Blazon
For the Countess of Peralta
The snow-white Olympic swan,
with beak of rose-red agate,
preens his Eucharistic wing,
which he opens to the sun like a fan.
His shining neck is curved
like the arm of a lyre,
like the handle of a Greek amphora,
like the prow of a ship.
He is the swan of divine origin
whose kiss mounted through fields
of silk to the rosy peaks
of Leda’s sweet hills.
White king of of Castalia’s fount,
his triumph illumines the Danube;
Da Vinci was his baron in Italy;
Lohengrin is his blond prince.
His whiteness is akin to linen,
to the buds of the white roses,
to the diamantine white
of the fleece of an Easter lamb.
He is the poet of perfect verses,
and his lyric cloak is of ermine;
he is the magic, the regal bird
who, dying, rhymes the soul in his song.
This winged aristocrat displays
white lilies on a blue field;
and Pompadour, gracious and lovely,
has stroked his feathers.
He rows and rows on the lake
Where a golden gondola waits
For the sweetheart of Louis of Bavaria.
Countess, give the swans your love,
for they are gods of an alluring land
and are made of perfume and ermine,
of white light, of silk, and of dreams.
Ruben Darío
Photo: Bruce Weber
Carmen Dell’Orefice by Norman Parkinson, 1980
Swaroski logo
Bathyllus in the swan dance, Aubrey Beardsley
Henri Matisse making a study of a swan in the Bois de Boulogne, c. 1930
Advertisement illustrated by René Gruau
Illustration to Garcia Márquez’s short story Bon Voyage Mr. President, by Josie Portillo
Still from The Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)
Anna Pavlova
Still from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (Bill Condon, 2011)
Helena Bonham Carter
Laetita Casta. Photo: Mario Testino
Uma Thurman and Mikahil Baryshnikov as The Swan Prince. Photo: Arthur Elgort
Truman Capote styled his beautiful and wealthy female friends “swans”
Accompained by Lee Radziwill and Jane Haward
With socialité Babe Paley in Paris
Escorting CZ Guest
Capote and Gloria Vanderbilt Lumet arrive at New York’s 54th Street Theatre for the opening performance of Caligula., 16 Feb 1960
Gloria Vanderbilt ad campaigns
Ludwig II (Luchino Visconti, 1972). He was sometimes called the Swan King
Mirror, Mirror (Tarsem Singh, 2012)
Robert Redford and Mia Farrow in The Great Gatsby (Jack Clayton, 1974)
Leonardo di Caprio. Photo: Annie Leibovitz
Madonna. Photo: David LaChapelle
David Bowie
Ad campaign featured in Vogue, January 1997
Tory Burch swan-print wedge sandalias
Swan Evening dress by Charles James, 1951
Kate Moss wearing a Givenchy gown by Ricardo Tisci, Spring-Summer collection 2011
Giles Deacon Spring-Summer 2012 collection
Erin O’Connor wearing a gown by Alexander McQueen. Photo: Tim Walker
Eglingham Children and Swan on Beach, Tim Walker, 2002
The Genealogy of Style 