Products in the “Italian Splendor” Category

Inspired by Bonifacio Bembo’s “Adoration of the Magi” (about1455-1460) and Renaissance Milan’s great wealth and status among cities. This fragrance depicts traditional Catholic incense, which is based on the gifts of the Magi to the Christ child: frankincense, gold and myrrh. Even during the Renaissance, these rare aromatic gifts of the East (frankincense and myrrh) were more costly than their weight in gold.
I have included a precious rose note to this design as well, to center the essence and to symbolize Mary.
(*image credit: Bonaficio Bembo, active about 1444-78, Adoration of the Magi, about 1455-60, tempera and oil paint on panel, Denver Art Museum; the Simon Guggenheim Memorial Collection, 1957.167).

* please note: 1 ml sample vials of EdP are 1/2 filled; Perfume / extract vials are filled.

Many wonderful works of Renaissance Art were created in Northern climes. Tapestries were known especially from the Flemish through France and into Italy. Alba was inspired by one such tapestry from the late 1500′s, woven at a Brussels workshop. The tapestry is made of wool and silk and the fragrance has been designed to convey that subtle sense of texture.
Alba also takes it’s inspiration from alpine flowers, delicate flowering trees and a delicacy of the northern landscape, white truffle.
(*image credit: Flemish designer, active 1500′s, Military Scenes, possibly from the story of Scipio Africanus, late 1500′s, woven at a Brussels workshop wool and silk tapestry, Denver Art Museum, Neusteter Textile Collection, Anonymous Gift).

* please note: 1 ml sample vials of EdP are 1/2 filled; Perfume / extract vials are filled.

Inspired by the allegorical image, “The Triumphs of Time, Fame and Divinity”, by a follower of Andrea Mantagna, Divine Gardens not only speaks to the imagery in the work but also Mantua’s exquisite homes and gardens of the wealthy and powerful.
This green and glorious fragrance is my first green chypre utilizing a tomato leaf note.

* please note: 1 ml sample vials of EdP are 1/2 filled; Perfume / extract vials are filled.

Created for Denver Art Museum’s Cities of Splendor exhibit, 2011, the ITALIAN SPLENDOR collection brings the glory and richness of the greatest cities and art of Italian Renaissance to life in fragrant form.
Included in the set is a 1 ml vial of EdP: Alba (from Across the Alps), Adoration (Milan), Divine Gardens (Mantua), Medici (Florence), Secreti di Belle Donne (Venice) and Venus and Cupid (Siena).

*Please note: the sample vials in this pack are filled.  The individual sample vials for EdP listed with each perfume are 1/2 filled, however.

One of the most famous names in Renaissance Italy, not only among the mighty, wealthy and powerful but also among the fashionable and beautifully scented. They were known as a lavishly scented clan. My Medici perfume was not only inspired by this fabulously scented family but by a painting attributed to a follower of Botticelli called “Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap”. The scent speaks to fiery red spice notes, deep woods and leathers that would have been found in any study of a young Renaissance aristocrat.

* please note: 1 ml sample vials of EdP are 1/2 filled; Perfume / extract vials are filled.

During the Renaissance, Venice was at the height of it’s power and luxury. Not only the global force for trade in Europe of exotic spices, fabrics and ships, but also for love and seduction through their beautiful Courtesans. A famous book of the period was called simply “Secreti”; a book of beauty secrets. My Secreti di Belle Donne perfume is inspired by the famous Courtesans of Venice and Venetian delicacies as well as the work by Vittore Carpaccio, “Portrait of a Lady with a Book”.
Secreti di Belle Donne is a wonderfully rich and subtle perfume that speaks to the beauty preparations of the lovely ladies of Venice as well as the underlying erogenous scent of the lovers trysts.
(*image credit: Vittore Carpaccio, about 1465-1525, Portrait of a Lady with a Book, about 1495, oil on panel, Denver Art Museum, Gift of Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1961.168)

* please note: 1 ml sample vials of EdP are 1/2 filled; Perfume / extract vials are filled.

Inspired by “Venus and Cupid”, attributed to Girolamo di Benvenuto, 1470-1524, the image and delightful scent are reminiscent of earlier Roman themes decadence ad luscious natural sensuality. Venus and Cupid is a sensuous perfume filled with floral fecundity and the nectar of the Gods.
(*image credit: attributed to Girolamo di Benvenuto, 1470-1524, Venus and Cupid, about 1500, Tempera and oil on panel, Denver Art Museum, Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1961-1972)

* please note: 1 ml sample vials of EdP are 1/2 filled; Perfume / extract vials are filled.