Hurricane Drunk - Perfect
The Garden of Hesperides, Edward Burne-Jones, 1870-73
This beautiful Burne-Jones work hangs on a wall in Florence’s wonky staircase (I’m assuming it’s a print of the original)! The Pre-Raphaelites (my all-time favourite group of artists) worked in 19th century Britain. The group drew inspiration from a plethora of ancient myths, such as the story of the garden of Hesperides.
In Greek Mythology, the Hesperides are three nymphs who dwell in a beautiful garden which they tend to in a ‘far western corner of the world’ (wiki). The garden was said to belong to Hera, one of Zeus’s sisters. Gaia gave Hera apple branches as a wedding gift which she planted in the garden. The nymphs were chosen to look after the orchard. Hera suspected that the nymphs were eating some of the apples themsleves, so she placed a dragon in the garden to watch over the orchard. Burne-Jones has depicted the dragon as a snake, drawing close parallels to the Adam and Eve story. It could be said that Burne-Jones was making a comment on the religious tensions inherent in the Victorian era. It’s such a fantastic painting.
Florence’s first album, Lungs, was heavily influenced by Pre-Raphaelitism. Can’t you just picture Florence as one of those nymphs, dancing around a garden with her long dress flowing playfully in the wind?
sherlock-has-got-the-blue-box:
more press junket portraits. #BenedictCumberbatch
Gorgeous.