ἕν οἶδα, ὅτι οὐδέν οἶδα
All I know is that I know nothing
Allegedly said by Socrates
So true, 30 years in Education, and I still feel like a kindergarten student, curious and inquisitive, questioning, interested, prying …
Jeff Koons’ Tulips
Jeff Koons, American Artist, 1955Tulips, 1995–2004, High chromium stainless steel with transparent colour coating, 203x460x520 cm, Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain - Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, May 2024 A. E. Stallings’ poem about tulips, with lines like… Something about the way they drop / Their petals on the tableto ...
Tomb of the Leopards
Etruscan Tomb of the Leopards, 473 BC, Tomb is decorated with fresco paintings, and measures: 3.52 x 3.3 x 2.16 in height, Monterozzi Necropolis, Tarquinia, Italy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_the_Leopards#/media/File:Danseurs_et_musiciens,_tombe_des_l%C3%A9opards.jpg The walls of this little tomb, the Tomb ...
Saint in Prayer
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, Spanish Artist, 1863-1923Saint in Prayer, 1888 – 1889, Oil on Canvas, 78x61 cm, Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/saint-in-prayer/992c8493-24c0-49ed-ac58-a4b690099b81 Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida is a favourite Spanish artist of the late 19th ...
House of the Large Fountain
House of the Large Fountain, 2nd century BC to 1st century AD, Pompeii (Regio VI Insula 8.22), Italyhttps://pompeiisites.org/en/comunicati/the-house-of-the-large-fountain-the-house-of-the-anchor-and-the-temple-of-isis-all-reopen-to-the-public/#&gid=1&pid=8 Pompeii is an ancient Ro ...
Snow Scene at Argenteuil
Claude Monet, French Artist, 1840 - 1926Snow Scene at Argenteuil, 1875, Oil on Canvas, 71.1 × 91.4 cm, the National Gallery, London, UK https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/claude-monet-snow-scene-at-argenteuil Thomas Hardy’s poem Snow in the Suburbs and Claude Monet’s painting Snow Scene at Argenteuil shar ...
Pumpkins
Yayoi Kusama, Japanese Artist, b. 1929Pumpkins, 1987, acrylic on canvas, 38.1 x 45.4 cm, Private Collection https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6337416?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6337416&from=salessummary&lid=1 Yayoi Kusama's iconic Pumpkins, covered in her signature polka dots, offers a fascinating ...
Martin Johnson Heade’s Hummingbirds
Martin Johnson Heade, American Artist, 1819-1904Cattleya Orchid with Two Brazilian Hummingbirds, 1871, Oil on Panel, 34.9 x 45.7 cm, Private Collection https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6465936?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6465936&from=salessummary&lid=1 Why do you stand on the air / And no sun shini ...
The Virgin with the Pomegranate
Fra Angelico (Guido di Piero di Gino), 1395-1455The Virgin with the Pomegranate, ca. 1426, Tempera on Panel, 87x59 cm, Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-virgin-with-the-pomegranate/61b654df-1de2-483f-88bb-404f37747d4a?searchid=55f3ec41-7c92-bebf-e83c-b0e5c7f74a9f ...
Head of Nemesis
Head of Nemesis, the personification of attribution of Justice, 2nd century AD, Marble, Museum of Ancient Agora, Athens, Greece - Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, February 18, 2024, ‘Meanings’. Personifications and Allegories from Antiquity to Today Exhibition, Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece Of Nemesis we sing, un ...
Félix Ziem’s painting of Constantinople
Félix Ziem, French Artist, 1821-1911Constantinople, 1857-58, Oil on Canvas, 58 x 93.4 cm, Private Collectionhttps://www.christies.com/en/private-sales/privateitems/private-item-SN00656940-001 …Once out of nature I shall never take / My bodily form from any natural thing, / But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make ...
Pair of Byzantine Gold Perikarpia from Thessaloniki
Pair of Wristbands with Birds and Palmettes, made in Constantinople, 800s–900s. Gold with granulated decoration and enamel, Height 7 cm and Diameter 8.6x6.6 cm, Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki, Greecehttp://vizantinaistorika.blogspot.com/2014/03/blog-post_19.html In Byzantine culture, bejewelled perikarpi ...
Grandma Moses’ The Old Oaken Bucket in 1800
Anna Mary Robertson 'Grandma’ Moses, American Artist, 1860-1961The Old Oaken Bucket in 1800, 1943, Oil on Masonite, 61 x 71.1 cm, Private Collection https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6286877 A fitting poem to complement Grandma Moses' The Old Oaken Bucket in 1800 would be The Old Oaken Bucket by Samuel Woodworth ...
Stukas returning from their mission at Crete
Hans Liska, Austrian Artist, 1907-1984Sketchbook by Hans Liska, 1942-43, published in 2 albums by the house of Carl Werner in Reichenbach, and sponsored by Junkers Flugzeug und Motorenwerke AG, with sketches and colour illustrations by the artistStukas returning from their mission at Crete in the first light of the ri ...
Saint Demetrios in prayer position with Patrons
Wall mosaic with Saint Demetrios in prayer position and patrons, 5th-6th cent., Detached Mosaic from the North Inner Aisle of Saint Demetrius Church in Thessaloniki, Glass tiles in Mortar, 98x83 cm, Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki, Greece https://www.mbp.gr/exhibit/entoichio-psifidoto-me-ton-agio-dimitri/ ...
Fruit Still Life with Chinese Export Basket
James Peale, American Artist, 1749-1831Fruit Still Life with Chinese Export Basket, 1824, Oil on Wood, 37.8 x 45.6 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USAhttps://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.71370.html Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, / Close bosom-friend of the maturing ...
Adam’s Statue by Tullio Lombardo
Tullio Lombardo, ca. 1455–1532Adam, ca. 1490–95, Marble, Height: 191.8 cm, the MET, NY, USA https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/197822 In his epic poem Paradise Lost, the English poet John Milton (1608–1674) laments, "O miserable mankind, to what fall / Degraded, to what wretched state reserved! ... Can ...