James Earle Fraser's Teddy Roosevelt equestrian monument gone from NYC

 Salvete Omnes,

in June 2020 I wrote this post about the NYC government 's plan to remove the famous statue of TEddy Roosevelt - POTUS, American warrior, conservationist and champion of National Parks, champion of working people and American values, NY governor and NYC Police Commissioner et la. 
 The monument, sculpted by  James Earle Fraser, as part of the New York Memorial to Theodore Roosevelt stood there for 80 years.

So fast forward to 2022AD, and  in the wee hours of the night when January 20th going on 21st the NYC government had the worker remove the famous statue.
It will be going to Medora, North Dakota, a tiny town of some 120 residents surrounded by the T. Roosevelt National Park and Little Missouri National Grassland. 

The Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation in its compound in Medora will be house this equestrian monument.

Valete

Panorama Racławicka - renovatio

 Salvete Omnes,

[in Polish]

a dzisiaj krotki wpis  - na Blogpressportal, YT, można obejrzeć i posłuchać wykładu dr Romualda Nowaka, od 3 dekad kierownika muzeum Panoramy Raclawickiej, oddziału Muzeum Narodowego nad Odrą we Wrocławiu na Dolnym Śląsku.

Wykład a może raczej ciekawa opowieść o historii Panoramy Racławickiej, wielkich organizatorach lwowskich, mistrzach Wojciechu Kossaku i Janie Styce etc, o architektach, inżynierach i specjalistach od restauracji płócien,  i zwłaszcza historia jej anabasis ze Lwowa do Wrocławia, został nagrany przez Blogpress po wielkim remoncie , jaki miał miejsce w budynkach muzeum Panoramy od lata 2020AD,  i ponownym otwarciu dla publiczności, zwiedzających i uczniów szkół etc.

Według zapewnień dr Nowaka od jesieni 2021 Panorama jest jeszcze wspanialej prezentowana, i jeśli drogi podróżniku oceanu netowego jesteś w Polsce, koniecznie odwiedź wrocławską rotundę niezwyklej Panoramy, jednej z najpiękniejszych panoram na świecie.

Valete

Zbig Kotowski amazing horses

Salvete Omnes,

from time to time I ask working artists for permission to put some of their art on my blog - I tend to favor creators who work in equestrian-related theme as their art and better yet  the main object of their creativity.

The artist of today's post has been captivating , via his brushes and pastels etc, the very amazing beauty and majesty of the domestic horse, especially the beauty of the most noble of the equine breeds ever created by the humans: the purebred Arabian horse.

So here comes the art of a Polish master painter Zbigniew Kotowski - his Arabians, historic one that he has recreated from some ancient black and white photos and prints, or modern and contemporary dames and stallions seen in real life or via the art of photography.
The images created by Zbig Kotowski are some of the most beautiful horse painting I have seen in a long time. Not to mention the mastery of the difficult medium of pastel painting or the mastery of the horse anatomy and conformation.
So recently I have obtained a special permission from maestro Zbigniew 'Zbig' Kotowski to show some of his fabulous pastels here, on my blog.
Obviously, you can or you must view more images and even get in touch with the maestro himself via Zbig's Facebook page or maestro's own webpage.

So here they go, the glory of our Polish Arabian Horse - 

Skowronek

Ofir

Witez

Witraz

Bandos

and my favorite mare of the the 20th century - the famous dame Bandola

Valete

Indo-European Horse sacrifice - video presentation

 Salvete Omnes,

A short entry this Thursday, January 20th, 2022 - and with the pandemic going away (except for the politicians and their medical advisors) we can watch this rather intriguing presentation from Survive the Jive,  the YT channel already known here for the Yamnaya presentation. Here is the link.
The narrative includes the description of the Indo-European ritual and mythology from Indian continent across Eurasia to Ireland. Sadly, out narrator know little about the Slavic ritual traditions and myths regarding horses. So you can look up the famous horse from Arkona, Rugia Island - here an article with many illustrations.

ancient Hindu ritual Ashvamedha - in the Gupta kings coins:

and  this illustration of the Irish Kingship ritual that comes Topographia Hibernica( (c.1220) - BL Royal MS 13 B VIII ) by Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) shows the ritual - the sacrifice of a mare and king bathing in the cauldron full of chopped horse meat while his retainer drink the horse stew.

and this Giraldus' description of the Irish attire, horsemanship and lack of armor , for the period of the second half of XII century AD (via Wikipedia).

Their custom is to wear small, close-fitting hoods, hanging below the shoulders a cubit's length, and generally made of parti-coloured strips sewn together. Under these, they use woollen rugs instead of cloaks, with breeches and hose of one piece or hose and breeches joined together, which are usually dyed of some colour. 

Likewise, in riding, they neither use saddles, nor boots, nor spurs, but only carry a rod in their hand, having a crook at the upper end, with which they both urge forward and guide their horses. They use reins which serve the purpose both of a bridle and a bit, and do not prevent the horses from feeding, as they always live on grass. Moreover, they go into battle without armour, considering it a burthen (burden) and esteeming it brave and honourable to fight without it.

Valete

Waclaw Pawliszak - malarz

 Salvete Omnes,

[in Polish]

Pisalem juz wczesniej o Waclawie Pawliszaku (1866-1905) - tutaj, tutaj i tutaj .. 

A wczoraj, 18 stycznia, minęła kolejna rocznica zastrzelenia/postrzelenia ze skutkiem śmiertelnym i śmierci  19 stycznia  imć Wacława Pawliszaka, dobrze rozwijającego się polskiego malarza rodzajowego, zabitego strzalem w glowe z rewolweru Smith & Wesson przez wschodzą gwiazdę rzeźby polskiej Xawerego Dunikowskiego, którego cień  położy się na XX wiecznej rzeźbie polskiej.

Na wstępie artykuł z ''Nowości Ilustrowane'', z Krakowa (wtedy zabór austro-węgierski), z 28 stycznia 1905roku - 

I przy okazji trochę grafik i skanów obrazów mości Wacława z Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie  i z Biblioteki Narodowej, jej wersji cyfrowej zwanej  Polona.

Pacem aeternam

Valete

Howard Terpning' amazing American horses

 Salvete Omnes,

I would like to share with you my admiration for the 'brush works' of one American artist - maestro Howard Terpning, who this year will celebrate his 95th birthday.
This gallery - The Fine Arts Publishing - has a very comprehensive page containing multi-level presentation of his art including fine prints of artworks, biography and interviews with maestro Terpning.

Gallery 601 has a page devoted to maestro and his brushes.

and many other out there on the net

I own two albums, and especially enjoy the old, 1992, Album - here how these books are standing on Amazon.

Nota bene maestro Terpning created some of the finest posters for Hollywood movies, including some of the great ones from the 1960s Hollywood - like The Warlord, Lawrence of Arabia, The Professionals, Ride the High Country, Guns of Navarone,  Cleopatra etc.

There are almost no 'libre' images/scans of Mr Terpning's multiple works that are horse-oriented, there is one on Wiki Commons from Greenwich Workshop.
You can view many, literally hundreds, on Pinterest, but I am not sure if these could be treated  a fair use under the copyright laws. So I am not going to link them here, also my search engine  bring hudnres of results in terms of fine images. 

I love copying his horses... be it in pen, pencil or mixmedia. 
another fine painter of this genre (Art of the West, Western Art) is sadly already deceased Frank McCarthy.

Stay strong 

valete

Master of the Llangattock Epiphany

 Salvete Omnes,

again today, Epiphany and some more of the fabulous European  medieval art - this time a medieval illumination -

Maître de l'épiphanie de Llangattock
/Master of the Llangattock Epiphany -  an anonymous Burgundian artist   active circa 1450-60s, plying his trade and art  in and araound Bruges.

Getty museum in L.A., Califronia, has a page from the larger manuscript, which is attributed to the Master of this Epiphany - you can obtain a very large scan of this page and illumination from the museum. Apart from the religious aspects of the Adoration of Christ and His Mother, we can enjoy the details of the XV century horsetack, including bridles, saddles, and gilded spurs, while the master illuminator provided some detail for the donkey? or a horse stabled in the stable, and also the  brown ox, where the Holy Family had found shelter.

Nota bene, the flock of birds  in the sky adds realism to this Northern Gothic piece.

Valete

Collégiale Saint-Thiébaut, Thann France and the Magi in stone

 Salvete Omnes,

happy Epiphany - 

and ad rem,
St Theobald's Church in Thann  

from this amazing church in north-eastern France comes the Magi scene that I am going to bring to your attention, and this  is a  medieval 'bande dessinee' or sculptural graphic novel - that can be found within the main tympanum of the church , whereas the entire tympanum is themed on and devoted to the Life of Saint-Mary.

note that, Three King Caspar, Melchior and  Balthazar  are shown, and Balthazar is already an African or at least a Moor in this sculptural masterpiece.

Below, another late  medieval representation of the Kings - by Hans Memling

and a beautiful Murillo - :)

Valete

Magi by a Jewish Cartographer from Aragon

 Salvete Omnes,

continuing with the theme of Magi in the spirit of this holiday, I would like to bring to your attention the map and miniatures by a team of father and son, Cresques Abraham  and  Jehuda Cresques,   Jewish cartographers from Palma de Mallorca, Crown of Aragon, working under the protection of the kings of the Crown of Aragon.

The atlas - circa 1378AD - digitalised and available on FN library Gallica, shows among others our 3 kings in route to Bethlehem in Holy Land (nota bene it is located in Palestine, Western Asia -:) ). 

Horses, camels and riders - lovely details, all done  inside the world of XIV century map

then there is Polish realm - Crown of Poland and various Piast duchies of Silesia and Masovia, and Kingdom of Bohemia, and Hungarian Crown  and Holy Roman Empire.

Valete