Posted in Art, Incense on March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“In priestly robe and wreathed, a wonder-man!
Who’ll now fulfil what he in faith began,
A tripod with him from the depths below.
Now from the bowl the incense-perfumes flow.”
– From Faust (1808) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
“Dr. Faustus conjuring up Mephistopheles” (1902), by Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911), a very different look at incense than Abbey’s painting [...]
Posted in Art, Incense, Religion on March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Nadab and Abihu in a woodcut from an unknown illustrator for L’Histoire du Vieux et du Nouveau Testament (1670) by Nicolas Fontaine. As recalled in Leviticus 10:1-2, the sons of Aaron took it upon themselves to usurp the priests’ role, venture into the forbidden Holy of Holies, wing their own ritual, and burn incense on [...]
Posted in Art, Incense on March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A detail from In the Temple (1871) by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), showing a young woman burning incense and playing the cymbals as a procession enters a Roman temple for worship.
Posted in Art, Incense on March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Fumée d’Ambre Gris (1880) was painted by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) after a trip to North Africa. The painting shows a woman inhaling the smoke of ambergris — a gray, amber-like, resinous substance from the intestines of the whale, harvested from the sea and beaches – which was burnt as incense by the Egyptians.
The original [...]
Posted in Art, Incense on March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“The Wine of Incense!” by Lou Mayer, circa 1920, originally a postcard, now available (unsigned) as “Vamp with Brazier” at allposters.com.
Posted in Art, Incense on March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A detail from “A Female Figure Holding an Incense Burner” by Willem Doudijns (1630-1697). An artist from the Netherlands, Doudijns traveled to Italy some time before 1650 and stayed for 12 years, studying and sketching. In 1661 he returned to the Hague, where he ran a very active studio, painting and teaching.
I have no idea [...]
Posted in Art, Incense on March 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A detail from “The Vision,” the first panel in The Quest of the Holy Grail, a mural done for the walls of the Boston Public Library by American illustrator and painter Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911).
This picture tells of the infant Galahad visited by a dove bearing a golden censer and by an angel carrying the [...]
Posted in Art, Incense, Photography on March 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Art, Incense on March 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
In Roman mythology, Proserpine was the goddess of spring, who was taken captive by Pluto, god of the underworld, to be his wife. Because she had eaten of the fruit of Hades, some pomegranate seeds, she was forced to remain with Pluto for at least six months of the year, emerging in spring and returning [...]
Posted in Art, Incense on March 23, 2009 | 1 Comment »
This painting, “Incense Burner” (1905) by Thomas Pollock Anshutz (1851-1912), is a portrait of Rebecca H. Whelan, the daughter of a trustee of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where the artist taught. He painted several other portraits of Ms. Whelan, including “A Portrait of Rebecca H. Whelan” (1910) and “A Rose” (1907). They [...]
