saints, magical pockets, and gold dust

In early April I’ll be traveling to Vienna to research paper talismans in Renaissance and Baroque-era Austrio-Bavarian culture, thanks to a grant from Oxford University’s History of Art Continuing Education department (the Dr. Sue Holman travel grant). I’ll be visiting museums, doing research, and conducting interviews.

And looking for kisses, as usual.

Coincidentally it looks like Klimt’s man is covered with little square talismans, the kind I’m researching. This guy must be the luckiest, safest, most Black-Death-immune, plentiful-harvest-reaping person on earth. No wonder the woman’s so into him. I bet she’s rifling through the folded paper rectangles of his magical pockets, stealing dried fern leaves, bits of red string, pictures of saints, and splinters of martyrs’ bones with gilt fingertips.

Check out one of these opened square talismans here in my research proposal.

Here’s the lovely apartment my friend and I have rented in Vienna:

I’m a big fan of dark bedrooms and wood floors. Soon I’ll be sitting in that adorable little chair writing ridiculously enthusiastic blog posts about Wien museums.

Wallpaper painted by the sun – I want to stand between the sun and its warm canvas and wear its lace on my skin for a little while. I also want to roll in Klimt’s kiss and come away gold-dusted.