Brief Chosen - Commemorative Stamp Research
Stamp Research
Monday 25 September
Tuesday 26th
General research for Project
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.Nell Gwyn is known for being one of the more popular women who had been with King Charles 11.
.Her full name was Eleanor Gwynne .Nells first job was serving drinks at a brothel that her mother owned. .In 1662 a man called Robert Duncan took notice of Nell whilst she was working at the brothel. He decided to start a relationship with her. Duncan then decided to move her out of her mothers house and some also believe that he was the one who got Nell her job at the theatre on Dury Lane where she sold oranges to the crowd during performances. .Her father was Welsh .Whilst working there is was seemingly where she caught the eye of Thomas Killigrew .Killigrew was a playwright before the war. He fled the country with future King Charles 11 in 1647. He also did work as an exiles chief spymaster and a court jester. .One of his rewards for this was having one of the first licences to establish a theatre company once they became legal again. .He was one of the main influences for women being able to act on stage. Because of this he was on the look for female acting talent which is why he noticed Nell. .He sent Nell to a school for acting that he had established in march of 1665, then just about a month after Nells 15th birthday she made her debut on stage. |
.Nell became very good at acting.
.The plays at the time would most commonly run for about a week, this was to make sure that the people are always drawn to the theatre to see the new play.
.With doing so many plays it began to be seen that Nell had the most strength in comedy, specifically the ones that included witty banter and physical humour.
.She then was pared in performances with actor Charles Hart, a man who was in prisoned for breaking the theatre performances law.
.Charles and Nell became lovers.
.Nell was well known for being one of the crowd favourites and because of this Thomas Dryden ( a playwright ) then began to write pieces that would specifically show off Nells talents.
.Samuel Pepys was the person who came up with the nickname "Pretty, witty Nell".
.It was commonly known that people would go to the theatre to find a mistress.
.Nell had a brief affair with the heir to the earldoms of both Dorset and middlesex (Charles Sackville).
.Sackville was very popular despite being a massive rake.
.Because of The Great Plague of 1665 and The Great Fire Nell had a delay of that type of "attraction".
.Nell had a brief break from acting when she was dating Sackville but she came back.
.The Duke of Buckinghams cousin was at this point in time the current mistress of the King, her name was Barbara Palmer.
.Barbara was considered by many as the 'true Queen' as she was extremely influential in court.
.Barbara and the King had 5 children at this point but Buckingham was determined to make it so that Barbara was no longer the Kings mistress.
.Nell was fully up for his plan and even got Aphra Behn to spike one off Moll Davis ( a woman who was sleeping with the king ) drink with laxatives right before she had planned to meet with the king. This did end up breaking their relationship however Moll did then discover that she was pregnant.
.Nell did then started to do what she did best! She flirted with the king during a performance and then ended up going to go to dinner with him and his brother James and they accidentally forgot their money so Nell ended up buying for them.
.The King decided to set up New in a house in Pall Mall with an allowance. Even though she didn't have to she still acted throughout her time there as she was so in love with the stage.
.Soon the word spread that she was the new Royal mistress so lots of people started going to the plays to have a look.
.Many people had assumed that it was going to be a short fling between the two but things got serious and then in 1669 Nell had to cut her acting season short as she discovered that she was in fact pregnant.
.In 1670 she had a son and named him Charles after his farther.
.She then did a few more acting jobs in 1670. and 1671 at the request of John Dryden.
.In 1671 she retired from the stage and devoted herself to a life in the cart.
.Nell then started to have competition for the Kings attention, this was due to Louise de Kérouaille as she also became part of the court.
.One story of Nell that can not be fact checked is that she walked upon her carriage and there were people arguing with the driver. Nell was confused and asked what all the commotion was about. The driver replied "He said that my Lady was a whore" Her retort back was simply " I am a whore. Find something else to argue about" .
.Another popular story was that Nells carriage was being attacked, turns out that the people had mistook her carriage for the Duchess of Portsmouth (Louise) the attackers were screaming out "the catholic whore" so nell opened hew window and she cried out " Pry good people be civil, I am the protestant whore" the attackers were mortified and profusely apologised.
.Nell was upset that King Charles had not given her son a title she she called her son a bastard in front of him. The king was visibly upset and decided that he would give him a title Duke of St Albans.
.Nell also had another son that she had named James but sadly in 1681 he died from an infection in Paris whilst he was studying in school.
.King Charles died in 1685 after suffering from a fit. And on his death bed he made a promise with his brother James "not to let poor Nelly starve".
.In March of 1687 Nell suffered from a suspected stroke and as a result dies a few months later.
.Thomas Tenison who became the Archbishop of Canterbury was the man who led Wells funeral. They had been good friends when she was alive and he was also the person who helped Nell set up anonymous donations to charities.
.Nells story became a legend and she has become more popular after her death. She became the orange girl from a whorehouse to a woman who took the affections of the king. She also was loved by the working class as she had refused a title even though she was offered one. She was a sharp tongued lady who embraced everything about her sexuality and she is loved for it even now.
.The plays at the time would most commonly run for about a week, this was to make sure that the people are always drawn to the theatre to see the new play.
.With doing so many plays it began to be seen that Nell had the most strength in comedy, specifically the ones that included witty banter and physical humour.
.She then was pared in performances with actor Charles Hart, a man who was in prisoned for breaking the theatre performances law.
.Charles and Nell became lovers.
.Nell was well known for being one of the crowd favourites and because of this Thomas Dryden ( a playwright ) then began to write pieces that would specifically show off Nells talents.
.Samuel Pepys was the person who came up with the nickname "Pretty, witty Nell".
.It was commonly known that people would go to the theatre to find a mistress.
.Nell had a brief affair with the heir to the earldoms of both Dorset and middlesex (Charles Sackville).
.Sackville was very popular despite being a massive rake.
.Because of The Great Plague of 1665 and The Great Fire Nell had a delay of that type of "attraction".
.Nell had a brief break from acting when she was dating Sackville but she came back.
.The Duke of Buckinghams cousin was at this point in time the current mistress of the King, her name was Barbara Palmer.
.Barbara was considered by many as the 'true Queen' as she was extremely influential in court.
.Barbara and the King had 5 children at this point but Buckingham was determined to make it so that Barbara was no longer the Kings mistress.
.Nell was fully up for his plan and even got Aphra Behn to spike one off Moll Davis ( a woman who was sleeping with the king ) drink with laxatives right before she had planned to meet with the king. This did end up breaking their relationship however Moll did then discover that she was pregnant.
.Nell did then started to do what she did best! She flirted with the king during a performance and then ended up going to go to dinner with him and his brother James and they accidentally forgot their money so Nell ended up buying for them.
.The King decided to set up New in a house in Pall Mall with an allowance. Even though she didn't have to she still acted throughout her time there as she was so in love with the stage.
.Soon the word spread that she was the new Royal mistress so lots of people started going to the plays to have a look.
.Many people had assumed that it was going to be a short fling between the two but things got serious and then in 1669 Nell had to cut her acting season short as she discovered that she was in fact pregnant.
.In 1670 she had a son and named him Charles after his farther.
.She then did a few more acting jobs in 1670. and 1671 at the request of John Dryden.
.In 1671 she retired from the stage and devoted herself to a life in the cart.
.Nell then started to have competition for the Kings attention, this was due to Louise de Kérouaille as she also became part of the court.
.One story of Nell that can not be fact checked is that she walked upon her carriage and there were people arguing with the driver. Nell was confused and asked what all the commotion was about. The driver replied "He said that my Lady was a whore" Her retort back was simply " I am a whore. Find something else to argue about" .
.Another popular story was that Nells carriage was being attacked, turns out that the people had mistook her carriage for the Duchess of Portsmouth (Louise) the attackers were screaming out "the catholic whore" so nell opened hew window and she cried out " Pry good people be civil, I am the protestant whore" the attackers were mortified and profusely apologised.
.Nell was upset that King Charles had not given her son a title she she called her son a bastard in front of him. The king was visibly upset and decided that he would give him a title Duke of St Albans.
.Nell also had another son that she had named James but sadly in 1681 he died from an infection in Paris whilst he was studying in school.
.King Charles died in 1685 after suffering from a fit. And on his death bed he made a promise with his brother James "not to let poor Nelly starve".
.In March of 1687 Nell suffered from a suspected stroke and as a result dies a few months later.
.Thomas Tenison who became the Archbishop of Canterbury was the man who led Wells funeral. They had been good friends when she was alive and he was also the person who helped Nell set up anonymous donations to charities.
.Nells story became a legend and she has become more popular after her death. She became the orange girl from a whorehouse to a woman who took the affections of the king. She also was loved by the working class as she had refused a title even though she was offered one. She was a sharp tongued lady who embraced everything about her sexuality and she is loved for it even now.
Artist Research -Added after Feedback
Agnes Cecile
Jessica Lauser
Since the theme of my book is going to be informational, I want to do my paintings in a more current style of painting. This is also because traditionally watercolours would not be used for portraits but would be used for landscapes.
Thursday
Oranges
I have decided that it would be best for me to use the oranges and a focal point for the project as they are one of the main things that everyone knows about Nell Gwyn. To get and initial visual I have used alcohol markers to do the first orange drawing, this is because it did not take me a lot of time . I am however going to be doing another version of these in watercolour as that is the media that I think I will be able to do this in the best way.
After doing the orange painting I am going to start looking at making a template for the stamps, this will ensure that all of the stars will be the exact same and cohesive.
After doing the orange painting I am going to start looking at making a template for the stamps, this will ensure that all of the stars will be the exact same and cohesive.
After first feedback session
After discussing my work so far we decided that it would probably be the best for me to change from doing a stamp collection to doing the Book Illustration project. Doing this is going to allow me to do the things I'm better at which basically look forward to watercolour portraits!!!!
Book illustration brief
Create a collection of illustrations to feature in a book about your chosen subject (Nell Gwynn).
Carefully consider the following questions
1. Who is the books target audience?
2.Is there a point at which stylisation gets in the way of communication of a subject.
OUTCOMES
A portfolio of Illustrations which might act as a proof of concept to pitch to a publisher. Should include consideration and samples of the integration type.
Carefully consider the following questions
1. Who is the books target audience?
2.Is there a point at which stylisation gets in the way of communication of a subject.
OUTCOMES
A portfolio of Illustrations which might act as a proof of concept to pitch to a publisher. Should include consideration and samples of the integration type.
Book Research
Front page Thumbnails
I want the front page to have Nell looking like her pretty self on it, but I have tried to extenuate her smirk unlike in the original painting where she looked quite stoic.
Laxatives Research
Glasses From the period
Thumbnailing
Notes Taken Throughout
Cupid Painting
For the book I plan to have two painting that are direct pastiches of works done of Nell Gwyn, I am now going to go a bit more loose with my drawing and include gold ink to make the book seen more expensive. To go with this I am also going to include pure black ink like I have done with previous work I think this will give the work a more put together feel and generally give the work a better aesthetic.
Testing duotone
Having used the duotone feature it has allowed me to make custom colours instead of just using the Paynes grey that I have painted with. The colours that I have used for this is a dark blue and a bright orange, this has made what I would call a homemade black which I think will match the era a lot better than the Paynes grey that I have originally used. This does however mean that I am going to have to do the rest of the painting for this in the same Paynes grey to make sure that there is continuity and that all the work ends up with the same effect.
Figuring out what typeface to use
After Feedback
During the feedback session we spoke about how the white background on the front cover washed out the gold and made it look cheep. So I have now made the background colour more of a beige colour.
