One of my favorite jobs at Turtle Love Co. is creating the listings for our vintage rings. I get to photograph and describe beautiful works of art made from metal and stone – little round symbols of love and commitment – and make them as stunning on your computer screen as they are in person using imagery and words.

As much as I love to photograph, I think my favorite thing to do is name the pieces. The first batch of rings I got to name, I named after members of my family. The recently sold Paulina, one of my favorites, is named for a variation of my mother’s middle name, Pauline. The Josephine was named after my husband, Joe. The Lucille is named after my aunt, and Rochelle is my cousin’s middle name.

For the next batch, I decided to use the names of some of my favorite women in music. Regina is named for Regina Spektor, Joan for Joan Jett, Etta for Etta James. I love to match the names I have in mind to the style and feel of each ring.

I decided to use this blog entry as an opportunity to preview three of twelve new vintage rings I’ve currently named and will be putting up on the site within the next week or so. This time around, the names are based on female fine artists throughout history.

We’ll go in chronological order, beginning with the Clara. The Clara Vintage Diamond Engagement Ring is named after Clara Peeters, a Flemish painter born in 1594. You may have never heard of her because, like most other remarkable women in history, the fact that she was a woman prevented her from being as renowned as she should have been. But her work speaks for itself – the way she was able to render details in her still-life and floral paintings is truly remarkable. I chose Clara for the name of this ring because of its exquisite detail and floral motif.

Next up is the Elisabetta Diamond Vintage Engagement Ring, named for Elisabetta Sirani, an Italian Baroque painter born in 1638. Sirani died young, at only 27 years of age, but her breadth as an artist is remarkable. She had completed almost 100 works of art by the time she was 17, and doubled that amount by the time she died. Like many Italian Baroque painters, many of her works were very large in scale and used a lot of Christian imagery. What is most remarkable is that this young woman supported her parents and her siblings with her artwork. I chose Elisabetta as the name for this ring because of its simple, strong, and elegant presence.

Lastly, we skip a few hundred years to the Louise Vintage Diamond Engagement Ring, named for Louise Nevelson. Nevelson, a modern American sculptor, was born in Russia in 1899 and moved to the United States (Maine, even!) at age 6. Nevelson is known for her large-scale wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures, and was first inspired to be an artist when she saw a sculpture of Joan of Arc at age 9. Nevelson believed that art should be an expression of the individual, and not something that should be categorized as masculine or feminine. Her pieces were large, dark and intimidating – against the grain for a female artist. She is revered as a pioneer in the feminist art movement for her ideals and her unique artistic vision. I chose Louise as the name for this ring based on its tall, sculptural quality and commanding presence.

Other artists I’ve named rings after in this upcoming batch are Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, Lavina Teerlinc, and Mariette Robusti, to name a few. Make sure to check our site regularly for new vintage rings – you may even be able to guess which remarkable women the rings are named after.