And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Sunday, August 8, 2021
1895. The boatswain of the ship" Murman" Russian Empire
t's a long and convoluted story. people don't buy fine art if the artist is alive. an artist who painted only fine art would starve. artists who need to eat and pay rent take on art students and portrait commissions.
military officers were expected to have a portrait painted when they got promoted. the art students painted an office, and a military officers uniform with no rank insignia. when an officer needed a portrait he went to an artist. a student would select a prepared painting with an empty uniform that matched the officers build and service. he would add rank insignia and paint either a port with ships at docks, or soldiers on drilling on parade fields in the window. then the master would come in and paint the face.
the problem was hands. hands are extremely difficult to paint well, and very easy to screw up. so the students would paint hands tucked into uniforms so they would not screw up the rest of the painting. military officers got the notion that they should tuck their hands into their uniform when they had a portrait made or a picture taken.
there is a painting of George Washington that looks bizarre. his head is at an odd angle to the body and unmistakably painted by a different artist than the rest of the picture. this is a result of this process.
if you do a search for military officer portrait you will find paintings of the same office, bookshelves, a globe, same window, different view, as noted above.
Sorry I didn't get back with you sooner, explainist. That's a very good description of how the oil painting factories were set up. But still, this guy is posing for a photo and there's multitudes of others like him who shoved the hand in the jacket when the camera clicked. It's a club, probably the Masons, to whom they belong.
The Volga boatman or the Vulgar boatman?
ReplyDeleteIt's a conspiracy. What's with the hand in the jacket?
ReplyDeletet's a long and convoluted story.
Deletepeople don't buy fine art if the artist is alive. an artist who painted only fine art would starve. artists who need to eat and pay rent take on art students and portrait commissions.
military officers were expected to have a portrait painted when they got promoted. the art students painted an office, and a military officers uniform with no rank insignia. when an officer needed a portrait he went to an artist. a student would select a prepared painting with an empty uniform that matched the officers build and service. he would add rank insignia and paint either a port with ships at docks, or soldiers on drilling on parade fields in the window. then the master would come in and paint the face.
the problem was hands. hands are extremely difficult to paint well, and very easy to screw up. so the students would paint hands tucked into uniforms so they would not screw up the rest of the painting.
military officers got the notion that they should tuck their hands into their uniform when they had a portrait made or a picture taken.
there is a painting of George Washington that looks bizarre. his head is at an odd angle to the body and unmistakably painted by a different artist than the rest of the picture. this is a result of this process.
if you do a search for military officer portrait you will find paintings of the same office, bookshelves, a globe, same window, different view, as noted above.
this is an example of life imitating art.
Thank you, a great explanation!
DeleteSorry I didn't get back with you sooner, explainist. That's a very good description of how the oil painting factories were set up. But still, this guy is posing for a photo and there's multitudes of others like him who shoved the hand in the jacket when the camera clicked. It's a club, probably the Masons, to whom they belong.
DeleteAnd he has his boatswain whistle too. I've got one around here somewhere but can't make it toot at all.
ReplyDeleteIt does take practice. Stop blowing so hard is the best advice I can give.
DeleteTough looking men!
ReplyDelete