There's nothing new under the sun

Actors in Paris, 1908

Fun at the fair, 1980s

The countdown to Gay Pride this weekend continues...

All the nice boys love a sailor, soldier, and so on

Happy Armed Forces Day!

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The Summer in his pride

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To Summer
by William Blake

O Thou who passest thro’ our vallies in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitched’st here thy golden tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy, thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.

Beneath our thickest shades we oft have heard
Thy voice, when noon upon his fervid car
Rode o’er the deep of heaven; beside our springs
Sit down, and in our mossy vallies, on
Some bank beside a river clear, throw thy
Silk draperies off, and rush into the stream:
Our vallies love the Summer in his pride.

Our bards are fam’d who strike the silver wire:
Our youth are bolder than the southern swains:
Our maidens fairer in the sprightly dance:
We lack not songs, nor instruments of joy,
Nor echoes sweet, nor waters clear as heaven,
Nor laurel wreaths against the sultry heat.

It's Midsummer's Day, the Summer Solstice.

Nights start drawing in from this point on, dear reader.

Sigh.

Frankly dangerous head-flicks

Our Patron Saint of frankly dangerous head-flicks Signorina Raffaella Carrà would have been 80 years old today!

All Hail.

I like being gay. I wouldn’t want to be straight for anything.

The inimitable Miriam Margolyes appears on the cover of British Vogue as part of its Pride 2023 issue.

In her own words:

“Gay people have the luck to be able to fashion the relationship they want. It’s much more flexible for us,” she says. “I think we have more freedom than [straight people] do. Particularly gay boys, they’re always fucking everything. It’s amazing. I don’t know how they get away with it.”

Although she loves to see the “uninhibited young enjoying themselves”, she’s never been one for Pride marches. “I actually find lesbians a bit on the boring side, because they’re a bit heavy-handed about it all,” she says, deadpan. Still, she has always been proudly lesbian. “I think gay people are very lucky, because we are not conventional, we are a group slightly apart. It gives us an edge. We’re good artists, we’re good musicians. And I like being gay. I wouldn’t want to be straight for anything.”

Amen, sister!

Read the full article. It's a hoot!

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Weekend Reading - a Gay Pride special

Never one to be typecast

Sad news - one of the greatest actresses this country has ever produced, Glenda Jackson has departed to take her rightful throne in Fabulon.

I always loved her in any role she took on, from Women in Love to Morecambe & Wise! As I said in my previous tribute on the occasion of the great lady's 85th birthday:

Never one to be typecast, she has portrayed a vast variety of characters over the years, including classic dramatic roles such as Hedda Gabler and (on stage) King Lear, as well as numerous biographical portrayals such as poet Stevie Smith, assassin Charlotte Corday, actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Patricia Neal, Lady Emma Hamilton and George II's Queen Caroline, and, of course, Queen Elizabeth I - both in the acclaimed BBC serial Elizabeth R and in the movie Mary, Queen of Scots.

The world just does not produce actresses of her class and calibre any more.

RIP, Glenda May Jackson CBE (9th May 1936 - 15th June 2023)

The Founding Father of the Italian Renaissance

Hils, Crog, "Beyonce" and I ventured out to the Victoria and Albert museum (the V&A) on Friday, to see the exhibition Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance before it closed (today). It was every bit as awe-inspiring as one might expect - from the gigantic "Head of God", and an even bigger bronze horse's head, to the tiny dancing spiritello and (the faintly ridiculous) fresco "The Miracle of the Mule", everything was meticulous in its detail and, as the exhibition demonstrated, proved just how influential Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi was upon the explosion of artistic magnificence that was the Renaissance.

Here's the thoughts of Annabel Sampson in Tatler (who writes a review much better than I), to sum it all up:

That the ‘Founding Father of the Italian Renaissance’, darling of the all-powerful Medici family and subject of Giorgio Vasari has come to Blighty is a big deal. And it’s no simple feat given his work is spread out across altars, tombs and located up high in churches across Italy. This show marks the first time many of these works have ever, and possibly will ever, be on display in the UK – making it just that tiny bit more thrilling. Like early Renaissance Florence has landed on Cromwell Road.

While Donatello’s actual bronze David isn’t included in the exhibition it does have an uncanny painted plaster cast reproduction. ("I was at the Bargello in Florence last week and I can’t tell the difference," I overheard a neighbouring journalist whisper to their companion, which confirmed my thoughts.)

But the show, on the last leg of its three-country tour, does bring together some absolute show-stoppers. Namely, Donatello’s boyish, waif-like John the Baptist (so far from other depictions of the saint), his austere shimmering cast bronze bust of San Rossore and his poignant Madonnas. A whole wall is dedicated to the Virgin and Child, showcasing terracotta cheeks that look practically squeezable in their visceral plumpness. Then there’s an unmissable row of busts – which Donatello was instrumental in reviving.

And Donatello’s reliefs prove to be just that – a deep breath of a wholesome relief. Filled with jostling figures in carefully thought out compositions. Donatello is credited with inventing rilievo schiacciato (literally ‘squashed relief’) – a technique in which space and depth is created within just a few millimetres (brilliantly showcased in his Madonna of the Clouds). Donatello’s two older friends and colleagues, Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti would also prove to be sculpting superheroes in the early Renaissance. Their influence is still felt today...

...Donatello [is] the star, but [his works are displayed] alongside works by his contemporaries and followers like Masacio, Luca Della Robbia and Michelozzo (to name a few) which aid the explanation of his influences and legacy.

Donatello has been far outlived by his legacy, as this exhibition proves, with countless followers drawing upon his ideas for their own designs. Classicism, certainly, will never go out of fashion: just look at the John Soane Museum, zeitgeisty interiors guru Luke Edward Hall (and his classical David-esque portraits) or the Grecian cherub planters on sale at Anthropologie. Carpe Diem, Ad Astra – thank you Donatello, long may we defer. This show is unmissable.

So very glad that we didn't miss it.

Even it it didn't feature the actual "best arse in sculpture":

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On the Jukebox this weekend at Dolores Delargo Towers