The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

“Water, water, every where,  And all the boards did shrink;  Water, water, every where,  Nor any drop to drink.” Immortal lines from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s great poem of 1834, which I enjoyed and still remember class reading at school. So with me flitting back and forth between Venice and North Gloucestershire floods, I thought an…

Torcello Cathedral

Torcello. If you ever come to Venice you will be bathed in some of the most sumptuous renaissance, baroque, modern and contemporary art imaginable. But if you leave without visiting Torcello you will not have properly treated your soul. Whichever myth of Venice and the visitations of the hun you are prepared to believe or…

September Painting of the Month (2)

Spanish culture. This month I have decided to have a second painting of the month from the rich base of Spanish art. We have been touring some of the Northern regions of Spain. Having left Catalunya far behind we are now in the Basque Country. Ramiro Arrue’s Yo ou le Fandango is a Basque gem….

Lagrasse – SW France

Lagrasse is an artist’s delight with views around every corner. It is an old Cité and its Abbaye was one of the richest and important in Medieval France, founded by the authority of Charlemagne, no less, in the ninth century. It was given much land and concessions as a Benedictine house and had a very…

White Box – New Format

The White Box Art Channel has a new format. Hopefully navigation should be easier and the posts more direct, with opportunity to read more as you wish. Let me know?