The Ugly Duchess (c. 1513) by Quinten Matsys. The National Gallery, London. Public domain image. When I first looked at Matsys’ An Allegory of Folly (see previous post), I remember thinking that the jester’s cap was the most honest crown mankind ever designed. A fool’s bauble, yes — but at least it declared what kings … Continue reading The Ugly Duchess: A Comedy of Flesh and Folly
Category: art-history
An Allegory of Folly
Quentin Matsys, An Allegory of Folly (c.1510–1520, Musée du Louvre, Paris). Public domain. Folly, that eternal fool in mankind’s court, is rarely so vividly dressed as in Quentin Matsys’ An Allegory of Folly. Painted in the early sixteenth century, when Europe was still shaking off the medieval habit of believing its own sermons, this grotesque … Continue reading An Allegory of Folly
Night and Day: The Devil’s Auction and the Radiant Company
Otto Greiner (1869–1916), Die Feilbietung (The Sale), 1898. Lithograph, 25 × 20 cm. Public domain.The devil as auctioneer, mankind as eager bidder - Greiner’s vision of damnation is less warning than mirror, a Halloween reminder that we often sell ourselves far too cheaply. Night and day belong together. One can’t savour dawn without knowing what … Continue reading Night and Day: The Devil’s Auction and the Radiant Company
The Gift of the Spider
Have a Spider by John Kenn Mortensen (b. 1978).© John Kenn Mortensen. Used here under fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review (UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Section 30). The Spider and I There’s a peculiar irony in how often tarantulas are mistaken for spiders. They are, of course, spiders in … Continue reading The Gift of the Spider
The Forest That Feels: On Doré’s Inferno and the Suicide of the Soul
Gustave Doré, Inferno, Canto XIII: The Forest of Suicides, 1866.Wood engraving for Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy (public domain image). When I first looked at Doré’s Forest of Suicides, I thought of winter trees after a storm - those half-living skeletons that creak when the wind passes through, as if remembering they were once alive. … Continue reading The Forest That Feels: On Doré’s Inferno and the Suicide of the Soul
Wording 