Mermaids

November 11, 2013 by Diana 2 Comments

Mermaids, unicorns, knights and dragons, pewter plates, smelly people and a world that’s flat…welcome to the Dark Ages! Mermaid legends were rampant then, sight sworn by more than the odd sailor, believed to be beautiful and dangerous, much like the high seas.

A Mermaid Feeding Her Young 1520-40, Workshop of Romano, Royal Collection, London.

In 1493, during his first voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus noted in his journal a mermaid sighting:

‘The day before, when the Admiral was going to the Rio del Oro, he said he saw three mermaids who came quite high out of the water but were not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men.’

Not exactly the hair brushing, mirror toting dames of Disney!

Shakespeare wrote of mermaids in ‘Midsummer Nights Dream.’

‘Thou rememberest

Since once I sat upon a promontory,

And heard a mermaid on a Dolphin’s back

Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,

That the rude sea grew civil at her song;

And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,

To hear the sea-maid’s music.’

It’s believed he was having a go at Mary Queen of Scots!

Here are my Sirens of the Sea, bewitching sailors to their underwater world.

Mermaid wrapping paper made with acrylic paints, bubble wrap and thumb prints. Anchor made with apple core.

Hello Sailor gift wrapped …