Emily Jane Rothwell 🖤🌸🖋️さんのイラストまとめ

Mistletoe lore is ancient. It survived winters as an evergreen & was thus seen to heal fertility, vitality, & ailments during mid winter. Greek, medieval, & Norse lore adored it. In the 18thc, the pagan & sacred met to make it a Xmas-time fertile, kissing plant #SuperstitionSat

The Victorians seemed to also have a whole sub-genre of holiday & Xmas cards that just pertain to the world of cats. Fascinating! 😂 Who knew? 😼❤️❄️ #WyrdWednesday

Victorians gave us the ritual of Xmas cards. Cheaper mass printing & stamps started the craze in the mid 19thc. Many assume their odd cards were based on morbidity, but scholars feel their idea of Xmas was also more secular, ironic & funny. The joke’s on us 😂
#WyrdWednesday

A few of you requested more of Edmund Dulac’s illustrations from The Snow Queen (circa 1911). Well, here you go! ☺️ I think Dulac instinctively grasped the glittering details in Andersen’s fairy-tale world, & how to make them come alive📚❄️✨

On Mondays we crave sleep. In ancient Greece we’d call on Hypnos, the god of Sleep. Often seen as a gentle, dreamy young man with wings, he sprinkled poppies (opium induced sleep). In the last work he’s beside his brother, Thanatos, the edgier god of Death 🌺 #MythologyMonday

When scholars say that Randolph Caldecott helped invent modern picture books for children, it’s due to scenes like this. He treated the landscape beautifully & calmly —though it was “only” a children’s book. I love his work. This is from “Sing a Song for Sixpence” (1880)

Gainsborough’s 18thc portraits of Georgiana Cavendish, “Gee”, the Duchess of Devonshire reveal her beauty, wit, & charm. At 17, she married one of the highest ranked nobleman in the peerage. But he was a cold philanderer. Her life was sad, but her legacy as a polymath endures 🖋

French salons of the 17th-18th cen were often hosted by female intellectuals. They were creative spaces. It was in this context that Madame de Villeneuve wrote Beauty & the Beast. A comment on arranged marriages then, the tale’s subtle feminism is still felt ❤️#FairyTaleTuesday

This may be one of the coziest homes ever! Here’s to hanging twinkle lights & staying positive. I’m so grateful for you all. Have a lovely evening, guys 🥰✨

Some sparkling, vintage editions of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen for your day ❄️💙 #FolkloreThursday