Amen

“I see, I collect – therefore I am.”

- Sir Cecil Beaton

High Profile

Madame Jean Tronchin by Jean-Étienne Liotard, 1758.

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

Detail of the tomb of Maria Flaminia Odescalchi Chigi by Paolo Posi, Santa Maria del Popolo. Roma.

Magister Dixit:

Queen Elizabeth posing near the Waterloo Monumental Vase. Buckingham Palace.

"How small an selfish is sorrow. But it bangs one about until one is senseless." 

- Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother
(letter to Edith Sitwell, shortly after the death of George VI)

Beneath the flat and paper sky

The sun, a demon's eye,

Glowed through the air, that mask of glass;

All wand'ring sounds that pass

Seemed out of tune, as if the light

Were fiddle-strings pulled tight.

The market-square with spire and bell

Clanged out the hour in Hell;

The busy chatter of the heat

Shrilled like a parakeet;

And shuddering at the noonday light

The dust lay dead and white

As powder on a mummy's face,

Or fawned with simian grace

Round booths with many a hard bright toy

And wooden brittle joy:

The cap and bells of Time the Clown

That, jangling, whistled down

Young cherubs hidden in the guise

Of every bird that flies;

And star-bright masks for youth to wear,

Lest any dream that fare

-Bright pilgrim-past our ken, should see

Hints of Reality.

Upon the sharp-set grass, shrill-green,

Tall trees like rattles lean,

And jangle sharp and dissily;

But when night falls they sign

Till Pierrot moon steals slyly in,

His face more white than sin,

Black-masked, and with cool touch lays bare

Each cherry, plum, and pear.

Then underneath the veiled eyes

Of houses, darkness lies--

Tall houses; like a hopeless prayer

They cleave the sly dumb air.

Blind are those houses, paper-thin

Old shadows hid therein,

With sly and crazy movements creep

Like marionettes, and weep.

Tall windows show Infinity;

And, hard reality,

The candles weep and pry and dance

Like lives mocked at by Chance.

The rooms are vast as Sleep within;

When once I ventured in,

Chill Silence, like a surging sea,

Slowly enveloped me.

- Edith Sitwell

Back in the 90's, When Gianni Was Alive

“Zenobia’s Engagement”, Detail.

Baroque Tapestry Brussels mid‐17th century. After Justus van Egmont’s cartoon.

A Family Group, Sir Anthony van Dyck, 1634.

Accessorizing

Castrum Doloris

"Mausolée pour la cérémonie funèbre de S.A.R. Philippe de France Duc d'Orléans, frère unique du Roy, érigé en l'Eglise de St Denis par ordre de Sa Majesté, le samedi 23. Juillet 1701".

A Look We Like

 Marie-Louise de Parma as a Bride, Anton Raphael Mengs, 1765.

Cornelis de Vos. Two Sisters. Circa 1615.

 Saint Sebastian. Giuseppe Giorgetti, 1672.

Wing of a Roller. Albrecht Dürer. 1512.

High Profile

Diamonds are Barbara Hutton best friends, Guillaume Pelloux

Book Nº 117

Accessorizing

Pater Europae

Monumental equestrian statue of Charlemagne, Agostino Cornacchini, 1725. St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican.

Ecce Homo, Jan Provoost.

Born Today:

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius."

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Magister Dixit:

"I'm worth more dead than alive. Don't cry for me after I'm gone; cry for me now."

- Marlene Dietrich

Strike a Pose

Lacroix Sweetie, Lacroix

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Venus with apple, Bertel Thorvaldsen.

Les Grands Esprits se Rencontrent

Socializing

Saint Longinus, Bernini.

Court of Heaven

The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs, Fra Angelico, 1423.

Heads Up

Amor Vincit Omnia?

Les funérailles de l'Amour. Detail. Antoine Caron.

Pink Attitude

Home Sweet Home

Scala Regia Paper Issue

Scala Regia Paper Issue is taking submissions. If you think your ideas/projects are regal enough send them to us at 

thomasdavis@scala-regia.com

Sauvage

 La chasse au tigre, au lion et au léopard, Peter Paul Rubens, 1616.

Chez Mademoiselle

 Augustusburg Palace

Heads Up

Prague State Opera

Still Life with Silver, Alexandre-François Desportes, 1661.

Les Grands Esprits se Rencontrent

Olé