yes, flooding, damn it!
Actually, what is happening is that my blog is more comparable to a standing puddle that breeds mosquitoes that most cities and towns try to curb because of sudden spikes of people flooding in with a new strand of malaria because no one these days is ready for malaria epidemics. In a far simpler metaphor, it's stagnant.
Anyway, I digress.
What were we talking about? Thrift stores, ah yes.
Today, I shall share with y'all one of the prized finds of my own thrift store expeditions, the painting Phryne Going to the Public Baths as Venus: Demosthenes Taunted by Aeschines...by Joseph Mallord William Turner. Seriously.
Kinda.
Actually I have some reproduction painting done by some Sturman guy in 1977. His version is a lot less detailed and more impressionistic.
Anyway, some of you may be asking...who is Phryne again?
Well, here ya go...according to Wikipedia...Her real name was Mnesarete (Ancient Greek Μνησαρετή (commemorating virtue)), but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phryne (toad), a name given to other courtesans. She was born at Thespiae in Boeotia, but seems to have lived at Athens. She acquired so much wealth by her extraordinary beauty that she offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, which had been destroyed by Alexander the Great (336 BC), on condition that the words destroyed by Alexander, restored by Phryne the courtesan, were inscribed upon them. The authorities turned down her offer. Wikipedia article here.
If you go lower, see also...sex magic. I can't make this stuff up.
The Demosthenes part involves the great orator of ancient Athens, Demosthenes being taunted by his political rival, Aeschines. The taunt consisted of mainly "Yo' mom's a whore", and the subject became a great pre-impressionistic masterpiece.
Isn't history engaging?
Anyway, I digress.
What were we talking about? Thrift stores, ah yes.
Today, I shall share with y'all one of the prized finds of my own thrift store expeditions, the painting Phryne Going to the Public Baths as Venus: Demosthenes Taunted by Aeschines...by Joseph Mallord William Turner. Seriously.
Kinda.Actually I have some reproduction painting done by some Sturman guy in 1977. His version is a lot less detailed and more impressionistic.
Anyway, some of you may be asking...who is Phryne again?
Well, here ya go...according to Wikipedia...Her real name was Mnesarete (Ancient Greek Μνησαρετή (commemorating virtue)), but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phryne (toad), a name given to other courtesans. She was born at Thespiae in Boeotia, but seems to have lived at Athens. She acquired so much wealth by her extraordinary beauty that she offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, which had been destroyed by Alexander the Great (336 BC), on condition that the words destroyed by Alexander, restored by Phryne the courtesan, were inscribed upon them. The authorities turned down her offer. Wikipedia article here.
If you go lower, see also...sex magic. I can't make this stuff up.
The Demosthenes part involves the great orator of ancient Athens, Demosthenes being taunted by his political rival, Aeschines. The taunt consisted of mainly "Yo' mom's a whore", and the subject became a great pre-impressionistic masterpiece.
Isn't history engaging?
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