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[ofgraveconcern]

Start not—nor deem my spirit fled: In me behold the only skull From which, unlike a living head, Whatever flows is never dull. Lord Byron, Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed from a Skull (1808) 11th September 1762, birth of Romantic poet and playwright Joanna Baillie, named the ‘female Shakespeare’, by her friend, the poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott. Baillie’s father claimed ancestry from William Wallace, while her mother was the sister of the famed anatomists and physicians William and John Hunter. With an interest in philosophy and the Gothic, Baillie’s work was celebrated during the 19th century, and led to literary friendships with William Wordsworth, Robert Southey, Anna Barbauld and Lord and Lady Byron. Baillie’s gothic work the ‘Plays on the Passions’ first conceived in 1791, detailed the extremity of human passions from love to hate, a recurring motif in her work being that of dead male bodies. Could this be a link to her association with the anatomical work of her uncles? In her 1812 play ‘The Dream’, one of her characters The Prior of a monastery has a large skeleton exhumed from an unmarked grave in the monastery’s vaults. This story has resonance with both her Uncles, and her friendship with Lord Byron. In the early 1800’s, a skull was unearthed by a gardener at Newstead Abbey, the ancestral home of Lord Byron. Byron had the skull turned into a chalice, writing a poem about the skull in 1808. In 1768, Baillie’s uncle John Hunter built his famous anatomy theatre and museum in Great Windmill Street, Soho, London. He is alleged to have paid for the stolen body of Charles Byrne, "The Irish Giant", (Continued in the comments). #regencyera #regencygothic #historicscene #historicscenes #gothichorror #gothiclit #classichorror #vintagegothic #darkillustration #historymystery #historymysteries #strangehistory #weirdhistory #macabrehistory #darkhistory #lordbyron #historicalstories #historicalstory #gothicliterature #darkillustration #illustrationartwork #historicalillustration #macabreillustration #gothichistory #gothicfiction #gothicillustration #gothicbeauty #vintageaesthetic #steampunkstyle #anatomy https://www.instagram.com/p/CNantXBnEzU/?igshid=1w9t2h3qykxts

[ofgraveconcern]

26th March 1516, birth of Swiss physician, botanist and linguist Conrad Gesner, Author of ‘Historiae Animalium’ (Studies on Animals) published between 1551-1587. Considered the first modern zoological work it builds a bridge between the world of classical ancient Greek science, the medieval world of bestiaries and fable, and the emergence of scientific method during the renaissance. In sharp contrast to what had come before Gesner laid out four tenets: ‘observation, dissection, travel to distant lands, and accurate description’. This new approach of observation and collection of specimen’s merged early scientific enquiry with the belief that fabled creatures such as mermaids existed. This would continue into the age of enlightenment in the public imagination. In 1565 Gesner died of the plague. It is ironic therefore that Gessner is also credited with the first description of the brown rat, in ‘Historiae Animalium’; suggesting that it appeared in Europe around 1553. The dominance of the brown rat in Europe, it has been speculated, displaced the black rat, which was a carrier for the black death, or bubonic plague. The same plague that killed Gesner. All art shown is inspired by the history above, and is available for sale at: www.ofgraveconcern.com/mythololgy For more tales of the gothic, strange and macabre, follow @ofgrave.concern #historicscene #historicscenes #historyofscience #historical #sciencehistory #bestiary #zoologist #blackdeath #plaguedoctor #plague #mythologyart #folklore #beastiary #historicalmemes #historicalstyle #16thcentury #mermaidartwork #mermaidartist #16thcenturystyle #weirdscience #wildfable #mythicalcreature #mythicalart #crytoart #cryptids #cryptoart #folkloreart #folkloreandfairytales #renaissance #scientificdiscovery https://www.instagram.com/p/CM4_miunuoS/?igshid=1xq509s8fy1uc