Thank you for the beautiful Klimt paintings (neither of which were known to me) and the details about his life. I wouldn't say I exactly lost the objects I'm thinking of, but I abandoned them when I moved from my parents' house to Belgium in 1980, leaving my old room behind. I guess I never went back to recover any of my stuff, so eventually my parents cleared out my room. Many years later, I discovered while staying with my parents that at least some of my books were still in their garage, including an illustrated book of Hans Christian Andersen tales that had done much to stimulate my imagination as a culture-starved child (my parents, being war children, were entirely practical and material). Naturally this book is now in my possession, along with a couple of others. I used the Nightingale tale in Lady Odelia's Secret, basing some of the fictional paintings in that book on the illustrations in mine.
Many years after that, while clearing out my parents' house for sale, I discovered more books from my childhood. The thing is, books were pretty much never on display in my parents' house, and these were kept in the back of wardrobes and in boxes and so on, so I wonder why they ever kept them. But they did, and I'm glad, although I also wonder sometimes why I'm keeping them. Perhaps it's because I have so few tangible memories of the time before I moved to Belgium?
That could be a whole other thread, couldn't it - the things we left behind and now wish we didn't. As young adults we expected our parents to keep everything there for us, as our permanent fallback position! I did anyway.
Glad you got the Hans Christian Anderson book back. It sounds gorgeous. I don't actually know the nightingale story. My favourite was the Ice Queen. The shard in the boy's eye seemed so tragic.
I use the Ice Queen in Lady Odelia's Secret too. There is a lot of deeper meaning in both that tale and the Nightingale, which is about conquering death. All inspired by Burne-Jones's Sleeping Beauty series, which I saw at the Tate.
Great information! I love History 😀
So glad you enjoyed it Carmen! :)
Thank you for the beautiful Klimt paintings (neither of which were known to me) and the details about his life. I wouldn't say I exactly lost the objects I'm thinking of, but I abandoned them when I moved from my parents' house to Belgium in 1980, leaving my old room behind. I guess I never went back to recover any of my stuff, so eventually my parents cleared out my room. Many years later, I discovered while staying with my parents that at least some of my books were still in their garage, including an illustrated book of Hans Christian Andersen tales that had done much to stimulate my imagination as a culture-starved child (my parents, being war children, were entirely practical and material). Naturally this book is now in my possession, along with a couple of others. I used the Nightingale tale in Lady Odelia's Secret, basing some of the fictional paintings in that book on the illustrations in mine.
Many years after that, while clearing out my parents' house for sale, I discovered more books from my childhood. The thing is, books were pretty much never on display in my parents' house, and these were kept in the back of wardrobes and in boxes and so on, so I wonder why they ever kept them. But they did, and I'm glad, although I also wonder sometimes why I'm keeping them. Perhaps it's because I have so few tangible memories of the time before I moved to Belgium?
That could be a whole other thread, couldn't it - the things we left behind and now wish we didn't. As young adults we expected our parents to keep everything there for us, as our permanent fallback position! I did anyway.
Glad you got the Hans Christian Anderson book back. It sounds gorgeous. I don't actually know the nightingale story. My favourite was the Ice Queen. The shard in the boy's eye seemed so tragic.
I use the Ice Queen in Lady Odelia's Secret too. There is a lot of deeper meaning in both that tale and the Nightingale, which is about conquering death. All inspired by Burne-Jones's Sleeping Beauty series, which I saw at the Tate.
How lovely. Art and story feeding into more story. I really have to get on and read Lady Odelia!