Thread by @JoelMerriner

#Tolkien & Art MEGA THREAD alert!
Ever get that feeling where a picture reminds you of a fave #LOTR character? Well, if you've follow me you'll know its a little obsession of mine. So tonight, hitch a ride on the eagle that is Pictures that Should Have Been Tolkienian (Gandalf?)

A Silent Watcher guards the entrance to Cirith Ungol.
No sorry, that single head is a no-no. Actually this is Resistance, or The Black Idol (1903) by Orphic cubist and symbolist František Kupka. Based on the Colossi of Memnon, but with a Bram Stoker vibe #Dracula #Tolkien

The Black Riders kick back post-Weathertop. No, sorry, this is the Dance of Death by Michael Wolgemut (c. 1493) Featured in Hartman Schedel's Nuremburg Chronicle, this charming little #woodcut conjures the horrors of the Black Death. complete with Satanic snakes #art #Tolkien

"Are there no leeches among you?" Imrahil spots that Éowyn isn't dead, as inattentive Rohirrim look on....
No, sorry, this Valkyrie's Death (1880) by Norwegian mythological painter Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831-1892). Nice helmet Imrahil, but where's the vambrace? #Tolkien #LOTR

"Shall I, shan't I..." Aulë contemplates creating the Dwarves - no, wait this is Portrait of Andrea Odoni (1527) by Venetian #Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/7). Odoni was a wealthy merchant and collector of classical art, hence the assorted artefacts #Tolkien

The Doors of Durin MK II and III. No, actually these are gilded doors from Hagia Sophia, with 6th-9th c. #Byzantine motifs. The codex in III paraphrases John 10:7-9: "I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture." #Tolkien

Beorn? No, this is Bear Shaman, a stunning soapstone carving by Abraham Anghik Ruben. Here, the Inuit Shaman assumes the shape of a bear, becoming a mediator between human, animal and spirit worlds. His upright stance and curious expression are especially charming #Tolkien

Beren and Lúthien hitch a ride on Huan - no, wait, this is Ivan Tsarevich on the Grey Wolf (1889) by Russian mythological and historical painter Vikto Vasnetsov (1848-1926). Here the Wolf carries Tsarevich and his bride-to-be Elena Prekrasnaya through the forest #Tolkien #Russia

Frodo trys out his Elven cloak. No, this is Rembrandt’s Son Titus in a Monk’s Habit (1660) by Rembrandt van Rijn. Here the artist utilises tenebrism (from tenebroso "dark, mysterious") a form of chiaroscuro designed to channel your eye to heart of the painting #Tolkien

Bilbo meets William Huggins. No, sorry this is Norwegian folk hero Espen Askeladd facing down a troll by artist Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914). Bravely our hero produces a piece of cheese in the guise of a stone, crushes it and threatens his foe with the same fate #Tolkien

"A parrot, in Bree?" Frodo and Strider debate ornithology in the Prancing Pony. No, wait...this Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver and Captain Flint (c. 1911) by Golden Age illustrator N. C. Wyeth. Direct and immediate, Wyeth hits home with a restricted palette #Tolkien

It's official, Balrogs do not have wings - Gothmog prepares his mates for battle. No, wait, these are demons from the 15th c. manual Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur. A chilling account of the end of the world, this book portrays the horrors which await the damned #Tolkien

Sauron stokes the fire in the Sammath Naur - no, this is Heat of the Earth (1918) by Russian symbolist painter and wanderer Nicholas Roerich. Steeped in apocrypha and dripping with weirdness, Roerich's images figured in Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness #Tolkien #Russianart

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins finally gets a look at the Red Book of Westmarch. No, hang on this is Rembrandt's Mother Reading (circa 1629) by the Dutch master himself. Note the liquid manner in which the old woman appears to emerge from her tenebrous backdrop #Tolkien #Rembrandt

Second Age Sauron checks his ingots. No, sorry this is The Antiquary (1855) by American history, religious and genre painter Edwin White. Probably best known for his Orientalist take on historical moments and characters, White is a largely forgotten man today #Tolkien #art

Beren catches Lúthien reading instead of dancing - no, sorry, this The Beguiling of Merlin (c. 1872-1877) by Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones. Here, the eponymous wizard gets snagged on some thorns as snake-haired Nimue runs through her spells #Tolkien #PreRaphaelite

Galadriel chills by her Mirror...
No, wait, this is Moonlit Night (1880) by Russian painter Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi. An influential member of the realist art group known as the Peredvizhniki ("Wanderers") Kramskoi produced paintings of formidable clarity #Tolkien #Russianart

Finwë and his sons strike a pose...
No, wait this is British goth pioneers Bauhaus photographed by Graham Trott circa 1979. Bela Lugosi's dead and Finwë's on the left, but the question is...which one is Fëanor?
#Noldorgoths #Tolkien

Gandalf catches up on his correspondence...
No, sorry this a portrait of the author Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy by an anonymous late 19th century Russian artist. Discovered in the State Central Literary Museum, Moscow this oil on canvas exhibits a fine painterly touch #Tolkien #art

Thranduil spotted alone in Mirkwood.
No, sorry this is #Dante lost in a gloomy wood (c. 1861) from the illustrated Inferno by printmaker and comic art pre-shadower Gustav Doré. "In the midway of this our mortal life, I found me in a gloomy wood, astray." #Tolkien

Frodo, Sam, Strider and Bill the camel - no sorry, this is two children, a dromedary and a cameleer from a 5th century Byzantine mosaic at the Great Palace Mosaic Museum, Istanbul #Tolkien #Byzantine

Smaug in his romantic youth...
No, sorry this is Mountain Dragons of British Colombia (1977) by British fantasy/sci fi illustrator Patrick Woodroffe (1940-2014). Pre the CGI revolution, Woodroffe's paintings and Tomographs blurred the boundaries between real and unreal #Tolkien

Missing blue wizard Pallando pours out another batch of moonshine while Alatar nips outside for a smoke.
No, sorry this is the Astrologer by N C Wyeth, as featured in Albert Paine and Frederick Duneka's 1916 rehashing of Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger.
#Istari #Tolkien

Celebrimbor finally gets wise to Sauron's plan..
No sorry, this is Spectre over Los (c. 1821) by artist, poet and general visionary William Blake (1757-1827). Featured in Copy E of Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion, here Spectre torments Los at his forge #Tolkien

Elendil and Gil-galad face Sauron on the slopes of Mount Doom...
No, sorry, this Sir Bedevere and King Arthur confronting the Knights Who Say "Ni!" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). May you live long Sirs Jones and Chapman
And Palin (who is still alive) #Tolkien #Python