amaranthine: (am-uh-ran-thin) adj. eternally beautiful, everlasting, immortal.
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.
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.
Artwork and photography by Jennifer Lanne