Category Archives: art

DECIDING ABOUT A PAINTING AS QUICK AS A FLASH.

DECIDING ABOUT A PAINTING AS QUICK AS A FLASH. In this post from earlier this year, I took note that people are reported to take on average only 11 seconds to look at the Mona Lisa. I also said: “A … Continue reading

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WHAT IS LANDSCAPE?

WHAT IS LANDSCAPE? I posted here that I agreed with Alain de Botton’s view that gas tankers and pylons can be beautiful and that “I have always preferred landscapes that reflect human activity—think of Constable and Brueghel.” Tristan Gooley reviewed … Continue reading

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ANNALISA’S ART—TWO RECENT PAINTINGS..

ANNALISA’S ART—TWO RECENT PAINTINGS. Annalisa has entered two paintings in the Infected by Art competition. Here is a link to them: http://www.infectedbyart.com/gallerycontestroom.asp?gcat=511 If you click on the link, you can see what she has been doing. The submission is to … Continue reading

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THE THREE DIMENSIONS OF THE PAINTING SURFACE.

THE THREE DIMENSIONS OF THE PAINTING SURFACE. I used to take for granted colors on a painted surface, not realizing that the thickness of the paint was important. I posted here about what I had learned, from having a daughter … Continue reading

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THE DISCOVERY OF PRUSSIAN BLUE.

THE DISCOVERY OF PRUSSIAN BLUE. I used to take the existence of the different pigments used in painting for granted. Annalisa sent me this essay by John Griswold on the Huffington Post website about the discovery of Prussian blue. Prussian … Continue reading

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RECOVERING THE KINGS MISSING FROM THE FACADE OF NOTRE DAME.

RECOVERING THE KINGS MISSING FROM THE FACADE OF NOTRE DAME. At the time I first saw the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris in 1969, I learned that a number of statues on the facade had been damaged or torn … Continue reading

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HOW HEAVY IS A LARGE TREE?

HOW HEAVY IS A LARGE TREE? I was astounded by the answer. For the answer, read to the end, where the answer is written in words. The Archaeology article tells how one of the difficulties of preserving what remains of … Continue reading

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HOW NERO’S GOLDEN HOUSE INFLUENCED THE RENAISSANCE.

HOW NERO’S GOLDEN HOUSE INFLUENCED THE RENAISSANCE. The wikipedia entry on the Golden House tells how in the late fifteenth century a boy fell through an opening in the side of the hill, and the decoration of the underground palace … Continue reading

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HOW THE GOLDEN HOUSE SURVIVED UNDERGROUND.

HOW THE GOLDEN HOUSE SURVIVED UNDERGROUND. It seems to me that the Golden House may have survived in part because of its excesses. The emperors that followed Nero were eager to wipe out all traces of it by filling it … Continue reading

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NERO’S GOLDEN HOUSE WAS UNDERFOOT.

NERO’S GOLDEN HOUSE WAS UNDERFOOT. The Golden House of Nero had been one of the wonders of Rome. It set all kinds of records for wretched excess. According to Suetonius, “its courtyard was so large that a 120-foot colossal statue … Continue reading

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