art

The art that made us

Nov 8, 2022

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, culture, humour, religion, Science, television reviews

Aphra Benn, Armada, Arts and Crafts, Barbara Hepworth, Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Tapestry, BBC2, Beowulf, Black Death, Bloomsbury Group, British Empire, Burns, Charles I, Colonel Blimp, Cool Britannia, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, David Threlfall, Death and the Gallant, Elizabeth Gaskell, Elizabeth I, embroidery, English Civil War, Festival of Britain, First World War, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Fire of London, Hanif Kureishi, Harry Potter, Hogarth, Industrial Revolution, Jane Austen, Jarrow march, John Foxe, John Milton, Jonathan Swift, Joshua Reynolds, Julian of Norwich, kitchen sink drama, Llancarfon, Margery Kempe, Mary Stuart, murals, Norman conquest, Oliver Cromwell, Phillip Larkin, Piers Plowman, poetry, pre-Raphaelites, Reformation, Restoration, Richard II, Roman Britain, Rubens, satire, Second World War, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir William Orpen, St. Cadoc’s church, St. Paul’s, stained glass, Stuarts, The art that made us, The Fighting Temeraire, The unknown soldier, Tracey Emin, Trainspotting, Turner, urbanisation, van Dyck, Walter Sickert, Welsh Bible, William Cobbett, William Morgan, William Shakespeare, Wilton Diptych, York Minster

This is another fascinating BBC2 series, illustrating English and British history through the evolution of our art. The eight one-hour episodes, narrated by David Threlfall (Men of the World), feature:The Roman and pre-Roman periods, Beowulf, the Norman conquest and the Bayeux Tapestry; The Black Death, Wilton Diptych, Piers Plowman, Chaucer, Julian of Norwich,…
Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered one hundred years ago today….

Nov 4, 2022

anniversaries, archaeology, art, buildings, religion, Science

Alexandria, Ancient Egypt, apothecaries, Bible, Cairo, crusaders, curses, Earl of Carnarvon, Hodgkin’s Disease, Howard Carter, Moses, mummified remains, Pharoahs, Red Sea, resin, royal tombs, Sphinx, treasure, Tutankhamun

The Pharaoh Tutankhamun seems to have been part of our lives forever, so it’s hard to believe that his tomb was found just hundred years ago on 4th November 1922. Even the discoverer, Howard Carter, had no idea what lay within the tomb, only that it didn’t seem to have been got at by…
Edward IV’s “weird” death is listed…but his pointy shoes are even weirder…!

Oct 21, 2022

anniversaries, art, law

cartoons, Edward IV, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Malmsey, Poulaine shoes, royal deaths

An interesting article which includes George of Clarence and that butt of Malmsley. It also includes a (modernish) illustration of Edward IV that I hadn’t seen. I know I’ve written about pointy shoes before, but boy, those are SOME examples he’s wearing!
The prompt medieval response to the Kos earthquake of 1493….

Oct 18, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, Science, travel

Antimahia, Bonsignore Bonsignori, earthquakes, emergency planning, Gerald of Saint Simon, Greece, Italy, Kalimnos, Knights Hospitaller, Kos, Leros, shelters, Siena

“….a spectacular rescue operation. They sent a fleet from the islands of Leros and Kalimnos to transport doctors and surgeons from the order to the island along with a significant provision of medicine and timber for temporary shelters. They also delivered tools to grind flour to counteract the lack of essential foodstuffs during the…
The end of much of historic Westminster Palace…..

Oct 16, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, law, religion

1834 fire, architecture, Charles Barry, Old Palace Yard, Palace of Westminster, Pugin, Richard III, tally sticks

The above illustration marks the terrible scene on 16 October 1834 when fire consumed the Palace of Westminster, which had been there, gradually expanding in various styles, since the 11th century. Then, in one night, it was destroyed. The cause, it’s believed, was the careless disposal of tally sticks in a furnace; the result was…
The monster that was half-tortoise….?

Oct 9, 2022

art, religion, travel

Alps, dragons, monsters, Mont Cenis, Rhone, St. Martha, tarasque, tortoise

Well, as you all know well, my ramblings take me to all sorts of corners of the internet. This time I wanted to know about dragons in the Mont Cenis area of the Alps in France. Which is how I came upon the above illustration. I’d seen it before but hadn’t known exactly what it…
The stained-glass windows at Canterbury Cathedral are among Europe’s oldest….

Oct 6, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion, Science

Canterbury Cathedral, fire of Canterbury, Henry II, John Morton, St. Thomas Becket, stained glass

Thanks to a TV documentary involving student stained-glass glaziers this viewer was taken to Canterbury Cathedral to see its astonishingly beautiful windows, some of which we learned have now been dated as early as the mid-1100s, maybe even the 1130s.. Léonie Seliger, the head of stained glass conservation at the cathedral, and part of the…
The art of marrying in secret

Oct 4, 2022

art, buildings, law, religion

Adele, Andre Previn, artists, Beatrice, Cardinal Bibbieni, clues, convent of Sant’ Appolonia, Dan Snow, Ed Sheeran, Edward IV, Emma Bunton, John Lennon, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, La Fornarini, Louis XIV, Margareta Luti, Maria Bibbieni, mediaeval canon law, nuns, Raphael, secret marriage

So now we examine the case of the artist Raphael (d’Urbino), who lived from 1483-1520. He was officially betrothed, in 1514, to Maria Bibbiena, the niece of a Cardinal (left, painted in 1516), which implies the need for some propriety in the relationship. Canon law would definitely apply and the chance of secretly marrying her…
Death and the Gallant

Sep 25, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, religion

Anne Neville, books, CADW, chaplaincy, churches, Cowbridge, Death and the Gallant, Edward VI, French, Glamorgan Record Office, Holy Cross church, Jane Rutherford, Latin, Llancarfon, murals, Newark, Norman invasion, Pitt Stops through History, Reformation, repairs, Richard III, seven deadly sins, St. Cadoc’s church, St. George and the dragon, The art that made us, The story of Welsh art, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, Wales Online, Wall Paintings

Many years ago I lived in Cowbridge in Glamorgan and one of my daughters was christened in Holy Cross Church. About twenty years later I joined the Richard III Society and discovered that Holy Cross had a connection to Richard III. The following is taken from History Points.org:Holy Cross Church was probably built around 1254…
Anne of Cleves’ House

Sep 22, 2022

anniversaries, art, buildings, law, religion

Anne of Cleves, Anne of Cleves’ House, annulments, Archbishop Cranmer, car homes, Chelsea Old Manor, Greenwich Palace, Hans Holbein, Haverhill, Henry VIII, Jedburgh, John Ashdown-Hill, london overspill towns, Mary Queen of Scots’ House, non-consummation, physiotherapists, Rochester Abbey, Royal Marriage Secrets, Suffolk, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Hardy

Here it is, the house in Haverhill that the “sister” of Henry VIII lived in for a few years, as part of their non-consummation annulment settlement, only six months after the “marriage” in Greenwich to follow a betrothal at Rochester. She outlived Henry, Holbein who painted her, Cromwell who arranged the wedding, Cranmer who presided…