#the roses of heliogabalus

[escapismsworld]

The Roses of Heliogabalus details

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Dutch-British, 1836-1912) The Roses of Heliogabalus, 1888

[stigmatam4rtyr]

The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888, oil on canvas) | Lawrence Alma-Tadema

[mythicalsymplegma]

The Roses of Heliogabalus

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

1888

Happy Valentine’s Day, from the young Roman Emperor Elagabalus, who is illustrated here, in this possible false depiction, drowning his courtly subjects in rose petals.

“In a banqueting-room with a reversible ceiling he once buried his guests in violets and other flowers, so that some were actually smothered to death, being unable to crawl out to the top.”

[parlapina]

The roses of Heliogabalus (1888)- Lawrence Alma-Tadema

[tinytimism]

rock and hard place - better call saul / garden song - phoebe bridgers / the garden of death - hugo simberg / the roses of heliogabalus - sir lawrence alma tadema / sheep in fog - sylvia plath / martyr in the catacombs - jules cyrille cavé / ophelia - fredrich wilhelm theodor heyser / edvard munch

[borchkinati]

craving humanity

based on “The Roses of Heliogabalus” by Lawrence Alma-Tedema :)

[chadlesbianjasontodd]

evening in the garden

[puer-luna]

“the roses of heliogabalus” by lawrence alma-tadema.

[mercuriicultores]

1888, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Roses of Heliogabalus

[angelanoukart]

The Roses of Heliogabalus by Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Detail

[historiaocculta]

The Roses of Heliogabalus by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

[5511270207]

me rn.

[starbeancrusader]

asleep or dead … ?🩸💐❌

dark determination ver . :

[blatantescapism]

[Additional description details: Crowley’s fingernails are long, sharp, and red. His head is turned to the side that lets us see the coiled snake tattoo that comes down from his sideburns just in front of his ear. There is a halo visually framing his head, but he is not wearing it. It has fallen sideways and the golden color is dull. I would describe the snakes as “coppery”; they are mostly red, matching Crowley’s hair. The snake scales glint a metallic orange in the light, and have a greenish undertone in the shadow, like weathered copper. They are of all different sizes. A normal-sized snake twines up Crowley’s arm, and most of his body is buried under anaconda-sized coils. The small amount of clothing we can see between the snakes is all black. End additional description.]

@cherriielle deliberately made artistic reference to two famous paintings.

The first is “The Roses of Heliogabalus”, by Alma-Tadema.

The painting depicts an infamous banquet given by the Roman emperor Elagabalus, where he rigged a false ceiling to drop an absolutely enormous amount of flowers on his guests. According to the legend, some guests were smothered to death by the sheer mass of the petals. Crowley’s pose closely matches one of the guests in the painting. One arm over is his head to ward off the crushing weight from above.

The second painting is a perennial Tumblr favorite: “The Fallen Angel” by Alexandre Cabanel.

This painting shows Lucifer cast down from Heaven, in a rather sympathetic interpretation. The strong emotion in his face shows that he feels HE is the one who has been betrayed by Heaven, rather than the usual narrative which is the other way around. The similarity here is the way the forearm covers the lower part of the face, emphasizing and framing the expressive eyes. The curve of the frowning eyebrow is very much the same, and of course both fallen angels have red or auburn hair.

These artistic references enhance the impact of Cherriielle’s painting with their parallels. The banquet, in particular- the guests are struck down to entertain the whims of a capricious absolute ruler, and the elite are unconcerned so long as they themselves remain in luxury.

just to hide outside your door 🐍🍎

[chadlesbianjasontodd]

dusk at the rose garden