Russian Collusion

https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1109984734212513793

Crazy Time

And you thought things were crazy in the New World?

The New Yorker ~ Mark Ulriksen

Yellow Vest Riots ~ Paris

Rembrandt by Candlelight

Last year's sophisticated marketing and astronomically expensive sale of the Da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi for $450 million to a Saudi prince, aka "The Last Da Vinci," may soon be followed by a newly discovered Rembrandt. "Portrait of a Young Gentlemen" was purchased for $185,000 in 2016 at Christie's in London by Jan Six XI, a Dutch gallery owner, whose family and namesake were contemporaries of Rembrandt in the 1600s.

Portrait of a Young Gentleman ~ Attributed to Rembrandt Van Rijn

The New York Times reports that Jan Six is convinced of the portrait's authenticity due to the unique and elaborate way the bobbin lace is painted.

"Six was particularly drawn to the lace on the collar. Lace was a signifier of status throughout the 17th century, and Six believes Rembrandt had a signature way of depicting this variety, which is called bobbin lace. Other artists of the period painstakingly executed its intricacies in white paint on top of the jacket. Rembrandt did something like the opposite. He first painted the jacket, then over it the collar area in white, then used black paint to create the negative spaces in the collar. And where other painters were careful to create repeating patterns in the lacework, Rembrandt wove a freestyle design. For viewers standing a few inches away from such a painting, the collar appears as a hieroglyphic jumble; step back a pace, and it coheres. Six believes this was one aspect of Rembrandt's genius. 'He realized that painted copy of a repetitive pattern, even if it followed the original, actually looked artificial.' "

American author and Dutch historian Russell Shorto also reports in the Times how Six insists that paintings by Rembrandt are best displayed in simple black frames rather than ornate gilded frames that compete with the subject on the canvas. More important, they are best viewed in candlelight.

"When I was working on my book about the history of Amsterdam, Six invited me here and conducted a remarkable little demonstration. He turned off the lights and lit candles, an in an instant the paintings were transformed. They took on new energy; the golds and reds and flesh tones became warmer. The flicker of the flames seemed to breathe life into the two-dimensional figures. Six's eyes gleamed as he saw that I had registered the point: These paintings were made for candlelight."

Come to think of it, they were likely painted in candlelight.

Karl Lagerfeld on sweatpants

A local haberdashery put this up in their window. They don't sell sweatpants.

Clinton Agonistes

AF Branco