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markculham.bsky.social
Mark Culham
@markculham.bsky.social
580 followers 620 following 4.8K posts
Where the bee sucks, there suck I
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markculham.bsky.social
The full woodcut. The fig leaf is from the V&A. It is the one they used on Michelangelo's statue of David for when Queen Victoria visited.

Lucas Cranach the Elder
The Met
The full picture in the woodcut of Adam & Eve surrounded by animals in the Garden of Eden. As described before, Eve is picking animals close to the serpent's head. Adam is sitting beside her with an apple in his hand.
January 23, 2026 at 6:13 PM
markculham.bsky.social
A more detailed comparison of the figure of Adam holding an apple to his chin. Similar. And comparing Eve's right hand on Adam's back. Again similar Idea.
January 23, 2026 at 5:59 PM
markculham.bsky.social
Comparing Adam & Eve from the stained glass (enamel painted) at Lincoln College Chapel with Adam & Eve as they appear in a woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
@mcculloughp.bsky.social @markkirby.bsky.social
Comparing a stained glass naked male and female with the same in a woodcut. There are differences but the general arrangement of the figures are the same. Eve, standing, reaches up with her left arm to get an apple, the serpent close by. Her right hand is on Adam's shoulder. He, sitting, holds an apple to his chin.
January 23, 2026 at 5:56 PM
markculham.bsky.social
The Prodigal Son as a Swineherd
From a drawing by Maarten van Heemskerck
Engraved by Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert
Rijkmuseum

Stained glass 📷 Rex Harris
The full engraving. We see the Prodigal Son in that bowler's pose I mentioned before looking skyward. Beside him is a pig.
January 23, 2026 at 3:57 PM
markculham.bsky.social
Comparing both the stained glass hands with the hands from the engraving. Similar.
January 23, 2026 at 3:52 PM
markculham.bsky.social
Comparing Adam from the stained glass (enamel painted) at Lincoln College Chapel with the Prodigal Son by Maarten van Heemskerck.
@mcculloughp.bsky.social @markkirby.bsky.social
Two details comparing Adam from the stained glass (enamel painted) at Lincoln College Chapel with the Prodigal Son by Maarten van Heemskerck. They both have a similar pose a bit like a cricketer's bowling action as seen from side-on. I have added the V&A fig leaf to hopefully get past Bluesky censorship.
January 23, 2026 at 3:51 PM
markculham.bsky.social
A collage of a man in a yellow jacket with GAS written on his back, appears to be watching the grave digging scene from The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer. We see a spade fling dirt with a skull resting on a pile of earth below.
January 23, 2026 at 2:31 PM
markculham.bsky.social
A scene from the medieval stained glass of Great Malvern Priory showing Adam & Eve ashamed of their nakedness before God. God stands on the left, his hands indicating he is talking, whilst Adam & Eve stand naked on the left.
January 23, 2026 at 1:51 PM
markculham.bsky.social
A scrappy collage of two Manet paintings of women on a balcony, one with a man behind them and one from the quoted post, plus a balcony painting by Goya that has two women looking out and two men behind looking away.
January 23, 2026 at 8:31 AM
markculham.bsky.social
A detail from a painting of Herman Melville. I have turned his head a bit and added an exclamation mark in response to John Clare mentioning writing to the dead letter office.
January 23, 2026 at 8:12 AM
markculham.bsky.social
A black & white screenshot from the film Underground by Anthony Asquith showing a woman with her bare arms folded leaning on the bar a pub facing the customers but not looking at anything in particular. Behind her bottles of beer are stacked on shelves.
January 23, 2026 at 7:47 AM
markculham.bsky.social
📷 Max Oettli A man sits on a bench on the other side of the station with one hand on the seat and the other holding a cigarette, although I can't see the cigarette at this resolution, only when I magnified it at the National Library (NZ) online. He is the only one, we can see, waiting on that side. He is looking at his cigarette hand closely. There is a glare on the lens.
January 22, 2026 at 10:04 PM
markculham.bsky.social
📷 Max Oettli A woman in a hat and coat stands on the corner of a crossroads looking slightly down but ahead. She is side on to us, a number of straight lines to her shape, a slight lean forward, stock still. Behind her a car is passing,then a building on the left, and after the road and some further distant buildings a fair amount of cloudy sky.
January 22, 2026 at 9:53 PM
markculham.bsky.social
📷 Max Oettli Quite a dark picture of the side of a building with large windows and an outside stairs where we see a woman walking down. We view her slightly from behind.
January 22, 2026 at 9:42 PM
markculham.bsky.social
A cropped still from the film About Endlessness by Roy Anderson. We see a man with his arms round a woman from behind. They are flying over a cityscape in and out of clouds in a rather dark sky. A clear reference to a Chagall painting.
January 22, 2026 at 8:45 PM
markculham.bsky.social
📷 August Sander, A Master Shoemaker taken 1940-42. We see a man working on a shoe. He is looking at the camera over the top of his glasses whilst his hands hold a shoe underneath some contraption.
January 22, 2026 at 7:16 PM
markculham.bsky.social
Every so often I binge both series and then find myself continuing with a full Alec Guinness retrospective.
Alec Guinness playing Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations. Grinning face looking directly into the cameras.
January 22, 2026 at 5:53 PM
markculham.bsky.social
It seems unlikely that there is an engraving by Cornelis Galle II based on Rubens and it not turn up readily on the internet. Without it the image can't be dated so the angel could come from the stained glass (unlikely 🤔). The Rijkmuseum, as difficult to understand as C16-17 Dutch Protestantism.
Comparing the feet of the angel in the woodcut with those in the cartoon. They are the same. Also comparing the knot in his clothing between the stained glass and the woodcut, again, the same.
January 22, 2026 at 5:12 PM
markculham.bsky.social
The woodcut figure of the angel compared with both the stained glass and the stained glass cartoon.
The woodcut figure of the angel compared with both the stained glass and the stained glass cartoon. Three angels, all pointing their right arm and index figure above whilst their left hand holds some lilies.
January 22, 2026 at 4:46 PM
markculham.bsky.social
Whilst Heemskerck accounts for the figure of Mary, the angel can be found in this woodcut which the Rijkmuseum speculates was made by Christoffel van Sichem II. However, they appear sure that it is based on Cornelis Galle II & Rubens but I can't find anything.

Only the Rijkmuseum has this online.
Comparing an Annunciation scene in stained glass with one in a woodcut. Only the angel is comparable and I will show this next in the thread.
January 22, 2026 at 4:37 PM
markculham.bsky.social
But not the angel. I have the angel and will post about it later. It appears in a rather curious woodcut. Curious because the information about it is vague.
January 22, 2026 at 10:27 AM
markculham.bsky.social
A detail from the mural in the quoted post of what is clearly a self-portrait of Jean Cocteau. I've compared it with a screenshot from a film (I think) of him drawing a self-portrait in chalk on a blackboard. The two portraits are pretty much the same.
January 22, 2026 at 8:22 AM
markculham.bsky.social
📷 Max Oettli A young woman and a man are walking from right to left past some plain glass fronted shops. The man has a full white bag over his shoulder and is looking ahead. The woman is smiling towards him as if something funny has just been said, or she is just happy.
January 21, 2026 at 10:39 PM
markculham.bsky.social
📷 Max Oettli A portrait of a woman sitting in a chair with her head resting on her clenched fist, she looks to the bottom left past the camera. A small cabinet with some books is on the wall behind. On top of the cabinet is a vase with flowers.
January 21, 2026 at 10:31 PM
markculham.bsky.social
📷 Max Oettli A man standing casually, in casual clothes, including a shirt with what I think is a leaf pattern, is up a telephone pole amongst trees and shrubs fiddling about in the insides of a box attached to the pole.
January 21, 2026 at 10:26 PM