flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

The Colors Of Her Coat - by Scott Alexander

astralcodexten.com · 3,400 words · saved by 1 readers

...

The Colors Of Her Coat ... Scott Alexander Apr 01, 2025 2,105 646 412 Share I. In Ballad of the White Horse, G.K. Chesterton describes the Virgin Mary: Her face was like an open word When brave men speak and choose, The very colours of her coat Were better than good news. Why the colors of her coat? The medievals took their dyes very seriously. This was before modern chemistry, so you had to try hard if you wanted good colors. Try hard they did; they famously used literal gold, hammered into ultrathin sheets, to make golden highlights. Blue was another tough one. You could do mediocre, half-fa

Explore this link on the map →

related reading