This Attic red-figure pelike depicts a costumed actor as a bird, offering rare visual evidence of ancient Greek comedy, where theatrical costume, performance, and transformation shaped storytelling and audience experience.
Enheduanna the first named author in history
Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon, emerges as the first named author, uniting political power, ritual authority, and poetic voice; her alabaster disk preserves her image, legacy, and enduring cultural influence.
Philip Wilson Steer’s Jonquil
Philip Wilson Steer’s Jonquil
March 4, 2026 by Amalia Spiliakou with no comment 19th century ArtArt of the United KingdomTeaching Resources Edit
Philip Wilson Steer, Jonquil, British Impressionist interior with flowers
Philip Wilson Steer, English, 1860-1942
Jonquil, 1890, Oil on Canvas, 91.5×91.5cm, Private Collection
https://www.paulfrasercollectibles.com/blogs/art-photography/philip-wilson-steers-jonquil-will-lead-british-impressionist-art-sale?srsltid=AfmBOooN3TM25j_xhU_nVNGhK4y5qROs7_af7yFZ_Dpx-3wx8w8h2N41
March marks the quiet turning of the year, when winter light begins to soften and the first flowers appear almost shyly in gardens and hedgerows. For this month’s Flower of the Month, Philip Wilson Steer’s Jonquil offers a fitting celebration of early spring. The jonquil, long associated with renewal, modest joy, and the promise of warmer days, emerges here not as a botanical study, but as a moment of looking: intimate, fleeting, and tender. Steer, a leading figure in British Impressionism, was deeply attuned to atmosphere and seasonal change, and this small floral subject allows his sensitivity to come fully into focus.
Atmosphere, Light, and Everyday Beauty in Steer’s Work
Philip Wilson Steer (1860–1942) was born in Birkenhead and trained initially at the Gloucester School of Art before continuing his studies at the South Kensington School of Art in London. He later travelled to Paris, enrolling at the Académie Julian, where he encountered French Impressionist and Realist painting at first hand. This exposure proved formative. On his return to Britain, Steer became a central figure in the development of modern British painting, helping to introduce Impressionist approaches to colour, light, and natural observation. In 1886 he was a founding member of the New English Art Club, which offered an important alternative to the academic traditions of the Royal Academy. Steer went on to enjoy considerable professional success, exhibiting widely and later serving as an influential teacher at the Slade School of Fine Art, where he shaped a generation of British artists.
Steer’s aesthetic was grounded in close observation and a deep responsiveness to light and atmosphere. Rather than dramatic narratives or grand historical themes, he gravitated toward moments of quiet presence: coastal landscapes, figures absorbed in thought, and flowers encountered at close range. His brushwork often dissolves form at the edges, allowing light to become an active presence within the composition. Colour is handled with restraint and subtlety, creating a sense of harmony rather than contrast. This sensitivity gives his paintings a reflective quality, as if the viewer is invited to share in the artist’s own act of looking.
As a leading figure in British Impressionism, Steer played a crucial role in adapting continental ideas to the British landscape and temperament. While influenced by French Impressionists, his work remains distinctively measured and introspective, favouring mood over spectacle. Nature, for Steer, was not something to be mastered or idealised, but quietly attended to, whether in the shifting light of a shoreline or the modest presence of a single flower. His interest in everyday subjects reflects a belief that beauty resides in the ordinary, revealed through patience, attentiveness, and an openness to fleeting sensory experience.
Jonquil and the Spirit of Early Spring
Philip Wilson Steer’s Jonquil depicts a young woman standing in profile beside a tall window, absorbed in the quiet act of holding and examining a small spray of pale flowers. She is dressed in a dark, simple garment that contrasts gently with the soft yellows and greens of the interior setting. The window behind her admits a cool, diffused light, which falls across her face and hands, modelling her features with subtlety rather than clarity. A small table or ledge in the foreground holds additional blossoms, echoing the flowers in her hand and reinforcing the intimacy of the scene. The setting feels domestic and enclosed, yet permeated by light, creating a sense of stillness and inwardness.
Philip Wilson Steer, Jonquil, British Impressionist interior with flowers, a drawing
Philip Wilson Steer, English, 1860-1942
Jonquil, 1890, Pen; Ink; Card, 17.7 cm x 17.8 cm, National Museums, Liverpool
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/jonquil
Steer’s aesthetics here are defined by restraint, atmosphere, and emotional understatement. The palette is carefully harmonised: muted yellows, soft greens, deep blues, and warm neutrals are balanced so that no single element asserts dominance. Brushwork is delicate and softened, particularly in the figure and background, allowing forms to merge gently with their surroundings. Light functions not as a dramatic spotlight but as an enveloping presence, dissolving edges and lending the scene a hushed, contemplative mood. The woman’s absorbed pose and the modest scale of the flowers suggest an interest in private, everyday experience rather than narrative or symbolism. Rather than sharply observing the flowers or the figure, Steer seems to suggest them emotionally, capturing a fleeting moment of quiet attention, where nature and human presence meet in a shared atmosphere of calm reflection.
In Jonquil, Steer offers not a celebration of the flower’s brightness, but a meditation on attentiveness itself. The painting’s quiet harmony of light, colour, and gesture invites the viewer to slow down and share in a moment of private contemplation, where the simple act of holding a flower becomes a reflection on season, presence, and renewal. As a work chosen for March, Jonquil gently captures the spirit of early spring—modest, inward, and full of promise.
For a PowerPoint Presentation, of Philip Wilson Steer’s oeuvre, please… Check HERE!
Bibliography: From the Walker Art Gallery https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker-art-gallery and from Sotheby’s https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2006/20th-century-british-art-l06141/lot.7.html
March 2026 Newsletter
March invites renewed curiosity as art connects past and present. This month’s selections explore creativity, history, and seasonal change, guiding reflection through diverse narratives, craftsmanship, and meaningful artistic expression.
Jean-François de Troy and the Myth of Apollo and Pan
De Troy’s Apollo and Pan reimagines a mythological contest as an elegant Rococo scene, where harmony and refinement triumph over rustic instinct, exploring artistic judgment, hierarchy, and cultural values.
François Vase
The François Vase is a masterful black-figure krater, uniting mythological scenes in intricate friezes, showcasing Archaic Greek storytelling, craftsmanship, and the collaborative brilliance of Kleitias and Ergotimos.
The Dream of the Pomegranate
Casorati’s The Dream of the Pomegranate presents a sleeping figure in a flowered meadow, where stillness, symbolism, and dreamlike silence merge into a poetic meditation on interior life.
Ktisis
Ktisis
February 6, 2026 by Amalia Spiliakou with no comment ArchaeologyByzantine ArtEarly Christian ArtTeaching Resources Edit
Byzantine floor mosaic fragment showing a richly bejeweled female figure holding a Roman measuring tool identified as Ktisis, the personification of generous foundation, with a partially visible male figure holding a cornucopia at left; made of marble and glass, ca. 500–550, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis, 500–550, with modern restoration, Marble and Glass, 151.1 x 199.7 x 2.5 cm, the MET, NY, USA
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/469960
Step into the symbolic world of Late Antiquity through this remarkable mosaic fragment portraying Ktisis, the ancient personification of creation, foundation, and civic generosity. With her richly ornamented garments, expressive gaze, and accompanying figure holding a cornucopia, she embodies the ideals of prosperity and well-ordered society. Once part of an elegant floor, this mosaic invites us to reflect on how art, mythology, and civic identity were woven seamlessly into daily life in the ancient Mediterranean.
At the center of the composition appears the personification of Ktisis, depicted frontally with large, expressive eyes that engage the viewer directly and lend the figure a commanding, almost iconic presence. Her softly modeled face is framed by carefully arranged curls and crowned with a jeweled headband, details that underscore refinement and elevated status. She wears a richly patterned garment fastened with an ornate necklace, the dense ornamentation and shimmering tesserae emphasizing dignity, wealth, and abundance. In her hand she holds a Roman copper tool called a foot ruler, a clear visual sign of engineering closely tied to her symbolic role. The Greek inscription naming Ktisis identifies her unambiguously, guiding the viewer’s interpretation of the scene. To the left, a smaller standing male figure advances toward her holding a cornucopia, the classical emblem of plenty; an inscription beside him identifies his role and further clarifies the allegorical program of the mosaic. Scholars have suggested that Ktisis was originally flanked symmetrically by a second small male figure on her right, now lost, which would have created a more balanced composition emphasizing abundance and benefaction on both sides. Even in its fragmentary state, the surviving figure establishes a subtle narrative exchange that reinforces themes of prosperity, order, and civic well-being while enlivening the scene.
In late antiquity, Ktisis embodied the concepts of foundation, creation, and benefaction. She was closely associated with the act of building and with the generosity of patrons who endowed structures for private or communal use. Her presence in a floor mosaic would have communicated prosperity, stability, and divine or civic favor, transforming the architectural space into a visual statement of success and legitimacy.
Stylistically, the mosaic reflects a transitional moment between classical naturalism and the emerging Byzantine aesthetic. Subtle modeling of the face coexists with an increasingly abstracted body and decorative emphasis on surface pattern. The shimmering marble and glass tesserae enhance the figure’s presence, while the frontal pose and enlarged eyes anticipate later Byzantine iconography.
As a floor mosaic, this image would have been encountered from above and at close range, integrated into the rhythm of daily movement. Walking across the figure of Ktisis reinforced her symbolic role: prosperity and benefaction quite literally underfoot, embedded in the fabric of the building itself. The mosaic thus functioned not only as decoration but as a constant visual assertion of order and well-being.
Seen today as a fragment and displayed vertically, the mosaic invites a different kind of engagement. Removed from its architectural setting, it becomes an object of focused contemplation rather than lived experience. Yet even in isolation, the figure of Ktisis continues to speak eloquently about late antique values, patronage, and the evolving language of Byzantine art.
For a Student Activity inspired by the Roman Foot Ruler, please… Check HERE!
For a PowerPoint Presentation of Activities created by my students, please… Check HERE!
Bibliography: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/469960 and Dr. Evan Freeman and Dr. Anne McClanan, “Byzantine Mosaic of a Personification, Ktisis,” in Smarthistory, February 3, 2020, accessed December 11, 2025, from smarthistory https://smarthistory.org/byzantine-ktisis/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsvOinFR1qs and Personifications of KTISIS in early Byzantine mosaics, by Rederic Lecut, and from Academia https://www.academia.edu/42068332/Personifications_of_KTISIS_in_early_Byzantine_mosaics
Antonio Badile’s Madonna and Child
Badile’s Madonna and Child presents a tender, intimate devotional scene, where maternal affection, symbolic detail, and serene composition reflect Renaissance spirituality and private acts of contemplation and faith.
Iris celebrated as the flower of February
Hokusai’s Kingfisher, Irises and Wild Pinks blends delicate nature, seasonal symbolism, and Edo printmaking, where an iris-centered composition reflects harmony, poetry, and refined Japanese artistic tradition.