Going Up

 

I took a photo of these steps at a restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah called El Cholo.  The whole restaurant had a cool design vibe but I thought to snap this staircase while I was in the vestibule (vestibule?  What, am I a hundred??)  waiting for my Uber.  

I love the colors and patterns.  It almost makes me wish I had stairs in my house. 

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2024: Souper Tasty
2023: Sorry, no post on this day.
2022: Sorry, no post on this day.
2021: Sorry, no post on this day.
2020: Sorry, no post on this day.
2019: Soaking In European Bubbles
2018: Roasted And Tossed
2017: Only A Boob Drives Into A 'Boob
2016: A Citrus Oasis Awaits Me
2015: Ed Travels Light
2014: La Ventanita
2013: Big Fat Proof Of Your Weight
2012: This Could Be Very Confusing For Men
2011: The King Of Thrift
2010: Dances With Sheepskin
2009: The Seat You Offer Your Arch Enemy
2008: The Man With The Silver Handbag
2007: Silver Snowscape
2006: Let Go Let Flow
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

Murtagh Isn't Very Merry

 

The rooster in this painting is named Murtagh. He was named after Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser, from the Outlander series.

It was painted by Aimée Rolin Hoover, who specializes in contemporary animal paintings. It is on loan from our good friends, M & G.  

His gaze grows on you.  We've become very fond of him but know someday it will go back to its rightful owners and live in their home.  

We've already arranged visitation rights.

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2023: Sorry, no post on this day.
2022: Sorry, no post on this day.
2021: Sorry, no post on this day.
2020: Sorry, no post on this day.
2019: Sorry, no post on this day.
2018: A Modern Stroll Through The Museum
2017: Holiday Vibe
2016: Four Eyes At Your Service
2015: Good Morning, Arizona
2014: Boom! Last Load Of The Year
2013: Do You Really Need To Ice Skate At The Mall??
2012: Christmas Score! 
2011: Iowa Beef Dresses Up For The Holidays
2010: Weather, Wyoming And Wings
2009: The End Is Not Just Near, It’s Here!! 
2008: Keeping The Mountain On The Right Side Of The Fence
2007: Divine Intervention Comes A Little Too Late
2006: General Delivery
2005: Frumpy To Nicole

The Oldest Guy In The Louvre

We saw several of these statues at the Louvre in Paris.  They are from 'Ain Ghazal, in Amman, Jordan.  They are some of the oldest large-sized statues ever discovered., dating back to approximately 9,000 years ago!

This was the text included on the plaque beside the statue:

"Statue from 'Ain Ghazal

(Jordan)

Discovered at 'Ain Ghazal during the joint Jordanian-American archaeological excavations carried out in 1985, this statue subsequently underwent conservation treatment in Washington at the Smithsonian's Conservation Analytical Laboratory from 1985 to 1996 before being loaned to the Louvre for a period of 30 years.

At 9,000 years old, this is the oldest work on display in the museum.

'Ain Ghazal (the 'Spring of the Gazelles') was founded in the 8th millennium BC and prospered for 2,000 years. The statue belongs to what is known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, a Neolithic culture that existed during the 7th millennium BC throughout the entire Fertile Crescent region. Structures dating from this period were produced using plaster obtained through the calcination of local gypsum, by means of primitive pyrotechnics.

New practices emerged from new ways of thinking: the skulls of certain bodies - possibly those of local leaders - were treated with an outer layer of plaster or clay and preserved separately, which seems to suggest the existence of some form of ancestor worship. Almost 30 plaster statues, including this one, were discovered in shallow ditches at 'Ain Ghazal. These take the form of full-length statues or busts, which can be either single- or double-headed. All of these effigies were designed to stand upright.

They were buried in small groups, on separate occasions.

We do not know their meaning, with their purpose probably being an imaginary or ritualistic one, but we can assume that they were intended to encourage community cohesion.

In 1997 the Louvre was given the opportunity to display the 'Ain Ghazal statue thanks to an agreement with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. This was the first time that an artwork belonging to - and still owned by - a Near Eastern country was placed on display alongside the Louvre's permanent collections.

The work is on loan for a period of 30 years, which may be renewed tacitly. In exchange, the Directorate of French Museums and the Musée du Louvre contributed to the conservation treatment and presentation of a monument in Jerash (Jordan): the limestone and painted stucco sanctuary built during the 2nd century BC and replaced by a Roman temple, which can be seen there today.

This sanctuary was rediscovered by an archaeological team from the Institut Français du Proche-Orient, who offered to help reconstruct it."

Pretty amazing stuff, these antiquities. 

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2023: Sorry, no post on this day.
2022: Sorry, no post on this day.
2021: Sorry, no post on this day.
2020: Sorry, no post on this day.

2019: Sorry, no post on this day.
2018: La Rive Gauche
2017: Where Broken Hearts Reside

2016: Man Meets Cactus

2015: Joy Delivery

2014: All Huddled Together

2013: Me And My Shadow

2012: Weekend Update

2011: Midway To A Haven Of Triple X Activity

2010: The Cowboy And I

2009: Christmas In OKC

2008: Ain’t Nuthin’ But A Lizard Pimp

2007: After The Storm

2006: Border Town

2005: Easily Amused

That's It In A Clamshell

 

Part of the Raven Discovering Mankind In A Clamshell Mural in downtown Juneau, Alaska.

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2023: Sorry, no post on this day
2022: Sorry, no post on this day
2021: Sorry, no post on this day
2020: Sorry, no post on this day
2019: Sorry, no post on this day
2018: Sweet Hybrid
2017: Unfortunately, The Joke Is On Us
2016: Oh, Joe.
2015: Birdwatching Saturday
2014: Flashback Friday
2013: The Best Kind Of Mob

2012: Who Needs A Guy In A Three Piece Suit When You Can Have This Guy In A One Piece?

2011: Stop And Smell The Turkey And Sweet Potatoes

2010: How Do You Spell Relaxation? B.V.I.

2009: Green Velvet

2008: Eddie Lost In Space Friday

2007: Have A Happy Thanksgiving And Choke On A Turkey Bone For Us

2006: When You Can’t See The View Because The Hooters Are In The Way

2005: Stealth Monday

Champion Of The Weak

This sculpture by Baccio Bandinelli is called Hercules and Cacus and it's located in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy.

When you see this in person, it's difficult to take your eyes off of him.  Hercules is really built. 

Those Italians really know how to sculpt.

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2023:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2022:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2021:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2020:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2019:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2018:  Drinks With Dillinger
2017:  Crushed And Bundled In Canada
2016:  Is Purse Anxiety In The DSM?
2015:  Apple Crisp And Friends
2014:  Where The Food Is Delicious And The Service Is World Class
2013:  Something To Look Forward To
2012:  Two More For You, Mr. President!
2011:  A Thing About Things
2010:  Americans Among Us
2009:  Next Time I’m Buying Him Carbon Paper And White Out. And A Roll Of Stamps. And Maybe A VHS Player.
2008:  Flash Flood
2007:  Consider The Source When Getting Advice
2006:  Perfectly Apropos For Bush’s Home State
2005:  Soul 2 Soul

A Well Made Torso Contains All Of Life

Torso of a Man by Auguste Rodin, located at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Modeled mid-1880s, cast in plaster c. 1926.

* Title quote attributed to Rodin.

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2023:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2022:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2021:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2020:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2019:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2018:  I've Got New Rules
2017:  Flashback To A Flashdance Summer
2016:  Make Your Reservation Now
2015:  Every Year Is A Good Year For A Hero
2014:  Peace Through Understanding
2013:  Goodwill Hunting
2012:  Approaching Talladega
2011:  Music Sets The Stage
2010:  Tacky Prevails
2009:  Not As Hot As It Looks
2008:  Burst
2007:  Stockholm Syndrome
2006:  Playing In A Dream Near You
2005:  The Greatest Story Ever Told

City Art

Neighborhood art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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2023:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2022:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2021:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2020:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2019:  Sorry, no post on this day.
2018:  I'm Not The Only One
2017:  A Teddy Bear You Don't Want To Cuddle
2016:  You Are Scored On My Heart
2015:  Truckin' Punkins
2014:  How To Achieve 365 Days Of Perfection
2013:  Leaving Las Vegas And Bypassing That Damn Dam
2012:  A Difference As Big As The Grand Canyon
2011:  Not Even Technology Can Fix Stone Cold Stupid
2010:  Three
2009:  Not Exactly “Daily” By Definition
2008:  I Almost Married This Man
2007:  Greeting Fair Lovers For Over Fifty Years
2006:  The Infinite Wisdom Of A Grandfather
2005:  Swingin’ Good Times

Representing The Love Of Wisdom

While in Philadelphia, Ed and I visited the Rodin Museum, one of the world's great collections of works by Auguste Rodin, and the only dedicated Rodin Museum outside France.

The museum was a gift of movie theater magnate Jules Mastbaum to the city of Philadelphia.  According to Wikipedia, "he began collecting works by Rodin in 1923 with the intent of founding a museum.  Within three years, he assembled the largest collection of Rodin's works outside Paris, including bronze castings, plaster studies, drawings, prints, letters, and books.  The museum houses a collection of nearly 150 objects."

This sculpture sits outside the courtyard of the entrance to the museum.  The plaque beside it says":

"The Thinker.  1880-81, Enlarged 1902-1904.  Auguste Rodin (1840-1917).  Rodin first imagined The Thinker as a small figure near the top of The Gates of Hell, a sculpture now installed at the Rodin Museum entrance.  The Gates of Hell is based on The Inferno, an epic poem by the Italian poet Dante, and Rodin conceived the contemplative figure as representing the poet's creative force.

Rodin later enlarged The Thinker to monumental scale.  In this form, it has come to symbolize all creative thought.  The arrangement here, with an architectural façade behind the sculpture, matches Rodin's gravesite near Paris.  The bronze cast, made in 1919, was donated to Philadelphia by movie theater magnate Jules Mastbaum."

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2023: Sorry, no post on this day.
2022: Sorry, no post on this day.
2021: Sorry, no post on this day.
2020: Sorry, no post on this day.
2019: Sorry, no post on this day.
2018: Museum Quality
2017: Aisle Of Palms
2016: A Lively Evening
2015: 106 Years Of Racing Has Happened Here
2014: Towering Jewel
2013: Port Townsend Honor System
2012: This I Love
2011: Wooden Shoes, Tulips, And Now This?
2010: Universal AND Contagious
2009: Ed Smiles With The Pasties Girl Friday
2008: Who Needs A Man When You Have A Kindle??
2007: Phone Calls And Fellatio
2006: Color Ring
2005: We Go All Out!

Sexy In The Sunshine State

A sexy sculpture in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami, Florida.

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2023: Sorry, no post on this day.
2022: Sorry, no post on this day.
2021: Sorry, no post on this day.
2020: Sorry, no post on this day.
2019: Sorry, no post on this day.
2018: Displacing Large Volumes Of Water
2017: My Brain Loves Order
2016: A Good Atmosphere Doesn't Always Equal Good Food
2015: Will Walk For Coffee
2014: The Real Challenge Was Getting In And Out Of It
2013: Stormy Wyoming
2012: Entertaining The Masses
2011: A Very Expensive Day Of Laze
2010: A Little River On A Big Lake In The Middle Of A Floating Stage
2009: Eddie The Cicada Whisperer Friday
2008: Maybe We Should Sell Our Truck And Buy An Airboat
2007: Me And My Man
2006: If You’re Going To Rescue Me, Bring Sandwiches
2005: Hurricane Equality

A Third Of The Golden Triangle

 

Today we visited the Museo del Prado.  According to Wikipedia, "It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the former Spanish royal collection, and the single best collection of Spanish art.  

Founded as a museum of paintings and sculptures in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works. The Prado Museum is one of the most visited sites in the world and is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The numerous works by Francisco Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Diego Velázquez, are some of the highlights of the collection.”

We saw works by all of those artists except for Bosch, and many others.

The photo above and the next three photos are the Tabletop of don Rodrigo Calderon, circa 1600.  It is made of alabaster, lapis lazuli, Africano marble, white marble, and polychrome marble.  Isn't it spectacular??

The Prado's website says about the table's supports, "The table is supported by four bronze lions, three of them commissioned by Velazquez in Italy in 1651, as were those used for the Tabletop of Philip II. The fourth lion of this table is a bronze copy made in 2004 to replace the damaged lead one made in 1837, which in turn replaced the original damaged in the fire at the Alcazar in 1734."

Look at this gorgeous detail.  

This oil painting done by El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos), is one of his earliest works painted in Spain, circa 1580.  It is called The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest.  

The painting was one of six.  From the Prado's website:  "This bust-length portrait entered the royal collections as a donation by the widow of the Duke of Arco, gentleman in-waiting, Equerry and Master of the Horse to Philip V. In his recreational estate at El Pardo, De Arco possessed a group of six portraits of gentlemen by El Greco whose provenance is now unknown. This group would come to constitute the principal holdings of portraits by the artist now in the Museo del Prado.

The present canvas is one of the earliest works by El Greco painted in Spain, and the most distinctive of the six. The sitter, who is aged around 30, is dressed according to Spanish fashion of the late 1570s, with a narrow, white ruff that reaches up behind his ears and frames his head. Standing out against his tight-fitting, black silk doublet is his right hand, resting on his breast, and the gilded hilt of his sword.

The way that the left arm is bent suggests that he is holding and presenting the sheathed weapon with his left hand, which is invisible to the viewer. The figure is outlined against a plain background of a pearly grey tone modulated by the reddish-brown of the preparatory layer beneath, which is visible on the surface. Thanks to the fact that it was displayed at an early date in the Museo del Prado, the painting became one of El Greco’s most celebrated works. The inclusion of the costly sword, the solemn and rhetorical gesture of the right hand, which is not common in secular works by the artist although fairly frequent in his religious compositions, the half-hidden medallion that he wears, and above all, the direct relationship established between sitter and viewer, have made this figure an iconic image of the Castilian and by extension the Spanish knight.

The enormous interest that the painting has aroused in art and literature explains the wide variety of resulting interpretations and identifications, although all of these focus on the sitter’s status as a quintessential Spanish aristocrat, resulting in the somewhat clichéd opinions that have accompanied the painting throughout most of the 20th century in which the sitter is seen as a knightly Christian, melancholy and austere, and a haughty representative of his class and time. At one point it was thought that the painting could be a self-portrait as the gesture of the hand was taken to be a proud statement of self-affirmation by El Greco. Specific names have been proposed for the sitter, including Miguel de Cervantes and Philip II’s secretary Antonio Pérez.

Without doubt, the most convincing suggestion has connected this figure with the Second Marquis of Montemayor, Juan de Silva y de Ribera, a contemporary of El Greco who was appointed military commander of the Alcázar in Toledo by Philip II and Chief Notary to the Crown, a position that would explain the solemn gesture of the hand, depicted in the act of taking an oath. Whatever the case, Portrait of a Gentleman with his Hand on his Breast is an excellent example of portraiture of its date, with formal parallels to be found in the type of court portrait introduced by the Habsburgs with their notably simple depictions of the sitters, represented frontally and strongly illuminated against a plain background. Comparable examples are also to be found in Italian Renaissance painting, particularly of the Venetian school, with which El Greco’s technique and composition can most aptly be associated. Such parallels include the gesture of the hand, which is a rhetorical device of great expressivity that helps to convey the sitter’s inner character and which is also to be found in other Venetian and Central European portraits. With or without these parallels, El Greco was fully able to imbue this portrait with a remarkable formal tension between the visible and the hidden."

This one is called, Octagonal Still Life with Bunches of Grapes, and was painted by Juan de Espinosa in 1646. I loved the octagon-shaped frame of this painting and the colors really appealed to me.  I'd hang this in my house.

I took a photo of this painting primarily to send to my cousin, who runs the hot air balloon company owned by her boyfriend. 

This is called Ascent of a Montgolfier Balloon in Aranjuez.  It was painted by Antonio Carnicero circa 1784.

The image shows French balloon pilot Charles Bouclé’s experiment in the gardens of the Royal Seat at Aranjuez on June 5, 1784, during the final years of Charles III’s reign. It was Spain’s first manned balloon flight and it ended in an accident, as the daring pilot was injured when he failed to successfully control the apparatus’s descent.

The Prado Museum houses a permanent collection of art featuring over 5,000 drawings, more than 2,000 works of art, 700 sculptures, and over 1,000 medals and coins.

We only went for about five hours and I only snapped a few covert (or so I thought) photos before getting caught.  These are the ones I got.  

It's definitely a must-see in the city.  Next time, we'll do the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza.  These make up the Big Three in Madrid's "Golden Triangle of Art".  

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2022: Sorry, no post on this day.
2021: I Roll
2020: Sorry, no post on this day.
2019: Gilded Tourist Attraction
2018: Dining Up North
2017: Promoting International Cooperation
2016: Truly A Man Of Leisure
2015: Beer Run
2014: Field Two
2013: We Are A Very Rich, Blessed, Lucky, Fortunate Lot Aren't We?
2012: Passion Creates Pure Art
2011: Reflecting On The Day
2010: Crunching The Numbers
2009: Looking Grand At The Grand Canyon
2008: Overshadowing Government
2007: Miami International
2006: Did You Check The Solenoid?
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!