#Fort Belvedere

[rastronomicals]

4:22 AM EDT October 21, 2024:

Live Skull - "Fort Belvedere" From the album Cloud One (1986)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

--

[marcogiovenale]

henry moore - the language of sculture / john read. 1973

“Henry Moore – The Language of Sculpture” (1973 von John Read) (engl.) A close look at the famous 1972 exhibition of Moore’s work in Florence. BBC 1973, Producer: John Read. First Broadcast: 1 January 1974. This programme observes people examining Henry Moore’s sculptures in the magnificent setting of the Forte Belvedere, which was partly designed by Michelangelo and overlooks Florence. Through…

[george-the-good]

The Prince of Wales gardening at Fort Belvedere with the help of his week-end guests, including the Duke of York, c.1930.

‘I was in such a hurry to make the place over that I begrudged as lost a daylight hour that did not see the work progressing. Saturday afternoons and Sundays, when my gardeners were off, I pressed my week-end guests into arduous physical labor to which some of them were unaccustomed. Groaning and grunting, they joined me in hacking out the underbrush, pruning trees, and transplanting shrubs; but presently they began to share my enthusiasm. Even my brother Bertie, who lived nearby in the Great Park at Royal Lodge, would drop over to lend a hand.’

The Duke of Windsor - A King’s Story (1951)

[fashionbooksmilano]

Folon Firenze

Skira, Milano 2005, 270 pagine, 24x30cm, ISBN 9788876243745

a cura di Marilena Pasquali

euro 39,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Il catalogo dell’esposizione dedicata all’artista belga presenta circa duecentocinquanta opere comprendenti celebri acquerelli, sculture e serigrafie.

Pubblicata in occasione della più importante mostra antologica mai realizzata in Italia, dedicata all’artista belga Jean-Michel Folon, una completa e aggiornata monografia su questo indiscusso protagonista della scena internazionale dalla straordinaria intensità espressiva e poetica.

Curato da Marilena Pasquali, il volume (catalogo dell’esposizione fiorentina realizzata a quindici anni dalla prima mostra pittorica di Folon al Museo Marino Marini) presenta circa duecentocinquanta opere comprendenti i celebri acquerelli, piccoli objets ricchi di fantasia e di ironia, e, soprattutto, le sculture – monumentali o di dimensioni più ridotte – che costituiscono una vera e propria rivelazione. L’artista noto in tutto il mondo per i suoi acquerelli e per la sua attività grafica, a partire dagli anni Novanta (dalla mostra al Metropolitan di New York, tappa significativa del suo percorso artistico) si è dedicato alla scultura con esiti di altissimo livello pienamente riconosciuti dalla critica e dal pubblico internazionale. A differenza del senso di equilibrio e della luce che emanano dalla sua produzione pittorica, nella scultura emerge il lato oscuro dell’artista, la leggerezza lascia il posto all’inquietudine, l’armonia si tinge dei colori del timore per l’esistenza. In questa trasformazione vengono alla superficie le sue radici nordiche. Ma nelle sculture, tuttavia, rimane quella tensione di Folon alla luce, all’aria, allo spazio. Come egli stesso osserva:” Toutes mes sculptures régardent le ciel, c’est une façon de mettre le ciel dans la sculpture”. La monografia propone un percorso evocativo e tematico in cui trovano spazio i soggetti preferiti da Folon – il Volo, la Mano, il Viaggio, lo Sguardo, la Testa, il Totem, gli Uccelli – illustrati attraverso acquerelli, sculture, objects, serigrafie e affiches. Folon Firenze – titolo che richiama il rapporto di Folon con Firenze e la Toscana, rapporto di elezione iniziato molto tempo fa, già negli anni Cinquanta quando l’artista appena ventenne girava per la regione in autostop – comprende i testi di Federico Fellini, Jean-Michel Folon, Marilena Pasquali, Ray Bradbury, Emilio Tadini, il catalogo degli acquerelli e delle sculture, la biografia dell’artista (a cura di Federica Filippi Gabardi) e i riferimenti bibliografici.

Firenze, Forte di Belvedere e Sala d’Arme di Palazzo Vecchio 13 maggio – 18 settembre 2005

30/04/24

[equatorjournal]

Scultura in due pezzi a incastro / Two-piece carving: interlocking, 1968. From "Catalogo della mostra Firenze-forte di Belvedere", 1972. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm7KM97trXg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kingedwardviii]

Is there much info on how The Duchess of Windsor's sisters in laws felt about her, I mean there is no shortage of info on her and Elizabeths relationship, but Princess Mary, Marina of Kent and Alice of Gloucester? Ik Marina refused to receive her (but she seemed to have issues with lots of people) and Mary visited them quite a bit. Outside of that there isn't much.

There's not a ton of info about Wallis's relationships with the other sisters-in-law, at least not compared to the amount of information we have about her and Elizabeth's well-known mutual dislike. But we do have some details (and photos) of her encounters with them.

But here's what I've found (primarily using Duchess of Windsor by Greg King as a source):

Princess Mary was definitely the most tolerant and met Wallis very publicly in NYC in 1953, even allowing the press to take photos of them together which was something she probably easily could've avoided. It's hard to say whether she genuinely had a warmer view of Wallis than her sisters-in-law or it was just that she and David were very close and had been since childhood and she wanted to maintain a relationship with him. Mary had been the first member of the royal family to visit David during his initial exile in Austria (while he had to be separated from Wallis) after the abdication. According to most sources, she was genuinely upset when David wasn't invited to Elizabeth and Philip's wedding in 1947 and didn't attend herself in solidarity, though the family publicly used illness as an excuse. I do think the dynamic there was just fundamentally different than with David's brother's wives because she grew up with him and was always close to him and therefor had greater empathy for David that she also extended to Wallis. Plus there were some strange class politics between the brothers' wives in that Marina allegedly didn't like being outranked by her "common-born" (though aristocratic) sisters-in-law Elizabeth and Alice that may have played into all of them looking down on Wallis but wouldn't have effected Mary as a born royal. But it's also interesting that her first encounter with Wallis post-abdication was after she and David had just been told their mother was dying and they were about to leave to attend to her death bed. Perhaps her decision was influenced somewhat by the knowledge that her mother was no longer in a position to object. She apparently visited them in New York on subsequent trips and her son George Lascelles developed a relationship with them as well. When Mary died in 1965, David and Wallis both attended a memorial service for her in London.

Alice, interestingly enough, seems to have been the sister-in-law who, next to Elizabeth, disliked Wallis the most but also ended up being the first one to meet her after the abdication. Prior to the abdication Alice and Henry went to Fort Belvedere at least one weekend when Wallis was there, which Alice described as "awkward" because she and Henry "were unhappy with the liaison" but they went anyway out of a sense of family obligation to David. In 1938, Henry and Alice visited David and Wallis when they happened to be in Paris. This was not entirely of their own initiative, though; Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain believed that the optics of the royal family feud were bad and that, as the family wanted David to continue living abroad for the foreseeable future, they needed to compromise by having some form of public rapprochement. Because Henry and Alice happened to have a reason to be in Paris around that time, they got to be ones to do it even though Henry was probably the sibling David was the least close to. Alice wrote in her memoirs of the visit: "It was Neville Chamberlain's idea, not ours." But Alice would later meet Wallis on several occasions in the 1960s in the company of both of their husbands, as the royal family as a whole became less estranged with the Windsors.

Princess Marina was probably the sister-in-law who spent the most time with Wallis prior to the abdication, as her husband was the brother David was closest to and she was a regular guest at Fort Belvedere. She and George also invited Wallis to their country estate Coppins. David was also very friendly with Marina's sister Olga and her husband. Wallis was comfortable enough with George and Marina that in November of 1936 when David unexpectedly couldn't go with her to a Sunday tea at Coppins, Wallis went on her own. In Marina's branch of the family there were situations involving divorce, morganatic marriage, and live-in girlfriends so it would make sense that, prior to the abdication, she might've been the most inclined to be tolerant of Wallis's presence. But that doesn't mean she saw Wallis as an equal or was supportive of David marrying her and after the abdication, as with many in royal/aristocratic circles her attitude towards Wallis seemed to have soured significantly. In September of 1937 she refused to accompany George when he was supposed to visit David and Wallis in Austria. But this was perhaps not purely Marina's doing as she was put in a very difficult position by her in-laws. Queen Mary apparently had "warned" Marina not to meet Wallis, and though Bertie initially was supportive of the visit, he changed his mind at the behest of his wife and mother. Had this visit happened, it would've been the first time anyone in the royal family received Wallis post-abdication. When George died in 1942, David and Wallis's condolence letter was lost in transit (not an uncommon occurrence during WWII) and Marina interpreted their lack of communication as a deliberate slight which further soured her on Wallis. But Marina did eventually make up with the Windsors in 1965 when David was in London having eye surgery. Marina even hugged Wallis, and promised David that her children would come visit them in Paris, which they did do. After the ceremony to reveal a plaque honoring Queen Mary that Wallis famously attended in 1967, David and Wallis had lunch with Marina and her family. When Marina died in 1968, David attended her funeral without Wallis; I'm not sure why she didn't attend but it probably had something to do with either Wallis's health or remaining tension with the royal family at large.

[davbertieloml]

OTD in 1936, At Fort Belvedere Edward signed his written abdication notices, witnessed by his three younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York (who succeeded Edward as George VI); Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince George, Duke of Kent. The following day, it was given effect by Act of Parliament: His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936.

His brother, the Duke of York, ascended the throne the following day and became King George VI.

[thurgon]

Forte Belvedere, Firenze

[georgefairbrother]

A little over 40 years after the Abdication Crisis that had peaked in December of 1936, Thames Television, holder of the weekday independent TV franchise for London and the Home Counties, commissioned a dramatisation based on the exhaustive Wolfson History Prize winning biography of Edward VIII by Frances Donaldson.

There was great care taken in terms of casting, production design, and location filming that included Fort Belvedere where many of the real events unfolded. Edward and Mrs Simpson seemed to be as close as you could possibly get to 1930s culture, fashion and upper-class society without a time machine. Written for television by Simon Raven and directed by pioneering British-Asian director Waris Hussein, the series was rewarded with an Emmy and multiple BAFTAs.

In retrospect, it appears to be as faithful to real events as a drama could be, including verbatim conversations and parliamentary statements. Edward VIII, formerly the Prince of Wales known as David, then finally the Duke of Windsor, was played by Edward Fox, and Wallis Simpson by Cynthia Harris. Other key castings included Nigel Hawthorne, yet to find stardom as Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes Minister / Prime Minister, as the King’s friend and advisor Walter Monckton, David Waller as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin (He reprised this role in 1988 for another adaptation, The Woman He Loved, starring Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour and Olivia de Havilland), Peggy Ashcroft as Queen Mary, Marius Goring as King George V, and Wensley Pithey as a totally convincing Winston Churchill. Versatile British-Australian actor Ed Deveraux played Tory press baron Lord Beaverbrook, a role he later reprised in The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (BBC 1981).

Other notable players included Andrew Ray (Duke of York / George VI), Charles Keating (Ernest Simpson), Patrick Troughton (Clement Attlee), Patricia Hodge (Lady Diana Cooper), Maurice Denham (Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury), Cherie Lunghi (Thelma Furness) and Hugh Fraser (Anthony Eden).

The Duke of Windsor died in 1972, but the Duchess of Windsor, formerly Mrs Simpson, was still alive when the programme was conceived and broadcast. (She died in 1986). She was not best pleased, citing invasion of privacy, and lobbied to have the production stopped. Her opposition was reported in The Sun, and perhaps might have been more newsworthy if not for another significant event in August 1977.

The series ended with the marriage of the Duke and now Duchess of Windsor, some months after the Abdication.

The BFI Screen-Online review stated;

"…The series also carefully juxtaposes Edward’s frequent, and popular, visits to depressed areas with his opulent and carefree private life, and doesn’t shy from showing his admiration for Mussolini in a pair of brief but pointed exchanges with Anthony Eden…Edward Fox gives a fine and charismatic performance as the King, ably suggesting the contradictory impulses that ruled the man. Wallis Simpson, however, is presented rather less sympathetically. In an occasionally heavy-handed performance, Cynthia Harris plays her as a cool and conniving gold-digger, albeit a sometimes naïve and even disarmingly foolish one…"

The portrayal of Edward VIII was a little more sympathetic than in some later productions, including Bertie and Elizabeth (2002). Edward and Mrs Simpson did tend to gloss over the King’s fascist sympathies, although it was at least alluded to as mentioned in the BFI review. Perhaps, in fairness, these along with some alleged shady financial dealings, meddling in Britain’s foreign policy and the cosy relationship with Hitler, didn’t really become apparent until the period after the series ended. Wensley Pithey’s Winston Churchill was accurately shown as a strong and sincere personal friend and advocate for the King and Wallis Simpson, in public and private, to the annoyance of the Baldwin government, but this relationship later soured when Churchill was wartime Prime Minister, over the Duke of Windsor’s behaviour.

[adventurebeforedementia]

Fighting “flu” in Florence

The next leg of our journey has taken us to the beautiful Renaissance city of Florence. Staying just three miles from the centre, we had the choice to take the campsite shuttle bus or cycle along the River Arno.

As Alex had developed a cold, we decided to take the shuttle bus. So after reassuring him that he would be fine, kitting him out with paracetamol, inhaler and tissues and refuting his claims that he had flu, we set off to conquer the city. No chance to weaken on this trip!

We have seen some incredible churches on our journey, each one impressive in its own right. Florence Cathedral, its bell tower and baptistery were no exception. The buildings are constructed in green, pink and white marble and are spectacular.

We queued for an hour to go inside and were rewarded with an equally impressive interior from the stunning marble floor to the painting on the dome ceiling above the altar. The painting was so intricate, and I think if we had looked at it for hours we would have continued to see new detail, some of it particularly gruesome.

In the 1960s, archaeologists discovered the ancient basilica of Santa Reparata below the present church. The visitor can see the construction phases of one of the first Christian temples in the history of Florence.

Numerous bridges cross the river but the most famous is Ponte Vecchio. Known as the Old Bridge, it was the only one in Florence until 1218 and the only one the fleeing Germans did not destroy during the Second World War.

On this trip, We have eaten so much ice cream. Of course, this is no surprise because the Italians make the best ice cream in the world and Florence is the birthplace of gelato. We discovered a little shop tucked away where we didn’t pay tourist prices for our gelato and it had no additives or artificial flavourings or colourings. The proof of its excellence was the half hour queue we had to join to place our order. It was wonderful.

After adding more calories, we decided to try to burn them off with a trek up Forte Belvedere. The fortress is the largest in Florence and it’s a hard climb just to reach the entrance. We climbed to the top - I managed to conquer this one without my fear of heights surfacing - and we had views across the city. Unfortunately, there were two cranes in front of the view of the Cathedral and we assume this is why the powers that be had waived the entrance fee!

On our final day in Florence, we took a 10 mile bike ride along the river. It was great to get away from the tourists for a while and enjoy the countryside and the superb weather.

Now we’re in Genoa - Alex has bounced back and shared his cold with me - and we’re exploring a new city.

[theblogtini]

IDK theres something about the article that they are moving doesn't really sound right? Maybe its me but royal lodge would have absolutely come up during their discussions late last year when they were first rumored to be moving to Windsor, but it wasn't. The daily mail was going back and forth between their current house and fort belvedere before being adamant that they would move into Fort Belvidere. but the one thing they did state? Was the plan for Wales to eventually move into Windsor Castle as Charles didn't want to live there. I will fully eat crow but I just don't see them moving again this year IF it's into Royal Lodge. I think the only way they move this summer is if they're moving into windsor castle. Its far more protected and larger space and signifies the importance of the position they hold. I also don't think William or Catherine want to be any closer to Andrew and the shit he puts out. I don't think they want the PR storm that would come with having the tax payer replace the roof on royal lodge, so soon after the coronation and after they've moved to windsor. I still absolutely believe the reason Meghan put out all of that PR right after they got married was that if she couldn't get Frogmore house then she wanted Windsor castle. Utlametialy they were given frogmore cottage

On another note, i think many things are happening at once that people think are correlated together but aren't. The Sussex being asked to move out, Andrews house needs more repairs than he can afford. Do I think they're using each others stories for a mutually beneficial PR campaign? Yes. The sussexs have had a string of very bad things happen since the launch of his book, they desperately need someone else to be the villain for a short second while they attempt to re-group. They reallly want an invite to the coronation so they *trying* to publicly play nice (and both sides) by having Scoobie put out their true feelings and then stab him in the back with a different leak to the telegraph. They also are fighting for *just* the invitation at this point, because the world at large knows they are speaking with the family and won't be included in the coronation. They will be a spectator just like Andrew. That's vastly different from how they were treated just a year ago at the jubliee. They were demanding balconys at the jubliee, not this year. oh how things have changed.

I think the reason that Royal Lodge didn't come up at the time was because the Sussexes were still at Frogmore and there was no talk of Andrew vacating Royal Lodge - so at that point it simply wasn't an option.

And the thing is - the roof on Royal Lodge is being replaced, period. They aren't going to let it go and destroy the building - so if someone is living there it's probably a better expense. But it's not as if it's like "oh, no one is living there now so no need to repair it" - interior repairs, sure... but the roof will only keep for so long before it destroys the building. I imagine that IF William and Catherine move in, it's also possible that they - like Andrew did - foot the bill for renovations privately. And it's DEFINITELY better to have the roof and all renos paid for privately by the Waleses than to have Charles (or the Crown Estate) pay for it on behalf of Andy.

[rastronomicals]

9:09 PM EDT April 21, 2024:

Live Skull - "Fort Belvedere" From the album Cloud One (1986)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

[teamwindsorroyals]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hilary Weston (@hilarymweston)

Fort Belvedere, Windsor Castle. Apparently, the pool is popular with children. I wonder who will live there next.

[soltantounsogno]

Forte Belvedere di Firenze

[ortlynothere]

what's the oc lore so far :3?

Theres a lot of lore, because theres all my ocs:

-Fort

-Green

-Aguelenete

-Reimdeer

-Prince

-Beatrice

-Belvedere

-Anna

-Frog

-Kernolda

If you think any of em sound cool, tell me and I’ll tell more about em!!11!!

[equatorjournal]

Ovale con punte / Oval with points, 1968. From "Catalogo della mostra Firenze-forte di Belvedere", 1972. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm7KNWlNHwU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=