art medium diamond and art history

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Diamond:TheHistoryandDevelopmentofaMediumByArtHistory.net

InancientGreek,thewordfordiamondmeantunalterableorunbreakable.Thediamondhasachievedfameforitshardness,endurance,andbrilliance.Intermsofart,thediamondhasbeenusedinengravingtoolsforthousandsofyears.Inancienttimes,diamondswerealsousedforreligiouspurposesandtoadornhumansintheformofjewelsjustastheydotoday.

Accordingtohistorians,diamondswerefirstminedinIndiawheretheirreligioussignificanceinfluencedtheirpositionasanimportantgemstone.DuringtheMiddleAges,diamondswerealsoreveredashealingstones,buttheirvalueasgemstonestrulyblossomedduringthisperiod.Duringthethirteenthcentury,smallamountsofdiamondsbegantoshowupinEuropewheretheywereassociatedwithroyalty.Itwasalsoduringthisperiodthatdiamondsfirstbegantobecutinordertoimprovetheirappearance.

Thefifteenthcentury,however,witnessedtheuseofthecuttingwheeladevicethatgavediamondstheirfirstroundedoutlines.Bythesixteenthcentury,diamondcutting,toenhancethegemsbrillianceandfire,wasperformedinearnest.Facetingwasalsodevelopingatthispoint.Therosecutwaspopularatthistime,butitwasreplacedinpopularitybytheoldcut,asitisnowtermed,whichwascreatedbyaVenetiandiamondcutter.Atthispoint,jewelrydesignbegantochangedramaticallyasgemstones,especiallylargeandshowygemstones,tookcenterstageoversettingsandmetalwork.

Bytheeighteenthcentury,diamondjewelrybecameevermorepopular.AsdiamondsourcesinIndiabegantodwindle,newminesopenedinSouthAfrica.Jewelrydesignsfeatureddiamondsinelegantsettingsthebestjewels,ofcourse,featuredlarge,flawlessstones.Duringthenineteenthcentury,themarketfordiamondsexplodedasrichsourcesallowedanyonewhocouldaffordthemtohavediamondjewels.In1919,thebrilliantcutwasinventeditsfiftyeightfacetsalloweddiamondstoshowbrillianceandfireasneverbefore.

Forjewelers,craftingwithdiamondsmeansattentiontothefourCscut,clarity,color,andcarat.WhileTiffanyandCartieraretwocontemporarycompanieswithcloseassociationtodiamonds,historicdesignerscreatedsomeoftheworldsmostmemorablediamondjewels.OneoftheearliestknowndiamondjewelsdatesbacktoaHungarianqueenscrownin1074.In1382,QueenAnneofBohemiaworeacrown

featuringacenterdiamondflankedbysapphiresandpearls.In1477,MaryofBurgundywaspresentedwiththefirstdocumenteddiamondengagementring.TheinfamousHopeDiamondwaspurchasedbyKingLouistheXIIIofFrancein1631.In1762,CatherinetheGreatworeherGreatImperialCrownthatfeaturedtheShahDiamond.

Today,diamondsreignsupremeasthemostpopulargemstones.Diamondjewelryisamajorworldindustry.Diamondsarealsothemostminutelyclassifiedandtightlycontrolledofallthegemstoneindustries.Asthehardestnaturalsubstanceonearth,diamondsarelikelytocontinuethisreignforcenturiestocome.

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