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Stories

  • In pictures

The hermit life from medieval to modern

Can hermits get lonely? Explore solitary lives through the ages, from early religious ascetics to children imprisoned in churches, and on to those compelled to withdraw from modern life in the 21st century.

  • Article

The yogi as hermit, warrior, criminal and showman

How the modern world changed the life and reputation of the yogi.

  • Article

Sharing Nature: Alone

Being alone in nature can be a contradictory experience of fear and freedom.

  • Article

Robinson Crusoe and the morality of solitude

Robinson Crusoe, fiction’s most famous castaway, was certainly isolated, but did he suffer the intrinsically modern affliction of loneliness?

All stories (5)

Images

  • Prince Vessantara and his family live as hermits in separate temples. Watercolour.
  • Mount Zouquala, Abyssinia: hermits exorcising devils. Process print after F.C. Dickinson after Dr. Koelitz.
  • A hermit in meditation: the hermit of Warkworth, Northumbria. Wood engraving by Luke Clennell.
  • John Bigg, an eccentric hermit. Line engraving by Wilkes.
  • S. Barrett, a hermit. Stipple engraving by C. Doyle, 1807.
  • A hermit at prayer. Lithograph by C. Straub after G. Dou.
  • A hermit at prayer. Lithograph by C. Straub after G. Dou.
  • John Bigg, an eccentric hermit. Etching attributed to R. Livesay, 1787.
  • Samuel Mathews, a hermit. Engraving by J. Greig, 1803, after G. Arnald.
  • Saint Antony the Great and Saint Paul the Hermit. Engraving by C. Mellan.
All images (73)

Catalogue

All works (270)