Showing posts with label en vogue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label en vogue. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Who Will Riddle Me the How and the Why

Detail of a sphinx from an Eight-Light Candelabra (c.1785) possibly by Francois Remond

Here are a couple more images from my recent trip to the Huntington. ;-)

In general, I tend to focus on the fine art, sculpture, and architecture, but the decorative arts on display are exquisite, very rich in detail. These images have a mythological theme, in a pseudo-Egyptian style.

As for the title of this post, it's a quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The 'How' and the 'Why'". I figured that it would be a nice nod to celebrate his birth date, August 6, 1809.

Detail of a lamia(?)from an Eight-Light Candelabra (c.1785) possibly by Francois Remond

The sphinx and lamia are quite charming, but I find it a bit twisted, even for rococo sensibilities, to put mythical female sociopaths on the furniture. ;-)