For fifteen years I’ve been blogging about Pre-Raphaelite art and it has been one of the greatest journeys of my life; it’s a thrilling roller…
“Bloom where you are planted” is an adage we’ve all probably heard, and the sentiment is a positive one: do your best no matter what…
(Part one of a series.) Possession is an intricate novel written in 1990 by A.S. Byatt. A combination of mystery, myth, and romance, it is…
For me, myths are a touchstone, a framework that helps me work out some of life’s thorniest dilemmas. Recently, I’ve been dealing with a series…
The Manchester Art Gallery announced this week that it has removed from exhibition the painting Hylas and the Nymphs by J.W. Waterhouse, and also the…
Medusa was once a beautiful maiden who was transformed by the goddess Athena into a Gorgon. Of all three Gorgons, Medusa alone was mortal. Her…
Today I have been pondering allegories of love in art. Namely, the choices artists make when representing the concept of Love in physical form. It…
Sponsa de Libano is inspired by the Song of Solomon: ‘Awake O North wind; and come then south; blow upon my garden that the spices…
Artist Walter Crane was greatly influenced by Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelites. His painting The Horses of Neptune is an iconic image depicting the power…
Have you ever noticed that Pandora is a lot like Eve? Eve is to blame for being cast out of Eden, Pandora is to blame…
The works of John William Waterhouse often blend feminine beauty and mystery. Above is Circe Invidiosa, his depiction of the goddess Circe. With a sumptuous blend…
I’ve written about Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting Astarte Syriaca (1877) more than once on this blog, saying in Those Rossetti Lips: She could totally crush you. …
“There’s always a siren singing you to shipwreck.” – Radiohead, “There, There” Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse depicts a scene from Jason…
Seen above is The Valkyrie’s Vigil by Edward Robert Hughes. Valkyries have been described as ‘dark angels of death’, ‘choosers of the slain’ and ‘spirits…
Seen above is Lamia, the Serpent Woman by Anna Lea Merritt. Be wary of her beauty, for she means to consume you. In mythology, Lamia…
Above is a detail from Arthur Rackham’s illustration of Pan from The Wind in the Willows. I first became enchanted by Pan when, as a little…
I’m particularly happy to welcome Autumn this year, with its crisp breezes and the promise of adventure. Autumn Leaves, painted by Sir John Everett Millais,…
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting Proserpine is an arresting and visually striking work. Blogging about it once has never been enough; it resurfaces in my posts…
Forever has become a show that our entire family watches together. I love the premise: A 200-year-old man works in the New York City Morgue…
Left to herself, the serpent now began To change; her elfin blood in madness ran, Her mouth foam’d, and the grass, therewith besprent, Wither’d at…
Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse depicts a scene from Jason and the Argonauts. Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas, who was killed…
Myths are not dry, ancient tales. They are our earliest experiments with metaphor and language. They are truths nestled within layers of mystery and magic…
It’s Mythic March! Created by my friends Grace Nuth and Lisa Stock, its premise is similar to NaNoWriMo: spend a month incorporating the beauty of myth…
I was browsing a bookstore and found an aisle offering boxed sets of movies packaged with the books they were based on. A little girl…
According to myth, after Prometheus stole fire from the gods, Zeus wanted to punish mankind. He ordered Hephaistos and other gods to create a woman…
