David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


26 September 2021

Should auld aquatints be forgot, keep your eye on the Red and the Blue!


AFL 2021 Grand Final result
Melbourne Football Club           21.14 (140)
(after 57 years) def.
Western Bulldogs                        10.6 (66)

"In the blink of an eye, it was gone."
Luke Beveridge, coach of Western Bulldogs

Artist               Francisco Goya (1746–1828)
Title                 Asta su Abuelo  (And so was his grandfather)
Description    No. 39 of the "Caprichos" series 
                         (1st edition, Madrid, 1799).
Date                1797-1799
Medium         etching and aquatint

Theatre of the Athletes of Regard    
 detail
 A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
 someone looks at something...
  
 LOGOS/HA HA
 (Triumph of the Demons over the Bulldogs
 after Tommaso Siciliano, 1585)