Boodles Launch National Gallery Collection

08 May 2024

The National Gallery is our nation’s treasure box: home to one of the world’s greatest collections of art. Since its opening in 1824, it has inspired artists and creatives of every description. Now, to mark 200 years, Boodles has created a collection of high jewellery to celebrate this landmark year. 

Three new Boodles suites take inspiration from artistic techniques: Play of Light, Brushstrokes and Perspective. A fourth, Motherhood, acknowledges a key theme of the Gallery itself – as evidenced by the various representations of maternal love which adorn its many walls, from the multitude of Madonnas in its earliest artworks, to Jan van Eyck’s expectant mother in The Arnolfini Portrait, to ‘La Maternité’ by Pablo Picasso. 

Play of Light

Finnish artist Askeli Gallen-Kallela’s painting of Lake Keitele in central Finland was the inspiration behind the Play of Light ‘Lake Keitele’ pendant, bangle and earrings. Boodles' designers responded to the distinctive zigzag pattern on the water’s surface, now mirrored by rows of marquise-cut diamonds. The blue-white shimmer of light in the painting dazzles as amongst the stones. 

A brighter, more colourful palette informs the necklace, earrings and ring in the second Play of Light set. Claude Monet’s ‘Water-Lillies, Setting Sun’ depicts his water garden in Giverny. It’s one of around 250 canvases painted of the garden over the last two decades of Monet’s life. The suites evoke an experimental approach to capturing the modulations of light as it transforms water, coming to life in cheerful pink tourmaline ovals and peridot cushions. 

George Seurat’s ‘The Morning Walk’ depicts a scene by the Seine in bold dabs of colour. Horizontal bars of sapphire and diamond recreate the river in our ring. And in the pendant, they’re spun ninety degrees. Whereas Pierre-August Renoir’s picture of Moulin Huet Bay – with its bright sea blues and lemony sparkles were the impetus behind the corresponding bangle, pendant, ring and earrings. 

Perspective

Canaletto’s ‘Piazza San Marco’ and ‘Entrance to the Cannaregio’ inspired our ‘Perspective’ bangle. In the former work, there’s a sense we’re right there – in among the action of the colonnade, glancing through an archway into 1758. The arches that line Saint Mark’s Square and shape thousands of windows throughout the city’s palaces are key motifs in these pieces. In the ring and bangle, you can look through an arch to see one further away. The mystery of Venice, a city of masks, creates intrigue amid the white diamonds. The bangle features Ashoka cut stones: a unique cut featuring 62 facets, only available to buy from Boodles in Europe. 

Brushstrokes

Paul Cezanne’s ‘Avenue at Chantilly’, ‘Hillside in Provence’ and ‘Bathers’ all inform our new ‘Brushstrokes’ suite. Cezanne’s loose,
open use of oil paint – developed from his work with watercolours – suggests dashing, dynamic motion. Boodles' designers sought to bring to life the ‘swoosh’ of his brush in the bracelet, earrings and collar. The ‘Brushstrokes’ ring is one of the stars of the show: at its heart, an 18.64-carat aquamarine. 

Motherhood

Rather than an artistic technique but a re-occurring theme, ‘Motherhood’ in all of its forms is a unifying theme in the Gallery. From the tender portrayals seen in Sassoferrato’s painting to the depictions of the Virgin Mary and Christ child, the essence of motherhood, characterised by loving care, echoes timelessly through the centuries. The embrace of figures’ heads leaning lovingly and arms curved in gentle embrace serves as the inspiration for our Motherhood suite. Each piece, from aquamarine or pink tourmaline pendants to rings and earrings featuring white and pink diamonds, captures the enduring devotion inherent in the portrayal of motherhood in art. 

Painted around 1508-1510, the image is a portrait of devotion. The whole composition is intended to create harmony: this picture 
would have originally belonged to a rich private patron and would have enjoyed pride of place in their home as a focus for prayer. The pastel-like pinks and blues of Raphael’s palette find their echo in our aquamarine pendant in platinum and pink tourmaline pendant in 18-carat Single Mine Origin yellow gold. In both, a white moonstone has been cut perfectly to shape, creating a sense of connection and wholeness. 

To create this collection, Boodles designers gained special access to the Gallery, gaining valuable insight into the details of some of the Gallery’s finest treasures and transforming them into unique and wearable works of art. 

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Source: Boodles