In the previous post, Michel (Michel) commented that there seemed to be a preponderance of male heads. This was followed by me saying I’d look for some female ones, and then Kathryn (conversationalitalian) chipped in to say she couldn’t wait to see these female architectural decorations.
The gauntlet had been thrown down, so what could I do but find a few examples for all of you.
Ladies and gents, I present a tiny sample of the stone (and other types of materials) females to be seen in Venice.
Isn’t she pretty? Those spikes sticking out of her headdress are to deter pigeons.
Well, I think this is a female.
Even some of the door knockers feature female figures.
Now, how’s this for a grand finale?
Hello World 
Pingback: I Am a Tree | The Contented Crafter
Anyone reading this, head over to Pauline’s blog to see what emerged from her imagination! https://paulinekingblog.wordpress.com/2016/08/10/i-am-a-tree/
LikeLike
You have outdone yourself.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL! But wait, there’s more to come, Judy, about the final image.
LikeLike
Great post! I love the banter it has inspired, too. And maybe we can include Giustina Rossi’s sculpture–not exactly decorative, but commemorative. She’s looking out her window just behind the clock tower at the Piazza.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Argh! I forgot Giustina! The comments are the best part of the posts, I reckon. I’ve found out more about that last image, thanks to some knowledgeable Venetians on Facebook.
LikeLike
Beautiful head collection.
Peta
LikeLike
Thank you, Peta.
LikeLike
Not female. Donald Trump.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or, one of his ancestors?
It’s nice to hear from you, Andrew.
LikeLike
You certainly succeeded in that challenge! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You folks have tapped into my competitive side, Bun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol- love the gran finale!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Little did I know how I’d use that image, Francesca. I’ve put it on a Venetian Facebook site, hoping someone can tell us a bit about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The first one looks strikingly like a childhood friend of mine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! Maybe this is one of her ancestors.
LikeLike
Even though you were careful to say “door knockers”, this is, after all a post about females….add Gerard’s comment….. and anyone old enough to remember the comedienne Rusty Warren and her song “Knockers Up!” (it’s on YouTube) would find a certain mental confluence of these elements irresistible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, “door” must precede “knockers”, at least in this instance. We’re all juveniles at heart, it seems. Good on us!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I know where the last image can be found — Rio Terà San Leonardo, near Calle Paglia. The fifth is in Campo San Stefano. I’m sure I’ve seen your knocker, but I can’t remember where. I’d like to know where the first photo was taken.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The first one was taken in a calle that was near a bridge over a canal. That’ll narrow it down, Bert.
That last one is so unusual (bizarre, perhaps).
LikeLike
Thanks Yvonne – I’m reading a bit about the Green man at the moment but the last figure looks to be a Green Woman which is not so common (I think) – it’s a really interesting version of a fertility symbol.
LikeLike
Thank you for this interesting comment, she certainly epitomises fertility!
I’ve had a quick look online, and some of the images do bring our lady to mind.
(We’ve got our own 63 year old Green Woman in Australia, it seems!)
LikeLike
Have you found this site, Chas? http://greenmanenigma.com/theories.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Yvonne – I will definitely take a look. Unfortunately the book I’m reading has very small font so by night-time I haven’t quite got the will to read on – a digital option might be just the thing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good job, Yvonne!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s not difficult to find them in Venice, is it, Michelle?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll have to search out the women in March. Although as you found some of them are rather ambiguous….is it female or possibly just a chubby cheeked young man?
And of course all the Madonnas don’t count.;-)
LikeLiked by 1 person
They kind of remind me of deer heads on a hunter’s wall.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s true, Anneli.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You won Yvonne .. You had to navigate a lot to find all of those female head statues ! 🙂
Beautiful faces sometimes dirtied by pigeon droppings.
The last sculpture could be a feminist symbol !!! 🙂
Love ❤
Michel
LikeLiked by 1 person
All the lady in the last photo needs is a iron in one hand and a recipe book in the other.
I’ve got many more female heads in my photo bank, these were the first I came across. ❤
LikeLike
In the last photo you would have that expression on your face if you had a concrete fruit bowl cemented on your head 🙂 ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or, dropped on your head or big toe. ❤ 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll have to pull out my old pictures as I am not curious as to who and what I may have captured 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a good task for a rainy day, Julie.
LikeLike
you know that should have read that I am NOW curious—-ode to typos and auto corrects….
I’ve put together two different books–one from when I was in Paris—a book of doorknobs…then the other was a book of doors from Central Europe—
You might need to do a book on various “freezes” and sculptures of Venetian heads
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ladies are always beautiful and lovely, whether they are humans or sculptures.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, kind sir!
LikeLike
Number three has a very funky hairdo!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Rather like a forerunner of a certain political candidate recently in the news a bit too much!
LikeLike
Well done, Yvonne. They can’t have been easy to find 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are many sculptured heads around the city, including as adornments on water doors opening on to canals. They’d make an easy theme for a walk around Venice.
I must admit I didn’t think I’d ever find a use for the last photo, Derrick.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
Is it just me or do the female heads have a more battered appearance than the general male head population? Also,and please excuse my ignorance, do you happen to know perchance, if Venice has its own version of founding/foundling twins? Only not a she-wolf as in Rome – more a she-tree? Who appears, rather inconveniently, to be birthing some kind of porcine being at the very moment her portrait was done?
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are many legends abounding in Venice, but I’ve never heard of any that pertain to her origin as in the case of Rome.
This was just a tiny sample, there are many heads (male and female) in varying states of batterdom.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I always welcome female door knockers.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Now, why does that not surprise me, Gerard/Gez?
LikeLike
That last lady certainly has a strange look on her face.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You would too, John, if you had to live her life!
LikeLiked by 2 people