September 18, 2003
Gertrude Hamilton
The latest of many visual delights I have discovered by way of Signor Mori’s marvellous weblog cipango are the contemporary botanical watercolours of Gertrude Hamilton.
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Although it is my subject I do not consider myself a botanical painter. I have no interest in merely copying a plant, I think that photography can do a better job. I like to capture the personality of every living thing. Every flower, every cherry is different, and this is what fascinates me… - Gertrude Hamilton.
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The blurb at the Phillips Fine Art website from where I lifted these images cites influences ‘as diverse as Pompeiian frescoes, Piero della Francesca and Dürer’. I can’t say it’s an influence, but these images, with their penlike flourishes, remind me of Joris Hoefnagel’s illustrations in the Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta.
Posted by misteraitch at September 18, 2003 07:09 PM | TrackBackThe "blurb" is not quite correct....
I'd rather say she is influenced by the italian renaissance painter Giovanna Garzoni.
As an example, see http://www.uwrf.edu/history/prints/women/garzoni.html
http://posters.barnesandnoble.com/search/Results.asp?ctr=840339
http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/bio/a21178-1.html
Cheers!
Posted by: Franco Bonacci on September 18, 2003 07:50 PMI saw the post at Cipango, visited Phillips Fine Arts and thought of e-mailing you, suspecting you might like these. Got distracted and forgot, so I'm glad to see you've spotted the find yourself :)
Posted by: E. on September 19, 2003 03:06 PMI love all of Gertrude Hamilton's work; only that of Raphael or Roger Dean surpass it in my mind. Someday---and that day will come sooner rather than later---I will own nearly all of her originals.
Posted by: J. Musumeci on November 18, 2005 02:01 AMI have recently acquired a Pencil on Paper of Gerturde Hamilton titled Cat, 1998. I would love to know the value of it and where I might be able to re-sell it if I chose to.
Posted by: Rick on April 22, 2006 08:55 AMRick—your best bet may be to contact these people, who advertise twenty-odd works of Ms Hamilton’s for sale on their site. Judging from the prices there, if your drawing is of a good enough quality, it might be worth as much as a couple of thousand dollars.
Posted by: misteraitch on April 23, 2006 09:49 AM