Office by Alex Penny
History of Art student at Cambridge University, tumblr-ing for my own amazement.
Antonio Canova, Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, 1787-1793, Louvre
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Cardinal Antonio Barberini to the artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 27th October 1662 (Bernini: His Life and His Rome, Franco Mormando)St Leonard’s Church, Old Warden in Bedfordshire. Dating from the early 12th century and restored in the 20th, it contains medieval stained glass and carvings from many different periods, including the 16th and 19th centuries. Unfortunately, 15 panels of biblical scenes were stolen from the church in 1997.
The nearby Old Warden Park was owned by the Ongley family from the 17th century until the 1870s, when it was bought by the Shuttleworth family. Sir Samuel Ongley is described as “free from Pride and Ostentation” on his rather fancy church monument. The Ongley mausoleum stands in the churchyard. The church porch was added by Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth’s mother in his memory, after he died in an aviation accident in 1940. The nearby Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Park was founded by Richard in 1928 and details the history of aviation from the early 1900s to the 1950s.
When Cupid misbehaves, he needs to be spanked. Here are just a few of my favorite depictions of Cupid being spanked, either by his mother Aphrodite/Venus or by Mars, god of war.
“Leaning Bust” facade decoration at Jacques Coeur Palace, Bourges, mid-15th century (partially restored).
Richmondis Tower, Cologne
The story goes that, during the Cologne Plague of 1357, Richmondis of Lyskirchen fell ill and was thought to have died. She was buried, but when her coffin was attacked by grave-robbers, she woke from her death-like swoon and returned to her husband. So shocked at the vision before him, he declared that he would more readily believe that his horses could climb to the top of his house than that his wife was alive again. Suddenly, hooves were heard on the stairs, and the horses were seen looking out of an upstairs window. Richmondis recovered and lived a long life.
The two horses’ heads commemorate the story.
More information: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1900794/pdf/procrsmed00186-0033.pdf
Frederic Lord Leighton, “The Sluggard” (aka “Athlete Awakening from Sleeping”), 1885, bronze-tinted plaster
(Lysippos of Sikyon), The Vatican Apoxyomenos (“the Scraper”), c. 330 BCE, marble copy of lost original in bronze.
An athlete scrapes dirt from his body using a strigil (small curved implement). This marble copy of a bronze original (note the clumsy tree-trunk to strengthen his left leg - would probably have been unnecessary in bronze) was brought to my attention by a friend for its very lovely back view. ‘Bootyful’ (sorry) I think you’ll agree.
Photos from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoxyomenos View of his behind by Sailko.
Hooray for women!
Harriet Boyd Hawes (1871-1945)
In her early twenties, after finishing a degree in Classics, Hawes spent several seasons exploring Crete on muleback. Though she was a fluent speaker of Greek, this was dangerous territory, and she travelled alone or sometimes with a single female friend. In 1901, she discovered the Bronze Age town of Gournia, the first Minoan town site to be unearthed in the history of archaeology. She spent the next three years excavating the site, supervising a team of a hundred workmen. Her illustrated report of her findings was of such quality that it is still consulted today.
Lorenzo Costa, ‘A Concert’, about 1485-95.
I love the way that these musicians are ‘caught in the act’. Their bad-moment facial expressions remind me of a modern photograph - they certainly don’t immediately make me think of the 15th century! Musical inspiration from Hope. :-)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/lorenzo-costa-a-concert
