THE KHARITES, or Graces, were three goddesses of grace, beauty, adornment, joy, mirth, festivity, dance and song. The usual list, from youngest to oldest is Aglaea ("Splendor"), Euphrosyne ("Mirth"), and Thalia ("Good Cheer"). The three Graces presided over banquets, dances, all activities and enjoyable celebrations. In short, everything that the world might be nice, pleasant, interesting, attractive... The three Graces granted to gods and mortals not only joy but also the eloquence, the generosity and wisdom. Believed that they had the ability to give the genius to be an exceptional artist. Perhaps that is the reason why artists of all time (Greeks, Romans, Botticelli, Raphael, Rubens, Renoir, Picasso, Dalí...) made so many artistic representations about this group of goddesses, usually forming a group in a circle, ready to start dancing. As a sculptor of animals, I would like to modestly participate in this tribute to the joy and the gracefulness, and no animal can better represent these qualities than the slender and elegant giraffes... Here is my contribution: three giraffes in circle in permanent suggestion of initiating the subtle movements of an spontaneous dance, where vertical lines of their refined figures can intertwine each other in a perfect way, decorated and extolled by the air that surrounds them. So, my Kordofan giraffe woukd be “Good Cheer” as Thornicroft´s would be “Mirth” and the reticulated one “Splendor”…nice names for so beautiful species! I hope you like!!!
30 Comments
They reached Europe from Africa, safely, more than one thousand years ago. They had a job to do, and they did it perfectly. Now they are living in Spain and Portugal perfectly integrated with the natural environment. In fact they can be considered pure Iberians. Another Iberian species, with all the credit!. A good example to follow, I Think... Iberian Mongoose or Andalusian ichneumon (Herpestes ichneumon widdringtonii) is a subspecies of the Egyptian mongoose which is the only mongoose that lives in Europe, particularly in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. It is called “Meloncillo” in Spanish and " Sacarrabos " in Portuguese. In this video you can see an Andalusian Ichneumon, what is not so easy in the field… Meloncillo would have been introduced in the Iberian peninsula during the Arab occupation, which started in 711 AD, more than one thousand years ago. The Moors may have imported this mongoose to hunt rats. Some individuals, escaping captivity, would have become feral and developed to a singular subspecies. Meloncillo differs from the other Egyptian Mongoose subspecies in its larger size and its significantly stronger dentition. So, these are the sketches that I prepared for two different versions of Meloncillo 1:20 scale. One walking and the other standing up in the distinctive way how all the mongoose do. Fortunately these small mustelids reproduce easily ... see!: The challenge from the point of view of the sculptor is that the model looks as elusive as all mongooses are...and this is the final result of my work:
|
AuthorI love animal replicas. I make them since I was a child an now I have restarted this passionate hobby. Archives
October 2016
Categories |