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"A compendium of witches"

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montycrusto said:
Talking of flawless technique…“The Magic Circle” by John William Waterhouse (1886, Tate Britain, London)
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en.wikipedia.org

The Magic Circle (Waterhouse painting) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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I’ve only been to London twice and just a few days at a time so my time gets filled with the National Gallery, British Museum, and the Tower of London is always a must…

so I’ve neglected the Tate (and never been to St Paul’s despite wanting to visit the whispering gallery since childhood)

Anyway, I’ll be sure to put the Tate top of my list (well, second to the Tower, for obvious reasons) for next time
 
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malins said:
and of course ... there are ... theories ...
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What a frustrating video! I still don’t see the face! I think she’s imagining it…

One of the things I’ve always liked about the painting is that the column of magical “smoke” is actually mostly bare canvas rather than paint. It’s an absence of paint.. as if what she has conjured is a way of seeing through to another reality. Which of course is the magic trick that painters do all the time. So ultimately it’s a metaphor for painting, ironically using the lack of paint to make its point! That’s my take on it, anyway. :p
 
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montycrusto said:
What a frustrating video! I still don’t see the face! I think she’s imagining it…
One of the things I’ve always liked about the painting is that the column of magical “smoke” is actually mostly bare canvas rather than paint. It’s an absence of paint.. as if what she has conjured is a way of seeing through to another reality. That’s my take on it, anyway. :p
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I saw the face right from the start, I’m fully aware it could be illusionary yet I saw the face she described before she showed his photo… now I really want to see the artwork, beautiful in it’s own right!

Hopefully one of you more informed artist types would be kind enough to suggest other highlights of the Tate to me. I certainly hope the Magic Circle will actually be on display when I visit but I suspect there will be other pieces worthy of my attention when I finally go back (England isn’t in my current trip plans fir two years given the recent itineraries I’ve had to postpone )
 
montycrusto said:
Well can you post an image where you’ve drawn round the damn thing? Is it in the smoke? I genuinely can’t find it.
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Close your eyes almost completely and look at the last bit you see of it... or load it up in photoshop etc., choose Gaussian Blur and just pull the slider to the right until the individual details blur completely away, and it pops out of the complete image.
 
montycrusto said:
. as if what she has conjured is a way of seeing through to another reality. Which of course is the magic trick that painters do all the time. So ultimately it’s a metaphor for painting, ironically using the lack of paint to make its point! That’s my take on it, anyway. :p
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Hmm yes, a good metaphor, some witch said part of what it takes for her craft is a talent to sort of twist your eyes and look behind the curtains of the world, another way is to see beneath the paint upon the actual fabric of reality ... and pull a thread here or there ;)
 
I’m intrigued to find out if @Loinclothslave and @malins are seeing the same face, or different ones. I can see that the mineshaft entrance in the background looks like an eye, but I’m not seeing a nose anywhere near it. Pretty sure both Jesus and Waterhouse had noses :p
 
montycrusto said:
en.wikipedia.org

The Magic Circle (Waterhouse painting) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...
I see the face more clearly on the tiny image on the link, it’s basically the whole painting. Cave is the right eye, her hair the left eye , the hill crests make “eyebrows” especially on the left above the hair, the smoke is the nose, the cauldron is a moustache wrapping the mouth.

I can barely see it on the full sized image (right hand side of the face sort of) but the tiny image I only see the face…

It’s very vivid now, but much less pronounced on the full sized image. The tiny one it’s like the photo, and the frame encapsulates the face so we can’t see hairlines or the sides…
 
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Loinclothslave said:
I see the face clearly on the tiny image on the link, it’s basically the whole painting. Cave is the right eye, her hair the left eye , the hill crests make “eyebrows” especially on the left above the hair, the smoke is the nose, the cauldron is a moustache wrapping the mouth.

I can barely see it on the full sized image (right hand side of the face sort of) but the tiny image I only see the face…

It’s very vivid now, but much less pronounced on the full sized image. The tiny one it’s like the photo, and the frame encapsulates the face so we can’t see hairlines or the sides…
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I can kind of see it now! I was looking for a much smaller face, lol :p not filling the whole painting
 
montycrusto said:
Talking of flawless technique…“The Magic Circle” by John William Waterhouse (1886, Tate Britain, London)
View attachment 1056857
en.wikipedia.org

The Magic Circle (Waterhouse painting) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Click to expand...
'The larger version of The Magic Circle was shown at the Royal Academy in 1886, and, after Consulting the Oracle and St. Eulalia, was Waterhouse's third exhibit with a supernatural theme in as many years.'

Well, that's what happens if you consult the Oracle and St Eulalia! :p
 
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