Like so many other houses of the early 20th century, this extravagant one was named as "Villa ...", followed by a feminine name, probably from the owner's wife, which is proudly boasted on a tile panel in the front. The fallen tiles, the rust and especially the old half-dismantled windmill indicates that the "Villa Marília", although having apparentely escaped to the fate of so many of these houses, tore down to make room for soulless concrete boxes, has witnessed days of higher splendor.
Tal como tantas outras casas do início do século XX, este extravagante exemplar foi baptizado como “Villa...” , seguindo-se um nome feminino, muito provavelmente da esposa do proprietário, que um painel de azulejos orgulhosamente ostenta na frontaria. Os azulejos caídos, a ferrugem e sobretudo o velho catavento semi-desmantelado indicam que a “Villa Marília”, apesar de parecer ter escapado ao destino que tantas destas casas deitou abaixo para darem lugar a caixotes de cimento sem alma, já viu passar dias de maior esplendor.
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Isto e' o que se chama "Ouro sobre Azul".
ReplyDeleteOu seja, uma combinação de cores e detalhes irresistíveis.
Boa Semana!
"Villas" como esta, ainda subsistem para os lados de Ílhavo, junto a Aveiro...
ReplyDeleteCumprimentos.
Obrigado, Villager. Quando fiz o esboço, imaginei que esta casa teria que ter uma cor alegre deste género.
ReplyDeleteRafael, as belas casas da região de Ílhavo estiveram presentes na minha memória quando imaginei esta cena.
Villager e Rafael, um abraço e votos de uma óptima semana!
Terrific painting. Even if all the tiles fell of and most of the trim, this house would always be superior to what goes up these days. There is no soul in developer profits; homes become a game of monopoly.
ReplyDeleteAs someone living in a country where such developments grow like mushrooms and destroy the character of many cities and even small isolated towns, I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteThese old houses seem to have learned the art of decay, because they keep themselves beautiful in all stages of their life and death: Which painter never felt the desire to put on paper or canvas the melancholy of an old ruin?
A modern building shines in its first days: Good for selling. Then it starts to get ugly and stained. I would never paint such a thing...
Beautiful building- I especially like the sun room there on the left with the tiles missing. Looks like a nice place to weekend.
ReplyDeleteThose rooms are quite pleasant indeed, Rob, always warm and luminous.
ReplyDeleteThese houses were as beautiful indoors just like outdoors.
"Villa Marilia" is wonderful and I especially enjoy your descriptive text - it tugs at my soul when I think of the destruction of such grand places to make room for the new "cracker box" housing - I also see it where I live. Mostly here it is the loss of farm lands to big builders and 12 houses per acre!
ReplyDeleteIt seems we have the same problem, Carey, and there are also beautiful houses there in America, too.
ReplyDeleteIn the future we will need farm land, as it will be more and more expensive to bring food from distant places, and we'll regret how we are treating it now.
This is a perfect tribute to the art of growing old gracefully. Concrete boxes cannot do it, because they did not have dignity to begin with, but these old houses don't give it up, even when tattered at the edges. Lucky for us that some of them survive, and that there are artists like you who preserve them too.
ReplyDeleteMineke, I absolutely agree with you. Everywhere around me I see those concrete boxes, some of them having replaced old houses, looking ugly - or uglier most of the cases - only after 3/4 years. And I see houses more than 70 years old that still beautiful even if only the main wall remains...
ReplyDeleteFabulous painting!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Terry!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day!!