The pencil sketch for Wayne Barlowe’s “Leviathan” which I prefer to the final painting. I tend to prefer nearly all of his pencil versions and original works to the finished versions.
“The Siren” by Edward Poynter reimagines one of the dangerous beast-women from The Odyssey as a seemingly normal human. Still, the story behind her can be deduced from the painting: the musical instrument, the sharp rocks, the remains of a ship’s mast.
“The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke” must be the most epic (I hesitate to use that word, but here I believe it’s truly appropriate) work of Fairy art ever executed. Painted by Richard Dadd over a period of 9 years (1855-64), the painting measures only 21¼” by 15½” but has enough intricate detail to be a wall-sized mural.
This monstrosity is an early seventeenth century Dutch sculpture of uncertain attribution. I see snail, ostrich, and maybe goat. Whatever it is, you can see it at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Two paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Younger depicting the Tower of Babel from the Book of Genesis. The legendary Tower was a popular subject in Northern Renaissance art, embodying the folly of hubris.
The version on top, dated 1563, shows workmen bowing before King Nimrod and his entourage in the foreground at the lower left. According to post-Biblical folklore, the Tower was Nimrod’s brainchild. Nimrod was a Sumerian king mentioned in passing at several points in the Old Testament without explicit connection to the Tower.
The version below omits Nimrod and shows the construction at a more advanced state. The artist left it undated, but scholars believe it was painted after the more elaborate version. There are records of yet another painting by Bruegel of the Tower of Babel, executed in Rome in 1553. This work is now lost.
I hate it when I post things to the wrong blog. There’s no way to fix it without redoing everything.
Jan Rombouts - St.Mary with the Dragon detail
Now that is a dragon!
Fun fact: The art attributed to Jan Rombouts is the subject of much debate. Some scholars believe Jan Rombouts and Jan van Rillaer were actually the same artist.
So much more disturbing than most modern attempts at demons and spirits…as usual for any art more than a century old.
“La Ronde des Farfadets” (“The Faeries’ Round”) by David Ryckaert III. “Farfadet” is an umbrella term for the Little People, and is sometimes translated as “Elf,” “Goblin,” “Sprite,” or even “Leprechaun.”
