well, what a gay day

29 09 2009

caravaggio born today, 1571 – this isn’t him though, this is bacchus, looking a bit, well, gay

[Caravaggio, Bacchus]

and this… is what’s called, i think, a miracle – as in, on the thursday, jesus has his last (but not really his last) supper on mount zion just outside the old walls of old jerusalem, and then on the friday, just nearby, he meets his maker at golgotha (aka calvary) – then on the saturday he rests, and then on the sunday (aka easter) he gets up, has a shave (or maybe he doesn’t have a shave, maybe beards just fall off when you die, i don’t know) and wanders (or miraculously appears, take your pick) a few miles up the road to emmaus and has yet another supper with a couple of his mates – i’m saying nothing

[Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus]

also born today, in 1547, was one miguel de cervantes, who wasn’t gay (he fell in love with a barmaid, but then haven’t we all) – don quixote and sancho panza though, gay icons or no, i’m not too sure

[Daumier, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza]





all aboard

26 09 2009

gericault born today, 1791

[Gericault, Raft of the Medusa]

and the moral of the story… pack a pistol when sailing the sea with french folk





another summer over

22 09 2009

today the first day of autumn, so here’s a john atkinson grimshaw…

[Grimshaw, Autumn]

and here’s an egon schiele…

[Schiele, Autumn Trees]





dr johnson i presume

18 09 2009

as in one samuel johnson, before he was a doctor, though he was never a real doctor, born today, 1709… and this by joshua reynolds, sans the sir

[Joshua Reynolds, Samuel Johnson]

he spoke tourette’s in ye olde english y’know… wrote a book about it
anyway, for all you medic fans out there, here’s dr johnson meets dr house…





to sleep perchance to dream

9 09 2009

and shuffling off their mortal coils today…
henri de toulouse-lautrec, in 1901

[Toulouse-Lautrec, The Bed]

and pieter bruegel the elder, in 1569

[Bruegel, The Triumph of Death]





closing of the customs house

2 09 2009

henri rousseau, dead today, september 2nd, 1910… apollinaire and signac at the funeral (what, no picasso?) – anyone surprised?

[Rousseau, Tiger in a Tropical Storm]








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