little augury: Wilkie Collins

detective novels, mysteries- I love them. I've read some or all of titles of Poe, Wilkie Collins , Arthur Conan Doyle Gaston Leroux and of course Agatha Christie & Dorothy Sayers. To think I had until just this moment missed "the Mother of the Detective Story," Anna Katharine Green- pains me. I have remedied that and if you have had the same fate I suggest The Leavenworth Case.

It seems Anna Katharine introduced her ongoing series of stories with Detective Ebenezer Gryce solving murders a full nine years be for Conan Doyle did his Sherlock novels. Fortunately Detective Gryce has help from a gentleman-Raymond- who can traverse the intrigues of New York society where Gryce can not. Gouty Gryce is likeable, but Raymond is more intriguing and it is from his point of view the murder of a distinguished Mr. Leavenworth and the subsequent evidence that is piling up at the door of one of his two nieces. Both Mary & Eleanore are great beauties & the deeper Mr, Raymond delves into the crime the more he becomes emotionally entangled with both the women.

I can't fault Green's style-a bit stilted- but some how suggestive of Edith Wharton, I was caught up in the plot rather quickly . Perhaps it is the era Green sets her Case in but I couldn't help think of Wharton & the heroines in her novels-trapped by society's dictates with little to recourse but a successful marriage. Green, a Brooklyn native and the daughter of a criminal attorney, published The Leavenworth Case in 1878. Green married Charles Rohlfs, an internationally known furniture designer in 1884. She went on to publish mysteries with female sleuths-a society spinster Amelia Butterworth, said to be the prototype for Miss Marple & Violet Strange, debutante leading a secret life as a sleuth.
I have to read these of course- I've got a case.

the romantic langour of Albert Joseph Moore's paintings seem to capture the mood of Mr. Raymond as he falls deeper and deeper under the spell of the two cousins.

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The Loggia of Raphael: A Vatican Art Treasure, published by Abbeville Press

I've read the Moonstone-by Wilkie Collins, more times than I can remember. With books as with movies there will be something that I continually Go Back To- reading rereading remembering.

With the Moonstone- it's the painting of Miss Rachel's door and boudoir by Miss Rachel and Mr Franklin. For the moment- I won't mention the theft of an Indian diamond, "as large as a plover's egg, nor the mastery of the telling of this mystery by Collin's unforgettable characters. The door and its painting- what does it have to do with the mystery? You must read it- if you like a mystery-and you must- or will- after reading the Moonstone.

Betteredge-the house steward- on Decorative Painting:

"Mr Franklin(Rachel's cousin and love interest) and Miss Rachel... confined themselves to making a mess, and all they spoilt, to do them justice, was the panelling of a door. Mr. Franklin's universal genius, dabbling in everything, dabbled in what he called decorative painting... and set her to work decorating her own little sitting room- called for want of English to name it in, her 'boudoir.'... Miss Rachel covered the surface under his direction and with his help, with patterns and devices- griffins, birds, flowers, cupids, and such like- copied from designs made by a famous Italian painter, whose name escapes me; the one, I mean, who stocked the world with Virgin Maries, and had a sweetheart at the baker's."

the real story-

the famous Italian painter?

Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520) His painting embodied the High Renaissance ideals of beauty. "How generous and kind Heaven sometimes proves to be when it brings together in a single person the boundless riches of its treasures and all those graces and rare gifts that over a period of time are usually divided among many individuals can clearly be seen in the no less excellent than gracious Raphael Sanzio of Urbino."- Vasari (1568)

a self portrait (1506)

our painter (l.)-with a friend (1518)

the sweetheart at the baker's

"La Fornarina" by Raphael- Margherita Luti, the daughter of a baker named Francesco Luti from Siena. Raphael's standing relationship with the sweetheart at the baker's is well known, as was his engagement to the niece of Cardinal Bibbiena. So intrigued by the relationship with Luti, Ingres painted Raphael and La Fornarina Margherita together over 300 years later.

La Fornarina (1518-1519)

Fascinated by the La V's identity for centuries as well, recent year long study of the La F. and La V. has unearthed conclusive information that it is one in the same- the sweetheart at the baker's, Margherita. (read-the article-click) The research sites the tiny pearl dangling from the turban and veil in both as evidence they are the same woman- and "Margherita"is Latin for pearl. Raphael signed his name on the blue ribbon arm band La Fornarina wears. Fascinating... like a tattoo of sorts (both possessing- and swearing eternal love to her.) Along with that- a ring on her left hand covered up by Raphael's students upon his death and the (recently) uncovered background foliage of myrtle and quince- symbols of love, fecundity and fidelity. Raphael was a romantic.

La Veleta (1514-1516)

our painter's wife it would seem- and the baker's daughter

Raphael and La Fornarina by Ingres

the Virgin Maries

Our painter's Madonnas are perhaps some of the most famous in the world- this one the Madonna of the Pinks-is my favorite. One of Raphael's early Madonnas painted around 1507- beautiful- full of light- fair of skin. This small devotional painting was painted for contemplation and would have been held in hand.

the "and such like"

Raphael's famous grotesques lie in the Vatican. “Raphael’s Loggia is among the Roman monuments that have been the most appreciated, copied, and visited by artists, connoisseurs, and travelers... “It is the ornamental ensemble that has left the deepest impression on Western art.” (from The Loggia of Raphael A Vatican Art Treasure by Nicole Dacos)