[paul m]

I think I started a thread (can't find it now) about the lack of depictions of insects in human art - the only example I've found being a cicad:


Thought it might be interesting to have a general thread about animals and plants in painting, architecture, illustration ....

Also, anyone in Scotland might be interested in the exhibition:
Royal Collection - Amazing Rare Things

[stirling]

Think the egyptians had some paul,not sure though.

[paul m]

One old school of art is that of the Minoan civilisation of ancient Crete and surrounding islands. This is a nice bit of fresco using only plants and birds (swallows?):


PS: it's in the Archaeological Museum in Athens.

[goosey]

This piece of modern art is at the Whinlatter visitors centre in the Lake District.
It celebrates the return of Ospreys to the area in the summer for breeding. A modern interpretation but I think it's great, and shows the importance of this wonderful bird.

[paul m]

I've long wondered why the civic centre of Newcastle (Northumbria, UK) is surmounted by rings of seahorse heads - as yesterday in the grey light of dawn:


Certainly Tyneside was a ship-building area and Newcastle had quays but it is quite inland. Apparently seahorses are the supporters at the side of the arms of Newcastle.

Looking into this it seems that the University of Newcastle in Australia also has a sort of seahorse on its arms:

University of Newcastle, Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fascinating thing heraldry. Usually, though, most of the animals, other than lions, are mythological beasts.

[ozwildlife]

An interesting piece of insect art - a large cicada sculpture photographed outside the Cultural Centre in Brisbane


Photograph by Cyron, Creative Commons - Some rights reserved

[goosey]

That really impressive - modern art isn't really my thing but I really like that. It puts me in mind of a Viking helmet more than a fly though - wonder what that says about me.

[paul m]

That's great - they've managed to catch the 'leatheriness' of the wings.

Originally Posted by ozwildlife

An interesting piece of insect art - a large cicada sculpture photographed outside the Cultural Centre in Brisbane


Photograph by Cyron, Creative Commons - Some rights reserved

The silliest one I've seen?

[paul m]

Not quite appropriate for this thread but there is a programme on (UK) BBC4 tonight (may well go out all over the world) about the 'Mediaeval Mind' - the way that people a millennium ago believed in things we would find incomprehensible. I'm particularly hoping that they deal with unicorns, gryphons and other legendary beasts.
These fascinate me: were people misinterpreting (e.g. fossil finds or did they make some of these animals up? And why are lions so commonly depicted in NW European art/heraldry/sculpture when there have been no lions in these areas in historical times.

Worth a try, anyway .....
BBC - BBC Four - The Medieval Season - Inside the Medieval Mind

[mtngoat]

Originally Posted by paul m

I think I started a thread (can't find it now) about the lack of depictions of insects in human art - the only example I've found being a cicad:

hihi old boy, dinnae give u'p 'ope yet! I founded summat in me old hatbox called me brain!

http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/art/index.html

[black]

A similar question was posed on the Guardian website "Lions have been used in British heraldry since the 1100s. Who in Britain at that time would have seen a lion and how?"
There are some interesting comments. Apparently Lions still lived in north Africa and parts of Europe until the late 19th century.

Lions have been used in British heraldry since the 1100s. Who in Britain at that time would have seen a lion and how? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk

[paul m]

Yes, and soldiers on crusades would have seen and heard of them - just about the time when heraldry was becoming institutionalised. Something I've noted before is that some heraldic lions look definitely scraggy without the rampant main of African lions: a feature of the Asian sub-species? (Or females or leo-pards?).

Similarly elephants and bears commonly appear on arms but why not wolves which would have been more familiar in northern Europe?

One option is simple error as:
"Where arms have not been falsified, they may be incorrect through honest human error. Quartered arms on monuments and in pedigrees often represent marriages that took place a century or more earlier. If an older version of the arms was available to copy, it may have been in poor condition, and the charges could be miscopied (a greyhound could turn into a lion, for example...) ...... "
The copyist might misinterpret a wolf as a dog as a horse .... (you don't get many horses in heraldry, nor bulls for that matter .....).

This could go on for ever .... I suppose when I get my peerage I shall have to have beetles passant?

Some info at Heraldic Dictionary - Beasts
Heraldic Dictionary - Birds
Heraldic Dictionary - Fish, Insects & Reptiles (including a bee volant)
Heraldic Dictionary - Monsters - which is where I came in The camelopard looks much like a giraffe to me ......

Originally Posted by black

A similar question was posed on the Guardian website "Lions have been used in British heraldry since the 1100s. Who in Britain at that time would have seen a lion and how?"
There are some interesting comments. Apparently Lions still lived in north Africa and parts of Europe until the late 19th century.

Lions have been used in British heraldry since the 1100s. Who in Britain at that time would have seen a lion and how? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk

[paul m]

Originally Posted by mtngoat

hihi old boy, dinnae give u'p 'ope yet! I founded summat in me old hatbox called me brain!

http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/art/index.html

Thanks - but only one beetle.
Stirling mentioned the importance of scarabs - dung beetles - to the ancient Egyptians and others.

When the lads were young we often went to the British Museum and used to gravitate to the Egyptian galleries. There's a massive scarab:
British Museum - Giant sculpture of a scarab beetle

and some more delicate work:British Museum - Scarab pendant

But I can't find a picture of my favourite - a quite small scarab of turquoise ...

[mtngoat]

Ah yes... that is rather sad... but it might have been considered a pest, since quite a few types devoured crops, spoiled clothing, had larvae in the wrong places, and ruined wood. Or they simply didn't think they were worth noticing!
I found this 'art' of insects rather interesting....

[paul m]

Here's one for the mythologists and archaeologists and amongst you!
What's going on here?


I know about the myth of Apollo and Coronis but can't fit this picture into it. The lyreist (what do you call a person playing a lyre?) seems to be offering an oblation of blood to the crow?

[frostfire]

Originally Posted by paul m

Here's one for the mythologists and archaeologists and amongst you!
What's going on here?


I know about the myth of Apollo and Coronis but can't fit this picture into it. The lyreist (what do you call a person playing a lyre?) seems to be offering an oblation of blood to the crow?

I think that it is a picture of Apollo playing the lyre whilst pouring libation. This type of ritual was conducted a lot during burials; animals were sacrificed, a festive meal was eaten and libations of blood or wine were poured on the floor. They did this so that the dead, who were buried under the ground, could join in the feast. The person who poured the libation was crowned with a bay leaf crown, by a woman who is identified as the muse.
The bay leaf is a symbolical connection to the dead and a reference to Apollo. There are other references to Apollo in this picture: the crow (as you said) and the lyre.

What I can tell you with reasonable certainty about this piece of pottery is that it is a Kylinx that probably dates from around 450 BC.

~*~Frostfire~*~

[paul m]

I'm not a great one for churches, especially Victorian ones, and St George's Church, Jesmond, Newcastle is not impressive from the outside but has some startling internal artwork - mostly in a pre-Raphaelite vein. Couldn't get many good pictures (it was evening, flash wasn't allowed and I'd had several glasses of wine ). However, there was an intriguing set of stained-glass windows with labels in Greek and I wasn't able to follow the religious significance, including:
fishes -
peacock (I suppose) -

But what the heck are these?

[goosey]

Originally Posted by paul m

But what the heck are these?

They must be some sort of weird and wonderful fish - surely , and with the anchor it must be some sort of nautical reference? Perhaps a benefactor was a fisherman or sailor?

[goosey]

This lovely bronze is in Thijsse's Hof in Bloemendaal - a wild flower and nature garden which is free to the pulbic. It was left to the public by Jac.P Thijsse (1867 -1938) who thought that everyone should have access to nature.

Child on a butterfly -

[paul m]

Originally Posted by goosey

They must be some sort of weird and wonderful fish - surely , and with the anchor it must be some sort of nautical reference? Perhaps a benefactor was a fisherman or sailor?

Well ... it may have been filleted ... but also seems to have a birds head on its belly.
Could it be an ascidian? Image:Ascidian.jpg - MicrobeWiki

[goosey]

Originally Posted by paul m

Well ... it may have been filleted ... but also seems to have a birds head on its belly.
Could it be an ascidian? Image:Ascidian.jpg - MicrobeWiki

Ascidian? Where on earth did you pull that out from . You never cease to amaze me with what you know

But what the heck are these?

This is really intriguing me now - the more I look at it the more options I see.

Look at the fish on the right - the left hand side of the fish looks like a dolphin facing right!

Look at the fish in the left - th eleft hand side of the fish seems to be a seal facing right!

AND.... both fish could actually be characatures of human faces?