This is for Ae Bricole, the pub of a great friend of mine, slightly oriented on Old Venice traditions.
I used SketchUp for a 3D reference (expecially for casting shadows). Well Sketchup is not exactly easy for this kind of complex geometry, I think that modeling the sword take me more time than the painting, but that's fun ;-]
For those who are interested on Venice traditions:
The Rosebud is related to the story of the troubled love between the noblewoman Maria Partecipazio and Tancredi the troubadour. In the aim to overcome the social class differences, Tancredi goes to the war seeking for an army glory to high himself to the upper level of his beloved. Unlukly, after serving as a valiant soldier the orders of Charles the Great in the War agains the Arabians in Spain, he is wounded to death, and falls over a rose bed that become red by his blood. Dieing, Tancredi relyes on Orlando the paladin to bring a bloom from that plant to Tancredi's beloved Lady in Venice.
Orlando mantains the promise and reach Venice the day before the St. Mark Patron Day, and gives the bloom to the Lady as the last love message from her, now dead, suitor. The morning after Maria Partecipazio is found dead herself, with the red bloom sat on the heart, and since that Venetian lovers use that flower as an emblematic love pledge.
(from: VeniceExplorer.net)
About the sword:
Ewart Oakeshott, the renowned authority of European arms and armour, noted that there are "five distinct types of military swords which show clear lines of development through the seventeenth century." These types are defined as such: A simple hilt-form comprising of two shell-guards and a knuckle-bow to which the "Walloon Sword" belongs; the sword type and its variants referred to, seemingly indiscriminately, as the "Sinclair-hilt"; the misnamed "Mortuary Sword"; the British basket-hilt form encompassing the Scottish claidheamh mòr and its relatives; and finally, the schiavona.
There is much debate surrounding the origins and exact definition of the word schiavona (pronounced skee-ah-voh-nah). Most of the confusion has been as a result of over-zealous Victorian authors and those who paraphrase and (mis)quote them.
In modern Italian, the word schiavo means "slave" and slavo means "Slav." In Venetian Italian, contemporary to the sword itself, the word is said to refer to a "Slavic woman" and may be limited to a Dalmatian. This translation is interesting in that it suggests that the naming of the weapon follows the habit of referring to a sword as a "she." Regardless, the common definition for schiavona cited in many texts specifically meaning a "hired soldier" is likely incorrect.
Despite the confusion with the name itself, the schiavona can certainly be associated with soldiers recruited from the ranks of Venice's influence in the Balkans. These military men served as a fierce fighting force, using their distinct swords in Spain, as bodyguards to the Doge of Venice, and as warriors against the Ottomans. It's the tales of these Slavic soldiers that have caused them to be so tightly connected with the schiavona sword.
(from: MyArmoury.com)
Like easy to catch watching my last name and my hometown, we are talking about my ancestors.
The cloth on the table are the old Venice Flag, but in the middle, instead of St.Mark winged lion there is AeBricole Pub's Logo.
Thanks for taking the time for watching my stuff.
C&C will be really appreciated.
Cheers
Technical Note: Done in Photoshop CS2 whit Wacom Graphire Bluetooth tablet and a 3D reference done in SketchUp5.
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