The Bronze Lady (Woodford Antiques Mystery Book 2) (24 page)

Chapter 60

Thursday 24
th
March, 8.30pm

Rebecca wasn’t the only woman in Woodford who was beginning to take a step out of her comfort zone and into the world of romance.

‘One month ago today you were saving my life.’

Paul and Jennifer were snuggled up on his sofa, the open fire was chucking out more heat than they needed, and there was a film on the television neither of them had been watching. Their positions were extremely comfortable even though they had to take into account his leg which was hopefully healing well inside the plaster cast. Tony Cookson’s actions a month before had jolted both Paul and Jennifer out of the unhealthy spirals they had both been uncomfortably living in.

As she sat, comfortably cuddled up next to Paul, with a smile on her face and love in her heart, Jennifer was thinking how much had changed in such a short space of time. Veterinary duties were still keeping her busy, but now she spent her non-working hours doing something other than worrying and fretting about her future. She and Paul were spending a lot of time together, and she marvelled at his strong spirit. He even inspired her to start exercising because she could clearly see how his core strength was helping him manoeuvre around the house in spite of his disabilities. She arranged with her father to organise their work schedules so she could join Jackie, Nicola and Sarah at their weekly Zumba sessions, and although she truly thought she would die after the first two songs, by the end of her first session she was smiling more than she had for months. Maybe even years.

With her new-found enthusiasm for life Jennifer finally started to prioritise, and one of the first things she did was to make time for horse riding, which ironically had fallen by the wayside once she started working as an equine veterinary surgeon. Her trial lesson at the local Western riding school had been thrilling, and she asked her sister Alison, a riding instructor, to be on the look out for a suitable horse to loan or buy. Over the past four months she visited a number of the local livery yards in her professional capacity, so had formed a clear idea of which one she wanted to keep her own horse in if a space became available.

Her father’s plans for taking over Jackie’s business were also finally exciting her with the possibilities for her own future. Instead of simply following orders and lists and keeping to appointment times and feeling as though she had no control over her working day, Jennifer realised she had an opportunity to form her own career. She could choose to be involved in an exciting new enterprise.

Almost everyone she met warned her to stay clear of Paul Black, even clients who barely knew her felt it was their duty to share their thoughts on the subject of her love-life. But for the time being she was happy to give him a chance. This was her life, and it was up to her to live it as she wanted to.

Jennifer was finally thinking that her future was very, very, bright!

Author’s note

Vienna Cold Painted Bronzes

Bronze is an alloy made up of several elements, primarily copper and tin, and also aluminium, nickel and zinc. Brass is an alloy made up primarily of zinc and copper, and also similar elements to bronze, so you can see how difficult it could be to distinguish between the two.

Bronze was probably first discovered by man over six thousand years ago, and so began The Bronze Age when bronze replaced stone as the preferred material for tools and weapons. Antiques come in many shapes and sizes, and so there are plenty of bronze treasures in existence, but for the purposes of The Bronze Lady we are concentrating on nineteenth and twentieth century antique figures, mostly of European origin, cold painted, and measuring between 5cm-30cm tall. The figure which finally triggered Tony Cookson’s downfall, the one bought by John Robson, was produced in the style of an Art Deco piece of erotica from brass, and this would have been perfectly legal if he had marketed it as such.

One of the most famous names associated with Vienna cold painted bronzes is Bergmann.  Franz Bergmann opened a foundry in Vienna in the nineteenth century, and his son, Franz Xaver Bergmann, continued with the family business producing numerous cold painted bronzes of animals, oriental pieces, and erotic nudes which he signed B or Nam Greb. Cold painted means the figure was covered in several layers of a form of paint which didn’t require firing, and this can no longer be replicated because the recipe for the paint has died out with the people who created those pieces.

Bronze is probably my favourite material for a statue or sculpture. It is such an inviting substance to touch and stroke, and I find it amazing that such a cold matter can be full of life force. Vienna cold painted bronze figures come in many different shapes, and are often in the form of people, dogs, foxes or bears, and of popular figures at the time, for example John Hoskin’s The Trusty Servant. Because they are antique there is inevitable paint loss, and occasionally a missing walking stick or even foot!

Regular items seen in auctions or at antiques fairs are oriental bronzes and art deco female figures, but in my opinion nothing beats a life-size statue of a horse in bronze and you have to go to a private house or country estate to see one of those. I once went to a dinner party where there was a figure of a rolling horse, in bronze, outside the dining room window. Breath-taking. Can’t remember whose house it was, though.

There are some stunning images of horses in bronze on public display, both modern and antique, including Thomas Thornycroft’s bronze statue of Boadicea next to Big Ben in London; the statue of the racehorse Best Mate, by Philip Blacker, at the Lockinge Estate in Wiltshire; Hamish Mackie’s Goodman’s Fields Horses, also in London; and of course the Triumphal Quadiga, otherwise known as The Horses of Saint Marks, in Venice.

Modern artists produce fantastic work in bronze, and one day these will be classed as antiques.

Devon artist Heather Jansch is particularly skilled in creating beautiful equestrian pieces. She is perhaps best known for her driftwood images, and the amount of work she puts into each piece is astounding. Her website www.heatherjansch.com details her bronze artwork and explains how they are developed.

Hamish Mackie, based in Wiltshire but travels around the globe for his research, produces stunning images of wildlife domestic animals, including horses. His website www.hamishmackie.com contains information about the process he follows to produce the bronze statues.

####

Thank you for reading The Bronze Lady, I do hope you enjoyed it! If so please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads, or with your favourite retailer. For more information about me join us on the Kathy Morgan Facebook page and @KathyM2016 on twitter.

Thanks again,

Kathy