Friday, February 01, 2008

I Am Come Hither to Die


I'm going to be in England for the month of February. I will more than likely be able to do some papercuts of stories from events that happened at the Tower of London. I have been wanting to try a new format and so I had my dad cut a large board out of oak plywood. Then I painted a light image of the Tower in the background. Then I did a layer of resin. The layer that I did was a clear resin and didn't dry very fast. I think put an image on and poured another layer on. This layer was a different brand and dried faster, but it wasn't clear and it shrunk up the sort of undry layer of resin beneath it. This didn't work so well, but it gave me a clearer idea of what I need to do in the future, which is, plan ahead and don't do anything half-ass. This is a good life philosophy. Anyway, I learned a lot about Ann Boleyn in the process of doing this. I was fully expecting to do a scherenschnitt of her on the chopping block, but instead found that she was executed French style by a swordsman while kneeling.

Here are her final words:
Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Cindy, I just wanted to say that I love your work, I have worked alot with paper and glue, and it almost shrinks and warps. I use modge podge...what kind did you use?

Cindy Bean said...

Hi Trieste,

Thanks! I used resin. I did it all in a little bit of a hurry without knowledge of the materials. I'm sure if I did a little more research, I would find a better way to do this. I like using modge podge too.

bug girl said...

Nice, nice, nice. Do you really think those were her last words? Or do you think someone made them up to make the people and the prince feel better for her death?

Unknown said...

Our understanding of religiosity and morality are quite different to those of the Tudor age so it's difficult for us to interpret Anne's true feelings.

Although Anne Boleyn was executed inside the Tower of London and not subject to the typical spectacle-sized crowd on Tower Hill, there were still independent witnesses to record her final words. If there had been 'interference' Anne would have admitted guilt, something she never did.

The prince she refers to was her husband and King, Henry VIII. Anne was not so popular with the English people and her rise and fall were both meteoric. She had replaced Catherine of Aragon who had reigned for 24 years and was held in high esteem by the English.

Catherine said...

Your work is absolutely beautiful - an inspiration. How cool that you are schnitting on London's history, too!
This is probably not the place to ask, but do you sell/let out your patterns at all? I found your website via another blogger who had done your birds on a branch sheerenschnitt, and I would love to give it a go.
Thanks heaps!

Anonymous said...

That reminds me so much of the glass that they carve like cameo.

Cindy Bean said...

Kim, what Alex said.

Alex, thanks for the clarification.

Catherine, I will eventually be selling my patterns on my etsy site. I'll put a big update on the internet soon!

Snippety Gibbet, this one smells like an car shop. I'm going to have to do resin stuff in the summer when I can open up a window.