Today (Tuesday, 13 March 2012) is the final day of the British Library's exhibition Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination. Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale, translated into French by Jean de Vignay: Bruges, c. 1478-80 (London, British Library, MS Royal 14 E. i, f. 3r). It's probably too late to...
Henry VIII became King on the 21st April 1509, on the death of his father, Henry VII, but he did not get crowned until 24th June 1509, thirteen days after his
On May 27, 1541, Lady Margaret Pole was executed. Her crime? Nothing. She was simply a way for Henry VIII to tame the religious rebels.
Part of the impressive Tudor warship, the Mary Rose, is on display in Portsmouth. The powerful might of the ship used to fight off a French invasion in 1545 ...
Scientists say the Tudor monarch suffered from a rare blood disorder which drove him insane in his final years - and which caused at least two of his wives to miscarry.
Illustrator Henry Raleigh had a thing for shoulders. Other artists loved to draw hands. Al Dorne, Steve Ditko and Mort Drucker all emphasized hands in their pictures, building compositions around them and infusing them with significance. Amedeo Modigliani's tastes were a little different; he seemed to have a thing for necks, extruding them to achieve the effects he wanted. And Robert McGinnis consistently painted women with weirdly elongated legs. He apparently found these proportions pleasing. But to return to our story, Raleigh had a thing for shoulders. Many artists didn't see much potential in shoulders, assuming that they were generally symmetrical and level. Raleigh looked closer and saw them swooping and dipping like languorous gulls: When Raleigh needed a figure in the foreground, sometimes it was little more than a shoulder in the "debutante slouch." Time and again, he placed women's shoulders at center stage, plunging and ascending to guide the viewer around his picture: Most artists use facial expressions to convey attitude. Raleigh could convey it with shoulders: Every chance he got, Raleigh looked for excuses to draw bare shoulders and backs (regardless of what he was being paid to illustrate). Look at his loving treatment of these women and there is no mistaking his personal tastes: Why is one artist smitten by the lines and shapes of bare shoulders, while another lavishes attention on hands, and a third finds creative potential in necks? Some say these preferences stem from cultural conditioning or climate or endocrinology or childhood experiences or intellect or sexual desire. Whatever the explanation, pictures highlight the features that most appeal to the artist's personal taste. You or I might walk through this world overlooking the special beauty of shoulder blades and clavicles, but it's hard to do after viewing them through Raleigh's loving eyes. We might not end up completely sharing his fetish, but we certainly have a heightened appreciation for what shoulders can be. And that's a good thing.
European history is rife with mysteries. Who were the Princes in the Tower, and what happened to them?
Gloriana, the Virgin Queen, Good Queen Bess: we’ve all heard of England’s illustrious Queen Elizabeth I. Many of us have admired the portraits of her
“Lady Florence Norman, a suffragette, on her motor-scooter in 1916, traveling to work at offices in London where she was a supervisor. The scooter was a birthday present from her husband, the journalist and Liberal politician Sir Henry Norman.” (Thanks to Barbara Fuentes for photo and text.) It’s not a motorcycle, but she certainly paved the way for us motoladies.
Scientists say the Tudor monarch suffered from a rare blood disorder which drove him insane in his final years - and which caused at least two of his wives to miscarry.
Illustrator Henry Raleigh had a thing for shoulders. Other artists loved to draw hands. Al Dorne, Steve Ditko and Mort Drucker all emphasized hands in their pictures, building compositions around them and infusing them with significance. Amedeo Modigliani's tastes were a little different; he seemed to have a thing for necks, extruding them to achieve the effects he wanted. And Robert McGinnis consistently painted women with weirdly elongated legs. He apparently found these proportions pleasing. But to return to our story, Raleigh had a thing for shoulders. Many artists didn't see much potential in shoulders, assuming that they were generally symmetrical and level. Raleigh looked closer and saw them swooping and dipping like languorous gulls: When Raleigh needed a figure in the foreground, sometimes it was little more than a shoulder in the "debutante slouch." Time and again, he placed women's shoulders at center stage, plunging and ascending to guide the viewer around his picture: Most artists use facial expressions to convey attitude. Raleigh could convey it with shoulders: Every chance he got, Raleigh looked for excuses to draw bare shoulders and backs (regardless of what he was being paid to illustrate). Look at his loving treatment of these women and there is no mistaking his personal tastes: Why is one artist smitten by the lines and shapes of bare shoulders, while another lavishes attention on hands, and a third finds creative potential in necks? Some say these preferences stem from cultural conditioning or climate or endocrinology or childhood experiences or intellect or sexual desire. Whatever the explanation, pictures highlight the features that most appeal to the artist's personal taste. You or I might walk through this world overlooking the special beauty of shoulder blades and clavicles, but it's hard to do after viewing them through Raleigh's loving eyes. We might not end up completely sharing his fetish, but we certainly have a heightened appreciation for what shoulders can be. And that's a good thing.
We approve.
