Just a symbol! It was a common motif for viewers to remember that all must die. Check out @perishthethought’s helpful link:)
A little context on the Mary Magdalene + skull pairing if anyone’s interested:
Another key part of the Mary Magdalene story was the development of a series of artworks now known as 'Penitent Magdalens'. In this type of portrayal, the saint has seen the error of her ways and is depicted often as a hermit in a landscape or wilderness, lamenting her formerly sinful lifestyle.
She is lovely. No blurb unfortunately! Looks like it was auctioned off.
https://www.artnet.com/artists/jusepe-de-ribera/maria-maddalena-in-meditazione-3dbk0HO-xH3P6NBMsLwgwg2
Yeah I know I was curious too! I found it on Tumblr without a source. People in the comments seemed to think it was AI art, plus I ran it through TinEye and nothing came up. It looks cool though:)
>Hawaii’s upland rivers provide a safe haven from predators for young gobies while also acting as a resource for food. To access these waters, gobies must face a treacherous climb, pulling themselves up an enormous waterfall using the suction from their mouths and fins. The journey can take days and around 99 percent of these tiny fish perish before they reach the top.
Courtesy of PBS
Aww it’s sort of like how we scramble up some rocks. Very endearing how it would take a short break after every few steps.
As always, thank you for the owl lesson! 🤗
Do we answer in the same comment thread? Octopus for me! I think they’re beautiful elegant animals and I’m so fascinated by their intelligence.
What was the most recent album in your rotation? :)
Plus cooling pillows, they really work. Nice for the summertime:)
Yeah I tried to find the best quality image of this painting. I visited this museum recently and this one was my favorite. Couldn’t stop staring at it. Love how realistic the waves look:)
>'Venus and Anchises' was inspired by a verse from a poem called the 'Epipsychidion', by Shelley.
'Athwart that wintry wilderness of thorns Flashed from her motion splendour like the morn's, And from her presence life was radiated Through the grey earth and branches bare and dead; So that her way was paved and roofed above With flowers as soft as thoughts of budding love; '
>Richmond shows us the meeting at night, of Venus and her earthly lover, the Trojan shepherd Anchises, on Mount Ida. Venus, clothed in glowing pink and gold walks towards Anchises, who awaits her holding a lyre. Anchises, clad in a red shirt, appears to cower in the shadow of a tree. The usual penalty for mortals such as he for looking at a god or goddess was to be turned into stone.
>The picture is not a simple illustration of a mythical event, but demonstrates the transforming power of love. Night has turned into day. In the bottom right of the picture there are the dead leaves of autumn, but wherever Venus walks she becomes surrounded by spring flowers and apple blossom. She is accompanied by lions and a flight of doves which disperse a group of sparrows. Although the event depicted is rooted in ancient Greek mythology, Richmond chooses to show the dramatic awakening of a northern landscape in an English spring. The offspring of the union between Venus and Anchises was Aeneas, the legendary ancestor of the Romans.
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/venus-and-anchises
>The young painter Andreas Achenbach (1815–1910) completed this painting in a studio at the Städelschule and it was purchased immediately by the Städel. With precise strokes, it shows a ship struggling against the raging sea to avoid being smashed against the rough cliffs. The deliberate lighting emphasises the surge and the mighty rocks, thus, heightening the feeling of agitation while witnessing these events. The large format further intensifies this impression of the depicted force of nature. Achenbach repeatedly painted detailed seascapes of this kind. They are skilfully staged: it was not until two years after the painting’s creation that Achenbach actually travelled to Norway.
https://sammlung.staedelmuseum.de/en/work/storm-at-sea-off-the-norwegian-coast
>The Australian painter John Peter Russell got to know Vincent at Fernand Cormon’s studio. He painted this portrait of his friend in 1886 in a conventional, realistic style. It is clearly influenced by photography, although the face and the hand still show Impressionist touches. The portrait was not so dark originally.
>Another artist, Archibald Standish Hartrick, met Van Gogh at Russell’s studio. He later recalled: ‘[Russell] had just completed that portrait of him in a striped blue suit.’ You can indeed just make out a few little blue stripes at the lower edge of the painting. Analysis has revealed, moreover, that the words ‘Vincent, in friendship’ were painted in red over Van Gogh’s head. In Hartrick’s view, this was the most accurate portrait of Van Gogh – more realistic than the likenesses done by other artists or any of Vincent’s self-portraits. Van Gogh was very attached to it. Years later, he wrote to Theo: ‘take good care of my portrait by Russell, which means a lot to me.
https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0273V1962
A white-tailed eagle fights a Steller's sea eagle on the coast of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island.
Just learned about this metro station that’s supposed to be quite beautiful.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tashkent-metro-stations-uzbekistan
>The strikingly gorgeous stations of the Tashkent Metro may rival those in Moscow, even considered by some to be the most beautiful in the world. But they remain largely obscure because photography inside the metro was not only strictly forbidden, but illegal until June 2018.
Courtesy of Conservation International🐋
They’re also born with soft quills that don’t get stiff til after birth :)
