New painting in watercolour called Herne the Hunter- an old Pagan God - also known in different guises as The Green Man, Pan, The Horned God and Cernunnos - he is the hunter, sexuality and life cycle no less - what a guy!
Hello Sally I've just replied to the query you posted on my blog, and thought it might be helpful to post the information here as well, just in case you don't see it there.
The Lost Gods of England, by Bryan Branston, Constable 1993, ISBN 0-09-472740-6 is a good overview of the main gods (Thunor, Woden, Tiw, Frey, Freyja/Frigg). It's a bit old now, first published in 1957, and may be out of print; if it is, you could try libraries or second-hand. Perhaps reflecting its date, there are few illustrations. A more recent and very comprehensive survey is The Elder Gods: The Otherworld of Early England, by Stephen Pollington, Anglo-Saxon Books 2011, ISBN 978-1898-281641. This covers the full range of early English supernatural beliefs including obscure gods, supernatural beings that aren't gods (e.g. elves, dwarfs), supernatural creatures (e.g. dragons), magic, and magical symbolism in art. It has about 70 illustrations, mostly black and white with some colour plates. A much smaller and inexpensive (about £5) publication is Looking for the Lost Gods of England, by Kathleen Herbert, Anglo-Saxon Books 1994, ISBN 1-898281-04-1. This concentrates mainly on the mother goddess (Nerthus), Frey/Ing, and Freyja/Frigg. No illustrations to speak of.
There's also a recent book specifically on Anglo-Saxon art (including the Staffordshire Hoard), which may be of particular interest to you as an artist: Anglo-Saxon Art, by Leslie Webster. It was the subject of an extended review/feature in Current Archaeology Issue 268 in June 2012, which may help you tell whether the book is likely to be helpful to you. You probably already know about the British Museum's photographs of the Sutton Hoo treasures and the Staffordshire Hoard flickr site .
Hello Sally
ReplyDeleteI've just replied to the query you posted on my blog, and thought it might be helpful to post the information here as well, just in case you don't see it there.
The Lost Gods of England, by Bryan Branston, Constable 1993, ISBN 0-09-472740-6 is a good overview of the main gods (Thunor, Woden, Tiw, Frey, Freyja/Frigg). It's a bit old now, first published in 1957, and may be out of print; if it is, you could try libraries or second-hand. Perhaps reflecting its date, there are few illustrations. A more recent and very comprehensive survey is The Elder Gods: The Otherworld of Early England, by Stephen Pollington, Anglo-Saxon Books 2011, ISBN 978-1898-281641. This covers the full range of early English supernatural beliefs including obscure gods, supernatural beings that aren't gods (e.g. elves, dwarfs), supernatural creatures (e.g. dragons), magic, and magical symbolism in art. It has about 70 illustrations, mostly black and white with some colour plates. A much smaller and inexpensive (about £5) publication is Looking for the Lost Gods of England, by Kathleen Herbert, Anglo-Saxon Books 1994, ISBN 1-898281-04-1. This concentrates mainly on the mother goddess (Nerthus), Frey/Ing, and Freyja/Frigg. No illustrations to speak of.
There's also a recent book specifically on Anglo-Saxon art (including the Staffordshire Hoard), which may be of particular interest to you as an artist: Anglo-Saxon Art, by Leslie Webster. It was the subject of an extended review/feature in Current Archaeology Issue 268 in June 2012, which may help you tell whether the book is likely to be helpful to you. You probably already know about the British Museum's photographs of the Sutton Hoo treasures and the Staffordshire Hoard flickr site .
Hope this helps!
That does help thank you so much for your detailed reply- I only saw it today!
DeleteJust watched an interesting documentary on iplayer about Anglo-Saxon artifacts - lots of treasures from the British museum on show.
It's seems amazing how much of this history is lost.
Best wishes and thanks again
Sally