February 2009
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For Feathery Friday
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Odyssey: Blinding the Cyclops
Photo by Miriam Mollerus: Detail of the Blinding of Polyphemus. “According to the label, this is a proto-attic amphora from the 7th century (around 650) BC.” I’m reading the Odyssey just in advance of my trip to Greece. This vase depicts the story of Odysseus blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus. After being trapped in the Cyclops’ cave with a dozen men, half already...
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Man of Sorrows
Lautenbach Master, Germany, 1480, stained glass. The Cloisters, New York.
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Lion's Gate
Mycenae, Greece, City of Agamemnon
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Lent
“I will certainly impose privation, but it is so that he will forgive me, to be pleasing in his eyes, that I may enjoy his delightfulness.” St. Augustine
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Archive: Mardi Gras
During my trip to New Orleans earlier this month, I visited an exhibit on Mardi Gras at the Louisiana State Museum. There are so many fascinating threads woven into this spectacle as it has developed over centuries—political, social and historical. The most interesting part of the exhibit was that on the Cajun expression of this fête. The Cajuns, not to be confused with the Creoles (New...
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Landing
This red pole arrived for lunch.
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Take-Off
A red pole on the feeder yesterday.
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Ice Chips
Yesterday, we were driving home from Canada along the north shore of Lake Superior. The sun was finally out and brilliant. Near the mouth of the Cascade River, we saw a line of open blue water in the distance and the rest covered with a dazzling layer of ice chips pushing up to the shore.
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Scuffle at the Bird Feeder
A bunch of greedy red poles snacked and kicked snow at the feeder today.
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Skyping with your Aunt
... I have a running chat going with my daughter Miriam, who is studying in Greece. A skype chat window is always open and I add tidbits as I think of them. So we bump into each other, depending on classes, field trips, and whether I’m at the computer. We usually use the chatbox and multitask. Yesterday, my four-year-old granddaughter just woke up and showed up in my office. So we opened...
7 tags
Madonna and Child Enthroned
Margaritone D’Arezzo, 1270, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
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Magritte's "La Condition Humaine"
Here is Magritte’s explanation of the paradox of his painting: “In front of a window, as seen from the interior of a room, I placed a picture that represented precisely the portion of landscape blotted out by the picture… For the spectator it was simultaneously inside the room; in the picture, and outside, in the real landscape, in thought.”
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Virgin and Child
In the Crypt of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC
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Sweet Exhibit for President's Day
By chance, I was in Washington DC for president’s weekend and the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday. The Smithsonian Museum of American History was very crowded with their Lincoln exhibit. We stopped through the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum to meet friends and found a fun cupcake exhibit for their Presidential Family Fun Day. If we had stayed...
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Deesis Mosaic
This is a detail from the Byzantine Christ in Majesty mosaic (probably 1261) from the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, taken by my daughter during her travels. The whole mosaic depicts the Virgin Mary on his right hand and St. John the Baptist on the left, interceding for Christ’s merciful judgment on humanity.
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Saint Eleazar
Marble, 1345-50 Provence, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Frost Fire
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Tree on Ice
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Pontaut Chapter House Ceiling
12th century, France, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Virgin and Child
Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Footrace
Greek, Panathenaic Prize, ca. 530 BC, Footrace, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Marble Stele of a Woman
Attic Greek grave marker, mid-4th century BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Achilles' Horses Weep for Patroclus
Staunch as a pillar planted tall above a barrow, standing sentry over some lord or lady’s grave-site, so they stood, hlding the blazoned chariot stock-still, their heads trailing along the ground, warm tears flowing down from their eyes to wet the earth … the horses mourned, longing now for their driver, their luxurious manes soiled, streaming down from the yoke-pads, down along the...
Archeological Drawing Class
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Superb Drawing Skills, originally uploaded by miriam.mollerus. That looks fun!
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Life for the Greeks
I was in a coffee shop the other day with my fat Fagles translation of The Iliad. I got confused on the change, and apologized. The server excused me since I was reading an “intense book”. Yes. It is as intense as anything I’ve read, this war story. There is no ideological blunting on the glory of the cause. Young flesh is shredded page by page. Doomed heroes play out...
4 tags
Geometric Vase
Greek, late 8th century BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art
