There’s no better way to celebrate nature than a complete immersion like I experienced during a day-hike on the Appalachian Trail in 1989. I share it today as a call to action given another Earth Day approaches next Saturday, April 22nd. Twenty-seven of them have passed since I walked those trails, and while some measures toward […]
Tag: Greek deities
I’ve always had a fascination for Greek deities, an interest that makes me appreciate the art that has been created around their personalities.
As I was strolling through the National Gallery of Art one day, marveling at the Greek deities and Roman gods and goddesses involved in their adventures around nearly every corner, I was reminded of a wonderful summer I once spent immersed in classical mythology. The names forming the cast of characters came rushing back as I spotted a marble sculpture of a Nereid next to a bronze statue of Neptune; and saw a fleet-footed Mercury dance nimbly atop a fountain in the rotunda while one of Diana’s nymphs posed prettily on her pedestal.
Carved from marble by Jean-Louis Lemoyne, the latter was titled A Companion of Diana (shown below), and though she was chiseled from hardened stone, the fabric clinging to her rococo physique made her body seem downright supple. The statue was one of ten that Louis XIV commissioned for the grounds of his Château de Marly, each to serve as an artful representation of the goddess’s nymphs. After his death in 1715, Louis XV installed some of the completed statues in the forests of La Muette, another hunting retreat favored by the Bourbon kings.
Though the nymph drew me a bit off course when I spotted her, I wasn’t simply ambling at the time. I was making my way through the sculpture hall to find a painting I’ve always wanted to see in person—Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s Apollo Pursuing Daphne. It was magnificent to stand in front of it and soak in the luminescence emanating from the chaotic scene. I am grateful to museums for housing such magnificent examples of art and I enjoy writing about them here on The Diary of an Improvateur.
Seeing with New Eyes
Day two of my Parisian literary adventure follows a foray I wrote about last week. It turned out to be a long wanderjahr because I decided to walk all the way from my hotel, Le Meridien Etoile in the 17th arrondissement near the Périphérique, along the spine of Avenue de la Grande Armée, past the Arc de Triomphe, […]
Vigée Le Brun’s Passion for Painting
A Passion for Painting Billowing ruched fabric, pointy toes of dainty shoes visible from beneath flounced skirts hemmed in gold fringes and ornate trims. A bejeweled crown on a pillow festooned with gold fleurs-de-lis; and a red velvet tablecloth flowing downward, its gold trim cascading onto a floral rug. Sumptuousness at every turn. Painting […]
Rewriting the Myth of Pandora
I’ve always been fascinated by the myth of Pandora because the most widely accepted explanation of this parable—that feminine curiosity “is responsible for all the woes from which mankind suffers”—may not be accurate according to some scholars. The quote, from Frances E. Sabin’s book Classical Myths That Live Today, goes on to say, “Another version […]
Musing Through Classical Mythology
As I was strolling through the National Gallery of Art a week and a half ago, marveling at the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses involved in their adventures around nearly every corner, as well as the beautiful architecture of the museum, I was reminded of a wonderful summer I once spent immersed in classical […]
The Peacock Room à la Whistler
The most recognizable painting by artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler might lead you to believe he was as Puritan as his upbringing. The fact he could render such a realistic homage to piety in Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Portrait of the Artist’s Mother)—better known as Whistler’s Mother—does seem to further the illusion […]