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Dr Pat Witts

@wittspat.bsky.social

1.4K followers 46 following 2.3K posts

Specialist in Roman mosaics, with particular interests in iconography and antiquarian illustrations; also hedgehogs in any medium. Author. Membership Secretary asprom.org (posting personally).

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 1h

🤣 (A refreshing explanation I haven't come across in all the discussions of this fab mosaic!)

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 1h

He reminds me of tourists in Cambridge!

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 6h

They look like mosaic, so they qualify for today!

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 6h

The puzzle here is why Aeneas has dressed for the occasion! He's nude in the hunting scene.

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 6h

Pedantic note no. 2 (!): Cupid is in the guise of Aeneas's son, Ascanius. Poor Dido, being duped by Venus ...

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 6h

Pedantic note (!): the ship on the right, at least, is arriving in Carthage (because of the present for Dido being fetched).

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 6h

Might seem strange to compare the amazing Noheda mosaics with those from Britain, but the myth of Pelops and Oenomaus (the grisly heads), which is rarely known in mosaic, also appears at Boxford.

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 6h

Hope you get to Madrid one day. Allow *lots* of time, especially for the Prado and the Arch Mus; both fabulous and full of pleasures.

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 6h

I've always thought his punting technique needs more practice. It does look very uncertain!

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 19h

Agree completely, but it's not always possible to arrange timing and weather! I have very happy memories of having Calanais all to myself one summer's evening. (The trick was to go when 'normal' people were having dinner, and to leave when they started to emerge for a post-prandial stroll.)

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 19h

Reposting for #SundaySheep.

Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 4d

Carrawburgh Mithraeum, Hadrian’s Wall; the shyest member of the contu-baaa-nium
#RomanFortThursday

A sheep pokes its head out around a Roman altar in the ruins of a Roman temple.

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 19h

I had no idea he was so young when he did this.

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 19h

A fascinating study: thank you, @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social!
#classicalreception

Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · Aug 22

#FrescoFriday this week dives into one of the most famous #ceilings of #Nero's #DomusAurea: the #GoldenVault, buried under the #Oppian Hill in #Rome. It's an excellent case study in #classicalreception over five centuries. So let's dig in! #AncientBluesky 🏺

HALL OF THE GOLDEN VAULT, 65-68 CE. DOMUS AUREA

When Nero's last palace, the massive Domus Aurea, was rediscovered in the late C15, this hall, axially aligned with the centre of one of the two pentagonal recesses of the façade of the pavilion on the Oppian hill, was still decorated with gold leaf on some of the stucco. One huge hole dug in from above came from explorers, the smaller one from a medieval well. This room, despoiled by Trajan of its opus sectile wall panels and floor, was filled with earth. However, much more of its decoration survived in the C16, and the artist Francisco de Hollanda tried to reconstruct it in drawing based on what remained. It is a complex ceiling of stucco frames enclosing rectangular scenes, with roundels that probably had figurative frescoes in them as well. At centre a huge roundel, now entirely lost, contained the ceiling's main image. As we will see, this ceiling became a battleground for competing forms of classical reception.

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Reposted by Dr Pat Witts

Old English Wordhord @oewordhord.bsky.social · Sep 8

wull, f.n: wool. (WULL / ˈwʌl)
Image: Sheep in a bestiary; England, c. 1225-1250; @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social MS. Bodley 764, f. 34r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript image of a wooly white sheep standing among some plants with a placid expression on its face.

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 19h

Ooh, lovely! Where are these?

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 19h

#Hedgehog alert!

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 2d

The famous five: cat, mouse, weasel, mole, hedgehog

BL Harley MS 3244; Theological miscellany; 1236-c 1250 CE; England; f.49v

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Reposted by Dr Pat Witts

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 2d

The battle of Cat and Mouse

BL Harley 6563; Book of Hours; c.1320 CE-c.1330 CE; England, S. E. (London); f.72r

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 19h

It is! And quite small, I seem to remember.

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 19h

Or the edge of a trench, with an intriguing mosaic image disappearing just where we need to know more ...

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 20h

I've only been briefly but, it yes, you can feel it's special. Lovely photo of seal, too!

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 20h

Just in time for #SundaySheep: look who I met this afternoon at the lovely Tetbury Wool Fair.

Two sheep on a bed of straw, one standing in front of the other who is lying down. The standing sheep is stocky, with a dense fleece. She is facing right with her head turned towards us and has black markings on her face.

A sheep stretching her head up to the left towards her human, whose fingers are visible (and who had treats!). On the ground at lower left is an orange water bowl.

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 20h

Yes, I have, a few years ago!

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 20h

Good to see this close-up view. Tried to revisit it recently but there had been epic rainfall the previous day, so the ford was impassable without getting wet feet - if it had been a mosaic, of course, I'd have braved it ...

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 20h

How unusual!

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 20h

That colour of the river is stunning. One of my favourite paintings in the Prado (and there's stiff competition!).

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