The Lion of Chaeronea

Title: The Meteor of August 18, 1783, as seen from the East Angle of the North Terrace, Windsor Castle Artist: Paul Sandby (English, 1730/31-1809) Date: 1783 Genre: astronomical art Medium: watercolor Dimensions: 31.8 cm (12.5 in) high x 48.3 cm (19 in) wide Location: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT

Title: The Lovers' Whirlwind, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Artist: William Blake (English, 1757-1827) Date: between 1824 and 1827 Genre: religious art; literary painting (illustration of Canto V of Dante's Inferno) Movement: English Romanticism Medium: pen, ink, and watercolor Dimensions: 37 cm (14.6 in) high x 53 cm (20.9 in) wide Location: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England, UK

Title: Bamboo and Rocks Artist: Zheng Xie (Chinese, 1693-1766) Date: ca. 1760 (Qing Dynasty) Genre: bamboo painting Medium: hanging scroll (ink on paper) Dimensions: 172 cm (67.8 in) high x 99.4 cm (39.2 in) wide Location: Minneapolis Institute of Art

How Galahad drew out the sword from the floating stone at Camelot. Illustration by Arthur Rackham from The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Alfred W. Pollard (an abridgement of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur), published in New York by the Macmillan Company in 1917.

Just a note to say that I appreciate all of you. Seriously. Whoever you are, wherever you are in the world, I'm glad you're here. And I hope this blog brings a bit of joy to your day.

Title: Portrait of a Girl with Summer Hat and Rose Artist: Isobel Lilian Gloag (English, 1865-1917) Date: unknown Genre: portraiture Medium: watercolor Dimensions: 50 cm (19.7 in) high x 40 cm (15.7 in) wide Location: private collection

Title: The Knight St. George Artist: Hans Thoma (German, 1839-1924) Date: 1889 Genre: religious art Movement: Symbolism Medium: oil on cardboard Dimensions: 101 cm (39.7 in) high x 73 cm (28.7 in) wide Location: Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Denarius of the Roman emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138 CE), minted between 119 and 122. On the obverse, the bust of Hadrian. On the reverse, the personified goddess Roma, seated. Roma holds a spear in her left hand and a small, winged Victoria (Victory) in her right; beneath her is a cuirass, and behind her a shield. The inscription around her reads P(ONTIFEX) M(AXIMUS) TR(IBUNICIA) P(OTESTATE) COS III. This coin was found in North Yorkshire, England, UK, and is now in the British Museum.

Photo credit: Amy Downes on behalf of the West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service/The Portable Antiquities Scheme/The Trustees of the British Museum.

Mordred lays siege to the Tower of London, where Queen Guinevere, defended by two hundred knights, is concealed. Miniature from folio 81 verso of La Mort le Roi Artus (The Death of King Arthur), an Old French prose romance belonging to the Lancelot-Grail cycle. This manuscript, produced by an unknown hand ca. 1316, is now in the British Library.

Title: Red Poppies Artist: Charles Demuth (American, 1883-1935) Date: 1929 Genre: floral painting Movement: Precisionism Medium: watercolor and graphite on paper Dimensions: 35.2 cm (13.8 in) high x 50.5 cm (19.8 in) wide Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Title: "I am half sick of shadows," said the Lady of Shalott Artist: John William Waterhouse (English, 1849-1917) Date: 1915 Genre: Arthuriana; literary painting (based on the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson) Movement: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 100.3 cm (39.4 in) high x 73.7 cm (29 in) wide Location: Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Title: A Street in Winter, Evening Artist: unknown American artist Date: ca. 1855 Genre: cityscape; street scene Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 38.1 cm (15 in) high x 46 cm (18.1 in) wide Location: Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Toying with the idea of writing some short stories in the medieval adventure/"sword and sorcery" genre and self-publishing them for Kindle. Not to make money, honestly -- just to give people something to enjoy. That's my only goal at this point. To spark a little light (a very little light) in the darkness.

The Four Avenging Angels, colored woodcut by Albrecht Dürer from the book Apocalipsis cu[m] figuris, printed in Nuremberg in 1498. Now in the Houghton Library, Harvard University.