How do you narrate a story of femininity, sensuality and opulence effectively?
This should be an essay but should be written as a ‘creative writing’ piece. It should have a playful tone. It should be written as if Casanova himself is narrating. i.e. ‘I, Casanova… the most notorious lover of women’. Synopsis of Essay: Forming a collection about the theme of seduction through the 18th century Old Master Paintings. How do you make people want to come and see an exhibition about seduction? How do you narrate a story of femininity, sensuality and opulence effectively? In the dynamic world of 18th-century Europe, people, ideas, and artistic styles crossed national boundaries. Filled with masterful, opulent, and at times playful paintings and furnishings, salons hummed with lively intellectual exchange, witty gossip, and flirtation. Rococo, characterised by elegance, levity, floral motifs, muted colours and curving, assymetrical lines and its aesthetics combined with themes of sensual love and nature. With the rococo, given the social climate contemporary to that time in history, you cannot help but notice that the scenes and embellishments demonstrate the nuances of taste, decoration and aesthetic influenced and informed by women. The purpose of forming the collection is to showcase the idea of the forbidden but rich history of the 18th century seduction theme. The theme will be explored through the eyes of Casanova. Evocative stories will be narrated of his mistresses and their identities through the sense of smell and curatorial design. The showcase will invite the readers and visitors to take the role of Casanova and explore his mistresses as if they were Casanova themselves. I’ve enclosed a document titled: ‘Pairing Paintings with Smells’. This document includes all paintings that should be analysed of Casanova’s mistresses in relation to smells. I have included the information on smells for every painting, in order to help the writer formulate the essay. The writer is welcome to suggest his own references. However, please find a suggestive list below: Casanova’s Women The Great Seducer and the Women He Loved https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/casanovas-women-9781596917057/ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/303902.Casanova_s_Women Casanova’s Europe: Women in the Age of Enlightenment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYVAIeQnD8U The Story of My Life (Penguin Classics) by Giacomo Casanova Casanova’s Women by Judith Summers Dangerous Liaisons (Penguin Classics) by Choderlos de Laclos (Author), Helen Constantine (Translator) Games of Idealized Courtship and Seduction in the Paintings of Antoine Watteau and Jean-Honor Fragonard and in Laclos’ Novel, Dangerous Liaisons https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:168409/datastream/PDF/view Musings: The Concept of Femininity and the Rococo Style https://shenoted.co.uk/2017/10/06/musings-the-concept-of-femininity-and-the-rococo-style/ Art Lessons in Seduction from Rococo France https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-valentines-day-rococo-era-lesson-setting-mood Review: “Luxe, Calme, et Volupt”: Franois Boucher’s Rococo Seductions https://www.jstor.org/stable/30053596?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Giacomo Casanova: Italys Original Ladies Man https://www.lifeinitaly.com/heroes-villains/giacomo-casanova Digital Stories Casanova: The Seduction of Europe https://digitalstories.famsf.org/casanova/ ARTWORKS BY JEAN-HONOR FRAGONARD: The Swing (1767) https://www.theartstory.org/artist-fragonard-jean-honore-artworks.htm Casanova, Art, and Eroticism by Mary D. Sheriff https://www.journal18.org/nq/casanova-art-and-eroticism-by-mary-d-sheriff/ Giacomo Casanova: Italys Original Ladies Man https://www.lifeinitaly.com/heroes-villains/giacomo-casanova