Saturday, January 30, 2010

Correction

The portrait artist was Charles Willson Peale (April 15, 1741 – February 22, 1827) an American painter, soldier and naturalist. He is best known for his portraits of George Washington. In January 2005, his full length portrait of "Washington at Princeton" from 1779 sold for $21.3 million dollars, setting a record for the highest price paid for an American portrait, according to Wikipedia.

Friday, January 29, 2010

SAMA part 2

OK, here's the rest. First a portrait of an Indian (native american) chief. then the Chinese pieces. I'll let them speak for themselves.


SAMA

In case anyone is still checking my blog after so long a period of inactivity, I will post some pictures of our field trip today. Unfortunately, they only allow photos without flash and I only had my phone to take pictures anyway so they are not of the highest quality. I was helping to chaperone the Latin students on a field trip to the San Antonio Museum of Art to experience some of the Greco-Roman culture. Since they didn't have anything specific for me to do, I pretty much just toured the museum. They have the largest collection of Greco-Roman art in Texas and probably in the Southwestern US. Here are some of the things that caught my attention (mostly not Greco-Roman).

This was in the modern collection


This was in the Southwest collection, I believe.


You would have to see this one in person to get the full effect. It is a huge very ornate carved wooden desk in the Mexican collection. A close up of the top below.


A huge (about 12' tall) very ornate painting of the famous Virgen of Guadalupe also in the Mexican collection.

Another view to try to get the whole thing in one frame. The long candle holders on the sides were at least 6' long.

Unfortunately, this is not a good shot. It is a relative of ours (on both Suzanne's and my lines) from the European collection. A member of the English Royalty or Nobility. I dont remember her name now.
A French desk (Louis IV era) from the European collection.


These two portraits of husband and wife by the same artist (Charles W. Peak) are the most life-like I have ever seen. He even captured the glistening from the moisture around the eyes. Unfortunately you can't see them very well in these photos. The other portraits looked flat and lifeless by comparison.

I will post some from the Chinese collection in another post.