I have just returned from two weeks in the sun and the though the morning has been grey sun is still a feature of the day with everyone in America poised for the total eclipse of said orb.
The sun has always been a powerful symbol in our imagination and we are familiar with Louis XIV making a bit of a thing of it. Here’s his personal symbol.
Mix sun and mirror and you have a powerful effect – both light and warmth. Jan van Eyck used it in the Arnolfini Marriage portrait of 1434 to represent prosperity and to tell a little story.
Fabulous sunburst mirrors have been produced ever since – the Victorians loved them, they were jazzed up in the 1950s and 60s with the birth of the space age and today, well, there’s all sorts to choose from. Here are a few of my favourite period pieces:
1930s English
1970s French
Antique French
Spanish of unknown date
French 1960s
Modern, Not on the High Street
French 1960s
I can see how you could quickly find yourself with a collection
which could grow
and grow
til they covered the floor too. But then, can you have too much sunshine in your life?
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