This time I'll tell you about the most coincidental reference question of the week.The reference question:
I'm trying to find out the name of this painting I saw in the Picasso museum in Spain ... it's his version of that famous painting of the little princesses by another Spanish guy ...
The answer, which I could give right off the top of my head, having read a book about this painting FOUR DAYS AGO:
Oh, yes, "Las Meninas" by Velazquez.
I just love it when I can answer questions without looking stuff up ... but then you have to, you know, prove it. So here are the facts:
Spanish artist Diego Velazquez painted Las Meninas in the 17th century (top painting at left). Considered by many art historians to incorporate every major theory in painting, it hangs in the Prado museum in Madrid.
Picasso greatly admired the work of his countryman Velazquez, and analyzed Las Meninas very closely. He painted a study of it, which hangs in the Picasso museum in Barcelona (bottom painting at left).
And you can read all about Velazquez painting this masterpiece in the book I, Juan de Pareja, which I just finished reading, because it won the Newbery in 1966 and I'm still reading all the Newbery Medal winners (and am about to launch an online index to them ... stay tuned!)
2 comments:
What a great idea. I've done the same thing on my blog. I knew 45 and mis-identified 1.
An unrelated and quite strange question:
I work in a library in England at the moment and I have noticed that the 'shhhhhhhhh' gesture/utterance is not international! Certain tourists from the Far East do not seem to understand, and I was wondering if you have had the same problem? If so, is there such a thing as an Eastern 'SHHH' gesture?!!!
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