Sea Nymph Sunday, Mermaid Monday

Today was a scorcher. I worked until 5 pm, sweating profusely as usual. The first thing I did was drop-splat myself directly into our backyard above-ground pool. It was freezing as usual. It was amazing.

Five hours later I still felt like hot death, so I shimmied back into my suit, marched up that pool ladder, and flung myself into the pool with the abandon of a dog jumping at wasps. It was even more amazing than before.

I told my fiance I'd just dunk and get out right away, but I had to stay in and frolic. I had to. It was a full moon and it was glistening betwixt the trees for me. I was the sea nymph Israfel, whom this mysterious stranger had captured and clothed, and given me inflatable toys to play with. He asked me what did I eat in the ocean that he could bring me? Naturally I told him my native foods were garlic butter prawns and crab legs.

Eventually he lured me out... did you know sea nymphs could live on land? They can you know. Mysterious Stranger wrapped me in a warm, fuzzy yellow robe and showed me how to walk. He even taught me how to open a door... turn the knob and push yourself through the portal.

I like land.

In celebration I shall now post some of the (mostly pre-raphaelite) paintings I have been indulging in for the last two nights. Sea nymphs, sirens, naiads, and mermaids. Among them, some of my favourite artists such as Evelyn de Morgan and John William Waterhouse. However, if you are not comfortable with nude figures you best be moving on.



nymph

noun

1. one of a numerous class of lesser deities of mythology, conceived of as beautiful maidens inhabiting the sea, rivers, woods, trees, mountains, meadows, etc., and frequently mentioned as attending a superior deity.

2. a beautiful or graceful young woman.

3. a maiden.

  

nai·ad

[ney-ad]

noun, plural

1. Classical Mythology - any of a class of nymphs presiding over rivers and springs.

Click to enlarge the images. 

DETAIL of John William Waterhouse - Hylas and the Nymphs, 1886

John William Waterhouse - A Mermaid

John William Waterhouse - The Siren

Lord Frederick Leighton - The Fisherman and the Syren

Adolphe La Lyre - Dans Les Rochers de la Plage, a Cartelet

Sophie Anderson - Head of a Nymph

Evelyn Pickering De Morgan - Little Sea Maid

Guillaume Seignac - La Vague (The Wave)

The Land Baby by John Collier

Herbert Draper - The Water Baby

Herbert James Draper - Title Unknown

Herbert James Draper, The Foam Sprite

James Herbert Draper - Ulysses and the Sirens

James Herbert Draper - The Sea Maiden

James Herbert Draper - Flying Fish

Paul Albert Laurens (1870-1934, French) - Catching Waves

Siren or the Green Abyss by Giulio Aristide Sartorio, 1900

Hans Zatka

Hans Zatka - Pearls of the Sea

Hans Zatka

Hans Zatka, Water Nymphs

Evelyn Pickering de Morgan - Sea Maidens

Charles Edouard Boutibonne - Mermaids Frolicking in the Sea

Mermaid and Her Offspring - Edward Burn-Jones

Victor Karlovich Shtemberg - Sirens by the Sea

Mermaids, by Edward Frederick Brewtnall

Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann Havfrue, 1863

Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann - A Mermaid at NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, 1863

Adolphe La Lyre - La Chute de la Sirene

Arnold Boecklin

Circle of Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein

Peter Nicolai Arbo Havmanden

Mermaid, by Severino Baraldi

Edward Poynter- The Cave of the Storm Nymphs

Gioacchino Pagliei, The Naiads, 1881

Gaston Bussiere - The Nereides

Calm Sea by Arnold Bocklin

Mermaids, Artist Unknown (if you know who it is, please let me know!)