A Tale from Decameron

Using Google's reverse image search, I finally found the story behind my blog header. It was simply an image I had googled on Story Telling.

Now I found out that John William Waterhouse, a British Painter born in 1849 painted the painting after naming it "A Tale from Decameron". Decamaron is a medieval Italian story that describes how ten people (seven women and three men) ran away from their homes to escape the plague in Florence. As they fled through the countryside, they decided to tell ten stories each making a total of a hundred story. In all surviving texts, Bonaccio, the author was the first one to introduce the storyteller's story in a story! 

Coming back to John William Waterhouse, he painted this one nearing the end of his life battling cancer. He lived for his art and was recognised rightly so, thankfully, in his own lifetime.

I am really proud to have stumbled across this picture for my blog. I couldn't think of any other picture that could portray the basic idea of my blog, the power of stories any better. I think Google has come up with a wonderful concept. Also, as the title is a tale from Decamaron, I think the story teller is actually telling the story of another story teller!