At last!! Today is a very special day for all of us.
After nearly nine months of work, and many eyes, hands and heads looking, readjusting and checking everything… we are finally launching our new online shop.
From Vintage By Lopez-Linares all of us including Maria mother, Ana, Angel, myself and even some other members of our family have collectively participated on our most recent project, giving our opinions, helping out and becoming totally caught up in it. It has been a real team effort together with the creators, designers and programmers at Pixel & Pixel.
The project is ambitious. The shop is in both English and Spanish as we don’t only wish to deliver our magic to the Latin market or exclusively to the Spanish speaking world but also to wherever the internet permits us to reach; far, very far. We want Vintage By Lopez-Linares to cross all the barriers it comes across and transmit our illusion and excitement to all with whom it may meet.
We hope that the illusion and eagerness that we have given to this project (which will be launched today), will be reflected in our virtual space. We would love for you to share it with anyone who, like us, believes in a slightly more vintage world, a world that holds a magic and love for well made antique objects that have always provided us with a reason to work as antiquarians.
A thousand thanks to everyone…Maria mother, Maria, Angel and Ana
The Aston Martin DB5, had you heard about this super car before? Perhaps the name doesn’t ring a bell for you, however if I were to tell you that it was one of the cars used by Agent 007 that’s another thing. Isn’t that right?
We didn’t want to limit our “Vintage Icons” section to only telling the lives of legendary men and women but also to accommodate all vintage icons of other genres. Due to this, from now on we will publish an article about legendary cars and motorbikes once a month; film pieces that have left their mark on the minds of all motor lovers, and even amongst the minds of the non-lovers!
In order to do this we will count on Angel’s collaboration. He is our expert on watches, barometers and all classes of antique scientific appliances. He is a “handyman” who has spent 20 years in the shadows of Lopez-Linares Antiques. He works from his precision workshop in order to ensure that every one of the pieces sold in our Antique shop maintains the same precision in its new destination as when it was made. He is a watchmaker by profession and by hobby, an expert on motorbikes and cars, a lover of classical cinema, photography and a tireless reader on any kind of technical information, ah, and my brother!!
Angel tells me the history of the Aston Martin as if he had driven it at some point in his life… Not in vain does he tell me that it is “the world’s most famous car”, at least in reference to cinematographic fame.
The Aston Martin DB5 was born in 1964 as an evolution from its smaller brother the DB4 but of a sportier character, with a bigger engine, power assisted double circuit disc brakes and a harder suspension. Furthermore it was equipped with luxuries uncommon to the time: electric windows, a 5 speed gearbox, double fuel tank, a magnesium alloy chassis… and even an extinguisher.
All of this converted the DB5 into a Sports coupé of great international category, to the point of being chosen to be the car of the world’s most famous secret agent: Agent 007. The agent with a license to kill was created by Ian Fleming, and has continued to fill cinema’s box offices all over the world until today. As a result of all this the Aston Martin DB5 has become the most iconic sports car of the British automobile history.
The actor who was chosen to drive and enjoy the car: Sean Connery, the one who, according to many, was the best James Bond of all time. He was the detective who chased down Her Majesty’s enemies, the invincible secret agent, the one who conquered the most desired women, and the one who had the privilege of driving the car that so many men would have wished to have as their most prized toy parked in the garage of their house.
Connery was the actor who gave James Bond the air of a tough guy and an adventurer, as well as an elegant and forever seducing nature. Even Ian Fleming, who at the beginning did not quite agree with the chosen lead role as he appeared to him to be “lacking in refinement”, had to admit, after seeing the film that Sean Connery had been magnificent in the role as 007, although he may have preferred actors such as Cary Grant.
His car, of course, could not be any inferior to him. The Aston Martin DB5 was equipped with all types of gadgets: camouflaged machine guns underneath the indicators, three number plates that were changed by the press of a button, foldable blades that appeared from the centre of the wheels (similar to Messala’s chariot in Ben Hur), an anti-bullet shield that opened up behind the rear window, an extractable roof and a driver’s seat with ejection system and parachute in the case of emergency.
The public success, although not from the critics, was spectacular. Perhaps, thanks to the success, the Aston Martin DB5 became a collector’s item whose economic and sentimental value doesn’t stop increasing. Not in vain has the original Aston Martin from both films (and the one that carries all the add-ons that it did in the film) been recently auctioned and sold for the price of 3 million Euros. An amount that has gone to an American Organisation dedicated to combating delinquency.
An appropriate end for a car created to fight against delinquency in a fictitious film, and whose auctioned value ended up being used to defend the Law.
Technical Characteristics:
Price: £4175 at the time. Currently the car continues to be made and has an average price of around 300000$. Engine: Six cylinders in-line, 3995 cm3, 382 CV at 5500 rpm.
Transmission: 5 speed gearbox or a Borg-Warner automatic with 3 speeds.
Suspension:
Front: Telescopic shock absorbers.
Rear: Double wishbone with telescopic shock absorbers.
Brakes: Double circuit of assisted brakes with four solid discs.
Maximum speed: 233 km/h (145 mph)
Acceleration from 0 to 100: 7.1 seconds.
Angel found out, through a James Bond fan club, that you can subscribe to a monthly magazine that will send you pieces from the original Aston Martin DB5 model along with it. The funny thing with the model is that all the gadgets that the original car was equipped with actually work.
It looks beautiful. So, if you are one of those that have always dreamt of driving this iconic Sports car, don’t miss out…
Our September “Vintage Icon” was born in Barahona (The Dominican Republic) in 1912 and was baptized in the church where the remains of Christopher Columbus are believed to be buried. Maria Montez was the first Dominican actress to reach the Hollywood Mecca.
She spent her infancy years growing up in Tenerife as her father was from the Canaries. She was educated in a Catholic Convent there. Since a young age she dreamed of being an actress and, they say, that when she was very small she would take a big sheet to the door of her house and make an improvised stage from it in order to perform small plays.
She had an anxious yet dreamy personality, when she moved to New York in the Thirties; she arrived already convinced that her principal aim was to become a famous actress. In order to reach this the first thing she did was to adapt her biography to make it more attractive to reach the Mecca of film. She changed her name to Maria Montez as a tribute to the ballerina Lola Montez.
Her strong Hispanic accent, her exuberant Latino presence and her great beauty contributed to raise her to stardom in very little time. Within a few years she became known as the “Caribbean Cyclone”.
Since 1942 she was known as “The Queen of Technicolor”. She played a lead role in successful box office titles such as “White Savage”, “Ali Baba and the 40 thieves”, “Cobra Woman” or “Arabian Nights”… In reference to this last film she was quoted to say: “When I look at myself, I am so beautiful I scream with joy”.
Maria married twice, once in the Thirties to an Irish Banker whom she divorced in 1939 and with whom she had no children, and the second time to a French actor, Jean Pierre Aumont with whom she had a daughter: the actress Tina Aumont.
In 1951 a Hollywood as trologer told her that her life would be short and that she would die a sudden death. She died that same year from a heart attack whilst she was having a hot bath with bath salts in her Paris house. She was 34 years old.
Maria Montez posed for McClelland Barclay, one of the most famous illustrators of the time and pin-up art painter.
TheDominican Republic International Airport carries her name in memory of her.
By her own merits she won her place in theMeccaof film.
I live you links to three of her most famous films:
In this film the Caliph of Baghdad must hide his identity with a group of travelling actors when his brother usurps the throne. Both brothers lust after the same beautiful dancer who hesitates between power and true love.
Upon discovering that his girlfriend, Tolle a, has been kidnapped, Ramu and his friend Kado set off for a Pacific island where all the foreigners are assassinated at their arrival and the inhabitants, who are frequently sacrficed to an evil volcano God, worship the cobra. The island is governed by Tollea’s evil twin: Naja the Cobra Woman, who, apart from having plans for her new prisoner Ramu also wishes to eliminate any competition from her benevolent sister.
Edward Hopper will be in Madrid until 16th September.
The ‘Thyssen Bornemisza’ Museum hosts this magnificent selection of 73 of the North American artist’s work, creating one of the widest and most ambitious exhibitions that has been shown of his work until now in Europe.
Before going on Holiday I decided to dedicate an afternoon to his exhibition.
I wanted to get more familiar with the work of this Twentieth Century American realist painter, the one about whom I had read so much but seen so little.
I recommend that you visit the exhibition with time; it is rather extensive and surprising. You cannot see it in a hurry.
My first sensation when I started to wander through the halls of the Thyssen was to feel as if I were like one of those tourists with their camera in hand, capturing moments of people’s everyday lives. It’s like walking around the streets of New York and walking into a window display or a window with no curtains at the turn of every corner. You feel like you’re part of the character’s every day life in each painting. Until you reach the point when you start to feel indiscreet and guilty of intruding on foreign lives, trying to figure out what they are doing at that moment, and above all, what would be on the minds of each and every one of them. It’s as if you’re taking photographs; photographs stolen from everyday scenes and moments of anonymous, solitary, melancholic people’s lives without them even noticing.
It’s as it they were posing for you without realising… without being aware of your presence.
His pieces are of such a simple composition, of such a clean and clear design, of such smooth level and contrasting light that they only leave room for focusing attention on the real main characters and their moment’s of introspection…
There are three paintings that stood out to me more than others, it’s curious because I imagined the three of them converted into photographs. My mind began transforming the characters into brightly coloured pieces of costume jewellery: brooches, earrings, necklaces… Everything transformed itself into solitary people, concentrating on themselves yet under a surprising light just like the one seen in all of Hopper’s paintings.
The first of all is “Soir Blue”
Due to its size and strong colours it’s a monumental piece of art. Hopper painted it four years after returning to Paris. I think that in the painting he tries to make a reference to the Parisian society that he knew there. It seems as if the characters were sitting on a terrace, dressed-up and waiting to act in a theatrical performance of some sort.
It includes a clown, a soldier dressed in black tie, what seems to be an intellectual represented by a character with a beard and beret, a Parisian bourgeoisie couple. On foot, leaning against the balustrade is a beautiful, haughty, excessively made-up woman with a skin so white that it shows off her green dress even more so.
I was extremely taken by this work’s colour, strength and theatricality.
“Room in New York” (1932). The painting freezes a moment in which the man reading the paper is ignoring the woman’s presence. She is playing a few simple notes on the piano with one hand, absent and thoughtful. The result of this scene is cinematographic, as are so many others of Hopper’s pieces.
The woman in the painting is represented by a pair of striking red earrings of a very intense shade of red and the man is absent…as if he were just a black smudge.
When I arrived at the “Two Comedians” I imagined Hopper and his wife Jo, represented by two earrings in the shape of tear drops. This works represents the author’s farewell to his public, as it was his last piece of work. The two pierrots (clowns) bow their heads in an act of reverence, sad, as are my two white tears.
I also wanted to give a special mention to his watercolours of American houses for their detail and light, which were painted during his summer stays on Cape Cod during his marriage. I have always liked these unfamiliar types of American and English houses… it seems curious that Hopper would have noticed these little fisherman’s houses or the Victorian mansions of the North American East Coast and that he should have painted them in such luxurious detail. It’s charming.
If you are interested in experiencing the sensations produced by Hopper’s painting as you pass by them, do not hesitate to visit the Thyssen Bornemisza before 16th September. I can assure you that the experience is worth it.
In my opinion it isn’t an exhibition that leaves you indifferent… It makes you form a part of it as if you were just another character in one of its paintings.
Its history begins at the end of the Nineteenth Century and it is known as the fashion bible.
Vogue magazine was born in the United States in 1892, founded by Arthur Baldwin Turnure. At the beginning, the gazette was weekly and was run by a New York aristocrat. Turnure contracted more staff with high social statuses than staff with actual literary talent. In that period the magazine was designed for a female and male readership, publishing news about sports, performances, books and music…
Only two copies of the first edition survive, currently they are to be found in the Vogue archives. The magazine has its own digitalized archive, which can be accessed by an annual subscription through the following link: Vogue Archive
In 1909, following the death of its founder, a young businessman from New York by the name of Conde Nast took over the weekly gazette. Conde Nast had graduated in Georgetown and, unlike the magazine’s previous owner; he immediately became aware that the magazine’s income had to come from its publicity and not from the sponsorship of some successful businessman.
Nast was a publicity and sales genius. In 1910 he decided to covert the publication to bimonthly and focus on the world of fashion. In order for the magazine to target a predominantly female public, he looked for the best photographers and illustrators of the time and put them to work at his side.
The magazine was first published in England in 1916 and in France in 1924. The Spanish Edition would start in the Eighties. Currently more than twenty countries in the world have their very own edition.
In 1913, with the arrival of photography and under Edna Woolman Chase’s management, the magazine’s chief editor until 1951, the magazine would be reinvented on various occasions and the readership would increase by a great degree.
By having previously worked in Home Pattern, Nast boosted the magazine’s sponsors section which then acquired a tremendous popularity. Even Eleanor Roosevelt, in interviews, admitted to having used Vogue’s sponsors for both herself and her children.
Nast died in 1942; however he had already converted Vogue into what it currently is: the most glamorous fashion magazine of the Twentieth Century.
The magazine would carry on in the hands of the Conde Nast Cooperation, which is where it continues today.
From 1952 until 1962 Vogue would receive a new format under Jessica Daves’ direction, a re-launch and many other novelties. It was Irving Penn’s recruitment that motivated this great change. Penn reinvented and modernized fashion photography. He would almost always resort to natural light, eliminating all superfluous elements and maintaining fashion in the limelight.
From 1963 until 1971 Diana Vreeland filled Vogue with a theatrical nature, orientating the magazine much more towards the fashion world and dedicating many more pages to clothes and accessories.
Grace Mirabelle (1971-1988) was to arrive afterwards. During this period the magazine would convert to a monthly publication, reducing its size in order to adjust it to the mailing standards. Mirabelle orientated the magazine more towards lifestyles than to fashion.
Currently, and from November 1988, the magazine finds itself in the hands of Ann Wintour. The first great change that Ann introduced was to show the model’s entire bodies on the front covers, opposing what Mirabelle had done my only displaying their faces.
Model’s entire bodies, the outdoors, natural light, little-known models and a mixture of low cost clothing and top designer pieces, these were Ann’s trademarks at the beginning.
Ann Wintour is currently one of the most powerful women in the fashion world; she has an astronomical wage and a generous benefit at the end of the year.
It is rumoured that the film The Devil wears Prada is based on her own character: arrogant, perfectionist and tireless.
Vogue is undeniably the most influential fashion magazine, and I don’t believe there to be a single woman in the civilized world that has not had a copy of the magazine in her hands at some point.
If you would like to find out more about the exciting history of this emblematic publication, you mustn’t miss out on acquiring a copy of “IN VOGUE”, a book by Norberto Angeletti and Alberto Oliva. It is a look into the magazine’s fascinating history. The work is illustrated with hundreds of covers designed by hugely important artists and images taken from the pages of the magazine published during more than 100 years.
The two authors worked on the project for five years, managing to produce a unique book. The book tells the publication’s story throughout its lifetime of 115 years and the influence that it has had, and still has, on culture, photography, art and journalism in general.
Andrea of Verrocchio, born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de’ Ciono, known simply as Verrocchio, was born in Florence in 1435 and died in Venice in 1488. His father was a roof tile and tile manufacturer although he would later become a tax collector.
Andrea started working as a goldsmith in Giulio Verrocchi’s workshop, from whom it appears he took his nickname, soon becoming one of the most important sculptors of his time.
He had a famous and active workshop in Florence from which as many sculptures as paintings and goldsmith works came; however, nowadays the only well-documented facet of Verrocchio’s work is his sculptures.
Modeller and carver, his conserved works are made from marble, terracotta, silver and bronze. Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli and Miguel Ángel were amongst his students.
Between the years of 1474-1475 the Baptism of Christ was produced, currently conserved in the Uffizi. Leonardo da Vinci, who was very young at the time, helped in this masterpiece. Leonardo had been Verrocchio’s student since 1467. Leonardo finished off the landscape and painted the angel on the left hand side, exceeding the quality in the rest of the painting. According to Vasari, Verrocchio couldn’t overcome this criticism and didn’t wish to ever touch paint brushes again, he was in indignation because a young boy knew more than him.
In 1478 Verrocchio started what was to be his most famous work, an equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, who had died three years earlier. The masterpiece was commissioned by the Venetian Republic. It was the first intent to produce a group in which the horse appeared to have its legs in the air. The statue is featured for Colloeoni’s facial expression and the magnificent representation of movement.
Verrocchio created a wax model in 1480, and in 1488 he finally moved to Venice to attend the group’s foundry. Nevertheless he died that same year before finishing the masterpiece, which was finished by his disciple Alessandro Leopardi.
However from all his pieces of work my preferred one would be a sculpture that he completed around 1478, a winged cherub with a dolphin, currently found in the Palazzo Vecchio and which was originally meant to be a fountain in Villa Médicis in Careggi. It appears to have been commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici.
The child’s movement is graceful, happy and playful; it measures a height of 68cm.
The statue was used as a centrepiece of the primary patio of Vecchio Palace between 1550 and 1568, where it crowned the fountain designed by Vasari.
We have permitted ourselves to reproduce the piece as a necklace and earrings, an original way of preserving the everlasting charm of this small angel and being able to enjoy it up close.
Necklace and earrings inspired by Verrocchio’s masterpiece.
Jean Harlow died on the 7th July 1937; the actress was born into the heart of a middle-class American family, daughter of a dentist and of a housewife, she was converted into American cinema’s first “Blonde Bombshell” of the Thirties and an authentic sex symbol, much before Marilyn acquired her world fame.
Jean’s mother was so protective that their mother-daughter relationship was nearly converted into something unhealthy. Following her parent’s divorce, her mother managed to obtain custody over Jean who would not see her father more than once more during her life.
Her mother used to call her “Baby” instead of by her forename. This ended up confusing the young girl so much that she didn’t know her real name until she started school.
Jean was famous for completely ignoring the strict American morals of the period.
Some of her most famous sayings:
• “I like to wake up each morning with a different man”
• “I find underwear uncomfortable and besides my female body parts need to breathe”.
• “I am not a born performer; nobody knows that better than I do. I may have hidden talent but I also have to work hard, listen carefully, repeat everything over and over again until I manage to get through a scene”
• “Men like me because I don’t wear bras. Men like me because I don’t seem like a girl who would steal their husband. At least not for long…”
19 curiosities about her short career:
At the height of her success, many of her female fans dyed their hair platinum blonde like her, even Howard Hughes organized a competition in which the hairdresser that got the closest to the actress’s tone of blonde would receive a prize of 10,000$.
At 21 years of ageHarlowsigned a contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer, after paying Hughes 30,000$. It was at this point thatHarlowbecame a superstar.
During the filming of “Red Dust” her second husband, Paul Bern, was found dead in their house, with rumours following that Jean Harlow had murdered him. The MGM executives didn’t take long to resolve the case of his death, assuring thatBern’s death had been a result of suicide, alleging that he had suffered from impotency as the motive. This didn’t harmHarlow’s career in any way, in fact she became even more popular than before.
She was idolised by Marilyn Monroe. Curiously, both of them played the lead roles in their respective last films (Saratogaand The Misfits) with Clark Gable.
The only colour sequence that exists of Jean Harlow is in her first film “Hell’s Angels”, a drama about the First World War in 1930. A rare and extremely expensive (for its time) eight minute sequence.
She was the first actress in cinema to appear on the front cover of “Life” magazine in May 1937, just a month before her sudden death.
She always carried two talismans: one chain on her left ankle, which you can see in many of her films, and a dressing table mirror in her dressing room. She would always check her reflection in it before filming.
She never wore underwear and always slept naked.
She followed a strict diet so as not to put any weight on, on a base of vegetables and salads.
She used to put ice on her nipples before filming a scene so that she would appear sexier.
She was known as the original “blonde bombshell” much before Marilyn.
In 1937 a few days before finishing the filming of “Saratoga” she died of a kidney infection derived from a scarlet fever from which she had suffered when she was a small child and that had nearly taken her life.
In order to finish the filming she was substituted by Mary Dees, who was exclusively filmed from behind. Her voice was dubbed by Paula Winslowe. This fact meant that “Saratoga” became the biggest box office success of 1937.
The film did not only suffer the calamity of the actress’s death; Lionel Barrymore tripped over a light cable and broke his hip for the second time; this confined him to a wheelchair for 10 years. Following a significant weight loss he was able to walk again, however with many difficulties.
Jean’s epitaph simply says “Our Baby”, just as her mother used to call her.
She was buried in the gown she wore in the film “Libeled Lady”.
The singer Gwen Stefani embodied Jean Harlow in a brief role in “The Aviator” by Martin Scorsese.
Following the legend the famous dog “Rin Tin Tin” died in her arms in 1932.
The American singer Madonna pays tribute to her, just as she did to other great stars of the time, in the song Vogue 1990.
At Vintage by López-Linares want to dedicate our June Icon to Jean Harlow.
She was Marilyn’s favourite actress, the true icon that inspired her, the one that she copied and admired throughout her likewise short cinematographic career.
So deep was her admiration for her that she was her inspiration during her whole life. I think that this fact helped Marilyn become and stand out as the icon from amongst the others icons.
Sequence from her last film “Saratoga”
In this sequence we can see how the actress Mary Dees substitutes Jean without letting her face be seen.
Piccarda Bueri was born inVeronain 1368 in the heart of an old, noble and wealthy Tuscan family. Giovanni di Bicci de Médici himself was one of Averardo de Médici’s five children, who upon his death left what little he had to his widow and their five children. From an early age Giovanni emerged as a skilled, intelligent and bright man in business. His uncle Vieri noticed this immediately and contracted him as his apprentice in the Medici Bank inRome.
Giovanni and Piccarda were united in marriage in 1386. A marriage out of convenience to which Piccarda brought a great dowry and noble title, and Giovanni a more than promising future in which he managed to succeed in having one of the first Italian banks.
This was how Giovanni, using Piccarda’s dowry and his rights as a business man, managed to displace his uncle at the head of the Medici Bank in Rome, converting him into the leader and founder of the Medici family, and also one of the richest men of the Italian Renaissance.
He was a reserved and thoughtful man; he was characterized by his simple way of dressing, and for his lifestyle centred on his businesses and his family’s serene peace with his dearly loved wife and his two male sons: Cosme and Lorenzo.
Piccarda’s portrait was completed in the Polliurio brother’s studio; however I haven’t been able to find who commissioned it on my own accord, as it is dated in 1470 long after the marriage ended.
The Polliurio brothers were born in the city of Florence, from a very humble father from whom they received their nickname. He sold poultry, hens, (pollaio means hen house). The old Polliurio soon became aware of his son’s artistic gifts; due to this he arranged a place for Antonio in Bartoluccio Ghiberti Goldsmith’s workshop, an outstanding expert at the time, and for Piero with Andrea del Castagno the painter who was the best inFlorence at the time.
Both brothers were outstanding to such a point that after a short time they opened up their own Goldsmiths, converting themselves into Verrocchio’s rivals in very little time. The Italian Renaissance’s famous architect, painter and writer, Vasari, writes in his renowned work about biographies that the Polliurio brothers carried out dissections to improve their knowledge about the anatomy, advancing farther in these practices than Leonardo Da Vinci.
It’s hard to specify which of the brothers painted Piccarda’s portrait as they didn’t tend to sign their work, however it is believed that Antonio did it as he outshined his brother in the art of colours.
In keeping with the portraits of the time, Piccarda’s figure is presented in profile. A blue sky and a few small clouds in the background make it seem as if Piccarda’s figure is suspended in space.
Piccarda wears a dress with a low neckline held together by a few small buttons. Her sleeves are luxurious as they tended to be on the dresses of the high bourgeoisie ladies of the time.
I like the way she wears her hair, the veil, the long string of small pearls that decorate her bun and that are hid by the various hair gatherings. It reminds me of classical ballet dancers: ethereal, elegant and with a distinguished yet distant air.
And around her neck, what awakens me, a short necklace: three white pearls and one black pearl, three white pearls and one black pearl… and it continues like this up to a pendant consisting of a large ruby and two hanging pearls.
The extraordinary richness of the dress, the hairstyle and the Jewels that she wears invites us to imagine that the painting is of a prominent figure from fifteenth centuryFlorence. Everything about her reflects distinction and elegance, yet her poise is confident and simple.
The inscription on the following panel labels her as the Florentine Banker Bardi Giovanni’s wife, the work being dated in 1470.
Piccarda died in 1433, only three years after the death of her beloved Giovanni, she was buried together with her dearly loved husband in the Vieja de San Lorenzo de Florencia Sacristy. The chronicles of the period write that after her husband died Piccarda fell into a profound sadness that she never managed to get over.
Carlo Marsuppini, a renowned philosopher in his time and a man of words, wrote an ode in his memorials that compared Piccarda to Portia, Julia Cesar, Artemisa and Penelope. All of these are women remembered for love, suffering and the dedication and efforts they made for their loved ones.
Since last month this beautiful piece of Renaissance jewellery can be seen in our space inMadrid.
On the 5th May 1826: María Eugenia Palafox Portocarrero and Kirkpatrick, Countess of Teba and better known as Eugenia of Montijo was born in Granada, in the area of ‘la Magdalena’,. She is our “Vintage Icon” for May.
She is the daughter of Cipriano Palafox and Portocarrero, ‘Grande de España’, and of Maria Manuela Kirkpatrick and Grevigné, the granddaughter of the fourth Countess of Montijo, Maria Francisca of Sales Portocarrero.
An inheritance distances Eugenia from her natalGranadaand drives her into the world of wealth and privilege that her mother had always dreamed of for her daughters. It is in 1830 when her family inherits the Montijo title for which they are known, and move toMadrid.
Maria Eugenia was a beautiful, cosmopolitan and passionate young girl, being due to this thatSpain’s “best catches” fell at her feet. All apart from the only one she loved, the Duke of Alba, who preferred her sister Paca, who was nearly as beautiful as her but more sensible and mature, and managed to capture him ending in their marriage in 1845.
Hurt by her own love, Eugenia sets herself up to conquest the proud Napoleon III and capture the Imperial crown ofFrance. In order to do this she moves to France with her mother, a tremendously ambitious woman.
They say that she managed to conquest the Emperor in her bid to conserve her virginity, and his desire to be the first to take it. The Emperor asked Maria Eugenia “the way to her bedroom” she answered decidedly: “By passing through the chapel, sire”. This was how she managed to capture the Empress’ Crown and become one of the most influential women of her time.
The chronicles say that the Emperor was already unfaithful to her during the honeymoon; however it seems that it didn’t really matter to her. She wasn’t all that in love with him; she married him in order to gain the power and status that would convert her into the Empress of France.
Maria Eugenia didn’t waste any time during her days inFrance, she contributed greatly in convertingParisinto the City ofLight. Amongst other things she also promoted the city’s drainage works. She was an amazingly advanced woman for her time, she fought for women’s rights, succeeding in the Legion of Honour being rewarded for the first time to a woman and she advocated for women’s suffrage. She financed the opening of theSuez Canalat an international level and supported Luis Pasteur’s investigations, those which would lead to the discovery of the vaccine against rabies…In other words, a fine example of a Twenty-first century woman found in the mid Nineteenth century.
A tremendously coquettish and vain woman, she discovered the Genius fashion designer Worth and dictated the fashion during decades. She designed the crinoline, the perfume, the ‘Chatone’ necklaces and the make-up.
In 1870 following the collapse of the Second Empire she moved toEngland, this was where her husband would pass away three years later. After his death, the Empress did not keep up her efforts to create a political party or gain sufficient support for her son to get the French throne back. Her labours were in vain. In 1879 the Prince died fighting forEngland. The Empress was broken hearted but would still outlive her son by 40 years, dying finally inMadridin 1920 at 94 years of age.
Maria Eugenia of Montijo is buried in the Imperial crypt together with her husband and son.
In her will she named her inheritor to be Hernando Stuart Fizt James and Falcó, the brother of the Duke of Alba, Count of Montijo and Duke of Peñaranda.
Currently thecountyofMontijois found in the possession of Jacobo Hernando Fitz-James Stuart and Gómez, the grandson of an uncle to the current Duchess of Alba.
There are two interesting books written about the Empress’ life:
“La pasión Imperial” by Pilar Eyre, and “Eugenia de Montijo” by Genevieve Chauvel.
Finally I will leave you a link to a stunning report about Maria Eugenia’s palaces, who the French call “The Marie Antoinette of the Third Empire”. It is in French but the images are so pretty that it is worth watching.
There were two years that marked her life, 1936 and 1937. During them she received awards from the Oscars Academy for best supporting actress in “The Great Ziegfeld” and “The Good Earth”. The actress, German by birth, American by adoption and English at heart, has spent more years out of the focus of Hollywood cameras that on set.
She was the first actress in history who managed to win two consecutive Oscars, an achievement that only Katherine Hepburn equalled and the only German actress to accomplish it. However, she is more popularly known for being the actress that managed to steal the Oscar from Greta Garbo for her magnificent Margarita in “Camille”, instead of for her own successes.
They say that Luise Rainer won the Oscar in “The Great Ziegfeld” for this scene:
Luise was born in Dusseldorf on the 2nd of January 1910, which means that surprisingly she is 102 years old this year, a fact that converts her into the oldest prizewinning actress with an Oscar. Discovered at barely 19 years of age, when she worked in a play in Vienna, by an MGM talent spotter, she signed a 7 year contract with the American producer yet didn’t manage to fulfil it. She worked for MGM during hardly four years, between 1935 and 1939, managing to win two Oscars in that short period of time, a total achievement that no other actress has managed.
Luise Rainer isn’t the type of actress easy to find. She is from the same line as Hepburn and Garbo, another two great actresses who challenged the complicated world of Hollywood. Rainer hated publicity as much, or even more, than Garbo and her rebellious and non-conventional personality was very similar to Katherine Hepburn’s. To this she united her inability to adapt to the Hollywood rules. She used to go out on the street casually dressed and without any make up; she was also reluctant to attend parties and big events.
It is for these reasons that MGM undid themselves of her within a short period f time; or rather she undid herself of MGM. She swapped Hollywood for Broadway and returned to the theatre. However in 1945 she once again found herself living in Europe and she has now been living in Eaton Square in London for 50 years, in an apartment that once belonged to Vivien Leigh and in which one can breathe an authentic English air.
Her last public appearance was in Berlin in October 2011, in a tribute that was made for her and in which they awarded her a star in a new “Boulevard of Stars”, similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which they have inaugurated in the cited city.
Her face was able to transmit a playful beauty, with moving eyes and full lips, a face capable of stopping the beating heart.
Luise Rainer once said: “An Oscar isn’t a curse. The curse is that you win an Oscar and think you can do whatever you want.”
Our March “Vintage Icon” is a true Hollywood rebel, who walked down the red carpet like an authentic star 75 years ago.
