Katherine Keenum

This reconstruction of a Viking house in Schleswig is from an article on Open Hearths, Ovens and Fireplaces. Among other topics, it reviews studies in how much wood it takes to heat reconstructed Viking dwellings. Conclusion? No one could have lived in the famous long houses during the winter. They required far too many tons of fuel for medieval woodcutting technology to meet. In contrast much smaller houses, like the one here, are bearable—for modern graduate students, at any rate.

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When I saw the animal in last week's press coverage of Breathtaking new paintings found at Pompeii, my first thought was, "It's a dog." My second was, "No, it's a lion." And lion it is. Not only that, but the mural solves a scholarly question.

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Although Lilias Trotter studied informally with John Ruskin, she probably thought of herself primarily as a missionary, not as an artist. Yet no one can paint with her flair without its meaning a lot to her. In other words, like many multi-talented people with strong callings, Trotter was complex. Personally, I dislike fictionalized biographies. Secondary and walk-on parts for real people in historical fiction? Of course. But it takes chutzpah to pretend to "bring them to life" as central characters. Still, if discovering someone like Lilias Trotter prompts a wholly fictional character to emerge in my imagination and demand that her story to be told, won't I be grateful!

Image via James Gurney. For a website devoted to her, click here.

 
Blog post alert: This 1777 eye-witness sketch of camp followers is a reminder that women participate in wars whether military commanders want them to or not. Wives, cooks, laundresses, and prostitutes—for writers of historical fiction, they can provide more than local color. A story could be told from their point of view. Also, of course, consider the artists and photographers who record wars. In this case, what would it have been like to be Swiss-born artist and coin collector, Pierre Eugène du Simitiére, during the Revolutionary War?
 

Blog post alert: This brilliant Faroe Island sweater was knitted 217 years ago, dispatched from Copenhagen, seized in 1807 by the British Royal Navy, stored in the UK, and recently brought to light when the package it was in was finally opened. You can read about it in the blog post Pristine 200-year-old sweater found in impounded parcel.

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Aren't they cute, itty-bitties holding onto each other's skirts in the Tuileries Garden! And yet so many for only four adults to care for. This isn't your typical picture of a nanny and her charge. What's going on?

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From Jesse Hurlburt: Out of the Darkness, Into the Light. May we make the journey. For the full manuscript page, click here.

Blog post alert: Another female artist new to me! Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema was trained in London by her husband, the artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. She had work exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878. (Had I known in time, I might have had Jeanette see it!). Many of her paintings could illustrate or inspire stories. This one of her stepdaughter Laurense's tea party? Maybe not, but I think it's sweet and the touch of Japonisme fits with things I've been looking at lately.  You can see more of her work at Wikipedia Commons and read more about her marriage to a fellow artist here.

A collection of drawings in the Guardian—Unseen illustrations show the genius of Biba's Barbara Hulanicki —said to me, Wow! the Sixties! Fashion! The look was familiar, though I admit neither Biba nor Barbara Hulanicki was. Anyone who wants to set a story in the glamorous side of the Sixties or Seventies should make a montage of her drawings as a mood prompt. See also the Victoria and Albert's Biba for actual clothes photographs of the store and 'From A to Biba' by Barbara Hulanicki for an excerpt from Hulanicki's autobiography.

Exhibition alert: An upcoming exhibition at the British Library—Medieval Women: In Their Own Words—has been announced by the British Library for October 2024. It will cover the lives of aristocrats and peasants and the craftwomen in between. Even one picture supplies information. Just look at the tether on the hen's leg, the little water trough with a chick perched on it, the distaff tucked under the farm woman's arm, and her bare feet. Looks like a great show for historians and historical fiction writers alike—if you have the good luck to be in London.