IDTG

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/

Just this past Sunday, on October 11th, I received the most recent newsletter (#12) from the College of Arms. Among the many interesting topics covered, the most interesting to me was the announcement that there will be a course on heraldry given at the University of Dundee in Scotland.

Here is the text of the announcement:

Heraldry Course at University of Dundee: Clive Cheesman and Peter O’Donoghue, Rouge Dragon and Bluemantle respectively, are the joint authors and tutors of a course covering the history, terminology and practice of heraldry. This course provides a detailed and thorough study of the subject for both beginners, and those with experience of heraldry alike. The heraldry module is a 13-week distance learning module delivered online in a fully supported learning environment. It can be taken on its own, simply as a leisure interest. It can also be taken for continuing professional development, as part of a Postgraduate Certificate in Family and Local History, or as part of the University of Dundee’s Masters degree in Archives and Records Management. More information can be found on the Centre for Archives and Information Studies website www.dundee.ac.uk/cais or by e-mailing armt...@dundee.ac.uk.

For those who are not in Scotland, the best part is that it can be taken online. The fact that it’s being given by two of the Pursuivants of the College of Arms, makes it extra special.

Of course, one might ask why are folks from the English College of Arms teaching a course in Scotland, in Lord Lyon’s turf. I don’t know….

If you’d like to subscribe to future newsletters, you can do so by visiting this link: http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/#newsletter

In a thread over at the American Heraldry Society forum, we were discussing heraldry and how one can be put off when the artwork is bad.

Some give more weight on the emblazon (or visual aspect), as they are visual types, and some focus on the blazon and leave the graphical depiction to a competent artist.

My opinion is that the blazon is what’s important, the emblazon could lie anywhere from absolutely horrid all the way to Louvre calibre masterpiece. An good artist could make even the most mundane and uninspired arms look spectacular while, at the same time, an untalented hack can ruin the most original arms.

The point is, when looking at a shield or full achievement, try to see beyond the image and try to paint it in your head with all the flourishes you want. That’s when it will “pop”!

Even when it comes to [lucky charms] heraldry, you can still see the good points. Granted, you have to try a heck of a lot harder but, it’s there. Trust me!

So, like pizza, even when you come across what may be bad heraldry, it’s still pretty good.

Back in January, I had written about “lucky charms” heraldry and had dreamt up an shield that had everything but the kitchen sink in it.

However, I was told that it wasn’t lucky charmish enough.

I had let it go until a few days ago when I came across some truly inspired (in a LCD laced, psychedelic way) arms.

First off, we have the shield above from the City of Gloucester. According to the article on the City’s website talking about their “civic heritage”, there is a very interesting story talking about how the City obtained two grants of arms. The first was during the reign of King Henry VIII Tudor in 1538 and the second during the period of the Commonwealth in 1654. Oddly enough, the “unusual” arms above were granted by the Garter King of Arms of the Tudor period.

Fortunately, under the Commonwealth, Gloucester got another grant with the arms above and after the restoration of the monarchy, insisted on keeping the newer arms rather than the interesting Tudor shield.

I apologize for the small sized images used above but, those were the largest I could find and, honestly, didn’t have the time to create new ones from scratch.

Then we have the arms of the County of Banff or Banffshire (seen above) that, shall we say, provoke a reaction on the viewer’s side.

In a recent email conversation I had with that most excellent heraldic artist Laurent Granier, about whom I had written back on January 29th and whose website is http://www.laurentgranier.com, he brought up the arms of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon.

In my post of June 2nd, I had shared some pictures from my latest trip to Rome where I had taken several pictures of some of the coats of arms I had come across. In that post, I shared the following picture taken in front of the Trinità dei Monti.

As you can see, the arms are not the same!

The Cardinal’s arms displayed in Rome are wrong!

Laurent Granier was surprised to discover this as he was the one who designed the arms for Cardinal Barbarin and the ones displayed at the church entrance are those from one of the many sketches the two went over before His Eminence finally chose the one displayed at the beginning of the post.

I must say that I prefer the correct arms as they make the French connection clear.

Hopefully this gets resolved and the right arms make it to the church’s entrance.