Mnemosyne (Rossetti) Mnemosyne (Rossetti) Mnemosyne, also titled Lamp of Memory and Ricordanza, is an oil painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti begun in 1875 or early 1876 and completed in 1881. Jane Morris was the model, and Frederick Richards Leyland bought the painting in 1881 and displayed it in his drawing room with five other Rossetti "stunners." At about the same time Rossetti, a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, was painting "Astarte Syriaca", a larger painting completed in 1877 with Morris in a very similar pose. "Mnemosyne" began as an oil study for "Astarte Syriaca", for which Jane Morris sat over the winter
Beira (mythology) Beira (mythology) Beira is the name given by 20th-century folklorist Donald Alexander Mackenzie to the "Cailleach Bheur", the personification of winter and the mother of all the gods and goddesses in Scottish mythology. She is associated with one of the Celtic creation myths (which usually pertain to local land features) and bears a similar role to Gaea in Greek mythology and Jord in Norse mythology. According to Mackenzie, Beira was a one-eyed giantess with white hair, dark blue skin, and rust-colored teeth. She built the mountains of Scotland using a magic hammer, and Loch Ness was created when Beira transformed