Tankard

Tankard, 1574-75, The Clark

I could look at these elegant details all day. It certainly looks almost too fine to drink from! Almost!

The House of the British Consul, Damascus

Thomas Allom (1804-1872)
The House of the British Consul, Damascus
Government Art Collection, London

This is via Idle Speculations, accompanying an interesting piece about Syriac Christianity.

White Wings

White Wings, Duane Keiser

This is so vividly alive! I feel as if I could pluck it from the vase.

The Pink Dancers, Before the Ballet

Edgar Degas, 1884, The Pink Dancers, Before the Ballet
via WikiPaintings

Of course it is Degas. It's ballet dancers! But I don't recall ever seeing anything so ... pink ... from him before. The vivid color is softened by the painting style but still draws my eye. I can't look away somehow.

Court of Lions

Court of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada, is the epicentre of the greatest concentration of high Islamic art, through which runs the perpetual trickle of water that Muslims thought essential to architecture.

 This photo is nowhere near the quality that is featured in Art: A New History, but it gives a flavor of the delight I felt upon seeing the image in the book. I absolutely loved the idea of water being a part of the architecture of a building.

The second feature of the Alhambra is the presence of water, which flows, drips, splashes and spouts in dozens of different ways, and in scores of places, throughout the immense complex of buildings, though it is visible chiefly in the courts. The Patio de los Leones, or Court of the Lions, built in the 1370s, summarises everything the Islamic world had learned about water-architecture. it has a central fountain resting on the backs of twelve white marble lions. The water trickles away in narrow canals between systems of twin-pillared arches, forming arcades on which rest four magnificent reception rooms on the first storey. They overlook the court, but are remarkable also for their starry vaults, lit by great windows which admit and discipline the sunlight. The decoration is provided by Kufic patterning and by poetry in brilliant cursive script, and a poem also adorns the fountain itself. Font and arch, marble and glass mosaic, paint, stone and script, tile and open window, grass and herb, light, shade, and brilliance all combine together to create a sense of airy lightness, reassuringly underwritten by marmoreal solidity. ...

I could keep going but then I'd just have to give you the whole book. Paul Johnson is not a bad artist with words himself as we can see.

My husband has always wanted to see the Alhambra. After reading Johnson's take on it and seeing photos I can understand why. I'd like to see it myself.

A Highland Breakfast

A Highland Breakfast, Edwin Henry Landseer

Kids' Breakfast

Kids' Breakfast (Kinderfrühstück), Albert Anker

The Frugal Meal

This is from J.R.'s Art Place where he says:

The Frugal Meal by Rose Hartwell, 1903, showing an immigrant family sitting down to a dinner of spaghetti. Note the image of St. Anthony of Padua on the wall!

It seemed the perfect accompaniment to the story about the Spaghetti Trees!

The Grill

The Grill
painted by Karin Jurick

I love paintings showing the details of ordinary, modern life. No one did it better than Karin Jurick.

Iron Giant

More robot art, from a favorite movie of ours, to accompany today's Murderbot quote.

Robot Visions

Since today's quote is from a robot in literature, I though this was a great piece of art to feature too.

Vanitas: Still Life with a Skull and a Quill

Vanitas Still Life with a Skull and a Quill (1628) by Pieter Claesz

The term memento mori, a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’ is often a term used when describing certain types of still life works. Paintings, for example, which may include a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers. Closely related to the memento mori picture is the vanitas still life.

My Daily Art Display
where there are more still life paintings by this talented artist

A Princess of Mars

Frank E. Schoonover, A Princess of Mars

Mummy Portrait of a Woman

Attributed to the Isidora Master (active 100 - 125), Mummy Portrait of a Woman
The J. Paul Getty Museum

As is so often the case I am astounded by how modern this woman looks. It is not the age of the portraits that make them look old and so unlike us, it is the artistic style. This style translates perfectly into our modern times.

Aurochs, Horses, and Deer

Depiction of aurochs, horses and deer; Lascaux

I just love cave art. To get a truer sense of the art, go to the official Lascaux website.

Self portrait of the 13th-century illuminator Claricia

Self portrait of the 13th-century illuminator Claricia
Via J.R.'s Art Place

I love Claricia's playful spirit in making herself the tail of the Q!

Ash Wednesday

Carl Spitzweg, Ash Wednesday
via Wikimedia Commons

Portrait of Don Miguel de Castro, Emissary of Congo

Portrait of Don Miguel de Castro, Emissary of Congo, by Jaspar Beckx, 1643.

I wonder what Don Miguel thought of the European clothing he was wearing so as to fit in diplomatically. Beautiful? Uncomfortable? Strange? Maybe all those things at once.

Sharing Their Pleasures

Sharing Their Pleasures by Eugenio Zampighi, via J.R.'s Art Place

This is Tom and me as Lent draws closer, living the good life before we get serious about our souls.

Tarzan at the Earth's Core

Via Books and Art

 Since we've been reading what Ray Bradbury and Rudyard Kipling think of the author, let's get a book cover in to remind us of what they were praising.