Fairy and Unicorn

Fairy & Unicorn, digital painting by Michele Avanti.... more

by Michele Avanti

Title

Fairy and Unicorn

Artist

Michele Avanti

Medium

Painting - Digital Painting

Description

Fairy & Unicorn, digital painting by Michele Avanti.
Gazing into a crystal ball, flowers appear, they morph, some become crystals, some become abstract forms and then they part opening to a forest path. There on the path is beautiful fairy in a long gown, and to her right a dappled unicorn. They are headed somewhere in the distance where the trees hold an arched opening to yet another secret place.

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A fairy (also fay, fae; from faery, faerie, "realm of the fays") is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.

Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term fairy offers many definitions. Sometimes the term describes any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes: at other times, the term only describes a specific type of more ethereal creature or sprite.[1] Various folkloristic traditions refer to them euphemistically, by names such as wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk (Welsh tylwyth teg), etc.[2]
Much of the folklore about fairies revolves around protection from their malice. Although in modern culture they are often depicted as young, sometimes winged, humanoids of small stature, they originally[clarification needed] were depicted quite differently: tall, radiant, angelic beings or short, wizened trolls being two of the commonly mentioned forms.
One common theme found among the Celtic nations describes a race of diminutive people who had been driven into hiding by invading humans. When considered as beings that a person might actually encounter, fairies were noted for their mischief and malice.
Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Their origins are less clear in the folklore, being variously dead, or some form of demon, or a species completely independent of humans or angels.[3]
The concept of "fairy" in the narrow sense is unique to English folklore, conflating Germanic elves with influences from Celtic and Romance (French) folklores, and later made "diminutive" according to the tastes of Victorian era "fairy tales" for children. The English term "fairy" can be applied to comparable beings in any of these cultures, more generally to similar beliefs in other European folklores ("Slavic fairies"), or in comparative studies even worldwide.
Fairies have their historical origin in the conflation of Celtic (Breton, Welsh) traditions in the Middle French medieval romances, e.g. as one of the beings that a knight errant might encounter. Fairie was in origin used adjectivally, meaning "enchanted" (as in fairie knight, fairie queene), but was used as a name for "enchanted" creatures from as early as the Late Middle English period.
Fairies as the term is now understood were shaped in the literature of Romanticism during the Victorian era. Writers such as Walter Scott and James Hogg were inspired by folklore which featured fairies, such as the Border ballads.
Folklorists have suggested that their origin may lie partially in a conquered race living in hiding,[clarification needed][4] or in religious beliefs that lost currency with the advent of Christianity.

The unicorn is a legendary animal that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. The unicorn was depicted in ancient seals of the Indus Valley Civilization and was mentioned by the ancient Greeks in accounts of natural history by various writers, including Ctesias, Strabo, Pliny the Younger, and Aelian.[1] The Bible also describes an animal, the re'em, which some translations have erroneously rendered with the word unicorn.[1]
In European folklore, the unicorn is often depicted as a white horse-like or goat-like animal with a long horn and cloven hooves (sometimes a goat's beard). In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was commonly described as an extremely wild woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could only be captured by a virgin. In the encyclopedias its horn was said to have the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. In medieval and Renaissance times, the horn of the narwhal was sometimes sold as unicorn horn.

Uploaded

September 9th, 2014