Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler

You know what, it's been an utterly exhausting week, and if anything was going to get up today, it was going to be a throwaway like this. So deal with it. :D

(Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, 1910)

Allegory of Wisdom and Strength

I love when in old texts they say things like "fa!" and "la!" and "zo!" Little two-word exclamations of... shock? Dismay? Joy? I'm not really sure.

(Paolo Veronese, Allegory of Wisdom and Strength, c. 1580)

The Forge of Vulcan

Don't worry, I'm not getting topical or relevant to current events. Just this once.

(Diego Velázquez, The Forge of Vulcan, 1630)

Orpheus and Euridice

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I was off from work and feeling laaaazyyyy! I hope for you all what did same things.

(Frederic Leighton, Orpheus and Euridice, 1864)

The Child's Caress

Google informed me that today is Mary Cassatt's birthday, so I thought this one to be only fitting. Happy 165th, Mary C!

(Mary Cassatt, The Child's Caress, c. 1890)

Feast with Organ Grinder

(Niko Pirosmani, Feast with Organ Grinder, 1906)

Otani Oniji II

(Tōshūsai Sharaku, Otani Oniji II, 1794)

Cherry Ripe

This girl is mega-creepy and you know it.

(John Everett Millais, Cherry Ripe, 1879)

Wheat Field with Crows

Trivia: this is not actually Van Gogh's last painting. But the more likely candidate, Daubigny's Garden, isn't nearly as cool, and looks like an eight-year-old's coloring book.

(Vincent Van Gogh, Wheat Field with Crows, 1890)

Sirin and Alkonost, Birds of Joy and Sorrow

Holy crap it's FRIDAY YOU GUYS. I am outta here.

(Viktor Vasnetsov, Sirin and Alkonost, Birds of Joy and Sorrow, 1896)

St. Sebastian Attended by St. Irene and Her Maid

This is kinda how I feel this morning.

(Dirck van Baburen, St. Sebastian Attended by St. Irene and Her Maid, c. 1615)

The Visitation with Two Saints (detail)

(Piero di Cosimo, The Visitation with Two Saints, detail: St. Anthony, 1489-1490)

Charles Macklin as Shylock

1, 2, 3... zomgSH00T

(Johann Zoffany, Charles Macklin as Shylock, 1767-68)

La mort du fossoyeur

So, a few weeks ago we had a contest for Carlos Schwabe's La mort du fossoyeur, or, The Death of the Grave-Digger. Although it seems Wikipedia took down the original picture I linked to, this didn't stop Klaus from creating an excellent entry:

(Carlos Schwabe, La mort du fossoyeur, 1895)

Many congratulations and supreme kudos! Bragging rights and commendations are in order!

P.S. did you know Schwabe painted this thing, for which his first wife modeled the angel, when he was 17-18? Dude was married and doing paintings like this, while I was worrying about prom and statistics class.

The Dutch Housewife

The inner workings of a 17th-century homemaker's mind...

(Gerrit Dou, The Dutch Housewife, 1650)

I had a piece each from the 16th, 18th, 19th, and 20th century this week, so I wanted to fill the gap, but this is the best I could find. It kind of fits with my theme, though I don't know about you guys, but this one doesn't really trompe my oeil very much. Oh well. Look at her face, though! She is so sick of making chicken, you guys.

Thus concludes the week of illusions, anamorphoses, trompes l'œil, and so forth. Next week: a surprise! And, please note that you can now follow this blog with the convenient little follow button on the sidebar. I hope that you will consider. My blog is always welcome to you.

The Librarian

This one is for The Sassy Spinster! dooey dessimul sistum LOL

(Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Librarian, 1556)

Relativity

Dammit, I worked on this for a good half hour and it still didn't turn out quite the way I wanted. Really, I should just pirate a version of PhotoShop and install it here on my work compy, but that's so much hassle, and they'd yell at me. Ugh. Just... just try to imagine it, okay? Someday I'll go back through and fix the ones that need some serious fixing...

(M.C. Escher, Relativity, 1953)

Trompe l'œil

(Henry Fuseli, Trompe l'œil, 1750)

Escaping Criticism

I'm feeling really into trompe l'œil, anamorphosis, illusions, and the like this week. We'll see how many more good ones I can actually dig up, though.

(Pere Borrell del Caso, Escaping Criticism, 1874)

Vanitas

(Pieter Claesz, Vanitas, 1630)