Apples Gallery

Ornamental frieze from the Basilica of St. Clement, Rome, Italy, (1928). Creator: Unknown

Ornamental frieze from the Basilica of St. Clement, Rome, Italy, (1928). 'About 1100..."The frieze and plinth paintings belong to the most beautiful mediaeval pieces of decoration...the rosettes...are enclosed by elegantly curved tendrils and alternate with foliage ornament. The plinth is divided into lozenge-shaped compartments by means of bands inter-secting at right angles...The compartments contain cut twigs with red and yellow apples. In four of them there are also golden pheasants, and in the central one a vase filled with fruit. The intersecting bands are undulating with rosettes, bunches of pointed leaves and star-flowers." After J. Wilpert. Plate LIII, fig 118, from "An Encyclopaedia of Colour Decoration from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the XIXth Century" with explanatory text by Helmuth Bossert. [Ernst Wasmuth Ltd., Berlin, 1928]

© The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Apple and banana, c1950. Creator: Shirley Markham

Apple and banana, c1950. Shirley Markham (1931-1999) studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Central School of Art in London from 1950-1952. The writer, artist, poet, and illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) was one of her tutors, and her style of drawing was also influenced by other British illustrators such as Edward Ardizzone, Quentin Blake and Edward Bawden. Markham spent time in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, and also visited Rome, sketching classical buildings. After graduating from Central, she worked as a graphic designer, producing book illustrations, cartoons for comics, menus and programmes. She gave up her promising career however when she got married in 1957. Middle-class women at that time were expected to devote their energies to bringing up children and running the home, and despite her obvious talent, she lacked the confidence to return to illustration. Her portfolio remained in the family attic for many years, but now her work is published here for the first time.

© Shirley Markham Collection / Heritage-Images

'Helene - Femme De Menelas', 1403, (1939). Artist: Master of Berry's Cleres Femmes

'Helene - Femme De Menelas', 1403, (1939). In Greek mythology , Helen is the daughter of Zeus and Leda . According to legend, she was the most beautiful woman in the world, only the goddess Aphrodite surpassing her in this field. The illustration is part of the manuscript De Claris mulieribus, traduction anonyme en francais (Livre des femmes nobles et renommees) by Giovanni Boccaccio, housed in the Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris. From Verve - Nos. 5-6, July-October 1939. [Verve, France, 1939]

© The Print Collector