As always a very entertaining and impressively researched post. I love seeing the armlet and all the associated paintings. Also inspiring a fair bit of envy - the bicoloured mesh bag is beautiful, and the opal is just stunning. Thank you.
That armlet is pretty great. Could some of us gawping povvos club together and get it? Meanwhile I think blah is too positive a review of that wedding outfit...
Yay antibiotics and Christ on a bike gave me just the right amount of joy for my Wednesday work day. You're a goddamn gift, is what you are Ms McLaughlin! Don't go changin' :)
Thank you for this wonderful piece and all the lovely pieces it contains! I completely agree with the need for that armlet and love the idea to have an accompanying painting as well. 💙
Best installment ever??? Hard to say, but it's funny (and terrible) that the better these posts are, the more misery and yearning they inspire. But, also great. I too might now die without armlet.
It's seriously incredible. Those Victorian painters got so much shit in the last century - I mentioned in a previous newsletter that Alma-Tadema was called "the worst painter of the 19th century," which is just BANANAS. Yeah, it's pretty and romantic and idealized but holy god, the skill. The detail of the table legs in the background. The veining of the marble. I'm actually amazed it only took him four months to finish.
Dying to know the context around the jug! What a thing to commemorate... I could only imagine it was some kind of comedic gift for Don Joaquin, from someone with a poor sense of humour?
As always a very entertaining and impressively researched post. I love seeing the armlet and all the associated paintings. Also inspiring a fair bit of envy - the bicoloured mesh bag is beautiful, and the opal is just stunning. Thank you.
Thank you - I'm so glad you liked it! That armlet is amazing; it's a joy to see a piece with such an extraordinary visual history.
That armlet is pretty great. Could some of us gawping povvos club together and get it? Meanwhile I think blah is too positive a review of that wedding outfit...
Yeah, I was probably a bit too charitable there. I definitely didn't mind not having the space for a photo!
ohhhh that armlet!
It's amazing!
Yay antibiotics and Christ on a bike gave me just the right amount of joy for my Wednesday work day. You're a goddamn gift, is what you are Ms McLaughlin! Don't go changin' :)
LOL - my pleasure!!! <3 <3 <3
Thank you for this wonderful piece and all the lovely pieces it contains! I completely agree with the need for that armlet and love the idea to have an accompanying painting as well. 💙
Isn't it just gorgeous? And with that history. Gah!!! Glad you loved it, too.
Monica, this is a great post – entertaining, informative, and oh so well-written!
Thank you so much! This was a fun one to write up, so I'm delighted you enjoyed it as well.
Best installment ever??? Hard to say, but it's funny (and terrible) that the better these posts are, the more misery and yearning they inspire. But, also great. I too might now die without armlet.
Also every face on that Heliogabulus painting is incredible (the braid on that guy!). I'd never seen it before -- thank you.
It's seriously incredible. Those Victorian painters got so much shit in the last century - I mentioned in a previous newsletter that Alma-Tadema was called "the worst painter of the 19th century," which is just BANANAS. Yeah, it's pretty and romantic and idealized but holy god, the skill. The detail of the table legs in the background. The veining of the marble. I'm actually amazed it only took him four months to finish.
My sincere apologies, lol. This one really got me, too. The armlet and the agate cases. GAH.
Dying to know the context around the jug! What a thing to commemorate... I could only imagine it was some kind of comedic gift for Don Joaquin, from someone with a poor sense of humour?
It really is fascinating, isn’t it? A gag gift really does make a lot of sense, because otherwise…good lord. WHY?
Can’t believe you made me google “how to put on armlet” (answer: inconclusive) and scrofula
LOL I take ENORMOUS pride is ruining people's search histories!
OH SHIT THAT OPAL 🪭🪭🪭
I want that lodestone!
It was 1968 - imagine Jackie getting married in Mary Quant or psychedelic tie dye! Nah, not her style.
Definitely not! And Lee was always the more interesting sister, anyway.