“To the most beautiful”. Not your usual Valentine’s story.
Not all love stories are romantic and have a 'happily ever after' happy ending; some loves are destructive.
I am fond that you all know the story of the Trojan War, caused by an impossible love, the one between Paride, Prince of Troy, and Elena, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta.
Yet, do you know, according to the myth, what actually caused this obsessed love to such an extent that war broke out?
I have the pleasure to share this story with you through the latest precious creation by Federica Tessari, a young and outstanding Florentine artisan, steeped in the art and culture that her city has to offer.
'Alla più bella' [To the most beautiful] is the title of her latest, brilliant, wax creation, named after one of the most famous stories of Greek mythology.
But first, let me tell you about this young woman by the ingenuity and creativity that only Florence could forge: Federica Tessari.
I met Federica in Florence, on a rainy December day in a delightful café right behind the Duomo; a girl of astounding depth and culture, aided by the cultural environment in which she grew up and the classical studies she pursued. Federica was born in Florence, cradle of Beauty. It is no coincidence that since childhood she has shown and developed a precious love and taste for art and beautiful stories.
Her curious approach and love for culture led her to a progressive rediscovery of her expressive abilities, until the realization of her own quest for harmony, style and Beauty through her precious candle collections. Her obsession for the most meticulous research took the shape of the most precious materials, such as the handmade Montelupo ceramics and the finest glass; a path of continuous artistic and creative improvement, in which no detail is too small to tell a story.
Federica Tessari has chosen the candle as a narrative medium involving all the senses to share her art as she perceives it, closely linked to childhood memories and roots.
“Yet a single scent, already heard or breathed long ago, may once again, both in the present and the past, be real without being present, ideal without being abstract, as soon as the permanent and habitually hidden essence of things is liberated, and our true self […] is re-awoken and re-animated when it receives the heavenly food that is brought to it.”
M. Proust, “Time Regained”
Have you ever wondered what Botticelli's Birth of Venus smells like?
For Federica it smells of roses and jasmine, because they are painted on Hora's silk drape, it smells of orange blossom because there is a citrus grove in the background, and you can clearly smell the lapping of the sea almost to the point of feeling the saltiness on your lips, and having knots in your hair because Zephyrus is blowing on the shore to make Venus land.
Here, this is the result of human ingenuity and creativity, when these are supported by constant cultural imprinting. Sublime.
To the most beautiful..
This was the inscription engraved on the golden apple, better known as the 'apple of discord', thrown by Eris, goddess of discord, on the table at the wedding banquet of Peleus and Thetis. This was enough to trigger a furious quarrel among the present goddesses: who was the most beautiful among them?
They all wanted to be 'the most beautiful', in particular Aphrodite, goddess of love, Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Hera, wife of Zeus and goddess of fidelity.
Zeus, though forced to intervene, pulled out of it, he certainly had no desire to take responsibility for such a decision! It was Paride, mortal future Prince of Troy, known as a just man, who was entrusted with the impossible task.
[Painting: “The choice of Paride” by Alessandro Rosi, 1627–1697]
The gifts of the goddesses.
All three goddesses devised all kinds of rewards to be chosen as 'the most beautiful'. In vain was the attempt of Paride, who proposed to divide the apple into three equal parts.
Athena offered Paris wisdom and invincibility.
Hera offered the dominion of all Asia and infinite riches.
It was Aphrodite, however, who offered the most seductive gift of all: Paride would have the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.
Aphrodite was triumphant: she had obtained the Golden Apple... and Paride obtained what he had so longed for, the love of the most beautiful woman in the world: Elena, wife of Menelaus King of Sparta; her abduction by Paride triggered the great conflict that became the focus of Homer's Iliad: the Trojan War, which ended with the destruction of the city by the Greeks..
..but that is another story.
'To the most beautiful' is a seductive, precious candle by Federica Tessari that releases harsh, flowery notes of apple, peony and violet.
Who would you give it to, who is 'the most beautiful' for you?
As we have learned, not all love is romantic..
According to Diotima, love is neither beautiful nor ugly, but is a demon [Daimon] somewhere between wisdom and unconsciousness, between human and divine, between mortal and immortal. Yet there is one love that unites many of us, and that is the love for stories full of value, Beauty and significance. The love of research, the love of curiosity, the love of all that is beautiful, in the fullest sense of the word. In short, one must be able to understand Beauty, take the right time to discover it on all its different levels, to experience a complex love, capable of filling and enriching the mind and soul.
I wish you a wonderful Valentine's Day, the feast of those in love, including those in love with Beauty.
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