Tag Archives: J.A.D. Ingres

joan of liberty and fraternity and convenience

Joan of Arc. From compromising circumstance in the life of Charles VII, to be forgotten as soon as possible to subsequent resurrection and refashioning into useful symbol… The French Revolution was a decisive event in the development of the reputation … Continue reading

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a happy home

The inner and residential part of the Seraglio was called the House of Happiness. It was hard to imagine who was happy there. Certainly not the fifteen hundred women of the harem. For most of them life was like that … Continue reading

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vintage violence

Janissaries were uneducated except in violence and were fanatically conservative. In 1763, when Lord Baltimore passed through Constantinople, he observed that the Corps was still carrying bows and arrows, sabers and lances, having never got used to firearms. Sultan Selim … Continue reading

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a gendered gaze

Exactly how many pieces of art are in the Louvre is not clear. At the most extreme is the assertion that there are 300,000 paintings and a minimum of 5,000 and the total pieces of art ranging from 35,000 to … Continue reading

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full louvre fever

While the cruelties of the French Revolution were taking place, and the young Republic was fighting for survival, the National Convention did not forget its museum. On August 10, 1793, the Grand Galerie was opened, and not only were masterpieces … Continue reading

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pythagoras to byzantium

It’s difficult to put the notion of Greece and the traditional assumption we have of it as birthplace of Western civilization, into context, particularly cultural, when confronted with images of mass civil unrest. The images do lend themselves to a … Continue reading

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the wilde ones

The archetype of the socialist intellectual. The keen eyed observer, but missing a few pieces that would temper an interest in the problems of society with a less poetic palette of sweeping verse. Nonethless, there are some profound insights here … Continue reading

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melancholy scribbles and drips: one dribble at a line

Mere doodling of only psychological interest? Even then. After its initial surge of authenticity could abstract expressionism be sustained? The mendaciousness of the art industry to hype this style knew no bounds. Like Marcel Duchamp asserting that everyone is an … Continue reading

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napoleon: romantic muse and not amused

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. So said Dickens. But it was. As Napoleon began his rather blood-soaked, chaotic  and passionate rule of France he met the force of two women , “femmes fatales” … Continue reading

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POMPEII: Dangerously Low Necklines

When the ruins of Pompeii came to light, they caused a revolution in taste-stripping away rococo gilt, reshaping the female figure, and leaving a deposit of pseudo-Greek temples from Moscow to Mississippi- although what sometimes passed for “classical” would have … Continue reading

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