Arty Farty Friday ~ René Bull

René Bull. I'd never heard of him, but maybe I should have - he illustrated, among other publications, an edition of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, something I've longtime loved. However, oddly my 2013 post featuring various illustrators of The Rubáiyát didn't mention him. He was just one of many brilliantly talented illustrators working during that same time period.

To see the whole Rubáiyát as illustrated by Bull go HERE then follow the link that says "Browse the rest of it here".


So...who was he?

From here.

René Bull was born in Dublin
on 11 December 1872; his parents weren't Irish, his father was English, his mother French. Bull initially set out studying engineering in Paris, but his innate artistic streak propelled him in other directions. He took drawing lessons from a then famous cartoonist, Emmanuel Poiré (pseudonym Caran d’ Ache).

Having settled in London in 1892 he drew cartoons for various well-known publications. In 1896 he became war artist for The Black and White news magazine, covered campaigns in the Afghan War, the Armenian Massacre and the Greco-Turkish War. He was wounded while covering the Boer War.

Back in England Bull worked as a book illustrator as well as cartoonist. His illustrations for The Arabian Nights (1912), The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1913) and Gulliver's Travels (1928) being some of his best known. He died in 1942.

For a little more detail and more illustrations see this 2010 post by Gordon Howsden at a blog called Bear Alley.

Examples of his illustrations:

ASTROLOGY

Born 11 December 1872, Dublin, Ireland. Natal chart set for 12 noon as no time of birth is known.

So many harmonious trines in Bull's chart! One might expect him to have led a rather charmed life. If he did there's nothing much online about it. Among the commentary following the article at Bear Alley (linked above) there is a note that "René Bull did marry and was divorced. (Katherine Shields was his wife). An acrimonious split, and even in later census returns he describes himself as "single" rather than "divorced", i.e. as if it never happened." So, in spite of all those harmonious trines it seems he encountered much the same problems as the rest of us!

From his natal chart, in general, I suspect he was an amiable, practical kind of guy, industrious in his chosen calling - making art. That's indicated by the trine from his Sagittarius Sun to creative Neptune. Travel-loving Sagittarius Sun could also be credited for the ease with which Mr Bull was able to illustrate so many scenes from foreign lands, many of which he had, himself, experienced during his work as illustrator in war zones.

His practical nature shows through Mercury, Saturn and Venus in Capricorn, with Moon somewhere in Taurus, Jupiter in Virgo - all Earth signs. He had no planet in a Water sign, which reflects a nature led strongly by practicality rather than emotionality - though the sign rising at time of his birth could, possibly, indicate otherwise.