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The Faerie Queene 11: Belphoebe, Amoret, Florimell
In the previous episode, Britomart met the Redcrosse Knight outside Castle Joyous, where the pair of them overcame six knights. They were taken inside, where Malecasta, lady of the castle, fell for...
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Evelyn De Morgan 1: Night and Sleep
Evelyn De Morgan (1855–1919) was one of the most prolific and accomplished narrative painters, of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Europe and North America. Throughout her full...
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Evelyn De Morgan 2: The Cadence of Autumn
By the middle of the 1880s, Evelyn De Morgan (1855–1919) was an established and individualistic Pre-Raphaelite painter who specialised in classical mythology. She was also a strong feminist, and a...
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On the road: Itinerants and travellers in paintings 1
I well remember the Onion Johnnies, Breton farmers who loaded their bicycles with their harvest of pink onions, crossed the Channel to England, and pedalled around selling their produce from late...
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On the road: Itinerants and travellers in paintings 2
The relatively quiet roads of the period up to the middle of the nineteenth century, shown in the previous article, became busier during its latter half. Those whose role it was in life to maintain the...
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God of the Week: Hermes (Mercury)
Even major deities are sometimes better known for bit-parts rather than lead roles. Today’s god, Hermes (Greek Ἑρμῆς), known to the Romans as Mercury, probably appears on more paintings of classical...
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A History of Rome in Paintings: 13 Hail Caesar
When Julius Caesar reached Alexandria shortly after Pompey had been murdered, he is said to have wept with regret over that, and won over those who had supported his rival. But his enemies weren’t done...
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The Faerie Queene 12: Florimell lost at sea
In the previous episode, Prince Arthur’s squire Timias had collapsed after being attacked, but was resuscitated by Belphoebe the huntress, who carried him away to her remote home. During his...
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Follower email from this site may have problems with images
Over the last couple of weeks, several who follow this blog have reported problems with the scaling of images embedded in the emails they receive of the articles here. This article tests a potential...
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Marie Spartali Stillman 1: Love’s Messenger
One of the most prolific and significant of the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood was Marie Spartali Stillman (1844–1927). She was born Marie Euphrosyne Spartali in Hornsey, Middlesex, to the west of London....
View ArticleNews for those who follow this blog by email
At the end of October, some of you who follow this blog by email started reporting to me that images were no longer scaled and formatted correctly in the emails you were receiving. Since then, I have...
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Marie Spartali Stillman 2: The Enchanted Garden
In 1886, Marie’s husband William Stillman was sent out to Italy again, this time to Rome, as its correspondent for The Times newspaper. The family followed him, allowing Marie to make friends with...
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Paintings of Legendary Lands 1
It’s time for a break. In a year that had most of us already struggling by May, to have made it to November without an apocalypse seems quite an achievement. So this weekend I’m off to some legendary...
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Paintings of Legendary Lands 2
Yesterday, we escaped on our weekend exploring legendary lands with the aid of paintings and Umberto Eco’s eclectic Book of Legendary Lands (2013). Having visited classical places such as Parnassus,...
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God of the Week: Dionysus (Bacchus)
Of all the Classical deities, Dionysus, also known to both Greeks and Romans as Bacchus, must have the least credible origin. He was the result of yet another of Zeus’s extramarital relations, this...
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A History of Rome in Paintings: 14 Assassination
Julius Caesar’s passion for royal powers generated open and deadly hatred. As the situation in Rome deterioriated, one seer advised Caesar to be particularly wary of the Ides of March, when he would be...
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The Faerie Queene 13: Rescuing Amoret
In the previous episode, Britomart, the Squire of Dames, Sir Satyrane and Paridell had stayed overnight in the miserly Malbecco’s castle, during which Paridell was busy seducing the keeper’s wife...
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Forgotten Pre-Raphaelite Sisters 1
In the last eight articles in this series, I have looked at the work of six major women artists who were involved in some way with the Pre-Raphaelites. There were of course many more who have since...
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In Memoriam Luc-Olivier Merson, storyteller in paint
So many wonderful artists were cast into an abyss and forgotten during the early twentieth century. A hundred years ago today, Luc-Olivier Merson (1846-1920) died in Paris, by that time only remembered...
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Rhythm in paintings: Depth and patterns
Rhythm may seem a strange property in paintings, something we more commonly associate with a repeated pattern of sound. But when a painter uses repeated forms, usually regularly spaced in the picture...
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