Dolce Far Niente

'Dolce far niente' is an old Italian expression meaning 'sweet/pleasant doing nothing'. This fancy way of saying 'enjoying being a lazy ol'mare' inspired the hell out artists. PRB founding member William Holman Hunt, for example, used it as a title for this 1866 painting of his then-fiancee Annie Miller (later changing the face to his new wife, Fanny... the fickle swine).

Pre-Raph-u-like / Neo-Classicist John William Godward created this beautiful painting in 1904, and named it.. you guessed it.. 'Dolce Far Niente', or the more snappier 'Sweet Nothings'.

... As did he this earlier painting in 1897 (which I love with the fire of a thousand overheated netbooks). Hello new desktop wallpaper! Yes, work colleagues, it's a nipple. Deal with it.

American artist and owner of awesome name, Will Hicok Low (1853-1932), was also bitten by the 'Niente'-bug...

As was Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema in 1882.

And John Singer Sargent in 1907.

Ditto Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847 – 1928).











I think you get the point.

Anyhoo, my personal favourite artistic depiction of sublime laziness is J. W. Waterhouse's 'Dolce Far Niente' (1880).

... well actually it's his second attempt at making sloth sexy. His first was in 1879, and is still used as a perfect example of foreshortening - a device often used by Waterhouse, most notably in 'Saint Eulalia' (1885). 

 

The Italian aesthetic of the 1880 painting was directly inspired by Rosetti, but the lazypants theme was all Waterhouse. Apparently he felt the idleness of the pose liberated the subject from a restrictive narrative and/or morality. Put simply, it allowed him to just set about making them look all pretty 'n' junk without having to explain why.

In a similar vein, my interpretation of 'Dolce Far Niente' sees my lady chilling out, inside a crack in a wall, at the end of my mum's back garden. Yep. Nothing weird there. She's even brought a tiny pillow, a tiny fan and a tiny pigeon; the bare essentials for any fan of doing sweet F.A. all day.

Watermark not on print-for-sale through Etsy.com.

slightly delayed NEWS!

I probably should've mentioned this a while ago, but I forgot... (plus I type words on a keyboard all day for a living, so when I get some some 'me-time' thunking 'n' word-processing are usually the last things I want to do. If you're wondering what I like to do instead, well... mescaline usually... or watch Loose Women).

What was my point? Oh Yep. My stuff is on sale in a shop! A real live shop; with a till and price tags and shelves and a window display and a lovely woman called Liz. It's called Bermondsey Fayre and it's on Bermondsey Street near London Bridge Station. The shop itself is a proper little treasure trove of handmade crafts, trinkets, art and beautiful clothes. I highly recommend you go there, and when you do make sure to say "I hear you stock items by PeaRafflePie. I have to say I believe her work to be marvelous. She is truly a genius, and certainly top in the field of Pre Raphaelite inspired digitally-manipulated art and ribbonny-jewellery... design."

Currently on sale are my postcards, a few one-off (i.e. I made them ages ago and now can't remember what they look like) necklaces and some framed prints. Go forth and buy my wares! Do it! DO IT, I SAY!

A Tale from the Decameron

Next up for the PeaRafflePie-treatment (please turn your head and cough) is J. W. Waterhouse's 'A Tale From The Decameron' (1916). The original painting was inspired by the book 'The Decameron'; a collection of tales by Italian author, poet, humanist, and insane body-popper Giovanni Boccaccio. Written around 1350 during the outbreak of the Plague in Florence, the book finds seven young women and three young men escape to the countryside to avoid becoming plague-fodder. Once at home in their lush new country villa, the group take turns in telling each other stories for ten days ('decameron' is literally sexy old foreign-speak for 'ten days', doncha know.... oh you didn't?... well now you do.... go impress your friends).

Each of the days ends with a canzone (mmm... calzone), a song performed by the storyteller, hence these guys in the painting rocking their lutes.I like to imagine this fella has just told a kickass story and is now gonna blow these ladies' minds with a little mash-up of "Stairway to Heaven" and "Sex On Fire". Obviously he's the focal point of the piece. Their gaze is transfixed on him, as are those of the two sneaky latecomers at the back there. But this is nicely counterbalanced by green dress lady at the end, who is clearly more interested in fiddling with the flowers. I like her style. Which is exactly why I chose to paint her, oh and the pink dress lady in front of her (mainly because she's in the way... bitch.)

Waterhouse also painted an illustration of one of the stories told in 'The Decameron'. 'The Enchanted Garden' (1916-7) is a tale of an indecent proposal, a summer garden in winter, magic, intrigue, lust and a wise-cracking dolphin. Coming soon to Disney 3-D.

Nb. Sometimes I talk bollocks.

Watermark not on print-for-sale through Etsy.com.