DearMoogle

'Venus and Anchises' was inspired by a verse from a poem called the 'Epipsychidion', by Shelley.

'Athwart that wintry wilderness of thorns
Flashed from her motion splendour like the morn's, And from her presence life was radiated
Through the grey earth and branches bare and dead; So that her way was paved and roofed above
With flowers as soft as thoughts of budding love; '

Richmond shows us the meeting at night, of Venus and her earthly lover, the Trojan shepherd Anchises, on Mount Ida. Venus, clothed in glowing pink and gold walks towards Anchises, who awaits her holding a lyre. Anchises, clad in a red shirt, appears to cower in the shadow of a tree. The usual penalty for mortals such as he for looking at a god or goddess was to be turned into stone.

The picture is not a simple illustration of a mythical event, but demonstrates the transforming power of love. Night has turned into day. In the bottom right of the picture there are the dead leaves of autumn, but wherever Venus walks she becomes surrounded by spring flowers and apple blossom. She is accompanied by lions and a flight of doves which disperse a group of sparrows. Although the event depicted is rooted in ancient Greek mythology, Richmond chooses to show the dramatic awakening of a northern landscape in an English spring. The offspring of the union between Venus and Anchises was Aeneas, the legendary ancestor of the Romans.

https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/venus-and-anchises

It’s the dog throwing up for me😳

The young painter Andreas Achenbach (1815–1910) completed this painting in a studio at the Städelschule and it was purchased immediately by the Städel. With precise strokes, it shows a ship struggling against the raging sea to avoid being smashed against the rough cliffs. The deliberate lighting emphasises the surge and the mighty rocks, thus, heightening the feeling of agitation while witnessing these events. The large format further intensifies this impression of the depicted force of nature. Achenbach repeatedly painted detailed seascapes of this kind. They are skilfully staged: it was not until two years after the painting’s creation that Achenbach actually travelled to Norway.

https://sammlung.staedelmuseum.de/en/work/storm-at-sea-off-the-norwegian-coast

The Australian painter John Peter Russell got to know Vincent at Fernand Cormon’s studio. He painted this portrait of his friend in 1886 in a conventional, realistic style. It is clearly influenced by photography, although the face and the hand still show Impressionist touches. The portrait was not so dark originally.

Another artist, Archibald Standish Hartrick, met Van Gogh at Russell’s studio. He later recalled: ‘[Russell] had just completed that portrait of him in a striped blue suit.’ You can indeed just make out a few little blue stripes at the lower edge of the painting. Analysis has revealed, moreover, that the words ‘Vincent, in friendship’ were painted in red over Van Gogh’s head. In Hartrick’s view, this was the most accurate portrait of Van Gogh – more realistic than the likenesses done by other artists or any of Vincent’s self-portraits. Van Gogh was very attached to it. Years later, he wrote to Theo: ‘take good care of my portrait by Russell, which means a lot to me.

https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0273V1962

A white-tailed eagle fights a Steller's sea eagle on the coast of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island.

Photograph by Andrew Jones, National Geographic Your Shot

Just learned about this metro station that’s supposed to be quite beautiful.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tashkent-metro-stations-uzbekistan

The strikingly gorgeous stations of the Tashkent Metro may rival those in Moscow, even considered by some to be the most beautiful in the world. But they remain largely obscure because photography inside the metro was not only strictly forbidden, but illegal until June 2018.

Barry Blitt, The New Yorker

Yep, still relevant!

Courtesy of Conservation International🐋