This
carved wood relief at the
Getty really took my breath away. Full sized and carved from a block of limewood by Aubert-Henri-Joseph Parent in Paris, 1789, the thickness of each petal and leaf is the real-life equivalent. You can practically smell the lilac!
The lower half is unfortunately as realistic, ahhhh snakes! This allegory, as so much else at the Getty from the time period, portrays the birds (aristocracy) protecting their feathered nests from the snakes (revolutionaries). I suppose we know who won and now we enjoy the fruits of the snakes' labor as so many of the aristocrat's belongings are now in the hands of museums such as the Getty; very...mixed...feelings.
This carved wood relief at the Getty really took my breath away. Full sized and carved from a block of limewood by Aubert-Henri-Joseph Parent in Paris, 1789, the thickness of each petal and leaf is the real-life equivalent. You can practically smell the lilac!
The lower half is unfortunately as realistic, ahhhh snakes! This allegory, as so much else at the Getty from the time period, portrays the birds (aristocracy) protecting their feathered nests from the snakes (revolutionaries). I suppose we know who won and now we enjoy the fruits of the snakes' labor as so many of the aristocrat's belongings are now in the hands of museums such as the Getty; very...mixed...feelings.