A few weeks ago I received, via the factory, a request to buy some Brandauer 518 nibs by an Italian artist. Unfortunately, we no longer make the nib but some years ago my Father agreed for another pen maker in Shropshire to manufacture our last dip pen. This pen is still produced by them and so luckily I could help Lorenzo Pansolin and directed him to their website. A week later he emailed to say that he had now managed to buy the pen nibs he needed and thanked me for my help.
Whilst corresponding with him about the pen nib he wanted for his drawings I asked him if he would be able to email me an example of his work. I am delighted to say that he kindly did and it is wonderful. Mr Pansolin's style is pointillism, so each drawing is made up of thousands of dots and is quite spectacular. I have not asked if I can put one of his drawings on my blog yet but you can see his work on the following exhibition website: http://www.ponentevarazzino.com/2010/08/13/22377/ If you click on Mr Pansolin's photo you will enlarge the picture and then you can see some of his drawings created using the Brandauer 518 pen, though they are still small.
At the family gathering and AGM at the Brandauer factory last week I had permission from Mr Pansolin to print off his drawing of a close-up of a fisherman's hands working on a fishing net. The descendants of Mr Joseph Letiere Petit were fascinated and amazed at the work and enjoyed being able to see how a Brandauer pen can be used. Everyone was interested to know how long it took the artist to complete the picture. I will have to email him and find out.
Mr Pansolin is not the first artist to email Brandauer wanting to buy pens. Over the years I have answered and helped several including caricaturists and cartoonists.
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Hi, Marie-Louise.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog and find it very interesting. Currently I am an undergraduate student of English, and am conducting research on pens and writing in the nineteenth-century for an independent research essay. I was wondering if you could help me with this research at all?
In particular, I am looking specifically for the J pen, and I was wondering if this would be the same as the Brandauer 518? In Richard Marsh's 'The Beetle' one of the female characters uses a J pen, and the footnote to this is as follows: "A steel nibbed pen produced by C. Brandauer & Co., Birmingham, England, in the nineteenth century, and favoured by cartoonists and calligraphers." In another edition of the text, the editor notes that the character's choice of pen indicates that she is a 'new woman'. In my essay I hope to examine this connection further, but I am struggling to find any research on the J pen. I was hoping you might be able to furnish me with some further knowledge about the J pen, and any information you can share would be inordinately helpful.
Thanks for your time.
Kind regards,
George Warburton