Author: Ian Day

Sticking with a theme

For #WorldBearDay: the usual story in the #medieval #bestiary tells of #bear cubs being born as shapeless lumps, which the mother must then “lick into shape” (yes that’s the origin of that expression!).

France, c. 1450, MMW 10 B 25 folio 11v: https://bestiary.ca/beasts/beastgallery171.htm

(via ‪@art_history_animalia@historians.social‬)

🌸 A life in vain. My looks, talents faded like these cherry blossoms paling in the endless rains that I gaze out upon, alone 🌧

Today is #InternationalPoetryDay! These moving words were composed by Japanese poet Ono no Komachi, shown in this print 🖋

(via @britishmuseum@twitter)

noun | either of the two times each year when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are everywhere on earth of approximately equal length (via @MerriamWebster@twitter)

(via @sketchplanator@twitter)

Katsushika Ōi was not just the daughter of master printmaker Hokusai – she was also an astounding artist in her own right 🖌

Hokusai said ‘when it comes to paintings of beautiful women, I can’t compete with her’

(via @britishmuseum@twitter)

#OTD in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was brutally stabbed to death by a group of conspirators. His assassination transformed Roman history, marking the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. Map shows Ancient Rome at Caesar’s time and in green his conquests. (via @xruiztru@twitter)