La Femme de l'artiste, Louise Vernet, sur son lit de mort (Louise Vernet, the artist’s wife, on her Deathbed) by Paul Delaroche, 1845-46. Featured in Rino Stefano Tagliafierro’s Beauty. |x|
Leda and the Swan is a story and subject in art from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces or rapes Leda. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta. In the W. B. Yeats version, it is subtly suggested that Clytemnestra, although being the daughter of Tyndareus, has somehow been traumatized by what the swan has done to her mother. According to many versions of the story, Zeus took the form of a swan and raped Leda on the same night she slept with her husband King Tyndareus. In some versions, she laid two eggs from which the children hatched. In other versions, Helen is a daughter of Nemesis, the goddess who personified the disaster that awaited those suffering from the pride of Hubris.
The subject was rarely seen in the large-scale sculpture of antiquity, although a representation of Leda in sculpture has been attributed in modern times to Timotheus ; small-scale sculptures survive showing both reclining and standing poses, in cameos and engraved gems, rings, and terracotta oil lamps. Thanks to the literary renditions of Ovid and Fulgentius it was a well-known myth through the Middle Ages, but emerged more prominently as a classicizing theme, with erotic overtones, in the Italian Renaissance.
François-Édouard Picot (French: [piko]; 10 October 1786 in Paris – 15 March 1868 in Paris) was a French painter during the July Monarchy, painting mythological, religious and historical subjects.
I left the coffeeshop and started my morning walk to the library. The coffee was in my right hand and my bike in the left, rolling besides me. It had gotten colder, and I was glad I took my scarf with me. When arriving, I locked my bike and started my way up the stairs. I hesitated to go to my usual place. My friends sat there, not of them working or even being concentrating. I hated their attitude towards education. None of them took university seriously. I turned and went looking for another desk to work at. Once I found one, I pulled out my book I had to read for one of my classes. I noted down whenever something important as mentioned and added my thought to the rim of the text, so I could remember later. Ever now and then I sipped on my coffee.
The girl across from me looked quite pretty. I realized that while taking a break. She was focusing on the books in front of her, always taking notes. She did not seem to notice me and so I took my time looking at her. Her eyes were beautiful, and I loved the shape of her face. When I had to start working again, it took all my willpower to refocus.
The next day I picked the same working space again, drinking my coffee. I decided to listen to music while working. Surprisingly, the girl from yesterday sat across from me. She worked in a manner tat suggested she was ambitious to be good at what she was doing.
This howl watching her study thing continued from now on. I soon learned that she sucked her lips into her moth when she was reading something complicated, and you could see the panic in her eyes when she could not find a fact she knew was there. She never relied on only one source. Her coffee was black, and she rarely listened to music while at the library. I only ever saw her walk here and soon I knew her schedule by heart. Or at least whenever she would arrive here. I learned about her habits and her routines. And I loved it. Yet, I never found the courage to talk to her. I was afraid she might be different then what I imagined her to be. And so, the next semester rolled around without me saying a single word to her.
It was Monday morning, the first day of lectures. I sat next to my friends, talking before the lesson would start. But then she walked in. Her hair was open, and she wore this flowery dress. All I could think about was how lovely she looked.
Later, when I was at the library again and sitting across from her, that was when I decided to talk to her, but I did it in a way that would be me. I took out my notebook and ripped a page out. I took my pencil and wrote “Hello my beautiful stranger. I think it is about time that we get familiar with each other. Beloved, your favorite study buddy”.Lastly, I added my number.
I sneaked it into her backpack when I was leaving university today. I was hoping she would find it soon and be interested in me and text me. Hopefully, this was not a mistake.
I woke up as usually and got ready. I grabbed my coffee and headed out. I put in my headphones, listening to a few songs while walking. I arrived at the library, took of my coat, and went straight to my favorite place. I put everything down, went to get a few books and got working. After about half an hour, a boy showed up and sat down across from me. He pulled out a book from his back and started reading while drinking his coffee.
We sat there for hours, not talking just working and I grew fond of his company. He was so quite and focused. His behavior seemed to mirror mine, except for the part where he did not show any interest in me. We sat there working all day. As it got late, we paced together and left, each of us individually.
The next few days, I always came back to the library, and he always showed up just about half and hour later. Over time I realized he like the same music as I did and that he drank his coffee just like I drank mine. When he used green post-its on his books it means he read something interesting because he always wrote it down in a little notebook. I learned to tell how his day way based on his body language and that he usually took the bike, even if it was raining. I felt like I slowly got to know him, day by day and yet we never talked to one another.
The next semester rolled around and when I entered the classroom, I saw my stranger from the library. I sat down about two rows before him and took out my notebook. This will change nothing, will it? We still will be strangers…
The next day I saw him again at the library at our place. I was conflicted about talking to him and finally, decided not to. I was not going to break our routine. It had something beautiful.
The hours passed and I went home late that night. I walked with my headphones in as usual and I prepared everything for the next day. But as I took out the book in my bag to put new ones in, a note felt out. It was a little sheet, and I could not recognize the handwriting. It said “Hello my beautiful stranger. I think it is about time that we get familiar with each other. Beloved, your favorite study buddy”. I smiled at the page and texted the number written on it.
Hello everybody and happy new year! I know I have not been posting lately, but I have been on vacation. First of all, I want to say thank you to all my followers, the past year has been great. And I am looking forward to keep building my account. But there is one thing I want to change. Tumblr created a way of making money with your account and I would like to use that. Mostly because I love what I do and because I wan to inspire. But I will not lie to you guys: I will start university soon and need to finde a way to support myself. And I want to do that with this blog. I still will post like usuall, but on the post+ version of my blog will be more in depth content. I will not start this right now, but I will post content that shows what this post + version will be like.
I can already say that it will be conected with history, society but also culture or my own writings. And maybe I will start a seperated podcast, but that will definetly take time.
Please give my some feedback so I know what you guys want and like about this blog so I can keep and better my content. Thank you!
