Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Idyls of Bion & Moschus

The Idyls of Bion & Moschus, 1922, was the companion volume to Theocritus, as seen in the previous post—with fewer, but just as beautiful, illustrations by Sir William. You can read about Bion of Smyrna, here, and Moschus of Syracuse, here. But first, enjoy Flint's work from his finest era:

'Come, dear playmates, maidens of like age with me,
let us mount the bull here and take our pastime; . . .
how mild he is, and dear, and gentle to behold,
and no whit like other bulls'


'Woe, woe for Cypris," the mountains all are saying,
and the oak-trees answer, 'Woe for Adonis'

The herdsman bore off Helen, upon a time,
and carried her to Ida, sore sorrow to CEnone

Hesperus, golden lamp of the lovely daughter of the foam, . . .
hail, friend, and as I lead the revel to the shepherd's hut,
in place of the moonlight lend me thine

And she too is Sicilian, and on the shores by Aetna
she was wont to play

7 comments:

churchy la femme said...

Absolutely love this blog. Flint is a MASTER!

Larry MacDougall said...

Thanks again Thom for another amazing post. Very much appreciated.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Larry, I really appreciate your encouragements.

Churchy, love your name, allus nice to hear from a turkle!

David Page Coffin said...

Wow! Stunning stuff, the best I've ever seen from Flint; thank you!

Have you ever found any accounts or analysis of his techniques? He's got something going on in his skies and flesh modeling that's truly unique in watercolor; magical and effortless…

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Hi David—Yes, I do have a step-by-step breakdown of Flint's technique. It has a lot of text, as well as imagery, that I will have to transcribe—so I will need to have more time to accomplish that. But I will work on it. Keep checking back.

And thanks for the comments. It sure helps me to know what's finding favor.

David Page Coffin said...

Checking daily, never fear; you're on my MUST list:)

Be glad to help with any transcribing efforts, btw, if that's even possible. Is your material available in some remotely available book? Thanks again for all you do; it's among the best…

Annie said...

Hi Thom,
Thank you again for more beautiful images.