>this piece dedicated to our dufouchard related >LORRAINE< PENDLETON wife of cousin +NEAL PENDLETON+ ****************** >our mutual friendship with cousin the late beloved degruy scholar ********************************* +GILBERT DUFOUCHARD deGRUY+ reminds us that gilbert was fascinated by +THE HOUSE OF GUISE+ +dukes of lorraine+ ****************** +deGRUY/deGUISE CONNECTION+ >(i posess in my degruy archive 2 charts of the house of guise family tree given to me by gilbert degruy) (1 handwritten, 1 typed) *********************** +RENEE d' ANJOU+ >as we know was among other things also the duke of guise/lorraine AND CHAMPION OF THE ************************* +CROSS OF LORRAINE+ (of greek origin) >carried by jeanne d'arc, charles degaulle the free french, the knights templar and cosimo de medici into battle. ********************************** >NOTE: IT WAS RENE d'ANJOU WHO HAD COSIMO deMEDICI TRANSLATE the +CORPUS HERMETICUM+ >into several european languages< +++++++++++++++++++++ >(RENE dedicated this famous work to marie de GUISE, wife of king james of scotland, mother of +MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS+ ************************** NOTE: the father of marie de GUISE was claude de lorraine who was +1ST DUKE de GUISE+ >created as a cadet branch of the +HOUSE OF LORRAINE+ >by count de gruyere "brother" +FRENCH KING FRANCOIS 1st+ ( gilbert degruy would be very happy to know >that fact ) ********* +FRENCH ALCHEMISTS ALSO USE THE CROSS OF LORRAINE SYMBOL TO THIS DAY. >(american lung association as well but strangely it was also on poisen bottles to 1950) *************** +FLORENCIAN CIVILIZATION+ >we know that cosimo demedici upon the urgings of rene d'anjou started THE 1ST GREAT EUROPEAN +L I B R A R Y+ **************** >the great library @ alexandria egypt preceeded the medici library & the (INSPIRED BY RENE) >french biblioteque nationale of >francois 1st exceeded it ************************ +RENE d'ANJOU+ (AS KING OF NAPLES) >recognised the transcendent quality of the italian renaissance seen in the milieu of his friend cosimo the distinguished father of the great lorenzo de medici. ************************* (search for earliest medici villas) +NOTE: FOR YEARS I HAVE ADMIRED THE MONUMENTAL BEAUTY & GRACE OF ITALIAN VILLAS THAT REFLECT THIS MEDICI / FLORENCE CIVILIZATION >the world of leonado davinci imported by catherine de (& FRANCOISE 1st) >medici into the court +F R A N C A I S E+ ***************** >during the early 1990s i rented a car in florence especially to track down and photograph the earliest villas of cosimo de medici and his son +LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT+ ****************************** +I FOUND THESE MAGNIFICENT VILLAS HIGH UP IN THE HILLS (the muello) +NORTH OF FLORENCE+ *********************** (i consider that experience at the top of my plantation seeking) ****************************** +THEY ARE THE PROTOTYPE OF >all other< +I T A L I A N + V I L L A S+ ************************* >these photographs were placed in one of many binder books ( PHOTO GRAPHICS ) >to be given to libraries when i leave this planet earth. ************************ +CALIFORNIA VILLAS BASED ON THIS WORK WAS A LARGE PART OF MY +ARCHITECTURAL OEUVRE+ ************************** gene ray, san diego, california (google) eugenerayart.com