Good and bad Skyways

The decline in standards in skyway (covered bridges linking buildings) design in the 20th century is well illustrated by two examples from Oxford. One, from the start of the century, is the well-known 'Bridge of Signs' (Hertford Bridge), New College Lane. Design wise, it owes a debt to the Rialto Bridge in Venice, but it is daintier and its its proportions are more pleasing. There is also a Baroque flourish to the central section.

The other was was one from the later part of the century, which I noticed during a relatively recent visit.

Modernists...

There is also a 'Bridge of Sighs' in Cambridge, which I haven't seen, and this looks nothing like the Bridge of Sighs in Venice either. (Which I have). The original Bridge of Sighs connects the Doge's Palace and the prison, convicts were taken across it after trial in the palace, and it is named after their sighs of woe. (Well might they have sighed, especially the poor ones who couldn not pay to be kept in a cell above the water line). Still at least the Venetians took the time to make the bridge pretty from the outside.

There is also a fine covered bridge in Dublin, attached to Christchurch cathedral.



This made a suitably gothic background for the cover I did for 'Kiss Me Deadly' a vampire-hunter comic set in the city. I made it higher off the ground in order to fit the composition, but hopefully it is still recognizable.

Pre-Raphaelites at Ashmolean

If anyone is anywhere near Oxford over the coming months the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the Ashmolean museum is worth checking out. If you like that sort of thing, it will be just the sort of thing you like. Focusses on the Italian subjects chosen by the likes of Rossetti, Hunt, Burne Jones and Rushkin and Noel Paton. Some brilliant paintings and drawings to be seen. One of the paintings that is really striking in the flesh is Burne-Jones' 'Fall of Lucifer', which anticipates the art movements and the tragic history of later centuries and is full of defiant melancholia. Another impressive exhibit was 'Dante meditating on Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta'.

The encounter with the shades of Paolo and Francesca is one of my favourite parts of the Divine Comedy, and is a subject I've attempted once myself in a picture. other things in the expo that were a pleasure to see were Italian landcapes and architecutal drawings by various artists (especially Ruskin in the latter case) which reminded me of my own visits to Venice, Verona and Florence.

Also had a brief look at the rest of the museum, which I haven't been too since I was little. Unfortunately the two main Egyptian galleries were closed for refurbishmet, which was disappointing especially as I'm having a bit of an Egyptian phase.