Heart Matters: The Amazing Benefits of The ‘Miracle Molecule’

September 27, 2016September 27, 2016 / ginnyburges / 1 Comment

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ~ Hippocrates

Welcome to the third and final installment of my ‘Heart Matters’ posts. I’d like to start by asking you two questions:

Is it a priority for you to protect yourself from age and lifestyle related disease?

Would you like to age slowly and be able to keep fit and healthy, with plenty of energy and optimal vitality to live your life to the full, regardless of how old you are?

If the answer is yes, then it’s crucial to pay attention to your cardio vascular system. Your cardiovascular system delivers vital oxygen and nutrients via your blood throughout sixty thousand miles of blood vessel network to nearly 100 trillion cells that make up the human body.

In my second post on Heart Matters I covered some sobering statistics about cardio vascular disease. To summarize: the WHO cite cardio vascular disease as the leading cause of mortality, responsible for more than 50% of deaths in the western world – killing more people than cancer, diabetes and prescription drugs combined.

1998 Nobel Prize for Medicine

Dr. Louis Ignarro, distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at UCLA School of Medicine is a co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Medicine. He spent over two decades researching cardio vascular health, which lead to the discovery that Nitric Oxide (NO) is the master signalling molecule of the cardio vascular system.

The wide-ranging health benefits of Nitric Oxide was such a ground-breaking and important discovery that scientists dubbed it THE MIRACLE MOLECULE.

It is the human body that is the real miracle however, and when it has enough of the right potent nutrition it can begin to regain balance and achieve optimum health.

Nitric Oxide

Nitric Oxide is a gas that is produced naturally by the body, in the single cell that lines the entire inside of our blood vessels, known as the ENDOTHELIUM. It is also produced in the thyroid. Up until our twenties our bodies produce 100% of Nitric Oxide (NO), but every decade thereafter this production slows significantly, causing a hardening and thickening of the arteries and build-up of fatty material – plaque.

Left unchecked this can lead to heart-attack, stroke, vascular dementia and other illness. Smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise and a genetic predisposition can accelerate the degeneration of cardio vascular health. In fact, low levels of Nitric Oxide can cause every disease known to man.

Despite our advancements in medicine, modern healthcare and availability of drugs, the world is sicker than it’s ever been. This would indicate that big pharma and drugs are not the answer.

So how do you bring your body back into balance if it’s not operating like a well-oiled machine?

Ancient wisdom holds the answer!

The answer lies in our daily habits and in preventative measures. I’m going to share with you some of Dr. Louis Ignarro’s findings from his book, NO More Heart Disease – How Nitric Oxide Can Prevent – Even Reverse – Heart Disease and Strokes.

Essentially Nitric Oxide relaxes and enlarges blood vessels (vasodilation), heals the endothelium, normalises blood pressure, prevents blood clots that trigger strokes and heart attacks and protects against the accumulation of vascular plaque.

The 1998 Nobel Prize discovery also led to the first practical application of his research, the development of Viagra. Since then further science-led innovation has produced natural, plant based supplements that have a positive impact on the entire body.

NO to the Rescue

Specifically, here is why sufficient levels of NO are so important in preventing arteriosclerosis. If the endothelial cells on the inner surface of your blood vessels are damaged in any way, other types of cells in the blood, monocytes and leukocytes, can storm through the vessel wall, accumulate, and imbed themselves in the smooth layer muscle. The invasion complete, these cells release chemicals called inflammatory mediators that trigger inflammation in the smooth muscle, setting the atherosclerotic process of plaque formation into motion and resulting in blocked blood flow.

Once plaque forms in the arteries, it is much more difficult to undo the damage than to prevent it in the first place.

~ Dr. Louis J. Ignarro

Why should you care about your Nitric Oxide levels?

Nitric Oxide (NO) is the body’s own wonder drug.
NO is one of the most significant molecules in the body.
NO influences the functioning of virtually every human organ, from the heart to the lungs to the stomach.
Adequate levels of NO may play a role in preventing and supporting conditions such as diabetes, alzheimer’s disease, erectile dysfunction (ED), rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, menopause symptoms, obesity, kidney disease, migraine headaches, infections, inflammatory disease such as Crohn’s Disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis and ulcers.

In my humble opinion this discovery by Dr. Louis Ignarro and his colleagues should go down in history as one of the greatest discoveries ever made in the field of medicine.

You may be wondering, how do I increase my intake of NO?

Dietary Supplementation with L-Arginine and L-Citrulline

When taken in enough quantities the amino acids L-Arginine and L-Citrulline form long-lasting levels of NO in the body. These can of course be found in different types of food: fish such as salmon and oysters, watermelon, almonds, dark chocolate, peanuts, soy and red meat (in moderation). Due to over farming and the use of chemicals our soils have been depleted of nutrients so it’s tough to get enough NO from diet alone.

Other types of food that contribute to a healthy heart and cardio vascular system are phytonutrients, foods rich in antioxidants, foods rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, heart-healthy fats and 400 to 800 mcgs per day of folic acid.

In his book Dr. Ignarro also shares case studies highlighting the importance of regular exercise for the cardio vascular system and indeed, overall health.

Dr. Louis Ignarro talks about his research into Nitric Oxide and disease prevention:

A short pdf document about Nitric Oxide. no_manual_en

I strongly recommend you get his book on Amazon if you want more in depth information on this subject as I am not a doctor. However, I am passionate about well-being and helping others achieve Elite Health.

According to Dr. Ignarro we each need between 5-20 grams per day of NO depending on the state of our health. Because L-Arginine and L-Citrulline can be taken in large quantities with no side effects or toxicity, this means that supplementation is safe.

A completely natural, plant based solution: ProArgi-9+

I’d like to share my personal story with you. I’ve been supplementing for just a few months with high quality, targeted nutraceuticals, (one of which is ProArgi-9+), and my health has reached a level I never thought possible in my late forties.

In the first few weeks I experienced some detoxification symptoms, I could feel something was happening. I was thirsty and began to drink more water during this period. I found my usually healthy appetite was diminished and my energy levels began to soar.

After about three weeks the brain fog I didn’t know I had cleared (like a morning mist), and was replaced with a feeling of mental clarity. At the time I started taking the supplements I was suffering with mild depression – I was exhausted all the time (it’s tough working full-time with three children at home as well as all the domestic chores and extra-curricular activities that entails), but since then my mood has been massively elevated, even on bad days. I frequently work 12-18 hour days, something I haven’t been able to do since my twenties. The quality of my sleep (even though I don’t get enough), is much better also. With so many projects on the go and energetic children to take care of this has been a god send.

I also noticed the soreness in my knees reduced and has now completely gone, and the quality of my hair has been transformed. It’s fuller and more vibrant, hair loss has been dramatically reduced and even the number of grey hairs has reduced with new, darker re-growth. My skin improved, my eyesight improved and my muscle tone improved.

I lost almost a stone in weight and other health issues I had no longer bother me.

I can now complete my Zumba classes without feeling like I’m going to have a heart attack and keep up with women half my age. The chronic muscle stiffness that would plague me for days afterwards as I walked around like a plank has virtually disappeared.

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect these kinds of results when I first started taking ProArgi-9+ and the V3 system.

What a gift!

To think it’s one that I could have passed over sends shivers down my spine. My mother has an even more inspiring story. It has reduced her life-threateningly high blood pressure into the normal range so that she has been able to discontinue her medications. It has enabled her to continue flying and teaching people how to fly gliders, one of her passions in life.

If you have high blood pressure:

I’m eternally grateful to my business partner, Kim Bradley for introducing me to this scientifically validated product and Synergy Worldwide, the ethical, Forbes 100 nutritional company that produces it. Synergy is the only nutritional company to be classified by Forbes as one of America’s most trustworthy companies.

I love working with Kim and she was recently recognised with a well deserved award for her caring and competent leadership by Synergy at their European Summit last week in Vienna.

No other natural supplement except for ProArgi-9+ appears in the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) in the USA, where it is listed as the ‘highest quality L-Arginine supplement in the world’.

Clinical studies also prove that ProArgi-9+ reduces LDL oxidised cholesteral which is a precursor to heart disease. pa9_synergyadvantage2

It has had a profound effect on my life – giving me back my zest for life, my high energy levels, my self-confidence and renewed passion for all the things that I want to do and achieve with my life.

I’m on a mission to educate everyone I care about, so they can experience similar health benefits in their own lives.

By the end of November I will have my new website linked to my blog under the heading Elite Health.

Well-being is an ever evolving continuum between disease and optimal health. Most people are somewhere in the middle of the scale, but if you’d like to move further towards the health end it means taking control of factors like diet, lifestyle and efficacious supplementation.

It’s probably fair to say that many of us spend more money on maintaining our cars, on entertainment, alcohol and posh cups of coffee than we do investing in our long term health.

Even professional athletes can see the value in improved sporting performance with quicker recovery times. And unlike the unfortunate and misguided Maria Sharapova, who took the banned substance Meldonium and was subsequently suspended from playing tennis, these nutraceuticals are all food based and approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

I’m happy to offer that same gift to you – and give you more information about the science behind these nutraceuticals and how they can change your life for the better. I can communicate with you by email, Skype, over the phone, or via Gotomeeting.

If you’d like to know more, do get in touch with me via Twitter (@Ginsterbabe) or on my blog contact page and we can start a potentially life-changing conversation!

“As a nation we spend close to a 100 billion dollars a year fighting heart disease. As baby boomers reach retirement age that figure is going to double in the next 20 years. Yet we spend less than 2 billion dollars a year in preventing heart disease. Simple nutritional supplements and lifestyle modifications would be the most cost effective way of preventing heart disease. Focusing our attention on lifestyle changes we believe is the best way to prevent heart disease not only in the adult population but especially among our children.”

~ Dr. Siva Arunasalam (Internal Medicine, Invasive and Non-Invasive Cardiology) Director High Desert Heart Institute, USA.

The Secret of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

September 16, 2016July 30, 2018 / ginnyburges / 7 Comments

If you’ve read some of my previous musical blogs you’ll know that I’m a bit of a Beethoven fan. Well, let’s not beat about the bush – it’s more like hero worship!

Beethoven featured quite a bit in my debut novel, The Virtuoso. I listened to his fifth symphony many, many times whilst writing it. I also did some research, but with a musical icon of such genius there is always more to learn and I’m delighted to continue my education into his life and music.

Recently the BBC produced an outstanding documentary: The Secret of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. It was narrated by Ian Hislop, journalist, political satirist and editor of Private Eye, in collaboration with eminent conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantiq.

Before I watched it I thought I already knew everything there was to know about this piece of music. The most famous opening four notes in musical history: da- da –da – dah. A motif of three triplet quavers in G followed by a dotted minim in E flat, followed by triplet quavers in F and an extended four beat note in D, repeated throughout the first movement and variations thereof in the other movements.

It premiered on 22^nd December 1808 at the Theater an der Wien and much to Beethoven’s chagrin it wasn’t an immediate success. I know how he feels! But audiences in Vienna weren’t ready for his powerful, uncompromising brand of music.

Detail of the 1804-05 portrait of Beethoven by JW Maher, painted at the time Beethoven was writing his fifth symphony.

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 was composed between 1804 and 1808 when Beethoven was in his late thirties at his lodgings in the Pasqualati House, which also features in The Virtuoso.

He had already written his heart rending Heiligenstadt Testament a couple of years earlier and was still composing despite his tragic descent into deafness. Experts believe he was already 60% deaf by the age of 31 and completely deaf by age 46 in 1816.

The common theme agreed by scholars was that of ‘fate knocking at the door’, of Beethoven expressing his inner turmoil at his deafness and faltering love affairs. Beethoven could not escape his physical destiny, but by sheer force of will he was determined to fulfill his artistic destiny. Ludwig lived in turbulent times and possessed a turbulent temperament!

I used this context for part 1 of my novel as my protagonist Isabelle Bryant, a world famous violin virtuoso has to deal with the loss of her fingers and ensuing devastation. One publisher kindly reviewed it as ‘a modern day Beethoven story’.

But Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s assertions that this symphony is about so much more really resonate with me. It makes perfect sense that one of the most revolutionary pieces of music of the 19^th century (indeed of all-time), is at its heart about a revolution – the most shocking and radical of them all: the French Revolution.

The French Revolution had taken place between 1789 and 1799 when the young Beethoven had been aligned to the ideas of liberté, égalité and fraternité. Freedom and the enlightenment ideals were themes that he drew from more obviously in his epic ninth Symphony for example, but perhaps, due to circumstances, more covertly in his fifth.

“Behold all ye friends of freedom… behold the light you have struck out, after setting America free, reflected to France and there kindled into a blaze that lays despotism in ashes and warms and illuminates Europe. I see the ardour for liberty catching and spreading; …the dominion of kings changed for the dominion of laws, and the dominion of priests giving way to the dominion of reason and conscience.” ~ Richard Price sermon c. 1789

I had not been aware that Beethoven had seriously considered moving to Paris, but as fate would have it he remained in Vienna.

At this point in his career Beethoven was not beholden to the imperial court as earlier composers like Mozart and Haydn had been. He did, however rely on the patronage and support of his wealthy, aristocratic benefactors; the upper class nobility from the privileged echelons of society that ‘the people’ had rallied against in the French Revolution for living in the lap of luxury whilst the poor suffered and starved.

This must have caused some inner conflict for Beethoven. He was dependent on an aristocratic system to produce his life’s work, yet he fervently believed in a meritocracy.

The repercussions of the French Revolution and the execution of the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette reverberated throughout Europe. The subsequent invasion by French Troops of Austria and Vienna, Beethoven’s home and place of work, must have been tough to reconcile.

Although I’m sure Beethoven was sickened like many writers, artists and scholars by the two year reign of Terror and blood bath that Robespierre unleashed, he was still loyal to the principles behind the revolution, if not the manner in which those principles came to fruition. Human nature being what it is, power crazed individuals got out of hand.

Under such delicate political circumstances Beethoven could not afford to be outspoken about revolutionary ideals while living under the noses of the House of Habsburg, who were at war with France. His position would have been tenuous.

Beethoven knew the only way to express his views and convictions was through his music.

And here it is in full, a wonderful new recording by John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantiq:

The effect is softer and more textured compared to a modern orchestra because they are playing on period instruments, and as John points out the sound is more pure and authentic. This is how Beethoven intended it to be heard. These older instruments are being played to the very edge of their capabilities. You would expect nothing less from Ludwig though. It is also performed at a quicker tempo to many other performances at 108 beats per minute, as directed specifically by Beethoven (who loved his metronome).

When I listened to this recording knowing the fervour, idealism, the political upheaval and personal strife of Beethoven it made perfect sense. I listened with new ears and it just blew me away…

Influences

At the beginning of his musical career Beethoven had been tutored at the court palace chapel in Bonn by composer and court organist Christian Gottlob Neefe, who imparted his musical knowledge and love of Bach as well as his radical political views to the impressionable teenage Ludwig. Beethoven studied keyboard, viola and organ.

‘Nous jurons tour, le fer en main’

Beethoven was almost certainly influenced by the Italian born composer Luigi Cherubini, who was living in France and his patriotic Hymne du Pantheon. The German musicologist Arnold Schmitz (who had influenced conductor John Eliot Gardiner), argued that the opening lyrics of this rousing hymn: Nous jurons tour, le fer en main (we all swear, sword in hand), De mourir pour la Republique (to die for the Republic), et pours les droits du genre humain (and for the rights of man) are the inspiration for the unforgettable opening bars of Beethoven’s fifth symphony.

Drawing of the Pantheon in Paris

Article in Gramophone magazine by John Eliot Gardiner on this subject.

The belief that no human being had a divine right to rule over another human being was sweeping through Europe and the arts and literature were flourishing.

The desire for a better, more just society can also be heard in the second movement of Beethoven’s fifth with its expansive and gentle melody. Its beauty and harmony perfectly fit this ethos of a united humanity – except Beethoven does not quite unite us musically by the end of this movement, subduing the chords before they can attain closure.

John Eliot Gardiner sums up the second movement as a kind of prayer by Beethoven for the elevation and evolution of mankind.

Beethoven’s fifth symphony is his way of saying: ‘I believe in the rights of man, I believe in the brotherhood of all men and I believe in political freedom.’

While studying at university in Bonn, Beethoven had been to see Friedrich Schiller’s play, The Robbers, which fuelled his rebellious attitude towards the upper class and economic inequality. Beethoven realised that art (in whatever form) could have a real impact on an audience and on the world.

The popularity of Beethoven’s music for over 200 years proves this universal power of the arts. Great swathes of humanity still live under repression and terrifying violence. It’s still relevant.

Another musical influence is from one of Beethoven’s earlier, more overtly political works, the lieder Der Freie Mann; a poem by Gottleib Konrad Pfeffel set to music in the key of C Major. If you listen carefully you can hear similarities between this music and the opening bars of the 4^th movement of his fifth symphony (also in C Major), with its theme of freedom achieved.

Yet more evidence to his state of mind around that time and the revolutionary origins of the fifth symphony. There are also elements of the rising triadic idea from Der Freie Mann used in the second movement of the fifth.

One of Beethoven’s musical sketch books known as Landsberg 6 contains his preliminary ideas for many of his works between 1802 and 1804, including his fifth symphony. The outline of the opening of the first movement is in there, as well as basic ideas for the beginning of the third movement, the Scherzo. The musical motifs are notated as slower but similar to the opening movement, and as John Eliot says, ‘It really does feel like humanity is on the march.’

So without further ado, here is the brilliant documentary which covers more detail than I have time and space for. It’s well worth watching:

I’ll leave you with the words of Monsieur Rouget de Lisle’s Hymne Dithrambique: Chantons la liberte, – la liberte, couronnons sa statue, Comme un nouveau Titan, Le crime est foudroye…

Lisle’s hymne Dithrambique was used by Beethoven as inspiration for the theme of ‘liberty’ in the fourth and final movement of his fifth symphony; Beethoven’s musical culmination of a political and personal utopia.

I’m going to have to listen to it again, it kind of makes you feel invincible!

5 Ways to Improve Your Willpower and Reach Your Dreams

September 12, 2016 / ginnyburges / 1 Comment

“Argue for your limitations and sure enough they’re yours.” ~ Richard Bach

We live in a world of instant gratification. In a nanosecond we can send and receive data, speak to people around the world and have information at our fingertips like never before. The Internet of Things (IoT), has enabled machines to communicate in a web of connections that would make even the most brilliant brain spin!

Sometimes I think ‘creative’ types find it even harder to concentrate because there are so many ideas bouncing around inside our skulls, battling for attention. But it’s not the idea that matters so much as the willpower and energy to see it through to fulfillment.

As an aside, according to Dr. Steven Masley, the best predictor of brain performance and speed is aerobic capacity. How quickly we can run upstairs or up a hill correlates very strongly with cognitive shifting ability.

And in this fast paced era we are pushed to multi-task and be more productive than we ever thought possible. But there is a downside in all this technological advancement…

We live in the age of distraction – the anathema of focus. If it’s not smartphones, social media, Google, email’s waiting for response or cat videos that we can’t tear ourselves away from, (been there, done that) our minds are racing along thinking of all the work that needs to be done.

I frequently have to fight overwhelm, even when I’m organised.

Delayed Gratification

The concept of delayed gratification is becoming increasingly alien to us. What, we have to actually wait for something? You mean my fast food lunch won’t be ready in less than five minutes? No next day delivery?

Convenience can come at a price if we’re not careful. At every turn we are faced with temptation.

Shall I eat that sugary donut? One last chocolate bar won’t hurt… I’ll watch one more episode of my favourite programme before I go to bed. Shall I quickly check Facebook? None of these things are necessarily bad; it’s just a question of what serves us in the moment in accordance with our life goals.

We are cramming so much into our days and that makes us crave instant results to achieve our goals faster. I constantly have to fight the urge to want everything now. I’m naturally impatient, although I have mellowed as I’ve matured.

The universe has its own pace and wisdom, and now I just try to stay true to myself and stay in the flow; follow my path and not get bent out of shape when things don’t work out how I’d imagined, or in the time scale I planned for. Progress is all important, and who we become as we grow and build on our strengths, overcoming our weaknesses is all that really matters.

It’s challenging to let go of attachment to results, but they do eventually come if we can harness our willpower more often than not…

So what is willpower? It is considered by social psychologists as the queen of all virtues.

It encompasses all aspects of existence, and is vital to live a happy and successful life.

We’ve all read the Bible story where Jesus is faced with every evil and temptation known to man in the space of forty days and forty nights. Who could survive that kind of onslaught except a deity?

Do we expect too much of ourselves? Or perhaps too little? Only you can decide what’s right for you.

For me, willpower is about being able to follow through on my decisions and act in accordance with my goals. It’s about personal power and the ability to make lifestyle changes, be self-disciplined and implement my best intentions. It’s doing what I must do, before doing what I want to do.

My children are learning about willpower when they force themselves to exercise self-control and complete their homework on time rather than spending all their time in more enjoyable pursuits.

I try to drive home the message that self-discipline is more important than IQ in predicting academic success.

When you exercise willpower you feel on top of the world. Our self-esteem gets a little boost when we realise we said ‘no thanks’ to that offer of a large wedge of chocolate cake. We start to believe in ourselves that little bit more as we follow through on our decisions and goals without deviation.

The thing about willpower and self-control is that it takes effort. Sometimes a lot!

Just ask anyone who has ever been deeply in love, (especially in the early stages) and they’ll tell you they have absolutely no willpower to regulate how often they think about the object of their affection!

It’s easy to see how avid gamers can get addicted to the Xbox and let their life slip away. Or with any other pleasurable activity for that matter…

Willpower is also tied in with awareness, because we don’t normally act in a way that’s detrimental to our wellbeing when we act consciously. Many actions and decisions mask unconscious needs and beliefs that are as yet invisible to us. After all, we are only human!

There’s no one better to learn from than Roy Baumeister when it comes to willpower. In this detailed talk he covers how to make willpower work for you:

Whatever you may be dealing with right now, whether it’s to give up smoking, eat a more nutritious diet, get more exercise, start a meditation practise, complete a project, start a new project, or change any habit that may be holding you back, these five tips might also help to give you that extra ounce of willpower!

Daily habits matter. Willpower builds momentum step by step. Repetition is a form of mesmerism, which propels us forward towards our goals. Daily habits are the ingredients in life’s recipe book. The longer we are in the mix and cooking away the closer we get to that tantalising dish at the end. Achieving mastery in any field requires repetition. Daily determination to exercise our willpower will make it stronger overall. Know when to use it and when to rest it.
‘Ego depletion’ can rear its ugly head whenever we try to create a new habit or activity. We may be already burdened by so many other tasks that the new routine feels almost impossible to implement. Ego depletion is a term coined by social psychologist Roy Baumeister (the world’s leading authority on willpower) and John Tierney as ‘a person’s diminished capacity to regulate their thoughts, feelings, and actions.’ Willpower is like a muscle and will get fatigued throughout the day with constant use.
You have a finite reservoir of willpower to draw on during the day. We use the same units from our stores of willpower no matter what the tasks are. That’s why, after a busy day when you may have completed an intense job, made a multitude of important decisions and done all manner of mundane chores and your mind and body felt tired, you were more likely to cave in to temptation and decide to get a take-away instead of cooking a nutritious meal. It has certainly happened to me! That’s why it’s best to tackle your most important jobs first, as early in the day as possible. Willpower slowly drains as the day wears on. Nine times out of ten the things I procrastinate to my ‘later’ pile never get done that day.
Most of us can resist a variety of impulses, but if we are constantly faced with them the effort can leave us vulnerable and our willpower diminishes so that we are more likey to give in to the next temptation that comes our way. Once our reserves of willpower are used up it’s harder to focus. Interesting study on this phenomena: The Radish Experiment
Visualising yourself completing goals can help to bolster motivation and fill those willpower tanks to the maximum. Start every morning with a personal success ritual (such as the Miracle Morning), that puts you in the right mindset to handle whatever challenges the day might throw at you. Tony Robbins is a strong advocate for this activity. This is an area where I’m personally using heaps of willpower!!

Brian Johnson highlights his five big ideas extrapolated from Roy Baumeister’s and John Tierney’s book on Willpower:

Delaying short-term pleasure for the sake of long-term goals is challenging for the best of us, but it can be immensely rewarding. A new habit I’m in the process of developing every day is writing down three things I’m grateful for in the past, present and future.

Developing your daily willpower muscles will produce more mental stamina and strength, increasing your personal reservoir of willpower over time. Forgive yourself for succumbing to the odd temptation and enjoy the journey…

“Willpower is the basis of perseverance.” ~ Napolean Hill

The Lake District Revisited (Fresh on my Mind!)

September 5, 2016September 5, 2016 / ginnyburges / Leave a comment

“A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable.” ~ William Wordsworth

After a few years away I’m reminded of how utterly peaceful and wild the Lake District is. I’m not sure if you can call an activity filled week a relaxing holiday, but a change of scenery does recharge flat batteries; and the scenery doesn’t get much better than in the Lake District.

Boats on Crummock Water

The only downside is surviving a long, cramped road trip with excited and irritable children…

I could feel my mood lifting with each new adventure, and it reminded me of how Beethoven felt when he arrived in the countryside outside Vienna. His ‘pleasant feelings’ were enough to inspire his gorgeous 6th Symphony in F Major, affectionately known as the ‘Pastoral’:

We’ve been swimming, kayaking, boating, walking, climbing, carting, riding, waterfall-chasing, sightseeing and exploring. Oops, I nearly forgot eating. Noshing is a favourite pastime of my continually ravenous offspring!

Ruby on Bruno at Rookin House

With precious little time to unpack, get the kids ready for the start of a new school year, scribble some thoughts and generally catch-up before a really busy week ahead, I’m in the mood to recapture the essence of this timeless landscape and bottle some of that elusive holiday elixir before it inevitably evaporates into the ether of everyday life…

Having a walk on one of the short trails at Grizedale Forest.

Speaking of which, the cyclists in the Tour of Britain 2016 (stage 2) are taking on the Lake District today!

Panoramic view of the Kirkstone Pass towards Windermere

I thought I’d share a few verses inspired by the Lake District (the adventure capital of the UK):

Lakeland Odyssey

Primordial power forged an ancient, rugged landscape,

Charming, green meadows bask in vast, watery valleys,

Craggy peaks beckon climbers with breathtaking escape,

Steep, narrow gorges unto rocky waterfalls marries,

Misty fells echo with blustery wind and frothy streams

Brooding clouds sit on mountains; shade beams.

Borrowdale

Sheep roam free on verdant, mossy hill,

Around every bend a panorama is ready-made,

Urban ears tune-in to the sounds of nature’s will,

Pray for pristine, eternal beauty to never fade,

Sweet scent of pine is heady, lakes intoxicate;

Beguiling trails, swathed in ferns, raise heart-rate.

On the shore at Derwentwater

Epic views nourish weary souls of lacklustre beings,

Technology depleted cells absorb primal energy,

Erosion has carved and sculpted sights for seeing,

Forests, hills and wild tarns imprint on memory,

Immortal land of glinting lakes and majestic mountains,

Time has no meaning, no anxious hours of doubting…

Tarn Hows Panorma

Empty minds follow active bodies and forceful feet,

Expanded lungs breathe in splendour, exhale worry,

Thoughts drift to distant skies, for you to meet,

Your lighter load; clear of junk, free of hurry,

Eyes soak up shades of purple, brown, grey and green

Reflective, blue depths ripple with opaque sheen.

Low-flying cloud over Derwentwater!

Droplets of rain saturate air of altitude,

To moisten and glisten on tingling skin,

Experience the elements; feel alive, renewed,

Ebullient weather to embrace, even revel in!

Excitement courses through throbbing veins,

Glorious, arduous exploration always remains…

Happy hikers traverse rock, heather, grass and slate,

Well-trodden paths lead to abundant treasure,

Custodians of Earth, seek life beyond the gate.

Cherish every panorama of pigment-rich pleasure,

Such untamed beauty, it’s hard not to be fulsome,

Hallelujah! Cradled am I, in nature’s primeval bosom.

Part of the inner Castlerigg Stone Circle

Yonder peaks stretch as far as the eye can see,

Yachts and steamers traverse deep, silent lakes,

Be you walking, climbing or sailing: feel the glee,

Imbued with prehistoric strength – or aches!

Summer is ebbing into the tides of history,

A brief Lakeland odyssey is part of my story…

Approach to Aira Force at Ullswater

I took my own video at the magnificent Aira Force waterfall near Ullswater, but I found a really good one already uploaded on youtube to leave you with. It really does roar!

‘Versailles’ Reigns Supreme in the Popular World of Period Drama

August 25, 2016 / ginnyburges / Leave a comment

“I am the state.” ~ Louis XIV

If you haven’t already seen ‘Versailles’ and you have an interest in history or a love of period drama, you’ll want to watch it at some point. Ambition, conspiracy and danger lurk around every gold-leaf covered corner of Louis XIV’s palace of pleasure, Versailles.

The pure splendour and magnificence of the Palace of Versailles was ultimately down to the vision, determination and seemingly endless va-va-voom of Louis XIV, France’s longest reigning monarch. He was self-styled with a rather apt sobriquet: le Roi-Soleil (the Sun King).

I had long assumed he was just another lazy and privileged monarch who breathed hubris from every pore, a fashion loving, philandering, power obsessed, party animal. But I hadn’t been quite fair to Louis XIV.

As the recent drama on BBC2 has enlightened me, there was much more to this king than meets the eye. And whilst some of my impressions are fairly accurate, what I had failed to understand was the context for such behaviour.

Portrait of Louis XIV by Charles Le Brun c. 1661

Also, it’s unfair to see a person as the sum of their vices, as Louis XIV had incredible energy and a love of outdoor pursuits. He was also a visionary; his obsession to transform his father’s old hunting lodge at Versailles, (which was surrounded by swampland and forest) into a palace that would eventually become the heart of the French Court and the envy of seventeenth century Europe, was his legacy to France.

‘Versailles’ is a new joint Anglo-French production dramatising Louis’s turbulent and fragile rule over the disjointed kingdom he inherited upon the death of his mother and Regent, Anne of Austria at the age of twenty seven. Louis XIV was her first surviving child after twenty three years of marriage to King Louis XIII. Anne was featured as a major character in Alexandre Dumas’s novel, The Three Musketeers.

Anne of Austria c. 1622 – 25 by Peter Paul Rubens

At that time France was controlled as much by belligerent, powerful, feuding nobles, as the by the king and his court, and Louis’s main task was to unify and bring them to heel or he and his younger brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, would have been assassinated. He started out in a very precarious position with his power and control hanging by a thread.

Needless to say, I quickly got hooked on it, as I always do with engaging period dramas. I could have period drama queen stamped across my forehead!

Clips from Versailles:

I am feeling bereft now that episode 10 of season one has ended, very sadly I might add, with the death of his beloved Henriette of England. However BBC 2 will air season two next year.

How will I last that long?!

Versailles was located only twelve miles from Paris but was too small for many guests to stay there for entertaining purposes. One of the things that struck me in the early episodes was the remote, treacherous single track road that led to the chateau. A few nobles come to grief on that quiet, eminently ambushed, wooded road.

It certainly got me interested in this period of French history. As with all period dramas, there is enough factual content to make it realistic and enough dramatic fictional content to make it addictive!

BBC link showing the historical and fictional characters of ‘Versailles’.

BBC Clips from Season One of Versailles, including some ‘behind the scenes’ glimpses.

You can purchase/download all 10 episodes via the BBC website.

Season One had ten wonderful episodes full of political intrigue and turmoil, religious acrimony, plotting, betrayal, murder, steamy sex scenes, scandal, more bedroom action (both heterosexual and homosexual) and AMAZING costumes, all filmed on location at Versailles as well as in the studio.

Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) at Versailles

You really get a sense of how claustrophobic it must have been in the early days at Versailles, with all these power hungry individuals cooped up, seeking to either gain favour with the king or plot his downfall. Even in the king’s personal circle you have him secretly bedding his brother’s beautiful but neglected wife, a jealous Philippe who is still content to take male lovers, as well as the female rivals at court competing for the king’s frequent amorous attention!

“I could sooner reconcile all Europe than two women.” ~ Louis XIV

Even though the acting is great, (especially George Blagden as Louis and Alexander Vlahos as Philippe) and the script is well-written (in modern parlance), this drama has elicited more questions than it answered.

Inside Versailles

With after show analysis now popular in its own right, such as Thronecast for Game of Thrones, the BBC foresaw the interest this new historical series would spark in viewers and produced a short contextual historical analysis, Inside Versailles, directly following each episode.

These ‘after episode’ mini documentaries, hosted by Professor Kate Williams and Greg Jenner and various guests are really interesting and provide an insight into the how the drama encompasses the actual history of Versailles.

It seems bizarre and immoral to our modern sensibilities that a man would be permitted to openly play the field when he was married, but for seventeenth century France, infidelity was so pervasive that questions would have been asked had the king and his nobles not taken lovers.

Marriage was arranged purely for political alliances and to produce heirs. Rarely was love involved. In Louis’s case he was betrothed to Maria Theresa of Spain, daughter of Philip IV of Spain and also his mother’s niece.

Maria Theresa is handed over to the French and her husband Louis XIV by proxy on the Isle of Pheasants in June 1660

The king’s preferred mistress, (his favourite at any given time), was bestowed with a semi-official position known as the maîtresse-en-titre.

As the most powerful man in France he was surrounded by beautiful women. Louis’s love of women is infamous, as is the long list of courtesans who had shared his bed and the title of maîtresse-en-titre. There were plenty of places and opportunities in which to have illicit trysts in Versailles!

Louis XIV was actually a very hard working king: he held council meetings three times a day, went hunting three times a day and yes, you guessed it, the royal member was reportedly active three times a day. He must have had a very healthy constitution and potent libido!

Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise de Montespan, at the château de Clagny c. 1670 by Henri Gascar

He fathered many children through his mistresses, most of whom he later legitimised and gave titles to. Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan, aka Madame de Montespan, bore him seven children over a decade, of which four survived into adulthood. She was also influential in the legacy of the fashion industry in France today.

Descendants

Louis XIV through his daughter with Madame de Montespan, Louise Françoise de Bourbon (1673 – 1743) who married Louis III, Prince of Condé and their daughter, Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, whose only daughter by Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was Louise Henriette de Bourbon, who via her marriage to Louis Philippe d’Orléans, was mother of Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orleans (Philippe Égalité), make them ancestors of (as well as the descendants on the direct legitimate male line from Philippe I) the House of Orléans, the July Monarchy and the current living members and pretenders to the throne of France, Italy and the kings of Spain and Belgium and the Grand Duke of Luxemburg. The prince and princesses du sang live on!

Philippe I, Duke of Orléans aka ‘Monsieur’

The relationship between the king and his younger brother and how they handle the threats to the monarchy forms the backbone of the drama. In ‘Versailles’ their relationship is portrayed as tense, tumultuous and at times, tender. Philippe is trying to make his own way at court but ultimately cannot escape being controlled by his older brother.

A tender scene from episode 10 as they are about to lose their beloved Henriette:

At one point in the drama Philippe, in a moment of utter desolation, tells Louis, “If you think it’s difficult being a King, you should try being a King’s brother for a day!”

In this early portrait of Louis and Philippe you can see that Philippe is wearing a dress. It was common practice to put dresses on boys in seventeenth century France until they were aged seven or thereabouts.

Portrait Of King Louis XIV and his Brother Philippe I, Duke of D’Orleans

In an attempt to mitigate any sibling rivalry between her sons, Anne of Austria actively encouraged Philippe to wear dresses to remove any threat from his brother Louis. This obviously served to bolster Louis’s masculinity as King. Philippe was known to cross-dress at court, and although he was very fond of his wife, his real passions were reserved for the Chevalier de Lorraine, his official male mistress.

Louis was emotionally scarred by the Fronde during his childhood. His traumatic experiences from the uprising would shape his modus operandi as future king. He had seen how civil war ended for Charles I across the channel so it made perfect sense for him to take a different approach.

Instead, Louis launched a charm offensive on his nobles.

By 1684 his whole court had transferred from Paris and was installed at Versailles, then home to five thousand souls. Louis wielded his power with refinement and overwhelmed his nobility with luxury, providing distractions such as feasting gambling, hunting and extravagant parties. As the courtiers were busy with every day court minutiae it took their minds off revolt. Louis very cleverly gave them the message, ‘You don’t need to rebel to get what you want.’

Philippe proved himself to be a brave soldier and fought well as commander at the Battle of Cassel. It was the only way he could see to use his talents and earn any personal glory as a prince of the blood. His success meant that it was the only battle Louis allowed him to participate in. He couldn’t bear to be upstaged by his younger brother!

Jean-Baptiste Lully was Louis’s court composer. This Overture to Le Ballet Royal de la Nuit is a great example of the pomp and splendour of the French Baroque period:

As well as incurring a hefty financial cost, there was a high human cost to building Versailles, which was highlighted by rebellious, disgruntled workers. The sheer scale of the works required thirty six thousand builders to labour under terrible conditions. Health and Safety laws hadn’t yet been invented so these poorly paid men who were sick of risking their lives day and day out decided to go on strike.

There was a terrible accident on 26^th July 1668 as half a dozen workers were crushed under the debris of falling masonry. The king was confronted by an angry mother of one of the victims who had demanded to have her son’s body back, overstepping the bounds of conformity of the day. She was punished for her trouble.

Construction of the Chateau Versailles by Adam Frands van der Meulen

Construction of the Chateau Versailles by Adam Frans van der Meulen

In the episode Louis comes across as quite cold hearted over this matter, it appears that Versailles represents the glory of France and he is not prepared to let anything get in the way of that. To him, the end justified the means. Fortunately he did relent, and paid compensation to families of the dead and injured workers. Three hospitals were eventually built, including Les Invalides.

There were three distinct construction periods during Louis XIV’s tenure at Versailles – the first phase of expansion being from 1661 to 1678. Three new wings of stone, known as the enveloppe style, were built surrounding the original hunting lodge on the north, south and west (garden side).

Entrance to Versailles

During the second phase (1678 – 1715) two enormous wings were added, north and south of the wings flanking the Cour Royale. The large terrace facing the garden formerly built by Le Vau was replaced by what would become the Palace’s grandest and most ostentatious room, the Hall of Mirrors.

The third phase was smaller in scale, with the enlargement and re-modelling of the royal apartments in the original hunting lodge. This was undertaken after the death of Maria Theresa in 1683. Mansart began work on the Royal Chapel of Versailles, located at the south end of the north wing in 1688, which was completed after his death in 1708 by his assistant Robert de Cotte in 1710.

General view of the Palace of Versailles c. 1680s by Adam Perelle

André Le Nôtre was the head landscape gardener at Versailles, and he had the unenviable task of draining swamps and moving forests in order to tame the land and create formal gardens for the king and his guests. Le Nôtre was held in high esteem by the king, as were his friends and compatriots the royal artist, Charles Le Brun and celebrated architect, Jules Hardouin-Mansart.

Culture and sophistication ruled at Versailles. The king’s schedule, starting with the Grand Levee was tightly controlled. A selected elite witnessed him dressing and lined his daily route to chapel. If nobles attended Versailles regularly they were more likely to gain an audience with the king to ask for favours. If you weren’t a familiar face to the king you were out in the cold. You had to be part of the public spectacle of the king’s life.

It could never have worked for a monarch devoid of charisma, but for Louis, it seems that he thrived on being the sun to the universe of his court at Versailles. In this manner he got his nobles bowing and scraping to him and his reign as an absolute monarch was a successful one.

It’s worth mentioning Louis’s most trusted servant and head valet, Alexandre Bontemps, who faithfully served Louis XIV for forty years. He was totally devoted to the king and was one of his most trusted advisors and confidantes. Bontemps slept on the floor in the king’s official bedroom. Not even a queen was allowed to sleep in the king’s bedroom.

There is a great scene in the drama (I forget which episode), where the king invites Bontemps to sit beside him in front of the fire in a chair with arms. Bontemps hesitates and tries to pull up a stool, because in those days protocol dictated only a king was allowed to sit in a chair with arms, but Louis insists Bontemps is his friend and equal.

One of my favourite fictional characters in the drama is the overworked Fabien Marchal, the king’s beleaguered head of security. He is a curious blend of noble man and ruthless brute, and for most of season one he has a stoic and sombre countenance! He is kept rather busy, torturing and capturing the plotters and would-be assassins, only just surviving being poisoned himself. This is down to the skill of Louis’s female physician, who I think is also a fictional character.

Versailles after Louis

The drama ‘Versailles’ is portrayed as a hotbed of maneuvering, poisoning, gossip, adultery, jealousy, passion, pursuit and state business. The drama only adds to the sense that in reality, Versailles was one of the most incredible royal palaces anywhere in the world, with a history to match!

In the meantime, if you want all the insider details of what really went on in Versailles you could read the memoirs (in three volumes) of Louis XIV and his Court by diarist the Duke of Saint-Simon.

I will certainly be glued to season two when it broadcasts next year… C’est magnifique!

Remarkable Women: The Life and Times of Baroque Painter Artemisia Gentileschi (Part 2)

August 15, 2016May 30, 2018 / ginnyburges / 4 Comments

“My illustrious lordship, I’ll show you what a woman can do.” ~ Artemisia Gentileschi

Not long after her wedding to Pietro Antonio di Vicenzo Stiattesi in Rome on 29^th November 1612, Artemisia and her husband moved to Florence; where, armed with a letter of introduction from her father, she began her career as a professional painter. It proved to be a successful and fruitful time in her life, (she certainly deserved some good fortune after the traumatic events in Rome as a young woman).

Self-portrait as a Lute Player c. 1615 – 17 by Artemisia Gentileschi

Florence and the Medici Court

Soon after arriving in Florence the ambitious Artemisia landed a commission from Michelango the Younger, great nephew of the Renaissance icon. She painted a panel, the Allegory of Inclination, for the Galleria of his Casa Buonarroti.

Artemisia set about educating herself in the spheres of music and literature, employing her beauty and charm to impress the wealthy merchants and nobles of Florence, with the aim of ingratiating herself with the powerful, dynastic Medici Court.

She understood that the appropriate appearance would elevate her position, so she wore expensive silk gowns which she managed to purchase on credit. She gave it some good, old fashioned hustle!

Saint Cecilia Playing a Lute by Artemisia Gentileschi

After all the struggle of her painful last year in Rome she had earned some success.

Her living was made mostly by painting commissions from wealthy patrons and for Grand Duke Cosimo II de’ Medici and Grand Duchess Christina. She was friends with Galileo Galilei – excerpts from her letters to the astronomer, physicist and philosopher still exist.

Tragedy, however, would strike again in her life. The first three of her babies with her husband Pietro did not survive infancy, and her fourth, a daughter, was named Prudentia after her deceased mother. Like her father had done with her, Artemisia taught her to paint.

She eventually left her husband in 1620 after financial problems arose, returning to Rome in 1621. She spent a decade travelling Europe, painting in Genoa, Venice and England (where she was reunited with her father at the court of Charles I), before settling permanently in Naples.

A View of the Bay of Naples by Giovanni Battista Lusieri

Before the unification of Italy in the nineteenth century, Naples came under Spanish rule when it was the largest commercial, cultural city on the Mediterranean. In Artemisia’s day it was three times the size of Rome. She spent the last years of her life in Naples and continued painting into her sixties. She taught male students and collaborated with other painters during this time.

Judith and Holofernes

The biblical story from the Book of Judith tells of how the beautiful Israelite widow Judith bravely slays the Assyrian General, Holofernes, in order to save the people of her homeland, (the city of Bethulia). It proved a popular subject in Renaissance and Baroque art.

In return for sparing her life and that of her family, Judith had promised Holofernes a secret route into the city in an act of apparent betrayal. Due to his desire for her he admitted her to his tent and gave her free access to the Assyrian camp. Being Jewish, Judith would have taken her own food with her and perhaps a maidservant.

Thinking that his personal conquest of Judith is assured, Holofernes lets down his guard and drinks himself into a stupor. As he sleeps, Judith summons up her courage to decapitate him using his sword. The two women put his head in a sack and sneak out of the camp. The next morning, as the head of Holofernes is displayed on the battlements and the rest of his body is discovered, his men flee, having lost their leader and, quite literally, head of the army.

The chaste Judith ( a female version of David and Goliath), is victorious and has been depicted many times as the triumph of virtue overcoming vice, chastity overcoming lust and humility overcoming pride.

With her penchant for painting powerful women: heroines of immense strength and courage, imbued with a healthy dose of vulnerability, it’s no surprise that she painted four canvases of Judith and Holofernes.

Of all the paintings and sculptures that were created by artists of the era, (including Caravaggio), to me, hers are the most violent, visceral and real. The graphic violence of Artemisia’s depictions is staggering when compared to the more sanitised versions (except maybe Caravaggio), considering the other artists were all men.

Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi c. 1614-18. Pitti Palace Florence

Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi c. 1620 -21. Uffizi Gallery Florence

When I look at the Florence painting it shows me rage. Pure, unadulterated rage and it’s horrible to look at. It’s as if she has transferred all her anger towards Agostino Tassi and the suffering she endured from inquisition style torture at the hands of the ‘establishment’, and laid it bare for people to witness hundreds of years after her brush covered the canvas.

It is similar in composition to Caravaggio’s version painted earlier in 1599, but in Caravaggio’s Judith is somewhat detached from her grisly deed, whereas in Artemisia’s paintings she’s putting all her physical effort and force into her unpleasant task. The look on Holofernes’s face (or is it Agostino’s face?) is chilling. Certainly Judith is a self-portrait of Artemisia.

The injustice she felt and the cruelty she experienced is expressed through her art. Artemisia put herself into her work, and her art speaks to me as a woman. Art historians might disagree with me, but that’s my humble opinion.

Her earlier painting of Judith Beheading Holofernes (where she is wearing a blue dress) shows the pure horror of her act: there is blood seeping into the mattress and spurting everywhere, but she is determined to kill Holofernes and thus eradicate tyranny.

Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi c. 1611-12. Commissioned by the King of Naples now haning in the Capodimonte Museum, Naples.

Judith Beheading Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi c. 1611-12. Commissioned by the King of Naples now hanging in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples.

The other two pictures of the aftermath, where the head of Holofernes is being placed in a basket/bag are equally arresting. Again, there are many versions by different artists, and even compared to one by her father, Orazio, Artemisia’s 1625 version (now in the Detroit Institute of Art) has a sense of realism that makes your hairs stand on end.

Judith with the Head of Holofernes c. 1625

The golden silk sheen of Judith’s dress is almost luminescent under the flame, and her skin glows in the candlelight in comparison to the pervading darkness inside the tent. This shade of yellow has been labelled as ‘Artemisia Gold’.

It’s as though, having done her deed, Judith and her maidservant pause as they hear a sound outside the tent. Discovery would have meant certain death, so the two women are momentarily still, not yet able to make their escape. It’s claustrophobic, dramatic and totally brilliant!

Judith and her Maidservant by Artemisia Gentileschi c. 1612-13. Housed in the Pitti Palace, Florence

Other paintings

Here is a selection of her heroines and biblical characters, proving that she didn’t just do gore and slaughter!

Clio the Muse of History c. 1632 by Artemisia Gentileschi

The Birth of St. John the Baptist by Artemisia Gentileschi. Commissioned by Philip IV of Spain

Danaë by Artemisia Gentileschi

Esther before Ahasuerus c. 1628 – 35 by Artemisia Gentileschi

Lot and his Daughters by Artemisia Gentileschi

Sleeping Venus by Artemisia Gentileschi

Lucretia c. 1620 -21 by Artemisia Gentileschi

Cleopatra by Artemisia Gentileschi

Jael and Sisera c. 1620 by Artemisia Gentileschi

The Penitent Mary Magdalen c. 1615 – 16 by Artemisia Gentileschi

Although there were other notable baroque women painters, I feel it is Artemisia who suffered and struggled the most for her art, who laid down the gauntlet to the male art establishment that said, “I’m as good as any of you.” Art was very much a gentleman’s club in the baroque era, and Artemisia soon discovered that they weren’t all gentlemen either!

She was an artist with an edge, certainly living on it most of the time. Her work has such a robust and natural quality, and perhaps her infamous status after the rape trial set her apart as a bit of a curiosity, freeing her up to create such incredible works without the usual constraints that women of the time lived within.

Her early trauma seems to have been the catalyst for her career. I don’t think she would have made such an impact as an artist without the emotional intensity behind her painting.

Portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi c. 1623 – 26 by Simon Vouet

She and I would have had quite a bit in common, (centuries, circumstances and talents notwithstanding). Being as I can’t have a conversation with her, the next best thing is to admire her art and study her life. She deserves to be remembered.

Remarkable Women: The Life and Times of Baroque Painter Artemisia Gentileschi (Part 1)

August 10, 2016May 30, 2018 / ginnyburges / Leave a comment

“I have made a solemn vow never to send my drawings because people have cheated me. In particular, just today I found…that, having done a drawing of souls in Purgatory for the Bishop of St. Gata, he, in order to spend less, commissioned another painter to do the painting using my work. If I were a man, I can’t imagine it would have turned out this way.” ~ Artemisia Gentileschi (from a letter to patron Don Antonio Ruffo, November 13, 1649.)

From what I have gleaned in my research and seen with my own eyes of her paintings; Artemisia Gentileschi was a strong, spirited, determined, talented, fearless and voluptuous artist; who possessed bright, fierce eyes that communicate her emotions from her canvases. In pigment she exudes a powerful energy that is completely captivating. In real life she must have been a force of nature!

Artemisia Gentileschi (8th July 1583 – 1656)

Much of her work has been lost, sidelined and misattributed through the centuries, but has recently been restored, revered and rightly honoured.

Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting by Artemisia Gentileschi. Thought to have been in the collection of Charles I.

Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) by Artemisia Gentileschi, circa 1638-9, commissioned by Charles I in London. It is now housed in Hampton Court Palace.

If ever there was a body of work that deserved the mantle of ‘art imitating life’ it was hers.

She painted mostly biblical scenes and heroines – strong female protagonists from history and mythology, in a way that was natural and worthy of a Caravaggista.

She truly mastered the Baroque painting technique developed by Caravaggio, known as chiaroscuro, in which light and shadow are sharply contrasted. Only a heroine could have done that…

What she achieved as an artist of the post Renaissance era in a heavily male dominated field (only seven percent of the self-portraits by western art’s most revered masters hanging on the walls of the Vasari Corridor are by women), is just astounding. There were so many obstacles to her success and although she is one of history’s most accomplished female artists of the baroque period, she was never recognised as much as she deserved to be in her lifetime.

The Vasari Corridor running from the Uffizi Gallery on the right, turning into the Ponte Vecchio Bridge to join the Palazzo Pitti.

Alas, the stories of many great painters, writers, poets, sculptors and composers share this unfair narrative arc of neglect, both male and female.

“Artemisia has suffered a scholarly neglect that is unthinkable for an artist of her calibre.” ~ Art Historian Mary D Garrard

Artemisia Gentileschi’s childhood and teenage years

Born on 8^th July 1593 in Rome to a well-known, established painter, Orazio Gentileschi and his wife, Prudentia Montone, Artemisia grew up being greatly influenced by her father’s trade. At that time in history it would have been impossible for a young girl to receive training in the arts, unless from a parent. She would have learnt to draw, mix paints and watch her father painting in his studio from a very early age.

Young woman playing a violin by Orazio Gentileschi - obviously a very good likeness of his beloved daughter - Artemisia Gentileschi!

Young woman playing a violin by Orazio Gentileschi – obviously a remarkable resemblance of his beloved daughter – Artemisia Gentileschi!

Her mother died in childbirth when Artemisia was just twelve years old, leaving her with her father and in the role of surrogate mother to her three younger brothers. No easy task at the same time as dealing with her own grief.

I love the fact that her father (who was a friend and follower of Caravaggio and Tenebrism), admired her talent regardless of her gender, with no regard for his ego, stating that he could teach her no longer when she turned 15. He then turned to another painter to continue her tutelage.

Rome, although home to the Pope and The Vatican was far from being pure and sin free. After the sun’s pink and orange hues faded from the sky above its historic spires, statues and domed rooftops, its illustrious streets witnessed many deeds of depravity, when parts of the city transformed into a cesspool of vice and crime.

Criminals were swiftly dealt with, (usually on the Piazza di Ponte), where public executions and beheadings were common. The bodies of these unfortunate souls were left exposed to passers by on the Ponte Sant’ Angelo. It was noted that on such occasions the waters of the Tiber ran red…

Ponte Sant’ Angelo, Rome

Orazio Gentileschi was understandably keen to protect his only daughter from such goings on; she was vulnerable until she could marry. Seventeenth Century Italy was very much a patriarchal society where women were often either classed as virtuous or sinful. If a woman lost her virginity outside of marriage (and therefore her reputation), it frequently led to a life of prostitution.

It seems that despite his best intentions for his daughter, Artemisia’s father unwittingly played a hand in one of the most traumatic experiences of her life when she was eighteen years old.

Rape of Artemisia Gentileschi by Agostino Tassi (1578 – 1644)

Agostino Tassi, self-portrait

As Orazio had worked with a painter of frescoes, Agostino Tassi, at the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi in Rome, he trusted him to further Artemisia’s training. At the time of the rape (in spring of 1611), with his wife missing, assumed dead, Tassi struck.

One afternoon during one of Artemisia’s lessons, Tassi’s lechery turned into a sexual assault when he accosted Artemisia in her father’s studio. She fled upstairs in an attempt to escape but he followed her, forced her into the bedroom and raped her.

Sadly, the only other woman in her life, a family friend Tuzia, who rented an apartment at the premises did not come to her aid.

Not only was this a traumatic physical and emotional experience (one that she initially kept from her father), but it spelled disaster for her reputation and marriage prospects. It is thought that Tassi promised he would marry her and she had no choice but to accept. Under that expectation and agreement they had sexual relations for a further year, until it emerged that Tassi’s wife was actually still alive (it was rumoured he had hired men to kill her).

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Orazio Gentileschi, who was outraged that his daughter’s purity (and therefore prospects) had been violated by a trusted friend without the promised restoration to his family’s honour. He duly launched court proceedings against the scoundrel Tassi in 1612.

Portrait of Orazio Gentileschi by Giovanni Battista Cecchi, after Sir Anthony Van Dyck. Line engraving, possibly late 18th century currently held by the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The case was unprecedented, and with his daughter’s character in tatters through no fault of her own, Orazio wrote to Pope Paul V (who unfortunately was a patron of Tassi’s), to claim reparation for such a wrongdoing to their family name.

He may have been a talented artist, but Agostino Tassi was no gentleman. He was a serial liar, a serial rapist (having also defiled his own sister-in-law) stolen a painting from Orazio’s studio, as well as planning the murder of his wife. The kind of person we might label today as a low-life scumbag!

There would have been no counselling and support for the victim of this sordid affair, Artemisia herself. It must have been a very confusing, frightening and terrible time for her under such an intense spotlight in court and as a subject of notoriety in the gossip circles of Rome.

What follows is a graphic extract recorded by a court notary during the trial in Rome, where Artemisia describes the moment of the rape. The ancient transcriptions of the case are held at the Rome State Archive:

“I felt a strong burning and it hurt very much, but because he held my mouth, I couldn’t cry out. However, I tried to scream as best I could, calling Tuzia. I scratched his face and pulled his hair, and before he penetrated me again I grasped his penis so tight that I even removed a piece of flesh. All this didn’t bother him at all, and he continued to do his business.” ~ Artemisia Gentileschi.

Throughout the trial Artemisia was subjected to horrific examinations and torture with instruments such as the thumbscrew, which strongly shaped her psychological development and her future artwork.

Susanna and the Elders

Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi circa 1610

Only a year earlier at the age of seventeen she had completed her version of Susanna and The Elders, circa 1610, one of the few paintings of this biblical subject that portrays Susanna with her head turned away from the advances of the men, with body language and an expression indicating their approach is unwelcome. The female form (possibly based on her own), is more natural rather than idealised. Somehow, it seems to have been an inauspicious omen of the event that would take place on the Gentileschi premises in the spring of 1611.

Paintings of Susanna and the Elders (Book of Daniel) by Bernadino Luini, Jacob van Loo, Ottavio Leoni, Hendrick Goltzius, Antonio Bellucci, Bonaventura Lamberti, Guido Reni, Tintoretto, Alessandro Allori, Rembrandt van Rijn, Gerrit van Honthorst, Pieter Pietersz, Bartolomeo Chiari, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Massimo Stanzione, Claude Vignon, von Hagelstein, Sebastiano Ricci, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, Anthony van Dyck, Sisto Badalocchio, Jean-Francois de Troy, Salomon Koninck, Frances Trevisiani, Lambert Sustris, Andrea Vaccaro, Hendrick de Clerk, Paolo Veronese, Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri and Orazio Gentileschi have Susanna facing the men (fully or partially) and do not depict the same level of distress and unwillingness.

Susanna and the Elders by Orazio Gentileschi

Susanna and the Elders by Peter Paul Rubens, also painted in 1610

Susanna and the Elders by Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari

Eventually Tassi was found guilty and sentenced to prison and exile, neither of which he fully served. Artemisia on the other hand, was viewed as damaged goods, but her father (with the help of a substantial dowry), found her a husband, a Florentine artist, the younger brother of the lawyer that had helped him during the lengthy court case against Agostino Tassi.

Despite these considerable challenges, Artemisia managed to pick herself up, ditch her victim mantle and find solace and cathartic expression in her work.

In part 2 we’ll look in more detail at her paintings – you’ll notice that many of them are shockingly violent for a female artist – even to our more exposed, desensitized eyes of the twenty first century!

Beautiful Violin Gems 🎼🎻 of the 3 B’s: Bériot, Bull and Bazzini

August 2, 2016August 8, 2016 / ginnyburges / 1 Comment

“The true mission of the violin is to imitate the accents of the human voice, a noble mission that has earned for the violin the glory of being called the king of instruments.” ~ Charles-Auguste de Bériot

I thought it was time to share some lesser known, but brilliant violin works from the nineteenth century. It’s been a little while since my last ‘musical’ post and I’m getting withdrawal symptoms. Plus, I’ve been having technical problems, my old PC has gone to the scrap heap in the sky. The inevitable data retrieval is proving arduous, so in the spirit of a true musician, I’m having to improvise!

The Rehearsal by Edgar Degas

Romantic violin pieces flourished in the nineteenth century, the heyday of romanticism. I’ll present these three violin aces and their music in the order of their birth.

Charles-Auguste de Bériot (20 February 1802 – 8 April 1870)

Although he was born in Leuven, Belgium, de Bériot spent the majority of his musical career in Paris. At the Conservatoire de Bériot was tutored by Jean-François Tiby, an acolyte of Viotti. He was also influenced by Baillot and Viotti directly, as well as Paganini (elements of the latter can be heard in the style and virtuosity of his music).

Charles-Auguste_de_Bériot_byCharles Baugniet circa 1838.

He played for royalty in France and the Netherlands as well as touring London and Europe. De Bériot was also proficient on the piano and toured much of China against the emperor’s wishes.

His first wife was the celebrated mezzo soprano opera singer, Maria Malibran, who bore him a son in 1833. Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot became a piano professor who counted Maurice Ravel, Ricardo Vines and Enrique Granados among his pupils. Sadly, Maria died at the tender age of 28 (after a riding accident), and de Bériot moved back to Brussels.

In Leuven he met Marie Huber in a cafe of all places. She was an orphan but had been adopted by by Prince von Dietrichstein, making her step sister to his piano legend son, Sigismund Thalberg. It seems to have been a small world in the musical circles of Europe…

Portrait of Charles-Auguste de Beriot by Emile Jean-Horace Vernet.

De Bériot later became the chief violin instructor at the Brussels Conservatory where he established the Belgian-Franco School.

Among his followers were the virtuoso violinists Hubert Leonard, Henri Vieuxtemps and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst.

He was forced to retire from teaching and performing in 1852 due to failing eyesight and became completely blind by 1858. Unfortunately his ill health continued and he had to have his left arm amputated in 1866.

Compositions

De Bériot wrote pedagogical studies for students, such as the Violin Method Opus 102 and His First 30 Concert Studies Opus 123 for soloists wanting to perfect their technique and skills prior to performing major violin concertos. His output includes various romantic violin pieces that were sometimes used for encore performances in addition to ten violin concertos. His music has fallen into relative obscurity, so I think it’s time to dust it off and give it an outing!

The fabulous Scene de Ballet, Op. 100 with Itzhak Perlman and the Juillard Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster:

Violin Concerto No. 9, Op. 104 with Takako Nishizawi:

Third movement of Violin Concerto No. 9, Op. 104 (performer unknown):

Duo Concertante No. 1, Op. 57 for two violins with Maxine Kwok-Adams and Philip Nolte of the LSO:

A soulful interpretation of Violin Concerto No. 7 in G Major, Op. 76 with Laurent Albrecht :

“If Ole Bull had been born without arms, what a rank he would have taken among the poets – because it is in him, and if he couldn’t violin it out, he would talk it out, since of course it would have to come out.” ~ Mark Twain in a letter to William D. Howells, April 19, 1880

Ole Bornemann Bull (5 February 1810 – 17 August 1880)

This energetic and eccentric Norwegian prodigy didn’t follow the usual path to virtuosity, due to his extremely creative bent and a desire to do things his own way.

Ole Bull playing his Gasparo da Salo violin

Norwegian violinist Ole Bull has received less attention than the other composer/virtuosi of the nineteenth century. Perhaps because a good portion of his performance activity took place in the United States, where less of a historical perspective on 19th century music-making has developed among performers. Bull was Norway’s first real celebrity, and as a virtuoso he was something of a rock star, playing on the emotions of audiences in a way Sarasate, for example, did not.

How many other violin virtuosi have played at the top of a pyramid in Egypt? Probably none! Bull certainly led an interesting life…

From the Violin-man.com:

During the season 1836—37 he played 274 concerts in England and Ireland; in 1839 he visited the great German violinist and composer Spohr in Kassel, in the hope of receiving useful advice from him. In 1840 he played Beethoven’s Krentzer Sonata in London, with Liszt at the piano. On July 23, 1849, he announced the formation of a Norwegian Theater in Bergen, which was opened on Jan. 2,1850. While he failed to impress serious musicians and critics in Europe, he achieved his dream of artistic success in America; he made 5 concert tours across the U.S., playing popular selections and his own compositions on American themes with such fetching titles as Niagara, Solitude of the Prairies, and To the Memory of Washington, interspersing them with his arrangements of Norwegian folk songs.

I found this short documentary about the man, his music and his idiosyncrasies (such as shaving off the top of the bridge to enable him to play chords on all four strings simultaneously) quite informative:

Luthier Gasparo da Salò

In 1842 Ole Bull bought a very richly decorated da Salò violin, originally made in 1570 for the treasure chamber of Archduke Ferdinand I of Tyrol. He used it on tour along with a magnificent Guarneri del Gesu and a large Nicolo Amati model, for nearly forty years of frenzied, fiery improvisation and recital.

Ole Bull’s Gasparo da Salo violin.

I adore the deeper, darker, unique sound of Ole Bull’s Violin, made by Jean-Baptiste Villaume:

Compositions

It’s thought Ole Bull wrote as many as seventy pieces in his lifetime, but only around ten of those endured and continue to be performed in modern repertoire.

This is totally seductive and beguiling! ‘Cantabile doloros e Rondo giocoso’ with Charlie Siem and the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios:

Violin Concerto in A major, “Grand Concerto’, Op. 4 (1834; revised 1864) with Annar Follesø with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, conducted by Ole Kristian Ruud:

This sweet tune is an example of his love for Norwegian folk songs, arranged for violin and orchestra by Johann Svendsen – Sæterjentens Søndag (The Herd-Girls’ Sunday):

Polacca Guerriera played with virtuosic flair by Marek Pavelec:

La Verbena de San Juan: Spanish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra with Annar Follesø:

Fantasy And Variations On A Theme By Bellini and other gems by Arve Tellefsen:

It seems that he was friends with Pianist and composer Franz Liszt, and Robert Schumann wrote that Bull was among “the greatest of all,” extolling that he was on par with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing.

“His violin, which transforms all your soul, combines enthusiasm with perfect intonation … his mastery of the bow … produces a song that resembles the human voice, and he has the technique for the most difficult whims found in Paganini, executed without hampering true expression.” ~ Review by a Milanese Critic after hearing Bazzini perform on the violin in 1839

Antonio Bazzini (11 March 1818 – 10 February 1897)

Bazzini was born in Brescia, Italy into a long established Brescian family dating back as far as the 1400s.

His early introduction to literature, culture and music was provided by his grandfather, Antonio Buccelleni, who had written poems, sonnets and odes, some of which formed the basis of Bazzini’s early compositions.

His first violin instruction was under Kapellmeister Faustino Camisiani, and by the time of his death in 1830 young Antonio was a competent eleven year old violinist.

Bazzini’s fame as a violin virtuoso overshadowed his composing and teaching, he was regarded as one of the finest concert violinists of the 19th century.

From Naxos:

At seventeen Bazzini was himself a maestro di cappella for the church of San Filippo in Brescia. His early works were often religious in nature, and while at San Filippo he wrote Masses, Vespers, and six oratorios. His life materially changed on 20 March 1836, when he played first violin in a quintet by Luigi Savi. The work was dedicated to Paganini and the dedicatee was in the audience. Paganini advised the young man to tour as a virtuoso, and Bazzini took this advice to heart. Beginning in 1837 he toured Milan, Venice, Trieste, Vienna, and Budapest; from 1841–1845 he toured Germany, Denmark, and Poland.

For several years he lived in Leipzig, where he studied the German masters. While in Germany, Bazzini performed with Mendelssohn’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, reputedly giving one of the first private performances of Mendelssohn’s E minor Violin Concerto. In 1848 he undertook a tour of Spain and in 1852 he settled in Paris. In 1864, after a final concert tour in the Netherlands, he returned to Brescia and concentrated on composition; he also championed instrumental music in Italy through string quartet performances at the home of Gaetano Franchi and the creation of the Società dei Concerti. Among the soloists Bazzini brought to Italy were Hans von Bülow and Anton Rubinstein, in 1870 and 1874 respectively.

Along with Verdi, Bazzini had an important rôle in establishing standard concert pitch (440 Hz), which was first recognised in Italy by the Congresso dei Musicisti Italiani in 1881. In 1873 he was appointed professor of musical theory and composition at the Milan Conservatory and became director of the same institution in 1882. Among his pupils at the Milan Conservatory were Mascagni and Puccini.

Compositions

He returned to Brescia after touring, where he focused on composing. During this time he wrote an opera, Turanda, cantatas, sacred works, concert overtures and symphonic poems (Francesca da Rimini). His chamber music proved to be his most successful pieces as far as composing was concerned.

The insanely virtuosic show piece, Scherzo Fantastique, Op. 25 La ronde des Lutins performed superbly by Maxim Vengerov and Ingo Dannhorn:

James Ehnes is cool, calm and collected, yet manages to set his 1715 ‘Marsick’ Stradivarius on fire…

As popular show pieces tend to be arranged for other instruments, I thought I’d treat you to one for the cello and piano by Duo Toivio; cellist Seeli Toivio and pianist Kalle Toivio :

An incredible transcription for classical guitar of ‘La Ronde des Lutins’ by. Alexey Zimakov:

Violin Concerto No. 4 in A minor, Op. 38 with Aldo Ferraresi, Orchestra ‘A. Scarlatti’ di Napoli della Rai conducted by Franco Gallini:

‘Calabrese’, Waltz in E minor, Op. 34, a splendid vintage recording with Yehudi Menuhin and Adolph Baller:

Fantasia on themes from Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ Op. 50 with Claudio Voghera and Francesco Manara:

I’ll bid you farewell now, (the hungry hordes are waiting for their tea), echoing Shakespeare’s immortal verse: If music be the food of love…play on!

#SundayBlogShare – The Paradox of Polarities 🌞🌛☺️😭

July 24, 2016 / ginnyburges / Leave a comment

Lately I have been trying to make sense of how I act unconsciously. Watching to see what happens when I allow certain situations or people to push my buttons!

It has been a busy and somewhat stressful time for me over the past few weeks, and to get through this intense phase I know I need to be more aware of the emotions that I have disowned in myself, and therefore rub me up the wrong way when other people display that very ‘thing’.

To shine the light of awareness on my my own internal state is not easy, but it is helpful. For when we become conscious of a hidden belief or shadow that is driving us, we can integrate and ‘own’ it, and the dysfunctional behaviour that surrounds it will drop away. We rarely act in a way that is detrimental to our well-being once we are conscious of it.

Writing about this subject in the form of poetry has helped me to understand the concept better and apply it in my own life. I hope you enjoy the poem in its own right, along with the sublime art (which always reflects beautifully the human condition).

Long may the light shine on you (and your shadows!) Happy Sunday!

The Paradox of Polarities

Juliet lamented to Romeo: ‘parting is such sweet sorrow’,

Yet we love…yearning to insatiably consume,

Maybe fearing, perhaps craving the morrow.

What will fate serve us: fortune or doom?

Whatever may manifest in these given hours,

That which we truly see, is endowed with powers…

The Last Kiss of Romeo and Juliet by Francesco Hayez

Where our vision dares to go, energy will flow,

Born are we, into the realm of black and white,

Intrepid into the shadow side, we must not go.

To survive this masquerade we stay in the light,

Reprisals in childhood make us afraid to venture,

As adults, what is perceived as dark, we censure…

Orpheus and Eurydice in the Underworld by Peter Paul Rubens

Lurking somewhere beneath, dark soils unconscious mind,

It cannot be disowned, denied and repressed forever,

Expressing covertly as dysfunctional, not kind.

To exhibit that which we thought of never,

The voice we accept not in ourselves, or in others,

Speaks the loudest, drowns out, and smothers.

Othello and Desdemona by Christian Köhler

Despite our best efforts, eventually in vain,

We never will destroy shadows; our other side,

As night follows day, with pleasure comes pain.

The vast spectrum of life is not easy to divide,

Opposites attract, nay, depend on each other to exist,

Demarcation is purely conceptual, shrouded in mist…

Hamlet – Act IV Scene V – Ophelia Before the King and Queen by Benjamin West

How humans define polarity is arbitrary,

Endless primordial cauldron of emotion,

Good against evil can be so contrary.

Life and death, clarity and confusion,

Appear they, to be separate ideas of reality,

Isolated by social convention, for the sake of sanity…

Macbeth and the Ghost of Duncan by Theodore Chasseriau

Thus, one ‘thing’ is split into a patchwork field,

We can only appreciate health because of illness,

Energy delineated, to create our journey we wield.

We can harm or heal; by practice, learn to witness,

The inner states with which we play the game,

Be we happy or sad, empty or full, of pride or shame…

The Illness of Antiochus from Antiochus and Stratonice by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

To avoid any experience is to fall on our sword,

Better to watch and feel, then move forward,

Enjoy passion, shun apathy, either inspired or bored.

Awareness frees us from stagnation and being cornered,

To surf the panoply and panorama of tides,

Waves of dichotomy ebb and flow from all sides…

Tristan and Isolde by Herbert James Draper

The paths we take are followed in physics,

Nature’s eternal, divine laws unfold regardless,

To deny a part of the whole is to set limits.

What is buried, resisted and guarded will surface,

Dip into darkness again; find a flicker of light,

A single, bright, dancing flame expands in sight…

The taking of Christ by Caravaggio

We make up right and wrong as we go along,

Physical forms of the infinite, quantum reality,

Both here and not here; is a part of our song.

For singing softens the immutable tree of polarity,

Rotting roots, scarred bark, broken branches, lofty leaves;

Wild forest, shaped into desired topiary: thus life weaves…

By Virginia Burges

Socrates tears Alcibiades from the embrace of sensual pleasure by Jean-Baptiste Regnault circa 1791

What’s in a Painting? Taking a Closer Look at Albrecht Dürer’s Masterpiece: Self-Portrait with Fur-Trimmed Robe (c. 1500)

July 18, 2016July 20, 2016 / ginnyburges / Leave a comment

“If a man devotes himself to art, much evil is avoided that happens otherwise if one is idle.” ~ Albrecht Dürer

I tarried for a long while deciding which painting to cover next in the ‘What’s in a Painting?’ series. There’s just so much amazing art and many deserving artists to choose from! But for now, I have settled with Dürer’s beguiling and enigmatic Self-Portrait circa 1500, a mixed media composition on limewood, measuring 67.1 by 48.7 centimetres.

Dürer was the first ‘artist’ in the modern sense… This is for several reasons, which I’ll share as I go along.

First and foremost, the 1500 Self-Portrait is a mesmerising piece of art which I’m always drawn to, and was fortunate enough to see hanging in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich a few years ago. Looking at it I felt like I might have known him, it’s so…human. His image still speaks to us from the grave.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that he painted it in the year 1500; the expected year of the Apocalypse that was foretold and dreaded in the late Middle Ages. But 1500 was also the first centennial year in Europe that was celebrated. It brought hope, change and new ideas.

You may also be thinking, ‘What’s there to talk about in a self-portrait?’ I almost fell into that trap until I started my research about the cosmopolitan Herr Dürer…

Da Vinci had drawn the iconic Vitruvian Man only ten years earlier, moving away from church art towards images of human beings, when human proportions became the standard for artistic creation.

What’s really incredible to me is the actual skill with which he depicts himself. It must be hard enough to paint a life-like portrait of another person, let alone oneself. What’s even more striking about this portrait is the fact that he is facing us full on.

You might think that is perfectly normal, and it is today, but back in 1500 only paintings of Christ were afforded that honour. Portraits by Dürer’s predecessor, Jan van Eyk, were always painted of a person slightly side on with their face at an angle. Had he painted this self-portrait just a few decades earlier, Dürer could have been burnt at the stake for what the medievalists would have considered unforgivable blasphemy.

Self-Portrait c. 1500 by Albrecht Durer, Alte Pinakothek

Indeed, he even has the audacity to show himself in a Christ-like pose, with his hand in front of his lapel, his gaze so utterly penetrating. It’s as if his kind, hazel eyes are looking right through me. I can’t be completely sure what his expression portrays.

If I were to put my finger on it I’d say self-assurance and serenity. His eyes radiate compassion and understanding; the windows to the soul of a deep thinker. Albrecht Dürer was twenty eight and at the height of his career when he painted it.

I’m also riveted by the detail and accuracy with which he has depicted his life-like hair. His long, flowing, spiralled curls are defined beautifully by the light glinting on the silky strands. Again, this natural, almost romantic look is not dissimilar to many images of Jesus, and he has also grown a short beard with tints of red. His powers of observation are amazing. It’s just so realistic. I even love the little tuft of fringe that tops his barely furrowed forehead.

Self-Portrait c. 1500 by Albrecht Durer, Alte Pinakothek

His skin is both luminescent and slightly ruddy. The shadows shape his face perfectly. There’s a symmetry about his proportions that is divine in nature, representative of an omnipresent being. To me, he is saying, ‘I am every man,’ but he is also a humanist finding Christ within himself. He is comparing his own features with miraculous self-portraits of Christ.

So he’s looking out at us, but, rather mysteriously, he also appears to be absorbed in his body and inner world. The small piece of fur at the base of his coat overlaps his fingers, indicating he is rooted in a physical experience. Paradoxically his gaze then, is also one of introspection.

I am totally obsessed with this work of art! Not only is it incredible as a painting, it’s the ultimate Self-Portrait in the history of art. One could argue it’s also ground breaking as the first ever selfie…

“I hold that the perfection of form and beauty is contained in the sum of all men.” ~ Albrecht Dürer

Medieval media mogul

The modern cult of artist as personality was ushered in by Dürer. Art reveals the person who created it (regardless of subject matter), by showing the skill and character of its maker.

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – woodcut print by Albrecht Durer c. 1497-98

Not only was Dürer supremely confident and talented in drawing, etching and painting (both watercolour and oil) he also harnessed the power of the invention of the age: Gutenberg’s printing press. He was the first major artist to embrace the revolutionary way images were made and used with his iconic woodcut prints. Instead of making just one print he was able to make and distribute thousands. It was a total transformation in communication.

Branding expert

Dürer’s ubiquitous monogram of a large capital A above the smaller D that he placed in a prominent position on all his works could be considered the very first trademark and brand. How clever of him to make sure everyone knew he was behind such works of genius…

I doubt that the likes of Coca-Cola, Apple, Disney and other famous brands realise how the concept of branding began with this visionary artist.

He wasn’t afraid to push the boundaries of what was acceptable, exploring his talent and his art regardless of the religious turmoil of the age. Living during the Renaissance and the Reformation enabled his vast creative expression to flourish.

Further south on the other side of the Alps in Italy, Dürer’s contemporaries; Michelangelo, Raphael and Da Vinci were also making art history, but this did not seem to deter Dürer from forging his own path in Nuremberg.

Albrecht Dürer was the undoubted star of the Northern Renaissance; a polymath who mastered painting, printmaking, and theory. His fame and fortune was way ahead of its time for an artist of the early, modern era to experience in his lifetime. His popularity even reached as far as India.

Albrecht Dürer: Masterpieces at the Albertina

Earlier Self-Portraits

The very first self-portrait ever painted was also by the same artist, when he was just thirteen years old, and can be seen in The Albertina Museum in Vienna.

His 1498 Self-Portrait hints at an elegant, confident young man, with his shirt softly billowing in the breeze. However, each detail has been carefully considered and executed with the utmost technical precision.

Self Portrait c. 1498 by Albrecht Dürer in the Prado, Madrid

He is portrayed as a slightly ostentatious dandy compared to his previous more boyish portraits.

Other Self-Portrait sketches by Dürer depict him in the act of sketching himself as well as in a vexed state. He was also the first artist to draw a nude Self-Portrait. He was certainly preoccupied with his own appearance, for no other artist before him had left such probing accounts of their person. Maybe for him, art was his way of exploring who he was at his core.

Albrecht Dürer: 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528

Albrecht Dürer was born during the Northern European Renaissance as a native of Nuremberg, the third child to a Hungarian born goldsmith, Albrecht Ajtósi and his wife Barabra Holper, who supposedly had eighteen babies. Albrecht was the eldest son (and only one of three children) to make it to adulthood.

The German version of their Hungarian name was Türer, which Albrecht the Younger changed to Dürer to better suit the German language and dialect.

He grew up in the mythical German city of Nuremberg during its golden age as a trading centre and home to the treasures of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1828 a bronze statue of Dürer was revealed to mark the third centenary of his death, (the first public statue of its kind of an artist in the world), and miraculously, it survived the heavy bombing of the city during the Second World War. To Nuremberg’s credit the historic city centre was rebuilt in its original medieval style that was so reminiscent of Dürer’s Halycon days.

For those that wish to learn more about his life and work:

He was a remarkable man; a humanist, scholar, philosopher and intellectual, with an interest in literature and nature as well as many forms of art. He left an incredible cultural legacy for humanity.

“As I grew older, I realized that it was much better to insist on the genuine forms of nature, for simplicity is the greatest adornment of art.” ~ Albrecht Dürer

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No hyperbole, just passionate musings.

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Once plaque forms in the arteries, it is much more difficult to undo the damage than to prevent it in the first place.

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~ Dr. Siva Arunasalam (Internal Medicine, Invasive and Non-Invasive Cardiology) Director High Desert Heart Institute, USA.

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Beautiful Violin Gems 🎼🎻 of the 3 B’s: Bériot, Bull and Bazzini

What’s in a Painting? Taking a Closer Look at Albrecht Dürer’s Masterpiece: Self-Portrait with Fur-Trimmed Robe (c. 1500)

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ~ Hippocrates

NO to the Rescue

Once plaque forms in the arteries, it is much more difficult to undo the damage than to prevent it in the first place.

~ Dr. Louis J. Ignarro

~ Dr. Siva Arunasalam (Internal Medicine, Invasive and Non-Invasive Cardiology) Director High Desert Heart Institute, USA.

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“Argue for your limitations and sure enough they’re yours.” ~ Richard Bach

“Willpower is the basis of perseverance.” ~ Napolean Hill

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