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Writer's picture: JENNIFER LANNEJENNIFER LANNE

Updated: Jun 21, 2020


Jersey cow
Darlin’

ferme ornée: farm designed for both utility and beauty, the buildings treated decoratively and contributing to the aesthetic effect within a picturesque landscape.



I‘d love to claim that I’m lolling about my days at the modern day version of a “Petit Trianon“. I’d love to just prattle on about my silk gowns , choiffed pompadour while strolling about my bucolic, sheep filled pastures.

Sadly, I digress.

At my slightly rudimentary ferme ornèe I’m more hired hand than French Queen. But truly, I’m ok with that.

My home and 1780's "gentleman's farm" serves as fodder and retreat as well as evolving canvas for my inspiration.

Originally built by Scottish settlers, the property was a tad bedraggled, a bit tired, overgrown and lonely when we purchased it.

We promptly tucked a studio, added farm pets and peppered in as much character as our backs and wallets could bear.

As an artist, my home is my muse. Its my "mise en scene " where the props, the scenery and cast of characters are ever changing.

It‘a a little nook carved out for a homebodies paradise.


~Jennifer

Tricorn black paint
Barn Studio Entrance
Stone wall architectural
English Saddleback Pigs
Olive and Violet’s Country Living Magazine Shoot 2005

Jennifer Lanne painting
Outside the studio

The term ferme ornée[1] as used in English garden history derives from Stephen Switzer's term for 'ornamental farm'. It describes a country estate laid out partly according to aesthetic principles and partly for farming. During the eighteenth century the original ferme ornée was Woburn Farm, made by Philip Southcote, who bought the property in 1734. William Shenstone's garden at The Leasowes was also a ferme ornée. Marie Antoinette made a later example at Versailles in the form of the Hameau de la Reine, created between 1783 and 1787, but it was much more for pleasure than for food production.


Hydrangeas and Cupolas
The Bull Door Knocker
Artist Aprons
Kune Kune pig
Pippin
Landscape Backdrop
The Henhouse
Velvet Matters
Barn Studio Entrance
Barn Cats

The Dovecote
Cottage Stone Barn Wall
Cement Horse Lawn Ornament

Barn Lights
Cement Deer Lawn Ornament
"D" is for Devils Hop Farm
Garden Folly
Tricorn Black Paint
Barn Studio Entrance

Speckled Cochin Bantam

Sapling Gate
Metal Tassels
Amaranthine Paintings
Kune Kune Pigs

Writer's picture: JENNIFER LANNEJENNIFER LANNE

Updated: Jan 31, 2021

amaranthine: (am-uh-ran-thin) adj. eternally beautiful, everlasting, immortal.

Jennifer Lanne at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House Hudson New York
Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House

I've always had this vision in my head when creating my Amaranthine paintings..

Classic painted motifs, past grandeur faded, decadence unraveled and deftly deconstructed.

Blemished grace with dignity intact.

Once bold hues, paled and tempered.

Besotted beauty.

Belle Époque askew. Versailles after a rave.

Glamour unhinged.

Broken Baroque with a twist.

Aphrodite with smudged mascara. A whisper of the finest hour, a glint of gold remaining.

Past Perfect.

Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House Hudson, New York
Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House Hudson, New York

So imagine my excitement when into my view saunters the Dr.Oliver Bronson house. A picturesque, historic home in Hudson, New York.

After hours of endless scrolling it was an image of an architectural masterpiece. An elliptical (optical illusion) stairwell that stopped me in my tracks. Scarlet O’Hara herself couldn’t descend it gracefully enough to give it justice.

The architecture with the pleasing state of decay is just so unintentionally artful.

This magnificent home is a most welcome heartbreaker.

So grateful I was to be granted access to use this fabulous space for a photo shoot and backdrop for my artwork.

The perfect mise en scene.


Originally built in 1811-1812, and then reinvented by architect Alexander Jackson Davis.

The home is now a National Historic Landmark, and in a continuing state of preservation and restoration. ( click here to find out more, and learn the whole story)

The house just waxes poetic.

Like bowering willows and

golden pastures, tennyson-fueled poetic.

Walls of period wallpapers are a literal archive of history.

Rebellious yet organic patina on every surface.

It's like traveling through the stones.

The house even in its undone state is a virtual gem.

Maybe a diamond in the rough, but a diamond none the less.

-Jennifer


p.s. If this house feels familiar, you may recognize it from the movie The Bourne Legacy,

Or from Farrow & Ball and Anthropologie catalog shoots.

Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House Hudson, New York
Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House Hudson, New York
Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House Hudson, New York
Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House Hudson, New York
Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House Hudson, New York Large landscape backdrops
Jennifer Lanne Landscape backdrop painted on canvas
Artist Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House in Hudson, New York
Artist Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House in Hudson, New York
Artist Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House in Hudson, New York
Artist Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House in Hudson, New York
Artist Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House in Hudson, New York
Artist Jennifer Lanne artwork and paintings at the Dr. Oliver Bronson House in Hudson, New York

Artwork and photography by Jennifer Lanne







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