BarkerJones

Hope...

 

'Hope' is the title I have borrowed from George Frederick Watts painting of the same name, painted in 1886.

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The picture by Watts is one of a series of allegorical subjects intended for a decorative scheme known as the 'House of Life'. He painted blind Hope seated on a globe playing on a lyre with just one string remaining. Bending her head to listen to the faint note, her efforts appear forlorn; the overall atmosphere is one of sadness and desolation rather than hope.

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In nature, particularly in the autumn, nature on the whole has come to the end of its most fruitful period. Most seeds will fail to find good soil or have a chance to seed. But unlike the melancholia in Watts' painting, I find optimism in these images, particularly the oak cup without its acorn, now possibly buried beneath an avalanche of autumn leaves, discreetly rooting itself into the soil for a long life ahead!