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Sunday, May 22, 2022
19C Spring Idyll by George Henry Boughton (1833–1905)
Saturday, May 21, 2022
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Friday, May 20, 2022
18C Personification of Spring published by Robert Sayer London in 1750
Here Spring is once again depicted as a fashionably-dressed young woman with flowers in her hair, picking a rose from a bush on the right, holding others in her apron, She is resting her elbow on a parapet overlooking a garden. In the background, a man is leaning against a garden balustrade and a couple stand in front of a domed garden temple.
Thursday, May 19, 2022
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Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Myth & War Then & Now - Minerva, Goddess of War
WAR THEN
Minerva (Pallas Athena in Greek) was one of the most important of the ancient Greek & Roman goddesses. She was originally a goddess of war, hence her armor & spear. Her role later expanded to goddess of War, Trade, Wisdom & the Arts. (That definition including Trade & War surely reflects modern motives.) She was fierce & brilliant. From 2C BC onwards, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena, goddess of music, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, & magic.
Artists in the 15-18C sometimes painted their clients as allegories or personifications, & often painters would put the faces of their patrons or sponsors on the bodies of the saints. These came to be called donor portraits.
Allegorical portraits remained popular; and as time passed, they expanded to show the sitter as a goddess, or muse, or nymph in in a rustic setting. These allegories grew to include strong portraits of Minerva wearing idealized attire, nothing like the clothing worn by actual women of the period. Dressing scantily or provocatively would have been frowned upon if a proper lady was sitting for a portrait in contemporary clothing, but if she were posing as an ancient goddess or muse, a little skin was acceptable.
WAR NOW - Helping Ukraine restore its sovereignty.
This Russian incursion on the Ukraine seems like more than the usual saber-rattling & a little border skirmish to expand & restore its ancient trade routes. Massive war crimes in the name of trade expands the consequences. Russia has 800 miles of border on its West; & both Sweden (neutral for 200 years) & Finland (neutral since the end of WWII) are considering joining the NATO alliance.
WAR NOW - National & International ...
Years of intermittent repetitive fatal weapon attacks are increasing at schools, businesses, houses of worship, public & private gatherings, entertainment & sports events, both at home & abroad The USA is in sort of a wash, rinse, repeat cycle as a result of few. if any, laws being passed to deal with these incidents,-
Several unchecked moves contribute to this -
Online social media radicalization & hate speech. Permissive internet culture. Online radicalization & hate speech.
Claims of pushing critical race theory in every US K-12 curriculum & colleges & universities
Rising racism against Blacks, Immigrants, Asians, LGBTQ, Jews... Racism has gone from fringe to mainstream
The role of women controlling their own bodies & futures is diminishing. Local Governments & the Supreme Court now decide. Nationally women only got the right to vote in 1920. Looks like they may be heading backwards...
Easy access to guns.
State by state passing more partisan racial & party Gerrymandering in an attempt to control election results & therefore, laws & administration. Nationally perhaps expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court & initiating term limits could. But in the end, the vote in a democracy is the most non-violent response that most have.
18C Personification of Spring from Carrington Bowles 1766
Here Spring is a stylish young woman standing on garden terrace, adding a rose to flowers in her apron. Her elbow rests on the garden plinth of an urn covered in a trailing plant. A basket of flowers sits on the plinth.
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Monday, May 16, 2022
Earth's Creatures Stop to Smell the Flowers
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Spring & Summer are the perfect time to celebrate the rebirth of Earth's Beauty & Bounty. Flowers gave beauty & inspiration to mankind's basic struggle to live & to populate & to protect his home-base, The Earth. Holding on to The Sweet Divine - The Lord God took man & put him in the Garden of Eden to work it & to keep it...Genesis 2:15.
The expression came into popular modern use in the 1960s & is a rephrasing of a sentiment found in an autobiography written by the golfer Walter Hagen: “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”
17C Spring on Earth by William Marshall (British printmaker, 1617-1649)
Spring is the perfect time to celebrate Earth's Beauty & Bounty. Flowers gave beauty & inspiration to mankind's basic struggle to live & to populate & to protect his home-base, The Earth. Holding on to The Sweet Divine - The Lord God took man & put him in the Garden of Eden to work it & to keep it...Genesis 2:15.
Sunday, May 15, 2022
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Saturday, May 14, 2022
17C Spring Woman by Jean Leblond 1605-1666
Friday, May 13, 2022
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Thursday, May 12, 2022
Coptic Artisans: History of Egyptian Textiles
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The Louvre
History of Egyptian Textiles RAWI's ISSUE 6, 2014 by Seif El Rashidi
...The importance of Egypt's textile industry is reflected in medieval documents, the diversity of preserved textiles – some referencing Pharaonic motifs & classical legends...The country’s reputation as a textile producer probably dates back almost 2,000 years. All it takes is a look at some of the textiles from the third to the twelfth centuries to see why. Exquisitely woven, elaborately designed & beautifully coloured, textiles produced in Egypt were so prized that they were traded all over the Mediterranean & beyond.
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Tens of thousands of textiles survive from the period predating the Arab conquest of Egypt, a time when most Egyptians were Christian & funerary rites involved burying people in their best clothes – often very finely-woven tunics. The arid climate has preserved these in excellent condition, providing a real insight into the world of Egyptian textiles. Because Muslim tradition was to bury the dead in simple shrouds, far fewer decorated textiles survive from the tenth to the twelfth centuries. Fortunately, however, this is a period when documentary evidence is rich, thanks to sources like the Geniza of the synagogue in Old Cairo, where thousands of documents bearing God’s name were preserved, as per Jewish tradition. Among such documents are contracts, letters to & from merchants, bills, & receipts, all of which clarify the important place that textiles had in Egyptian society.
Goitein, the German Arabist scholar who spent a lifetime painstakingly reading through the Geniza documents, discovered that textile production was a well-developed field, with highly specialized craftsmen who dealt with different stages of the production process. Documents from the 10C-12C refer to extremely specific professions, some of which still survive in Egyptian family names like al-Naqqadi (the unraveller of silk), al-Qattan (the preparer of flax), & al-Qazzaz (the silk weaver), all reflections of the sophistication of the industry. Perhaps less well-known is that dyers were often specialized in the production of a certain colour, or in the use of certain types of dyes – probably reflecting specific techniques of extracting dyes & ensuring that the colours would not run or fade. Thus, there are documents referring to dyers as al-qirimisini (the dyer of crimson), al-zaafarani (the saffron-dyer), or al-sammaq (referring to the use of sumaq), for example...
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Surviving Coptic textiles, which usually date from between the 5C-8C, show an incredible variety of patterns & motifs. Most surviving examples are actually tapestries, meaning that the designs are woven as part of the fabric itself, not applied to an existing fabric later, as embroidery or printed designs are. It is said that tapestry is one of the hardest art forms, as one creates & decorates the ‘canvas’ at the same time...
The range of surviving textiles is broad – many are garments...but some are household textiles, such as curtains, or wall hangings. Many of these, especially the earlier ones, are classical in taste, & bear strong resemblance to Roman mosaics, often managing to create the idea of shading very effectively, despite the difficulty of the medium...
5–6C CE Egyptian TAPESTRY - Myth - Female Spring Goddess
This small tapestry panel comes from Egypt. That area had a major weaving (especially linen) industry throughout the ancient and medieval period, which brought the country a great deal of its trade and wealth. Unlike the textiles of other cultures, many of these pieces have been preserved by Egypt's hot, dry climate, which prevents rotting. Personifications of the seasons were thought to represent prosperity.
Historically in many cultures, a female personification or a Spring goddess celebrated the hope of new growth as the decay of winter gave way to Nature's renewal and rebirth. Spring begins with the first green shoots and explodes into a multitude of beautiful blossoms and promise of good harvest. In ancient times, communities often held festivals to celebrate Spring goddesses who were associated with flowering, growth and fertility of the land.
How did Europeans produce Images & Text before the Invention of the Printing Press?
Illuminated Manuscripts - Parchment Sellers scrubbing & stretching the parchment 15th century Bologna, University Library. Cod. Bonon. 963, f. 4.
Manuscripts were hand-written & illustrated during the medieval era (A.D. 500-1500), before the invention of printing presses. They were time-consuming & expensive to make; but obviously, the method was quicker & much more portable than carving language symbols in stone or wood.
Illuminated Manuscripts - Scribe buying parchment Copenhagen, Royal Library. Ms. 4, 2o f. 183v.
Manuscripts were usually written parchment or vellum made from the skins of sheep, calves, or goats. Parchment & vellum are often used interchangeably, although sometimes vellum refers to a finer quality of writing material. Parchment was eventually replaced by paper. Some manuscripts were written on paper made from linen rags. Sometimes lines were ruled on the pages of manuscripts to guide the script writer.
Illuminated Manuscripts - Santa Catalina de Bolonia
Some manuscripts were written on papyrus, a fragile Egyptian reed material, which continued to be used for manuscripts until the 7-8th-centuries. Papyrus plantations came to Sicily during the papacy of Gregory I (590-604) & so loved that papyrus was used for papal correspondence until the 11th century.
Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical Matthew ruling parchment 12th cent Dinant Gospels Manchester, John Rylands University Library. Rylands Latin Ms. 11, f. 14.
Manuscripts were usually written parchment or vellum made from the skins of sheep, calves, or goats. Parchment & vellum are often used interchangeably, although sometimes vellum refers to a finer quality of writing material. Parchment was eventually replaced by paper. Some manuscripts were written on paper made from linen rags. Sometimes lines were ruled on the pages of manuscripts to guide the script writer.
Some manuscripts were written on papyrus, a fragile Egyptian reed material, which continued to be used for manuscripts until the 7-8th-centuries. Papyrus plantations came to Sicily during the papacy of Gregory I (590-604) & so loved that papyrus was used for papal correspondence until the 11th century.
In the Early Middle Ages, the majority of manuscripts produced served as the liturgical books used by priests & monks in churches & monasteries.
As the church expanded & new monesteries were built, more liturgical books were needed. At new venues, the abbot or the monks initially came from an already established monastic community, which provided the most urgent books for the new site. Immediately the monks began to copy necessary books for themselves.
Medieval copyist monks, often called scribes, were responsible for copying the existing works of authors by hand.
Illuminated Manuscripts - Jean Miélot, also Jehan, (d. 1472) scribe for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1449-1467. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France Ms. Fr. 9198, f. 19.
As early as the 1100s, books began to be produced for wealthy individuals as well as religious institutions. There began to be a growing secular, well-to-do reading public demanding an increase in manuscript production.
Because manuscripts were very expensive to make, they often served as status symbols for the upper classes. Most families who owned manuscripts held privileged positions in society.
The major themes of manuscripts became more diversified as the secular readership grew and included the traditional religious (particularly Christianity) books plus new art & how-to-do subjects such as courtly activities, the hunt, decorative & medicinal gardening, & literature.
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