New Blog on,
Ekphrasis And Its Spurring Quest For Greater Imagery In Verse
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(1.)
Ekphrasis on, The Spinners
(Las Hilanderas) artist, Diego Velazquez
colors, fabric missing painter's glaze
spun within moonbeam's glow
threads entangled in beautiful gaze
majestic, with heart-sought truth in tow
by mortal flesh and heart-sights thus sewn
born- sky, water and land
expressions, vanity's undertones
imagination, from spinning hands
from earth, cascading heavenly clouds
windows - life's wondrous stage
Turin, mystery and famous shroud
digital world, techno all the rage
wondrous explosion, breathtaking scenes
hope, mankind's fleeing race
dark's blight, Gods births, depths obscene
humanity searching - divine grace
spirals of color, artistic flair
three spinners- flowing skies
imagination, beyond compare
artists, weavers and spirited eyes.
Robert J. Lindley , 6-01-2021
Ekphrasis on, The Spinners,
Artist- Diego Velazquez
This creation, inspired by my having read JCB Brul's poem,
"Ekphrasis on House of Parliament At Sunset"- of Claude Monet's
famed painting series , 1899--1901….
(2.)
My, My How Illusions Have Ever Brighter Grown
Fading memories, sweet years further away flown
Of the here and now- seedings of future unknown
My, my how illusions have ever brighter grown
And in fabric of time's wrath early deaths are sewn!
Seas and waving folds in this universe collide.
Ripples of dying love -hurt I cannot abide.
There residing within dark's bursts of spastic pains
A splash of paint ten thousand broken mirrors stains
My, my how illusions wash decayed remains
And hungry wolf to dying sheep never explains!
Seas and waving folds in this universe collide.
Ripples of dying love -hurt I cannot abide.
Fading memories, sweet years further away flown
Of the here and now- seedings of future unknown
My, my how illusions have ever brighter grown
And in fabric of time's wrath early deaths are sewn!
Seas and waving folds in this universe collide.
Ripples of dying love -hurt I cannot abide.
Robert J. Lindley,
Rhyme, ( From A Far Deeper Gaze Into The Looking Glass )
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(3.)
Memories, Dreaming Again Of That Bliss
romance and that velvet kiss
deep softness in that sweet touch
as moon-cast glimmers danced
dreaming again of that bliss.
nights and you soft satin sheets
open window fragrant breeze
as bright moon-shot gleaming fell
romance clocked both heartbeats.
beauty's glow, in eyes of blue
passion, mountains of fervor
as moon, its love-song preached
naked bodies, me and you.
eternal desires, your love
youthful dreams of wondrous nights
as moon-whispers, fell about
treasure, you- gems from above.
romance and that velvet kiss
deep softness in that sweet touch
as moon-cast glimmers danced
dreaming again of that bliss.
Robert J. Lindley,
Romanticism,
( Poetic verses on sweet days of yore )
woke 3am, composed from a sweet dream
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Notes: - Three links
(1.)
http://www.diegovelazquez.net/spinners/
(2.)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diego-Velazquez
The Spinners (Las Hilanderas)
Spinners (Las Hilanderas) Diego Velazquez
One of the most admired and complex paintings by the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez is this one, Las Hilanderas. Also known as The Spinners, or The Fable of Arachne, the painting is a depiction of the mythological tale of Arachne, which is originally described in Ovid's Metamorphoses, book VI.
In this story, a weaving competition takes place between Arachne and Pallas Athena, the patron goddess of weaving. After hearing of Arachne's boastful claims that she possessed spinning skills which could not be matched, the goddess challenged Arachne. Upon seeing the scene depicted on Arachne's completed tapestry, which she perceived to show the gods in a negative light, Pallas Athena turned Arachne into a spider, condemning her to weave forever. It is this competition we see about to commence in The Spinners. Rather than portraying the climactic scene of the tale, where Arachne experiences her transformation, Velazquez chose instead to render the scene just before the contest is truly underway.
While the subject of mythology was a common one for painters of the Renaissance or Baroque eras, it is Velazquez's avoidance of the primary drama of the story that makes this painting so unique and enigmatic, leaving many to ponder its complexities even today. Often interpreted as an allegory for the arts themselves, The Spinners is viewed by many to be a commentary on all creative endeavours; a representation of craft against high art, with the Arachne serving as craft and the goddess symbolizing fine arts. Still other analysts assert that possibly Diego Velazquez was merely claiming in this piece that to create substantial works of art, one must do the hard work that is required.
Some details pertaining to the commission of The Spinners are uncertain, further lending an enigmatic air to the painting. Based on the complexity of composition and other stylistic elements such as economical use of paint, tones of lightness, and the unmistakable Italian Baroque influence, many scholars have dated the piece to have been created in 1657. However, this has been disputed by some, who date the painting somewhere between 1644–50. What is certain is that The Spinners was painted for King Philip IV’s huntsman, Don Pedro de Arce. While Diego Velazquez's thoughts behind creating The Spinners will likely never be made clear to us, the fact that it leaves us discussing, pondering, and interpreting so deeply all these many years later is the mark of a great work of art, indeed.
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(2.)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diego-Velazquez
Diego Velázquez
Spanish painter
WRITTEN BY
Enriqueta Harris-Frankfort
Honorary Fellow of the Warburg Institute, University of London. Author of Goya; Velázquez; and others.
Diego Velázquez, in full Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, (baptized June 6, 1599, Sevilla, Spain—died August 6, 1660, Madrid), the most important Spanish painter of the 17th century, a giant of Western art.
Diego Velázquez: Las meninas
Las meninas (with a self-portrait of the artist at the left, reflections of Philip IV and Queen Mariana in the mirror at the back of the room, and the infanta Margarita with her meninas, or maids of honour, in the foreground), oil on canvas by Diego Velázquez, c. 1656; in the Prado Museum, Madrid.
Velázquez is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest artists. The naturalistic style in which he was trained provided a language for the expression of his remarkable power of observation in portraying both the living model and still life. Stimulated by the study of 16th-century Venetian painting, he developed from a master of faithful likeness and characterization into the creator of masterpieces of visual impression unique in his time. With brilliant diversity of brushstrokes and subtle harmonies of colour, he achieved effects of form and texture, space, light, and atmosphere that make him the chief forerunner of 19th-century French Impressionism.
The principal source of information about Velázquez’s early career is the treatise Arte de la pintura (“The Art of Painting”), published in 1649 by his master and father-in-law Francisco Pacheco, who is more important as a biographer and theoretician than as a painter. The first complete biography of Velázquez appeared in the third volume (El Parnaso español; “The Spanish Parnassus”) of El museo pictórico y escala óptica (“The Pictorial Museum and Optical Scale”), published in 1724 by the court painter and art scholar Antonio Palomino. This was based on biographical notes made by Velázquez’s pupil Juan de Alfaro, who was Palomino’s patron. The number of personal documents is very small, and official documentation relating to his paintings is relatively rare. Since he seldom signed or dated his works, their identification and chronology has often to be based on stylistic evidence alone. Though many copies of his portraits were evidently made in his studio by assistants, his own production was not large, and his surviving autograph works number fewer than 150. He is known to have worked slowly, and during his later years much of his time was occupied by his duties as a court official in Madrid.
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(3.)
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-imagery-poems.html
Theodore Rothke - My Papa’s Waltz
This famous poem by Theodore Rothke is an excellent example of olfactory and tactile imagery with plenty of visual imagery thrown in for good measure. The effect is powerful.
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother’s countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
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