Showing posts with label Victorian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victorian. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Portrait of a Lady—Glimpses of the Victorian Hand

Anyone who knows me well knows that I cannot speak on the subject of film without bringing up one of my favorites, Jane Campion's 1996 masterpiece, The Portrait of a Lady. The film was made on the heels of her 1993 success The Piano, but did not reach the same acclaim. In fact, the DVD is currently out of print. However, Jane Campion's love for the costume drama led her to directing Bright Star, which I mentioned in the previous entry.

The film's opening credits fade in and out over what one can guess are contemporary women about the same age as our heroine, Isabel Archer. The film's title is written on the hand, ever so delicately. Perhaps it was written by the same person who not only did all of the calligraphy for this movie, but for Bright Star, as well.


The written word is scarce in this film, but not worth ignoring. As Isabel packs her bags, she pulls slips of paper that are tucked into a crevice of her wardrobe door. Perhaps these are her vocabulary words of the day? Whatever they may be, the words foreshadow the tone of the film.


Notice the use of all uppercase letters—this is not something very common of the period, and does not make for the best readability. As bizarre as it may seem, it is unique and interesting.



The last small bit of calligraphy included is for Isabel's world travel sequence. This sequence was done in the style of an early film, and the writing is reminiscent of captions one may have written in a photograph album from that period.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Victorian penmanship




Tricia Foley gave me the most beautiful facsimile of an old copy book. This one-color printing is such a beautiful and elegant use of type, and a calligraphic inspiration.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Victorian Alignment


Why should one worry about making sure that all parts of the address are aligned left or centered? After looking at some old Victorian envelopes, I noticed the address was placed all over the envelope. I thought I would give it a try.