Eye Miniatures
Here's a romantic form of English art I hadn't come across before: exquisite miniature paintings of a lover's eye surrounded by pearls and/or precious stones, a fashion begun by George IV when he was Prince of Wales. Only about 1,000 are thought to have been produced. Of these, over 100 are currently on display in The Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, USA: The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection, the largest collection in the world (title link). I must admit my first thought was "Big Brother is watching you!" The exhibition runs until 10 June. And it's free.
posted by Unknown @ 8.2.12
4 comments
4 Comments:
Close up photos of eyes reveal the incredible complexity of the iris structure and pigmentation. Normally we only see people's eyes from a distance and class them as having a single overall colour. Only when you are close to someone, in both senses, do you study their eyes in detail. My thought is that you then focus on the eye opposite to your own dominant eye.
Hi, Kris
Eyes are as individual as fingerprints, hence modern iris scans for security. I doubt that these eye paintings achieve that quality of detail, but they certainly were an interesting start.
I'm not sure about dominance, because when I look into someboy's eyes I'm looking at the dilation of the pupil to see if that person is aroused by me. A dilated pupil shows arousal and suggests one might score. A small pupil, no chance. Forget it.
A completely dilated pupil happens immediately somebody dies. Time for CPR. I've seen it once, when my father died. If you can't find a pulse, check the pupil dilation. The iris all but vanishes.
How's the sculpture coming on?
Hi Ian
A friend of mine had very dilated irises all the time - a natural phenomenon. A big black pool surrounded by a small border of colour. Women couldn't resist him - and were disappointed that it was not the signal they thought.
Sculpture has mostly stalled - apart from buying lots of reference books. Liverpool University Press have reached the "Public Sculpture of Westminster - Vol 1". Mostly statues like "Richard I" and "Olver Cromwell".
The moulders are very busy with Olympic commissions. That's good news - but means my current head moulding/casting has to wait a while longer.
The need to design and build a shaped armature for future work has made it impossible to be spontaneous with a piece of clay. However a maquette may overcome some of that reluctance.
The cold weather isn't helping - my fingers are like pieces of wood. Roll on summer!
Roll on summer indeed! I think my central heating boiler is breaking down. It's all clonks and bangs and the temp won't go above 17 degrees today.
I once had a date with a woman who had a very dilated pupil and a very small one. I was totally confused. I had to ask her about it and it turned out the dilated pupil was the dysfunctional one. I didn't fancy her anyway.
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