Category: Art in Books

Melania Trump, no doubt, gets defined through her marriage that catapulted her from a semi-successful model to an international celebrity. You like her husband? You think her lucky to have made such a catch. You hate her husband? You wonder how she can live with him and if she is held prisoner like Britney Spears… Continue reading Captain of Her Soul – a Respectful Look at Melania Trump

Conch pearls are as elusive as they are beautiful. One of the very rare gems, there is not much common knowledge about them in books or in the internet. As there is no open market for the pearls, people do not know about them.  Most of us cannot afford a real pink conch pearl, so… Continue reading The Pink Pearl – A Natural Treasure of the Caribbean

“…jewels are beautiful for the element of fantasy that they contain, not for the price our society puts upon them… it is beauty, not luxury, that I value…” Tony Duquette (the very first quote in the book this article is based upon, on the inside of the dust jacket) Tony Duquette is most famous for… Continue reading Colours are life – the jewellery of Tony Duquette and Hutton Wilkinson

On rare occasions something more perfect than reality is created by artists. Anyone who leafs through “The Italian Dream – Wine, Heritage, Soul” with the pictures of Aline Coquelle and the stories of Count Gelasio Gaetani D’Aragona Lovatelli and is not envious of everyone in the book must be without a heart and unfulfilled dreams,… Continue reading The Italian Dream – Wine, Heritage, Soul

Wolfgang Behnken and Leonard Prinz wrote a perfectly nice book about famous people on yachts, their own ones, or other people’s. They collected humorous stories about those “Stars on Board” and added an ounce of criticism, as most of the featured celebrities milked the background of a yacht to its limits. The book is easily… Continue reading The yacht as a symbol of wealth

During the last years some books were published that allow the interested reader to follow track of Russia’s Imperial jewellery. Before that, one could read something here and there about beautiful jewels that had disappeared, but it was impossible to follow through and get the full picture. To many pieces, too few pictures, too little… Continue reading Russia’s Imperial jewellery

To leave the most beautiful collection of jewellery worldwide on display in the Smithsonian Museum for Natural History in Washington, instead of making a huge fuss about it in a newly erected architectural showpiece, is a rather un-American understatement. The collection resides in one wing on the second floor of the Museum on Washington’s central… Continue reading Unearthed – The Smithsonian National Gem Collection

Slim Aarons sold his photo archive in 1990s to Getty Images, and we can be most happy he did. Mark Getty himself looked through the archives in Slim Aarons cellar and they agreed a deal on the spot. The new owners of the archives decided to use the pictures and pay homage to the photographer… Continue reading The easy going photographer– Slim Aarons

Patricia Corbett wrote a wonderful book about Sicilian nobleman Fulco Santostefano della Cerda, Duke di Verdura. He, in turn, brought the light and colours of his home island to his jewellery and with that to the whole world of people who could afford it or, at least, had the chance to look at pictures and… Continue reading Sicily in his blood – Fulco di Verdura’s life and jewellery

The social media age made cats the most loved YouTube stars, just think of “Grumpy Cat” and the likes. In the many centuries before, the cat in art was second to horses and dogs, as Caroline Bugler explains in her fascinating book “The Cat, 3500 Years of the Cat in Art”. Some of the facts… Continue reading The centuries before cat videos – “The Cat” by Caroline Bugler