Pictures that should have been Tolkienian
Those of you who follow me on twitter will be aware of my more light-hearted postings. In this particular strand I scour the history of art for images which possess a flavour of Middle-earth. Here we have ten favourites.
The faux-Tolkienian details come first, followed by the real facts.
1) Shall I, shan't I..." Aulë contemplates creating the Dwarves
Portrait of Andrea Odoni (1527) by Venetian Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/7). Odoni was a wealthy merchant and collector of classical art, hence the background of iconographically placed artefacts.
2) "Are there no leeches among you?" Imrahil spots that Éowyn isn't dead, as worried Rohirrim look on
Valkyrie's Death (1880) by Norwegian historical and mythological painter Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831-1892).
3) Handsome Sauron prepares to give out the Rings
Portrait of a Goldsmith (circa. 1510) by Netherlandish painter and illuminator Gerard David.
A respected talent about town in Bruges, David's use of colour and light would influence many later artists.
4) Gandalf arriving at Bag End
A Player with a Hermit (1846) by Austrian Moritz von Schwind. Merging sentimentality with lyricism, von Schwind gives us a portrayal of two "outsiders". As with Tolkien's encounter, there's even a pipe(s).5) The Black Riders party post-Weathertop
Dance of Death (circa 1493) by Michael Wolgemut. Featured in Hartman Schedel's Nuremburg Chronicle, this woodcut conjures the horrors of the Black Death. complete with Satanic snakes.
6) Galadriel Checks Her Other Mirror
Girl in Mirror (1964) by Popart pioneer Roy Lichenstein. A portrait viewed via a distorting lens, Lichenstein's picture subverts the aspirational imagery of 50s-60s America.
7) Lobelia Sackville-Baggins prepares a letter of complaint to Sharkey, as Otho looks on
Portrait of Lady Dacre (circa 1555-1558) by Flemish portrait and allegorical painter Hans Eworth.
8) The Creation of Narya, Ring of Fire
AL 3 (1926) by Constructivist artist and later professor of the Bauhaus metal workshop, László Moholy-Nagy.
9) Saruman in Orthanc, post Treebeard
The Venerable Luke the Stylite (circa 1000) from the Byzantine illuminated manuscript Menologion of Basil II.
10) Bill the Pony Looks Forward to Leaving Bree
White Horse, Normandy (1874) by Vasily Polenov. As one of the Peredvizhniki ("Wanderers"), Polenov strove hard to depict
ordinary, working folk.
