Mauve rings around the moon; blood-orange sun;
Twinned Iris; and that rare phenomenon
The iridule-when, beautiful and strange,
In a bright sky above a mountain range
One opal cloudlet in an oval form
Reflects the rainbow of a thunderstorm
Which in a distant valley has been staged-
For we are most artistically caged.
V. Nabokov - Pale Fire
Jansy Mello: Today I was surprised to find a new image for our Nabokovian picture book that papers our artistic cage. My first thought related this image to John Shade's "iridule" but a quick analysis showed me that it's nothing of the sort - but a phenomenon that's equally worth noticing and sharing.
Image from clouds and rainbow in Wontagghi (Australia)
More associations: "In his memories of his father, Dmitri Nabokov relates that there was a reproduction of one of Fra Angelico's Annunciations propped up on Nabokov's lectern, with a handwritten note saying that the angel's rainbow-wings have a "dash of Iphiclides podalirius, with a slight dash of Papilio machaon and perhaps a hint of the day-flying moth Panaxia (=
>Euplagia) quadripunctaria. The two blackish stripes on each 'wing' correspond to the pattern of I.podalirius in the natural position of rest."
http://www.d-e-zimmer.de/eGuide/Lep2.1-F-K.htm