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For options to purchase Fine Art Posters and Greeting Cards featuring artwork shown on this page, click on any of the images to be taken to relevant pages at the 'Spirit of the Ages' Museum.
Email: ThePeople@SpiritoftheAges.com
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A picture speaks a thousand words …
Stories shape our perception of the world. As children, we read stories for many reasons: to have some quality quiet-time with a parent; to begin to learn how to read; to expand our capacity for visualization; and to discover the world-beyond-our-world. As we progress from childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood, we continue to read - for different reasons, to be sure - but our reading continues to influence our sense of self and our place in society.
When the messages we read are accompanied by potent illustrations, the impact can be great indeed - such an effect is reflected in the popular truism, “a picture speaks a thousand words”.
So, rather that writing in further depth on the matter, let us consider the following illustrations and let these enduring designs weave their magic on each of us.
“The Knight of the Holy Grail” by Frederick Judd Waugh (1861-1940)
“The Sea Maiden” by Herbert Draper (1863-1920)
“Åsgårdsreien” (“The Wild Hunt”) by Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831-1892)
“Ulysses and the Sirens” by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)
“Sacrifice to Neptune” by George Woolliscroft Rhead (1832-1908)
“The Sleeping Beauty” by Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926)
“The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania” by Joseph Noel Paton (1821-1901)
“There lies Titania” by John Simmons (1823-1876)
“The Battle of the Amazons” by Anselm Friedrich Feuerbach (1829-1880)
“The Temptation of St Anthony” by Bernardino Parenzano (ca.1450 - ca. 1500)
“Les Fées” (“The Fairies”) by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)
“The Taking of Excalibur” by John Duncan (1866-1945)
”The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke” by Richard Dadd (1817-1886)
”The Mirror of Venus” by Edward Burne-Jones (1883-1898)
“Fairies in a Bird’s Nest” by John Anster Fitzgerald (1819-1906)
“On the Wings of the Morning” by Edward Robert Hughes (1851-1914)
To view more powerful and evocative illustration for myths, legends and fairytales, we invite you to visit the online presence of the ‘Spirit of the Ages’ Museum.
Source: spiritofhtheages.com
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Evelyn de Morgan: “Boreas and Fallen Leaves”
Below, we show a powerful depiction of the Greek God of the North Wind, Boreas, from a painting by Evelyn de Moran.
Fittingly, this design is known as “Boreas and Fallen Leaves”.
Boreas - as the bringer of winter, by way of his cold North Wind - is typically depicted as strong and with a violent temper. His name literally means “Devouring One” and his characteristic features are well represented in this painting by Evelyn de Morgan.
For more information on Evelyn de Morgan, to see more of her art and to shop for Posters and Greeting Cards, we invite you to peruse our Evelyn de Morgan Collection.
Source: spiritoftheages.com
Willy Pogany: “Ahab and Jezebel”
This wonderful illustration by Willy Pogany depicts, arguably, one of the most colourful couples in the Bible, Ahab and Jezebel.
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Ahab was King of Israel, reigning for twenty-two years during the mid-9th Century BC. His marriage to Jezebel - the daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Sidonians (Phoenicians) - led to the Phoenician religion dedicated to Baal receiving royal patronage, in addition to legal changes that gave rise to tensions with landowners. Historically, the political agenda operating against Ahab and Jezebel has been subsumed by religious factors and Jezebel has been portrayed as an evil influence in Ahab’s rule, a reign that, according to the “Book of Kings”, did “more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him”. The prophet Elijah was a significant religious opponent of Ahab and Jezebel during their lives.
Pogany’s illustration provides an interpretation of Jezebel’s nature that is consistent with the traditional view of her sway over the throne of Israel.
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For more information on Willy Pogany, to see more of his art and to shop for Posters and Greeting Cards, we invite you to peruse our Willy Pogany Collection - and to purchase our latest publication, visit our “Coloring the Ages” page. Below, we show one of the illustrations in Volume One of “Coloring the Ages” - a design by Willy Pogany for “Lohengrin” (1913).
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Source: spiritoftheages.com
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Dugald Stewart Walker: “Many Wings”
This illustration - known as ‘Many Wings’ - was prepared by Dugald Walker (an artist associated with the Golden Age of Illustration) for the frontispiece of Many Wings (1923), an anthology of poetry prepared by Isabel Fiske Conant.
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This wonderful piece of art is associated with the following poem, carrying the title of the anthology, Many Wings:
Many wings are beating
Into the wind.
To their adventure
Earth, sea, be kind!
Dream-plumed, for voyaging,
One after one,
Into star-weather,
Out past the sun.
Wind-thrilled between worlds,
Spreads their desire …
Be kind to many wings,
Air, water, fire!
Below, we show detail from this design by Walker.
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For more information on Dugald Stewart Walker, to see more of his art and to shop for Posters and Greeting Cards, we invite you to peruse our Dugald Stewart Walker Collection - and to purchase our latest publication, visit our “Coloring the Ages” page. Below, we show ‘Mr Valient-for-Truth’ by Dugald Walker - one of the illustrations in Volume One of “Coloring the Ages”.
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Source: spiritoftheages.com
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Edmund Dulac: “The Prince is taken back to the Golden Palace by the Magic Black Horse”
This painting by Edmund Dulac formed part of a suite of illustrations published by Hodder & Stoughton (London) in Sindbad the Sailor and other Stories from The Arabian Nights (1914).
It depicts a scene described in “The Story of the Three Calenders” and is associated with the following text:
The Prince is taken back to the Golden Palace by the Magic Black Horse.
The deluxe presentation of Dulac’s illustrations to Sindbad the Sailor and other Stories from The Arabian Nights (1914) included 23 wonderful colour illustrations mounted as tipped-in plates within ornamental black- and gold-stamped borders.
Tales appearing within Sindbad the Sailor and other Stories from The Arabian Nights (1914) include: “Sindbad the Sailor”; “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp”; “The Story of the Three Calenders”; and “The Sleeper Awakened”.
Stylistically, Dulac approached the illustrations with a mix of themes inspired from the Near and Far East. It makes for a wonderful suite of images.
Below we show detail from this illustration for “The Story of the Three Calenders”.
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For more information on Edmund Dulac, to see more of his art and to shop for Posters and Greeting Cards, we invite you to peruse our Edmund Dulac Collection - and to purchase our latest publication, visit our “Coloring the Ages” page. Below, we show one of the illustrations in Volume One of “Coloring the Ages” - an illustration by Edmund Dulac known as “The Bells”.
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Source: spiritoftheages.com
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John Bauer: “The Sea King’s Queen”
This illustration from John Bauer depicts a scene described in the traditional Swedish tale ”The Sea King’s Queen’.
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John Bauer (1882-1918) was a Swedish artists associated with the Golden Age of Illustration.
Below, we show a vintage photograph of John Bauer.
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Bauer was born in Jönköping and showed artistic talent from an early age. When he was 16, he left home to study art in Stokholm and within two years, he was attending the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts.
His first major commission was established in 1904 and a suite of images arising from the commission was later published in Lappland: Det Stora Svenska Framtidslandet - En skildring i ord och bild af dess natur och folk.
Three years later, Bauer began work on a suite of images that was to be the first in a series for which he would gain lasting fame - they were to be the first colour and monotone suite for Bland Tomtar Och Troll (a Swedish publication first published for Christmas in 1907). Bauer continued as the sole contributor tothe annual Bland Tomtar Och Troll until his final suite of illustrations published in the 1915 edition.
In addition to the wonderful work within the first 9 editions of Bland Tomtar Och Troll, Bauer pursued his artistic interests through other projects including a number of monumental frescos, authoring fairytale plays for children and composing a libretto for Bergakungen.
Bauer died in a ferry disaster in 1918, but he was to leave a significant artistic legacy with clear influences being noted in the work of Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen and Willy Pogány, in addition to modern illustrators.
Below, we show details from “The Sea King’s Queen” by John Bauer.
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For more information on John Bauer, to see more of his art and to shop for Posters and Greeting Cards, we invite you to peruse our John Bauer Collection - and to purchase our latest publication, visit our “Coloring the Ages” page. Below, we show one of the illustrations in Volume One of “Coloring the Ages”.
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Source: spiritoftheages.com
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“Coloring the Ages - Volume One”: A Coloring Book with a Twist
We have just published Coloring the Ages - Volume One - displaying a miscellany of illustrations from the ‘Spirit of the Ages’ Museum.
Extending over 80 pages, measuring 8.5 x 11” and highlighting 20 designs from Medieval, Renaissance and Golden Age artists, Coloring the Ages - Volume One has been prepared to take you (as the colorist) on a journey through the history of printed illustrations in the West.
Copies are available for US$25 (inclusive of shipping to any destination worldwide) and may be ordered from our ”Coloring the Ages” page currently.
Below, we show the cover of Coloring the Ages - Volume One that features an illustration from “Liber Chronicarum” (“The Nuremberg Chronicle”) known as ‘The Expulsion from Paradise’. As shown here, that illustration is presented as a hand-colored woodcut on the left with the remainder of the uncolored design to the right.
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The illustrations in Coloring the Ages - Volume One have been brought together so that you may reconnect with a tradition of hand-coloring printed illustrations that was a feature of printed books and print-making from the 15th Century to the early-20th Century.
Below, we show the Title Page for Coloring the Ages - Volume One. It is based on a design by Sidney Meteyard first published in The Golden Legend (1910).
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As you move through this Volume, each design includes a researched introduction that will have you immersed in the stories behind the works as you revive the art of enhancing monotone images with your own selection of palettes.
Below, we show the first illustration in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design known as “The Expulsion from Paradise” from Liber Chronicarum (1493).
In taking this journey, you will have the opportunity to create your own colored interpretation of illustrations from seminal works, including Liber Chronicarum (The Nuremberg Chronicle), Sebastian Brant’s Daß Narrenschyff ad Narrigoniam (Ship of Fools), Der Weiß Kunig, Vergil’s Aeneid, The Dance of Death, Cosmographia, Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy), Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin, East of the Sun and West of the Moon and Tales from Shakespeare.
Below, we show the second illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - the effective title design to the first Latin edition of Daß Narrenschyff ad Narrigoniam, Stultifera Navis (1497).
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Along this path, you will also encounter a few tales with which you may not be so familiar as you blend your own approaches with works from famous artists of the Renaissance and the Golden Age of Illustration including: Albrecht Dürer; the Master of the Grüninger Workshop; Hans Holbein the Younger; David Kandel; Pieter Bruegel the Elder; Franz Hogenberg; Gustave Doré; Arthur Rackham; Sidney H Sime; Reginald Knowles; Edmund Dulac; Vernon Hill; Willy Pogány; Kay Nielsen; Harry Clarke; Frank C Papé; and Dugald Walker.
Below, we show the third illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - “Saint Michael fighting the Dragon” by Albrecht Dürer from Apocalipsis cum Figuris (1498).
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For many people, the concept of hand-coloring a monotone illustration is one that has been consigned to the long-lost days of childhood - and crudely delineated designs - and if the thought involved coloring a vintage or antique image, it may be considered nigh on sacrilegious. There seems to be a widely held perception that monotone prints are sacrosanct - and even among art lovers, the very though of putting ink or paint to paper when an Old Master print is concerned can send chills of fear down the spine.
Below, we show the fourth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Master of the Grüninger Workshop from the 1502 Edition of Vergil’s Opera (this image is associated with Vergil’s “Aeneid”).
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What such affected Puritanism arose from is, to some degree, a mystery - particularly when one understands that hand-coloring of print (whether derived from woodcuts, etchings or engravings) has been a feature of print-making in the West since the 15th Century.
Below, we show the fifth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design from Der Weiß Kunig depicting the arrival of the German fleet in Rome prior to the marriage of King Fredrick III and Eleanor (the Portuguese Infanta) and the subsequent coronation of the German King as Holy Roman Emperor.
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Technical developments involving the refinement of printing presses, in conjunction with social and artistic trends within the Renaissance irrevocably changed the landscape of illustrated books which had previously been restricted to hand-copied texts available to the most wealthy members of society only - with colored illustrations reflecting the rich and detailed work typical of illuminated manuscripts.
Below, we show the sixth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Hans Holbein the Younger known as “The Knight” from The Dance of Death.
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In the circumstances, it may be readily appreciated that with the veritable explosion of illustrated books and prints that occurred consequential to relevant developments in the Renaissance, artists and book-owners alike were keen to replicate the grandeur and hand-coloring with mass-produced prints.
Below, we show the seventh illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by David Kandel (after Albrecht Dürer) known as “Rhinoceros” from Cosmographia.
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Below, we show the eighth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Pieter Bruegel the Elder known as “Lust”.
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Below, we show the ninth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Franz Hogenberg known as “Battle between Dragon and Whale on the Rhine”.
In response to the desire to enhance prints with color, the typical solution was hand-coloring by artisans specializing as colorists - although as printing processes developed, color printing also occurred with the use of multiple blocks (a forerunner of 3-, 4- and 6-color processes with which we are more familiar in modern times). Hand-coloring endured, however, for many centuries as an entirely legitimate response to the desire to add a further dimension to printed illustrations.
Below, we show the tenth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Gustave Doré depicting a scene described in “Paradise” from Dante’s La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy).
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Below, we show the eleventh illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Arthur Rackham known as “The Rescue”.
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Below, we show the twelfth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Sidney H Sime known as “The ship of Yoharneth-Lahai”.
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Below, we show the thirteenth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Reginald Knowles known as “Prince Glee and Princess Trill”.
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Below, we show the fourteenth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Edmund Dulac known as “The Bells”.
A range of techniques were used by artists working as colorists, including those similar to producing illuminated manuscripts where gold and other precious metals were applied to the illustrations, in addition to tinting with watercolors. Another technique was stenciling, such as the pochoir approach used in highly valued French colored books from the fin de siècle.
Below, we show the fifteenth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Vernon Hill known as “The Demon Lover”.
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Below, we show the sixteenth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Willy Pogány from an adaptation of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin published in 1913.
Below, we show the seventeenth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Kay Nielsen from East of the Sun and West of the Moon (1914).
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Below, we show the eighteenth illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Harry Clarke from The Year’s at the Spring (1920).
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Below, we show the penultimate illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Frank C Papé from Tales from Shakespeare (1923).
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Below, we show the final illustration highlighted in Coloring the Ages - Volume One - a design by Dugald Stewart Walker from The Dust of Seven Days (1924).
Regardless of whether you choose to follow the lead of colorists of “The Nuremberg Chronicle” - as show on the cover - or you follow your own path, making your way through “Coloring the Ages - Volume One” will be a delightful journey.
Source: spiritoftheages.com
Detmold illustrations inspired by the Voyages of Sinbad
Edward Julius Detmold was known to have been inspired by Tales from the Arabian Nights throughout his career. The Victoria and Albert Museum, for example, holds sketches by the artist and his brother, Charles Maurice, from their early years - and Detmold’s suite of designs published in The Arabian Nights (1924) is well known.
Here, we show a number of designs that were specifically directed towards illustrating scenes described in various Voyages of Sinbad.
Immediately below is an illustration - “Sinbad and the Roc” - associated with “The Second Voyage of Sinbad”.
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That design shown immediately below - “The Sea Serpent” - is associated with “The Third Voyage of Sinbad”.
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The design that follows - “The Island of Shipwrecks” - is associated with “The Fourth Voyage of Sinbad”.
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The design shown immediately below is associated with the following text from “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad”:
One of the largest of them put his trunk round the root of the tree, and pulled so strong that he plucked it up and threw it on the ground.
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The fifth and final illustration show (below) - “The Elephants followed in Troops” - is associated with “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad”.
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For more information on Edward Julius Detmold, to see more of his art and to shop for Posters and Greeting Cards, we invite you to peruse our Edward Julius Detmold Collection - and to purchase our latest publication, visit our “Coloring the Ages” page. Below, we show one of the illustrations in Volume One of “Coloring the Ages”.
Source: spiritoftheages.com
Thomas Mackenzie: “Tis little good to chase the deeds of magic with a horse”
This illustration is one of a suite prepared by Mackenzie for Arthur Ransome’sAladdin and His Wonderful Lamp in Rhyme (1920).
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The traditional Persian tale of Aladdin is brought to life with stunningly sumptuous imagery by Mackenzie. Interestingly, he has applied an Oriental - rather than Orientalist - perspective to the imagery which is more reminiscent of the Far East than a more typical treatment that may have placed the story in an Arabian setting.
That approach is reflected in the marginal illustrations too, with distinct influences from then-contemporary Meiji-era Japanese woodblock artists most apparent.
Thomas Mackenzie (1887-1944) was an artist associated with the Golden Age of Illustration. He produced illustrations for books and watercolours during the early 20th Century. His earliest commissioned works were for Ali Baba and Aladdin (1918) and illustrations for Chaundler’s Arthur and His Knights (1920). Other illustrated books followed, including Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1920), Hassan (1924) and The Crock of Gold (1926).
Mackenzie’s illustrations are reminiscent of the work of his Art Nouveau peers, including Aubrey Beardsley, Harry Clarke and Kay Nielsen. His images for Arthur and His Knights (1920), in particular, are stylistically similar to those of Nielsen in East of the Sun and West of the Moon (1914),but have a softness about them that remind one of the watercolours that he also produced.
Below we show detail from this wonderful illustration by Mackenzie.
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For more information on Thomas Mackenzie, to see more of his art and to shop for Posters and Greeting Cards, we invite you to peruse our Thomas Mackenzie Collection - and to purchase our latest publication, visit our “Coloring the Ages” page. Below, we show one of the illustrations in Volume One of “Coloring the Ages”.
Source: spiritoftheages.com
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Arthur Rackham: “All through Egypt every man burns a lamp”
This illustration from Rackham appears to be a coloured variant on a published illustration accompanying the tale ”Harry and Herodotus; or, Tales of an Old Traveller” by B Sidney Woolf. Through the image, Rackham is depicting a scene described as associated with the Feast of Lamps - a celebration in honour of Isis.
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The broader context for the illustration is set within the tale that recounts a fictional discussion between Herodotus and an English boy, Harry.
A portion of the text associated with the image follows:
“It is difficult to know where to comment, for there is so much to tell. Thou knowest the two chief gods of the Egyptians?”
“No,” answered Harry.
“Thou has not heard of Isis, the goddess with horns of a cow, wife of Osiris, who shared with Ra, the sun-god, chief place among the gods of Egypt; nor of Seth, with whom Osiris perpetually strives? Osiris thou mayest consider the good, Set the evil in the world. Nor of Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, also a sun-god? Nor of Apis, the sacred bull, the emblem of Osiris? Nor of Serapis, the dead bull? Thou wilt hear and see much of them when thou visiteth the country. The Egyptians paid much heed to the ceremonies of religion, and sacrificed to their gods - animal and vegetable sacrifices - and they burned much incense. I cannot tell thee of all their festivals and customs, but of some I will speak. One did I witness which pleased me much - the Feast of Lamps, in honour of Isis. There is one night when all the dwellers of Säro burn lights around their houses - floating wicks in saucers of salt and oil - while all through Egypt every man burns a lamp.”
“How pretty it must have looked,” said Harry. “Something like the Earl’s Court Exhibition at night.”
Below we show details from this wonderful illustration by Rackham.
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For more information on Arthur Rackham, to see more of his art and to shop for Posters and Greeting Cards, we invite you to peruse our Arthur Rackham Collection - and to purchase our latest publication, visit our “Coloring the Ages” page. Below, we show one of the illustrations in Volume One of “Coloring the Ages”.
Source: spiritoftheages.com
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