hellobow

The zodiac. The heavens illustrated. 1844.

Melencolia I. Albrecht Durer. 1514. Engraving.

"The winged personification of Melancholy, seated dejectedly with her head resting on her hand, holds a caliper and is surrounded by other tools associated with geometry, the one of the seven liberal arts that underlies artistic creation."

"In medieval philosophy each individual was thought to be dominated by one of the four humors; melancholy, associated with black gall, was the least desirable of the four, and melancholics were considered the most likely to succumb to insanity. Renaissance thought, however, also linked melancholy with creative genius; thus, at the same time that this idea changed the status of this humor, it made the self-conscious artist aware that his gift came with terrible risks."

By Félix Dol-Maillot for Heatline Magazine June 2026

Sue Tilley was 35 years old and working in a London employment office when she disrobed and let British artist Lucian Freud paint her in the nude. On Wednesday, one of Freud’s four nude portraits of her sold at Sotheby’s London for $39 million, the third-highest auction price for the artist.

“Mona Lisa wasn’t alive when she became famous—but I am,” Tilley said of the interest in her 1995-96 portrait, “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet.”

The bugs' circle dance. Entomology in sport. 1859. Frontispiece.

Shasta Daisy. Vaughan’s gardening illustrated. 1927.