respect skunks, never been phfffsshhhed, hope never to be phfffsshhhed. would blinking skunk emoji next to check engine light increase compliance?
found our $12.7 billion on page eight. the sun king's grandma a medici and so coat of arms avec fleur-de-lis. who should i nominate? how about you?
read peter paul rubens: the drawings by anne-marie logan in collaboration with michiel c. plomp
ironically, rubens's native soil can't boast of any major holdings of the artist's drawings or those of his pupils. this essay will follow the diaspora of the work of the great flemish draftsman. it will be a journey through several centuries and various countries, among collectors of all ranks. above all, it will be an encounter with the history of taste
the drawings which he had collected and made he ordered to be held and preserved for the benefit of any of his sons who want to follow him in the art of painting, or, failing such, for the benefit of any of his daughters who might marry a recognized painter; thus they should be kept until the youngest of his children should have reached his eighteenth year. if by that time none of his sons should have followed him in his art and none of his daughters should have married a recognized painter, the drawings should be sold and the receipts divided in the same manner as his other assets
the famous spinaro, a roman copy after a greek original of a boy pulling a thorn from his foot
inscribed by the artist in pen and brown ink at top left: socrates procul dubio (socrates without doubt); at top right: xantippe quae somachatur / vide os columnatum (xantippe in one of her moods / see her pillared face) annotated in pen and brown ink at the bottom left: rubbens
"vide os columnatum" (look how the bone resembles a column)
rubens's drawings of the centaur are of special interest since they show the statue in its unrestored state and are the oldest known records of it: cupid's arms and wings, and the centaur's arms and right foreleg, are missing, while a sculpted tree trunk was apparently added below the centaur's belly for support
in a.d. 65 the emperor nero forced seneca, his former tutor, to commit suicide for alleged participation in a conspiracy against him. seneca obliged by opening his veins so that he would bleed to death. however, as the blood did not flow quickly because of old age, he also took poison, and finally stood in a tub of hot water to accelerate the process. while performing the act, he assembled his friends around him and called for a scribe to dictate a long discourse..only in the late 18th century was it realized that the sculpture represents neither the famous stoic philosopher nor a dying man
"in order to attain the highest perfection in painting, it is necessary to understand the antiquities [i.e., antique sculpture], nay, to be so thoroughly possessed of this knowledge, that it may diffuse itself everywhere"
susanna can be understood as a symbol either of chastity or of silence, since she did not speak up to declare her innocence
rubens offered a painting of susanna, calling it a "galanteria," whose subject was "[neither] sacred nor profane although taken from the holy scriptures"
with the executioner sheathing his sword
samson and delilah, now in london, hung in the large parlor room (de groote saleth) of the rockox house on the keizerstraat. frans francken ii (1582-1642) depicted it in his painting banquet at the house of burgomaster rockox, where it appears prominently over the mantelpiece
christopher - from christophorus, meaning "bearer of christ" (according to legend, christopher carried the christ child on his back across a river)
lapide might have asked rubens to modify the traditional representation of moses in accordance with his discussion in the commentaria in pentateuchum mosis of the true meaning of the original hebrew text. (moses's horns derive from jerome's incorrect latin translation of this passage.) the anonymous engraver, however, did not respect this interpretation
it pleased him ("wollgefellig")
the ox skull between the cornucopiae in the cartouche at the bottom is a reference to piety, a symbol rubens must have known from reading guillame du choul's then-popular discours de la religion des anciens romains
fist-fighting angels
rubens's large crucifixion of christ with thieves altarpiece of 1620, generally known as the coup de lance..roman centurion longinus, on horseback, pierces christ's right side with a lance to verify that he is dead
it has been said that, after rubens's death, helena fourment destroyed "nudities" in her husband's work
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