IDTG

The de Moffarts Foundation in coordination with the Belgian Federation for Genealogy and Heraldry has announced the theme for the 2012 contest of this prestigious international award in heraldic art.

For those who are not familiar with the award, this is the international incarnation of the originally triennial award created in 1992 by the Baron André de Moffarts (1925-2004). The award was initially created to promote the heraldic arts in Belgium and was award to Belgian artists.

Later on, the de Moffarts Foundation decided to expand the award to the international arena and the first International Award was given during the 2006 International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences.

The winner of the competition is awarded with a medal (displayed at the top of this post) and a cash prize of €5000. Additionally, the de Moffarts Foundation will sponsor the winning artist to participate in that year’s International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences.

The rules and theme for the 2012 competition is the following (taken from the booklet published by the Foundation):

Candidates have to submit (1) an original work in accordance with the theme specified below, (2) a portfolio containing a representative selection of their heraldic creations and (3) a curriculum vitae. The portfolio will be delivered in electronic format. Submissions have to be made before 1st March 2012. Submissions made after that date will not be accepted.

The late Baron André de Moffarts was a great amateur of books. He designed his own book-plate, which has inspired the medal of the International Award.

Candidates for the 2012 International Award are invited to design an heraldic bookplate for the de Moffarts Foundation. The original work has to be made on a A4-sized paper.

The following coat of arms are to feature (in their entirety, or some of their constituent parts):

Baron de Moffarts: Or, on a fess Argent, fimbriated Sable, four saltires throughout of the same. A baron’s coronet with nine visible pearls placed on the rim. Two helmets respectant Argent, grilled and garnished Or, lined Gules, with mantling Or and Sable.

Crests: dexter: out of a ducal coronet Or, on two wings addorsed Or, a fess as in the shield; sinister: out of a ducal coronet Or, a lion crowned Or, langued Gules, between two elephant’s trunks paly bendy Argent and Azure.

The van Willigen family: Argent, a chevron Gules, in base a hare passant proper on a base Vert. A helmet Argent, grilled and garnished Or, lined Gules, with mantling Argent and Gules. Crest: a pollarded willow tree Vert.

 

For those interested parties, you can contact:

Fondation de Moffarts – de Moffarts Foundation
Burggrachtstraat 20-21, 3560 Lummen, Belgium
Tel.: + 32 (0) 13 33 80 36 – Fax : + 32 (0) 13 67 44 07
www.stichting-demoffarts.be – i...@stichting-demoffarts.be

On November 15, 2010 the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia published the government decision determining the official designs, measurements, etc. of all the state arms, emblems, insignia, etc.

This in itself is news enough but, what makes this especially noteworthy is that this unique assignment was given to the most excellent Serbian heraldic artist Ljubodrag Grujic. I had written about Ljubodrag about a year ago, introducing him, back in December of 2009.

I won’t go into all the details of the work done but, you can find it all for yourself by getting to the relevant page on his site (note: in Serbian).

Ljubodrag Grujic’s site is located at: http://www.ljubodraggrujic.com/

I had written about this most talented French artist almost 2 years ago, back in January of 2009 and since then, we’ve exchanged emails every now and then while I’ve continued to admire his work on his website.

Just the other day, I received an email from Laurent announcing the relaunch of his website with a brand new design.

The new site, still located at http://www.laurentgranier.com/, has completely new look but still feels like the artist. Something difficult to accomplish in a redesign of a website. The flow is smooth and as a visitor, you can easily get to where you want without getting lost.

My favorite section, as expected, is the gallery. Of course, any artist has a gallery section on his website and Laurent Granier’s old site did too, that’s not the new part. What’s new and exciting to any lover of heraldry is that each emblazon has a short paragraph describing the artwork the armiger. The gallery is broken down in to sections for familial arms, ecclesiastical, etc. and the URL to that is: http://www.laurentgranier.com/mes-realisations.html?lang=fr

Finally, another section I would recommend to everyone to visit and read is the section titled “Contemporary use of arms” or “Usages et conseils”. It is a very good and educational read. He’s managed to put together a lot of useful information into a short page that can be easitl and quickly referred to as needed.

For anyone that already is familiar with Laurent Granier’s work, I urge you to visit his new site. If you’re one of the few that are not, then you absolutely must visit the site!

The Royal Danish Mint has announced a new set of coins to commemorate HRH Queen Margrethe II of Denmark’s 70th birthday.

The coins in question (the reverse of the gold 1000 kroner coin is shown above) are heraldic in nature and masterfully designed. Coins are being minted in .90 gold, .999 silver and circulation coins in both proof and mint conditions.

The commemorative coin will be presented at Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød 15th March 2010 and can then be viewed on a special exhibition in the palace museum in the period 10th April – 1st August 2010.

It is a special pleasure to present this coin, as the reverse was designed by the most excellent heraldic artist and Royal Herald Artist Ronny Andersen. A young and very talented artist that I had the honor to write an article on him about a year ago on February 23, 2009.

In a post he wrote at the forum of the American Heraldry Society, Ronny said that the daisies of the background are the personal and informal symbol of Her Majesty (daisies are also known as marguerites) . The combination of the Royal Arms along with the daisies are a combination of Her Majesty’s personal and formal sides.

The coin can be (pre)-ordered directly from the relevant page on the Mint’s website.

Note: Image from the website of the Royal Danish Mint

Professor Grujic, as he is a professor of literature, has been practicing his art since 2000 and has been very active in Serbian heraldic circles and abroad. He is very much involved in trying to popularize heraldry in his native country, a very difficult task for anyone in any country of the world.

Grujic is an outstanding digital heraldic artist based out of Serbia with an exquisite eye for detail and a rare talent overall. These talents have been widely recognized and has been appointed Heraldic Artist to The Board for Heraldic & Genealogical Studies at The Centre for Research of Orthodox Monarchism (CROM), as Heraldic Artist to the Royal House of Bagration-Muhranski of Georgia and also to the editorial staff of the journal “Ocilo” of the Society “Milos Obilic”. Also, he was most recently elected to the position of Corresponding Member of the Serbian Heraldic Society “White Eagle”, a most prestigious heraldic organization.

I will not go over his biography here, as he has it very well presented on his personal website, however I will present some of his art in the form of what he’s done for me.
In his excellent gallery on his website, one notices not just heraldry but also something that is closely related to this art: personal signums or cyphers. He has a deep appreciation for these personal elements and is immensely creative when designing new ones for clients.

Grujic also has a great passion for “Full Heraldic Achievements” as he calls them. Emblazons that include the shield, crest, a standard, any badges, any supporters and components that add more life to the design. There are many cases where the heraldic standard is being held by a supporter but, this is not be confused with supporters in the traditional sense.

As mentioned above, I had the good fortune to commission Prof. Grujic to work on a new heraldic badge and cypher for me and he did outstanding work. I am well aware that my arms are not the easiest to emblazon and combining elements of my heritage, both Greek and Chilean was tough. Another difficulty with my arms is the eradicated oak tree, a charge that at first glance seems simple but doing it right requires lots of patience and even more skill. The results were so great, the commission was extended to creating an ex libris and other art.

Throughout this post, I have used the images created for me by this most excellent heraldic artist that can also be found in his gallery. These images convey much more than anyone, no matter how eloquent, can say about this extremely talented artist.

Prof. Ljubodrag Grujic’s website is at: http://www.ljubodraggrujic.com/