander III to Marie Fyodorovna.

The show was really worth it and I would recommend that if you are planning to go - go during the week and get there early - as It does get very crowded on the weekends.

Thank you all for your support!! Do come again -

Take care,
edgar