6/30/2023 0 Comments Astronomical phenomena in art![]() Selene (her Roman equivalent is Luna) drove a silver moon chariot across the sky each night. Selene was a Titan goddess, daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and sister to Helios (the sun god) and Eos (the goddess of the dawn). This was certainly true in Greek mythology. Traditionally the sun and the moon have masculine and feminine traits respectively. 1830-35, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Old and new mingle together while the night sky gently shifts hour by hour and the world keeps turning.Ĭaspar David Friedrich, A Walk at Dusk, c. The ancient stone and the man seem bonded beneath a young, waxing crescent moon. As life dies back in these months so too do our thoughts turn to the gradual passing of time, its rhythms and its lessons. He is dressed for colder weather but leaves remain on the trees so perhaps this is, significantly, an autumnal scene. In this painting by Caspar David Friedrich a man stands alone, his head lowered, before a stone monument. We now move away from the fiery empowerment of the sun to the cooler, more thoughtful presence of the moon. William Blake, The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, 1803-1805, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY, USA. Despite his formidable presence it is clear that Satan is not the one with power. Satan’s shadow however is not all-pervasive: the sun, or the light of God, surrounds and protects the woman, her eyes uplifted towards heaven and salvation. A grim notion! Nevertheless, there she lies helpless and in labour, awaiting a terrible fate. William Blake’s famous The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun depicts Satan on the point of devouring the woman’s child (Christ) as he is born. The sun can also be representative of salvation. The Woburn Abbey version of the Armada Portrait, 1588, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, UK. She sits in royal splendor before scenes depicting England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada, her hand laid graciously upon the Earth as both its protector and its ruler. Elizabeth I of England is seen below with myriad suns adorning her gown. The sun brings light and warmth, therefore making life possible, so to be associated with this flying object is to be lauded in the same way. No celestial body is more powerful, prominent or important than the sun. They were also seen as symbols of wealth and status, as we can see by the following portrait of Richard Goodricke.Ĭornelius Ketel, Richard Goodricke of Ribston, Yorkshire, c. Detail.Ĭomets were seen as symbolic of either the acquisition or loss of power (depending on your perspective). The comet historically appeared in our skies four months after his coronation, but in the tapestry it has been inserted just after Harold has taken the throne, signifying his coming downfall.īayeux Tapestry, 11th century, Bayeux Museum. Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England on the 6th January 1066, and reigned until his death at the Battle of Hastings in October of the same year. Halley’s Comet appears for example on the Bayeux Tapestry. This comet returns to Earth space more or less every 27 years, and can be observed twice in one lifetime by the lucky! The first known sighting of Halley’s Comet was in 239 BCE in China.Ĭomets were also known as “long-haired” stars and were considered to be significant in terms of divine judgement and evil omens. One such event was the appearance of Halley’s Comet. Some objects literally flew through the skies, for example the formidable meteor above, but amidst the myriad of debris hitting Earth, there were pivotal events in our astronomical history. Lawrence Daws, The Cage (or Incident at Anakie), 1972, Tate, London, UK. We were, after all, the centre of the universe (or so we thought)! ![]() Certainly in the medieval mind, the astronomical phenomena that are observable from our humble little planet were considered to be moving all around us as we remained static in space. When we think about flying objects we usually imagine birds, planes, kites, balloons, or even UFOs! It’s easy to forget that at one point the planets, stars, the sun and the moon might have been seen as flying objects too. ![]()
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