Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Poem for Tuesday, The Force Awakens, Delaware Art Museum

Aspecta Medusa (for a Drawing)
By Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Andromeda, by Perseus sav'd and wed,
Hanker'd each day to see the Gorgon's head:
Till o'er a fount he held it, bade her lean,
And mirror'd in the wave was safely seen
That death she liv'd by.

                                        Let not thine eyes know
Any forbidden thing itself, although
It once should save as well as kill: but be
Its shadow upon life enough for thee.

--------

Happy Imbolc or Groundhog Day, whichever you might be celebrating! I spent the first day of February being a slacker and watching movies with Cheryl -- first National Treasure: Book of Secrets since we watched the first one the day before (and it co-stars Helen Mirren and the University of Maryland), then Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Montgomery Mall because we wanted to see it in the theater again before it left, then The Decoy Bride because she hadn't seen it and we were in the mood for fluffy, and finally we watched an episode of Robin of Sherwood.

In between, we picked up Indian food and tried to keep cats from eating it before we could, and we may have had some caramel corn and Junior Mints at the movies since the removal of gelatin from the latter is one of the best things to happen this century. Here are some photos of things we saw the day before at the Delaware Art Museum, particularly the beautiful exhibit on Marie Spartali Stillman, who was strongly influenced by both the Pre-Raphaelites and the Italian Renaissance. (British friends: it's on the way to the Watts Gallery in Guildford next month).


'Love Sonnets' by Marie Spartali Stillman.


'St. George' by Stillman, also part of the Delaware Museum's permanent collection.


The Stillman exhibit itself allowed no photography, but you can see Kelmscott Manor in the painting in this banner.


Two William Morris collaborations: stained glass by Edward Burne-Jones, executed by Morris and Company, and chairs painted by Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.


'Mother of Moses' by Jewish painter Simeon Solomon.


An iridescent vase and a goblet.


Howard Pyle's drawing room murals.


A Persian Window by Dale Chihuly.

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