John Martin

I posted this image to a "Carrollian" Facebook group. It was pending for a day and then disappeared. Perhaps it was not approved because of my Germanic English. Or did someone spot the Boojum somewhere in this image? Actually, such Boojums do not live in pictures. They live in brains.

(1) John Martin: The Bard ca. 1817 Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/1671616 (2) Inset: A monster from Henry Holiday's illustration to the chapter "The Beaver's Lesson" in Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876)

2014-01-26: I like this allusion by Henry Holiday in one of his illustrations to Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark to a little detail in John Martin's The Bard so much, that I made yet another assemblage. Color image: John Martin: The Bard , now in the Yale Center for British Art Large black&white inlay: [left]: John Martin: Detail from The Bard (ca. 1817) [right, mirror view]: Henry Holiday: From Illustration (1876) to chapter The Beaver's Lesson in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark I assume, that Holiday used allusions in order to construct conundrums. However, alluding to works of other artists also helps to draw inspiration in a quick and efficient manner. See also p. 3 in www.academia.edu/9923718/Henry_Holidays_Monsterspotting

(1) Henry Holiday: "The Vanishing" Illustration to Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876), lower half (2) John Martin: "The Bard" (detail) commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Martin_-_The_Bard_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg ca. 1817 Yale Center for British Art Based on a Thomas Gray poem, inspired by a Welsh tradition that said that Edward I had put to death any bards he found, to extinguish Welsh culture; the poem depicts the escape of a single bard.

Dithered B&W graphics, optimized fpr printing: 105 x 82 mm at 1200 dpi or 210 x 164 mm at 600 dpi (1) Henry Holiday: "The Vanishing" Illustration to Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876), lower half (2) John Martin: "The Bard" (detail) commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Martin_-_The_Bard_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg ca. 1817 Yale Center for British Art Based on a Thomas Gray poem, inspired by a Welsh tradition that said that Edward I had put to death any bards he found, to extinguish Welsh culture; the poem depicts the escape of a single bard.

[left]: Henry Holiday: The Vanishing (detail from lower left side) Illustration to Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876) [right]: John Martin: The Bard (retinex filtered and vectorized detail from lower left side) commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Martin_-_The_Bard_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg (ca. 1817)

[left]: Henry Holiday: "The Vanishing" (detail) Illustration to Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876), lower left side [right]: John Martin: "The Bard" (detail) commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Martin_-_The_Bard_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg (ca. 1817), lower left side

[left] Henry Holiday (and Joseph Swain): Illustration (1876) to chapter The Vanishing in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark , detail (showing some plants in the lower right corner of the original illustration) [right] John Martin: The Bard (ca. 1817), detail (showing an army sent by Edward I)

From his eeriest illustration to The Hunting of the Snark , Henry Holiday alluded to an monstrance-like simulacrum in John Martin's The Bard . [left] Henry Holiday: Illustration (1876) to chapter The Vanishing in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark , detail [right] John Martin: The Bard (ca. 1817), mirror view of a horizontally compressed detail.