Zoya Art

The device that allowed for the tonal quality of a mezzotint print came to England with Prince Rupert of the Rhine who popularised under the reign of King Charles II. Prince Rupert’s ‘The Great Executioner’ is still seen as one of the greatest mezzotints to have ever been produced.

Vincent Van Gogh fell in love with his cousin Kee Vos Stricker. On one occasion he asked to marry her, putting his hand over a candle to show his love for her and saying he would not remove it until they could marry, however, Kee’s father blew out the candle and banned Van Gogh from their house.

Renaissance master Paolo Veronese completed the largest oil painting on canvas of the 16th century. ‘The Feast in the House of Levi’ is 5.6 x 13.1 metres and can be viewed in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. This painting was originally supposed to depict The Last Supper but Veronese went overboard and included many types of people and animals – much to the disapproval of the Catholic church.

We associate Hans Holbein The Younger with Tudor era portraits but he also had an interest in metalwork. Later in his career, Holbein designed jewellery and trinket cups for Anne Boleyn and armour for King Henry VIII, featuring elaborate engravings.

Lewis chess piece found in 1831, on a beach at Uig, Lewis, Scotland. Medieval: https://thetravelbible.com/top-artifacts-from-the-medieval-period/

Rembrandt van Rijn signed his paintings in many different ways. His early work is often initiated with a Latin monogram: RHL (Rembrandus Hermanni Leydensis). He also used RHL-van-Rijn before settling on a simple signature of just ‘Rembrandt’. Although his artwork is now some of the most famous and highly priced in the art world, he died in poverty in 1669.

I probably already posted this 9 ft-tall statue of the Kópakonan (Seal Woman) on Kalsoy, in the Faroe Islands, but then I did not know of the tradition that the Seal Women could turn back to women on Twelfth Night (another blended tradition).

"These tales, particularly two famous myths about the Seal Wife, are deeply rooted in Faroese folklore. The legend describes selkies as humans who chose the sea over life, transforming into seals. According to myth, once every year on Twelfth Night, they could shed their seal skins, assume human form, and revel in earthly pleasures for a short time."

Love her wildness and the untamed lands behind her.

Claude Monet was a popular caricaturist working under the name ‘Oscar Monet’ before becoming the renowned impressionist painter we know him as today. His original caricatures sold for just 10-20 francs each. In 2019 one of his early sketches was sold in New York for $37,575.