Breitholtz Heraldry

An old coat of arms redrawn

2012-02-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

No.36. The other day I was approached by a gentleman, who wished to have his inherited coat of arms redrawn in gouache. The shield in red displays a silver hawk with lifted wings, followed by four golden St. George crosses, one in each corner. This lead me to the conclusion that the shield had to have a basicly rectangular form. The hawk is repeated in the crest. The result is as shown above.

2012-01-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

No. 35 The Catalan musician Jordi Savall conducts these wonderful pieces of music from the time of chivalry, Cantigas de Santa Maria, songs for the St. Mary. The illustrations connected to this music, which is collected from you tube, display some lovely heraldry.

2012-01-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

No. 34. In a blue escutcheon, two crossed golden spears over a golden spray with leaves of laurel. This is the plain idea behind this coat of arms, which I developed for a learned gentleman and his wife-to-be on their wedding. The family crest has many references to the history of their families in rural Sweden.

2012-01-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

No. 33. Maybe there's too long a step from the art of heraldry to the art of music. But still, sometimes one simply cannot refuse to dare to take it! So here's a little piece of music I found on you tube, a fandango by Luigi Boccherini. The choreography is by Nina Corti, who performs the castanets, accompanied by a string quartet - The Carmina Quartet - and a guitar - Rolf Lislevand. The film was recorded in Lenzburg, Switzerland.

2012-01-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

No. 32. This image of a coat of arms is placed in a classic antique environment. I developed it for a Swedish gentleman and his family, Dr Jonatan Forsberg-Gillving, now living in Denmark. On his blog one could read about how it was developed step by step, to me a very thrilling story.Some other versions of his family creast could be view on the website of Creative Heraldry.

2011-08-27T01:27:00.000-07:00

A unicorn, drawn in only one line! How clever! But not so rare as one might think, as it was quite popular in olden times to draw images in this manner. This ink-drawing by an unknown artist is from the 17th century. It is kept in a collection of guest-books in the University library of Uppsala (UUB), Sweden. These guest-books were kept by students and many other people who traveled around in Europe on foot or by horse. The people they visited or stayed at were asked to make a note or a drawing in the guest-books, so these consist of many nice memories and interesting things from olden times, some of which are heraldic drawings and water colours. My source is UUB, stambok nr 16 by Johann Christoph Salbach (1637-1708).

2011-07-09T02:55:00.000-07:00

In British heraldry there is a creature called a wyvern, which is a sort of snake with the wings of a dragon. On the continent, it is said, there are two types of this animal, both without wings though, one good-natured, the other more of the evil sort. In southern Sweden, there was in the olden days a province called Wärend, where the more evil sort was said to be dwelling. It was called a lindorm. It was huge in size and extremely dangerous, as it could form itself into a wheel and hence quickly capture and kill almost any other animal or man that happened to cross its way in the deep forests. The only way to escape it was to flee or to kill it! Anyone who managed to kill it was regarded as a very brave man and hence he (and of course she) could proudly show the image of the frightening lindorm on his shield. As a proof of being able to resist evilness.

2011-02-12T03:54:00.000-08:00

This image shows an heraldic shield with the bearings in quarterings, which I painted in gouache on vellum.

2010-09-27T01:08:00.000-07:00

The dragon in this coat of arms symbolizes many aspects of life. The crown does not represent rank as it usually does, but that the dragon is a tamed one, quite a civilized creature so to speak.

2010-08-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

This plate is cut in wood (birch) by the Swedish sculptor Thorleif Aiff ( http://www.bildhuggaren.se/ ) after an heraldic seal, which I drew in black ink, inspired as I was by a 13th century seal. This wooden plate is patinated on a background in English red. The measurements are 350 mms x 18 mm. I don't know exactly what one could use such a plate for, maybe on the entrance door or hanging on the wall at home? One could also make copies of it in plaster.

Paradisi Paradies Sonata VI Part2 Toccata Dantone Harpsichord

2010-06-05T03:54:00.000-07:00

No. 26. A nice piece of music - and a nice piece of furniture...- a toccata by P Domenico Paradisi (Paradies), one of the few of his music that is still being performed. The harpsicord is from the same time as the music, i.e. around 1730-ies I trust. Would you like to listen? Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESqW8ddABOA&feature=related

The Blue Boar

2009-11-27T15:14:00.001-08:00

No. 25. This is my latest creation in heraldry. Should you wish to see some of my other heraldic stuff,
feel free to pop in to:

http://www.creativeheraldry.com/gallery2.html

2009-04-04T01:01:00.000-07:00

No. 24. Since more than 30 years Mr Lewis Jaffe collects bookplates. From his domicile in Philadelphia, USA, he publishes exlibris images and writings on his blog. He calls it "Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie".

Here one can find lots of interesting and fascinating stuff from the world of bookplates:

http://bookplatejunkie.blogspot.com/

Of course not all of it is related to heraldry though, but there are some rare heraldic images there, e.g. the impressive coat of arms of Lord Mountbatten of Burma. Mr Jaffe himself has a few exlibrises of his own, e.g. the dragonfly shown here. I felt most honoured when such a distinguished collector chose one of my bookplate images for his collection. That can be seen on his blog as above for the 31st March.

2009-03-05T08:55:00.000-08:00

No. 23. The Swedish Association of Heraldry (Svenska Heraldiska Föreningen) has naturally developed a coat of arms of their own. It has become a tradition that each of the percevants of the Association should design their version of the Association's coat of arms. Being the present percevant since last year I drew this image in water colour and gouache. As it should this is an interpretation based on the blazon.

2009-02-27T05:57:00.000-08:00

No. 22. In this black ink drawing it's hard to imagine that the colours of the Rothlieb coat of arms are blue and silver. I chose Chinese ink as it is (to my knowledge) the most black of all black inks.

2009-02-06T06:01:00.000-08:00

No. 21. This is bookmark, a so called exlibris, in a very romantic style, where I combine heraldry with the medieval tale of the virgin and the unicorn. The silhouette in the background depicts Toompea castle by the Estonian capital Tallinn, in olden times also called Reval. The castle was built in 1219 onwards by the Danes and the knights of the Order of the Sword on the ruins of the Estonians fortress Lindanise.

2008-09-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

No. 20. This picture, which I drew for an heraldic magazine, depicts the coat of arms of the Swedish and Finnish noble family Lagerborg, nobilised and introduced in 1719 at the Riddarhuset, an institution in Stockholm for the Swedish nobility, up to 1865 much the same as the British House of Lords.

It is a gouache painting on paper, drawn in a style which was common in northern countries from the neo classical era of the 18th century up to this very day. I wanted to design an image in this classic tradition but couldn't resist to adopt some influenses from English 18th century heraldry in the form of the shield, and in parts of the mantling from the Russian heraldic artist, Mr. Alexander Kurov, with whom I have made a pleasant aquaintance.

2008-08-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

No. 19. This image is the logo of a publishing company, based on the principles of heraldry. The advantage with this is that the image could be varied in numerous ways being interpretations of the blazon, i.e. the description of the arms in words.

Based on an idea I used the gouache technique on highest quality paper for water colour. The open book and the French lily symbolises French literature and the crossed swords chivalry, adventures and fights about ... well, could it be about the love of a beauty?

2008-06-06T02:50:00.000-07:00

No. 18. This image is my interpretation of the coat of arms of the Swedish noble family Nordenflycht. Usually I design and paint heraldic images in gouache, however I was curious to see how water colour would turn out and this was the result. -

In 1727 king Fredrik I made Anders Nordbohm (1675-1734) , a chief accountant at a governmental authority, a nobleman with the name of Nordenflycht. The most prominent member of this family is (so far) his daughter, the author Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht (1718-1763), who became famous in the rococo era for her lyrical poetry but also for her criticism on rimed verse of her contemporary, the French philosopher Rousseau, whom she considered lacked appreciation of the female sex. That and some other circumstances has rendered her a reputation in these days as the "grand old lady" of the feminist movement in Sweden. The portrait of her (left) is from the University Library of Uppsala.

2008-05-25T00:22:00.000-07:00

No 17. In the Middle Ages Hanseatic merchants used to have trade marks and house marks as proofs of identity e.g. in trade documents, on their buildings, to seal documents. The photo shows such housemarks from the year 1514, here combined in one shield above a staircase in a medieval merchant house in Tallinn (today the City Museum of Tallinn, Estonia) . The marks belonged to the mayor Hans Viant (left), and his wife Kerstine Bretholt (Breitholtz), who were to become the ancestorial parents of the von Fieandt family. - In the painting (right) I have placed a mark from 1441 of Herman Breetholt, senator of Visby, into a shield. - One could look upon house marks and trade marks such as these as a beginning of the present habit to create trade marks and logotypes.

2008-04-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

No 16. These are the shields of the von Rosen and Breitholtz arms in alliance under the crown of the count von Rosen. - Some heraldic artists claim that when the shields are leaning to each other, one shield must not cover part of the other. In this image, however, they do. The shield to the left (the husband's) covers part of the one to the right (the wife's). Now, I don't regard this as being against good heraldic tradition though, as it could be regarded as an expression of courtesy to the lady: the husband protects his lady wife with his shield. Isn't that a beautiful thought! Heraldry obviously stems from the era of chivalry, when a man had to do what a man had to do and a woman was treated like a lady.

2008-01-05T05:46:00.001-08:00

No. 15. A member of an old Swedish noble family wished to have a new interpretation in painting of their old coat of arms. It should be redesigned in order to better correspond to the the original blazon and to heraldic tradition and rules. The visual outcome is as shown to the left. I chose to paint this image in acrylic on a high quality board, based on wood, size 44x45 cms. - King Gustaf I, the founder of the present hereditary kingdom of Sweden, raised the forefather of this family to the rank of nobility in 1544. In 1596 duke Karl (later king Karl IX) confirmed the family's noble status and it's right to their coat of arms.

2008-01-05T05:05:00.000-08:00

No 14. I designed this coat of arms for a Swedish family, who wanted to have a sign of identification of their own. Their idea or concept was very clear right from the start, which I formulated in words as an heraldic blazon (in Swedish). Based on this and some communication the arms was gradually visualized, finally in the coat of arms as shown here. It could however be varied in many other ways as long as one keeps and is true to the idea and blazon. - The technique is mainly gouache on paper, the size around 50x70 cms.

2007-12-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

No. 13 - This image is a silhouette in grey of some of the heraldic bearings in the Breitholtz coat of arms. It's an example of how varied heraldry could be, simply by sticking to the rules of heraldry and using some creative imagination. An image such as this one could possibly be used as letterhead, exlibris etc.

2007-11-29T05:26:00.001-08:00

No 11. A badge consists of some elements from a coat of arms. The most famous badge is no doubt the star of the American sheriff.
Badges could be used as a more informal way of showing an identity, in this case (image No 11) to be worn on a riding jacket. I designed it out of elements in the Breitholtz family crest, obviously inspired as I was by the badge of the related clan Montgomery.

2007-11-29T00:47:00.000-08:00

No 9. How can one use heraldry today? Well, cities and towns use heraldic images in their coat of arms, so do military regiments, ministries, foreign embassies, royal courts, counties and many other official bodies. Even private companies sometimes prefer a logo created according to heraldic concepts and rules. It works as a sign of recognition, of identification.

As a private person one can display one's shield or a full coat of arms or parts of it in badges, letter heads and envelopes, seals, in a streamer on one's car, on golden rings, bracelets and other jewellery, framed as a picture, painted on china or engraved on silver plates and cutlery and so on. Anywhere where one wants to show a mark of identification or ownership. If one doesn't have an heraldic arms of one's own one could have it "made to measure" by an heraldic artist should one so wish.

This seal (as above) is printed on paper and glued into a book as an ex-libris, a mark of ownership. It was created around 1875 and belonged to a Swede, viscount Carl Arvid Klingspor (1829-1903), one of the foremost heralds of his time.

2007-10-29T02:21:00.001-07:00

No 8. The Association of Heraldry in Sweden, Svenska heraldiska föreningen (SHF), has a growing number of members, which, I suppose, reflects a growing awareness of the beauty of the world of heraldry and its use as marks of identification. This shield as above is my interpretation of the blazon of the arms of this Association, whose homepage is www.heraldik.se.

Quite a few people nowadays have got new coat of arms created for themselves and their families. Some also have their old, inherited arms copied or re-intepreted by heraldic artists of today. When designing a new coat of arms it is important that one respects and avoid interference with already existing arms. The right to a heraldic arms is namely unique to one particular person, family, organisation or official body.

2007-10-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

No 7. This crown doesn't represent a particular rank but is a sort of fantasy crown. Obviously it's based on the medieval heraldic idea of contrast between colour and metal. When I designed it I had an idea to reduce the traditional ornaments and gems in crowns into a minimum and yet to put forward an impression of dignity and power. So I used some basic geometrical elements in stead - circles, the straight line, convex and concave lines. Well, that's the thoughts behind this little piece of artwork of mine.

2007-10-27T00:55:00.001-07:00

No 4-6. Heraldry started in central Europe the years around 1100, when times were rough. Mighty warriors - knights and barons - did their best to learn good manners and to honour high ideals. To be chevaleresque to their lovely ladies became in fashion, so too to show mercy towards the poor and weak in society. In times of war their fortified castles gave many a time good shelter to those in need. The shields and shining armour of the knights became symbols of knighthood and noble chivalry. Heraldry was part of all this.

These days there's a growing interest in the Middle Ages and heraldry. Maybe a reason could be, that the high ideals of the ancient chivalry still have something to give people of our time? Who knows?

I sketched these small pictures in ink on paper, all being fantasy on the world of chivalry and heraldry. I call them:
- Knight & Day
- My home is your castle
- The Virgin and Unicorn tête à tête.

2007-10-24T09:06:00.001-07:00

Figure No 3 Heraldry of ancestors. This image shows a typical model for depiction of the heraldic shields of a nobleman and his ancestors in olden times. The table refers to a Swedish military officer, who lived during the second half of the 18th century, Rt Hon. Mr. Diedric Breitholtz (1751-1805). His coat of arms is shown centrally in the bottom row. The crowned shields of his fathers (left) and mothers (right) and their ancestors another two generations back in time depicts the shields of the Swedish noble families (top row, from left to right): Breitholtz, Ödla, Adlerhielm, Clerck, Koskull, Gyllensvärd, Stromberg and Fleming af Liebelitz.

In the 17th century this type of heraldic tables were quite popular among the Swedish nobility, but by the end of the 18th century it was out of fashion. However, I think it's a decorative piece of art, possible to frame, should one want to.

For obvious reasons not many people nowadays have nobles only among their ancestors. In the 17th century noblemen were even prohibited by the Swedish law to marry other than noble ladies. Not so today though. People interested in genealogy could sometimes find one or two since long passed nobles among their ancestors, for whom one could draw similar heraldic tables as the one above. This one I drew quite recently in gouache on paper and the size is 56x76 cms.

2007-10-24T02:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog on heraldry!

My intention is to publish some of my heraldic drawings and paintings here and maybe discuss one or two thoughts about them and about heraldry in general. To the left is a drawing from 1650 of the Breitholtz coat of arms.

Heraldry is based on an idea, described in words, a so called blazon, visualized in an image, traditionally in the form of a shield or a coat of arms. As the blazon doesn't fix the actual image this concept makes heraldry a most flexible art of identification, more so than e.g. the trade
marks of our times. This flexibility is also an important reason why heraldry has survived as an art form from the early Middle Ages up to today. Each time and each heraldic artist have their own ways to interpret and visualize the blazon, of which the image below is an example, drawn by me in 2007.

The oldest known blazon of the Breitholtz coat of arms is from Revalia around 1590 and is as follows: "in a field a unicorn by a tree". A later blazon from 1650 is more precise and possibly slightly altered, hence the images as above and below.