Apr 13
Convent Thoughts
by Charles Allston Collins (1828 - 1873)
oil on canvas
seen from Canada
seen from Germany
seen from Ukraine
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Poland
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from Yemen
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Türkiye
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from China
Convent Thoughts
by Charles Allston Collins (1828 - 1873)
oil on canvas
Blondel's Quest, Watercolor (1912) Blondel's Quest is an artwork by Edward Robert Hughes (1851–1914), an artist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Symbolism. The painting depicts the medieval legend of the French minstrel Blondel, searching for the imprisoned King Richard the Lionheart. The work is noted for its technical skill in watercolour, its ambiguous, dream-like quality, and its "creepy" aesthetic due to the intensity of Blondel's gaze. Loc. Ashmoleian Museum, Oxford, UK. Dim. Unknown.
Open a new Advent Calendar door every day to reveal a new Ashmolean object every day until 25 December
The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Advent calendar. That is all.
Day one:
FUN FACT: Elias Ashmole was an aspirational sugar baby: "In 1646–47, Ashmole made several simultaneous approaches to rich widows in the hope of securing a good marriage." (per Wikipedia)
And it worked: "In 1649, he married Mary, Lady Mainwaring (daughter of Sir William Forster of Aldermaston), a wealthy thrice-widowed woman twenty years his senior; she may have been a relative by marriage of his first wife's family and was the mother of grown children. The marriage took place despite the opposition of the bride's family, and it did not prove to be harmonious: Lady Mainwaring filed suit for separation and alimony but it was dismissed by the courts in 1657. Nevertheless, the marriage provided Ashmole with Mary's first husband's estates centred on Bradfield in Berkshire which left him wealthy enough to pursue his interests, including botany and alchemy, without concern for having to earn a living." (ibid)
from the radiohead exhibition today
This is The Hunt in the Forest by Paolo di Dono (Uccello), painted in about 1470. It's in the Ashmolean Museum and whenever I'm in Oxford, I visit it, partly because I love it - the colours and structuring of the painting around a vanishing point are absolutely wonderful - and partly because it has special meaning to everyone in the Lewis fandom. It's over a year since I last saw it and it's been moved to another wall in the gallery and the famous bench in front of it has been reinstated. Ideal for detectives to sit on and contemplate the pursuit of the beloved!
The Sluggard
by Lord Frederick Leighton (c. 1890)
Photographed by me at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, U.K., July 2025.
This Japanese textile pattern book is from the early 19th century. The book contains annotated pages with printed cloth samples used in making traditional kimono garments. The Ashmolean Museum's broader Japanese collection features a variety of artworks and artifacts from different periods, including woodblock prints, ceramics, paintings, and decorative arts from the Meiji period (1868-1912).