Tag Archives: Rubens

collection with the public purse

Charles I was Britain’s most discerning and energetic royal patron, buying much art and encouraging many continental artists. With his ascension to the throne in 1625, it was a turning point in English connoisseurship. Charles had grown up under the … Continue reading

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PAINTED FROM MEMORY: PETER PAUL PAINTING JOY

“Like many people, I have trouble with Rubens’s nudes, especially the female ones: all that smothering flesh, vibrantly alive but with the erotic appeal of a mud slide. (Rubens, owing to moral constraints of the time, rarely worked from nude … Continue reading

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TROY AS MYTHOLOGICAL PLOY & APHRODITE AS TOY

”The three goddesses (Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite) asked Zeus to present the apple of discord — a beautiful gold sphere — to the one who deserved the title kallista ‘most beautiful’. I know some of the other gods were surprised … Continue reading

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THE WANDERING MYTH: IF ANYONE FINDS A LOST TROJAN

Its been about one hundred and fifty years since Schliemann discovered the site of Troy. Yet no one has found any evidence that the Greeks ever fought there. The capture of Troy and the wanderings of Odysseus have had an … Continue reading

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DO WHAT YOU MAY HARM NO ONE EXCEPT ON HIGHWAY 61

Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son” Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on” God say, “No.” Abe say, “What ?” God say, “You can do what you want Abe, but The next time you see … Continue reading

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WHO SPIKED THE PUNCH

When discussing the fall of Rome, there is a desire to latch onto the shortest, the most accessible, and the most direct and dramatic answer to the question lurking in many minds: mind: what does it actually mean for a … Continue reading

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UNPLEASANTLY SANE & MYSTICALLY MAD

“William Blake is an unfortunate lunatic, whose personal inoffensiveness secures him from confinement….the proor man fancies himself a great master, and has painted a few wretched pictures, some of which are intelligible allegory, others an attempt at sober character by … Continue reading

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AUGUSTUS WAS NOT AMUSED

” I was born for poetry. Whatever I tried to say came out as verse”. Ovid was a gifted observer of ”la dolce vita” that delighted the beautiful people of Augustan Rome with his how-to verses on love making. Unfortunately, … Continue reading

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NOT A COURT JESTER

Even more extremely than most great painters, Pieter Bruegel the Elder exists at two levels. At the popular one, his rollicking peasants are taken at face value and bought by the thousands in reproduction. A curious and delightful painter; obvious … Continue reading

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CHRISTMAS: IT'S IN THE MIND'S EYE

Christmas. Undoubtedly the holiday with the greatest inclination to bring out the fruitcake in all of us. Is Christmas really any worse than other times of the year and do the Christmas blues really exist? Carl Jung differentiated himself from … Continue reading

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