Jul 9
Musidora by Thomas Sully (1813–35)
seen from Türkiye
seen from Australia
seen from Germany
seen from Türkiye
seen from France
seen from China
seen from South Korea
seen from Latvia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Japan
seen from Finland
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
Musidora by Thomas Sully (1813–35)
Henry Thomson [1773-1843], 'Distress by Sea' (from James Thomson's poem 'The Seasons'), the National Trust.
Sad on a jutting eminence he sits,
And views the main that ever toils below,
Still fondly forming in the distant verge,
Ships dim discover'd dropping from the clouds.
At evening, to the setting sun he turns
A mournful eye, and down his dying heart
Sinks helpless.
Musidora Bathing
Artist: Arthur Hughes (English, 1832-1915)
Date: 1849
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England
Description
Musidora Bathing depicts a scene inspired by the poem Summer by the Scottish writer James Thomson. In it a young woman Musidora is surprised while bathing nude in a river, and looks up startled.
Musidora Bathing
Artist: Arthur Hughes (English, 1832-1915)
Date: 1849
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England
Description
Musidora Bathing depicts a scene inspired by the poem Summer by the Scottish writer James Thomson. In it a young woman Musidora is surprised while bathing nude in a river, and looks up startled.
Marbled Monday
This sunny Marbled Monday, as we here in Wisconsin wait for the weather to catch up to the seasons and feel spring-like, I’ve selected The Seasons by Scottish poet and playwright James Thomson (1700-1748). There have been many editions of The Seasons since its first publication as a complete series of four poems in 1730—this one was published by The Nonesuch Press in 1927. It features five illustrations by an artist simply identified as Jacquier, who I have been unable to otherwise identify. The images are copperplate engravings made by C. Sigrist that were hand colored using watercolor through stencils at The Curwen Press.
The marbling is a very curly French curl or snail pattern, featuring red, blue, orange, cream, and a greenish-grey. This pattern is created by first dropping colors in to the water bath and then taking a comb with regularly spaced teeth and swirling it in the water bath to make the snail pattern.
View more Marbled Monday posts.
-- Alice, Special Collections Department Manager
Giacomo Leopardi, (1827, 1834, 1835), Dialogue Between a Scientist and a Philosopher [from Operette morali], in Essays, Dialogues, and Thoughts (Operette morali and Pensieri) of Giacomo Leopardi, Translated by James Thomson ('B.V.'), Edited by Bertram Dobell, Hyperion Press, Westport, CT, 1978, pp. 156-157
‘Spring’ for James Thomson’s The Seasons, 1730
William Kent
Etching and engraving
British Museum, London
“As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed,
And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze,
Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets
Deform the day delightless.”
- James Thomson, The Seasons
Recent ellies - I've crossed the 50 ellies made mark!
James Thomson, the engineer from Terror
John Gregory, the engineer from Erebus and one of the first people to be identified via DNA from their descendants matching recovered remains
Charles Hamilton Osmer, the paymaster & purser of Erebus
Edwin Helpmann - the clerk from Terror, who seems to have done the paymaster & purser's duties on the ship. It's his beautiful handwriting next to the signatures on the ship's register!