Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Tag Archives: gallery


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Artistic inspiration: Michael Whelan

Yesterday, while taking a break from writing, I was browsing the Facebook updates and I stumbled on an image that I remembered from my high school days.
This one.

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It is an illustration for Poul Anderson’s story Tiger by the Tail, part of the Dominic Flandry series.
It’s been thirty-five years, yet I still remember when I first saw it, and I still get the same feeling, the same thought…

I must write something like this one day or another.

The artist is the multi-award winner Michael Whelan, and I’m surprised and pleased at the number of my favorite books he illustrated. Here’s a small gallery of my favorite paintings by him.


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The Dark Alleys of Historical Novels

Historical novels.
I like them – back home my mother was the historical novel fan, and somehow passed the habit to me, if in a less virulent way.

Now, being a reader of fantasy, and sometimes a perpetrator of historical fantasy, I somehow have this sort of inferiority complex towards historical fiction writers (my friend Claire being a case in point).
They are the square ones, the serious ones, the ones that have both literary and historical dignity, that quote primary sources and are asked to give learned lectures and all that.
Me, I’m a hack, one that mixes mummies and Roman legions and tentacled monsters.
Shameful.

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But, on the other hand, historical fiction does have a less reputable side Рone that goes back to Gold Medal, Fawcett, Paperback Library, NEL and Lancer paperbacks, and continued well into the 1980s, and is just as lurid, preposterous and risqu̩ as the things we hack do write.

So I decided to do a gallery with a few specimens – it made me feel better.

Enjoy! Continue reading →


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John Collier’s Paintings

OK, so I got a little obsessed with this painting here

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I like it a lot – it’s called A Priestess of Dionysus and was painted by a Pre-Raphaelite painter called John Collier.
Now the fun bit is, John Collier painted a lot of portraits of science guys, including what is probably the most famous portrait of Charles Darwin – because Collier was the son-in-law of Thomas Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog”, and so he was sort of into that community. He was actually twice Huxley’s son-in-law, as he married two of Huxley’s daughters. Not at the same time, of course.
I always liked Pre-Raphaelite paintings, but Collier was not on my radar – probably because he was mostly a portrait painter.
So I thought… why not do a gallery of John Collier’s paintings?
Here goes. Click on a thumbnail to see a large version.

(c) Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
Collier, John; Thomas Henry Huxley; National Portrait Gallery, London; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/thomas-henry-huxley-155387
Collier, John; The Minx; Swindon Museum Art Collection; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-minx-65034
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Collier, Lady Godiva
Collier, John; The Amber Necklace; Grundy Art Gallery; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-amber-necklace-150553
Collier, John; The Queen’s Shilling; Government Art Collection; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-queens-shilling-30012
Collier, John; Young Girl Draped in a Tiger Skin ; St John’s College, University of Cambridge; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/young-girl-draped-in-a-tiger-skin-139381


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The Women of Edwin Georgi

Edwin Georgy was an American painter and illustrator that worked for magazines and publicity. He was self-taught, a fact that I find impressive – just as impressive as his experience as a WWI pilot.
He was especially well known for his women, and it seems fitting to post a gallery of Georgi’s women on the International Women’s Day.

Enjoy!

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Arabian Nights Art 3: Abu Kir & Abu Sir

arabian nights italy 1958 2Last installment and last gallery for the 1958 Fratelli Fabbri edition of a selection of tales from the Arabian Nights.

The last story in the book is The Tale of Abu Kir the Dyer and Abu Sir the Barber, and once again it is illustrated by Benvenuti. This is the widest selection of illustrations: the two previous tales got ten images each, but the final tale gets nineteen. And we won’t complain for that!

Once again, if you’d like to read the original, you can check out the version available at Sacred Texts.

For a complete version of the Arabian Nights, Project Gutenberg offers both the Andrew Lang translation, and the “complete” 1890 “Aldine edition”. But the Gutenberg guys really have a wide selection of versions of the book.

Print editions are many and deserve a separate post (maybe, one day).

And now, here’s the gallery.


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Looking for Bill Barnes

Something funny happened – my character, Felice Sabatini, from The Ministry of Thunder and Cynical Little Angels, was compared to Bill Barnes.

Bill Barnes?
Now who the heck is this Bill Barnes chap?

I could say the name rang a bell – but I could not place the character.
Some research was needed.

Here’s what I found. Continue reading →


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Ladies & Elephants

My friend Claire loves elephants, and of course we’re just a few day after the Elephants Day, and basically this is the long tail of the unreliable week, I just rewatched Mogambo, and so I thought… why not post a gallery of pictures of ladies with elephants?

More serious content is coming, but for the time being… send in the pachyderms!
(click on the pic to enlarge)