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Showing posts from October, 2022

Henriette the China Painter

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I love all things, not only the grand but the infinitely small: thimble, spurs, plates, flower vases.   - Pablo Neruda A vase as exquisite as the arrangement one might put in it Rudolph was not the only talented member of his family. In fact, his family was remarkably artistic. Music performance and composition, painting, flowers, and show dogs were all part of this family's repertoire. Henriette was a porcelain painter as this post will show. Miriam was a pianist who performed, taught and compose. Henry? He did a bit of all of this and that as well. First, a bit of family history. Rudolph died in 1939 in Chicago. Henriette, Miriam and Henry moved to Almeda, California where they appeared in the 1940 census. It is not clear what brought them there but it must have been a family decision. Miriam was 24 and Henry was 19. Neither was yet married. Henry was working as a mechanic, possibly to help support the family. He would work as a mechanic for the rest of his life. He was no local ...

Napoleon's (Painting's) Journey

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Napoleon traveled nearly 2000 miles from France to Moscow with an army of 250,000 men. This painting of Napoleon traveled a bit too. "1807, Friedland" Friedland was the site of a French victory over the Russian Army. Some historians consider it the highwater mark of Napoleon's empire. Meissonier was a French artist known for his historical renditions of Napoleon. This was one of his most famous. I have copied a brief discussion of the painting. (See a close-up .) This work by the French artist, Ernest Meissonier, is the largest and most ambitious painting by an artist renowned for meticulously rendered cabinet pictures, evokes one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s greatest victories. Meissonier made hundreds of preparatory studies for it, including drawings and sculptural models. He conceived the picture as part of a cycle of five key episodes in the life of the Emperor, only one other of which was completed: The Campaign of France—1814, an image of defeat (Musée d'Orsay, Pari...

Henriette and the Court Painter

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I promised some surprises in this family story. Hopefully what follows counts as one. It sure surprised me when I found out. A mother and her daughter If you remember my earliest posts about The Family , I wrote about Jan Vokoun's sister Marie or Mary Novotny. Here are the three generations of Jan Vokouns that I referenced in the last post about Kralovice. Jan Nepomucky Vokoun is the landowner from Stupice. Jan Vokoun b. 1804 is his son married to Anna Klin. Marie and Jan are two of their siblings who immigrated to Chicago. Marie arrived first about 1866 and married Henry Novotny. Here is the 1880 census that I listed in my post, The Family, showing Jan and Marie and families living in the same tenement. The Novotny's have four children at this point, Zdenka 'Sidney', Miles, Alexander, and Caroline. In the 1900 the family now lists, youngest daughter Henriette who is 17. This is the story of Henriette and her remarkable family. In 1875 a man of extraordinary artistic ta...