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Fayum portraits: posthumous images of contemporaries of Christ that have come down to our days
Fayum portraits – ancient Roman provincial portraits, named after the Egyptian oasis Fayum, where they were found. The Greeks, who settled in Egypt in the period of 1 century BC. – 3rd century AD, they used such portraits in their funerary cult, placing them on shrouds in approximately the same way as today on the monuments they make photos. In our review, 20 of the 800 portraits known today, which depict contemporaries of Christ.
The first description of the funeral portraits dates back to 1615, when the Italian explorer Pietro della Valle brought two portraits from Saccara-Memphis to Europe from the oasis. Today they are stored in the collection of the State Art Collection of Dresden. Continue reading
Oddities of pictures
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). As experts in the field of painting admit, the famous Italian Renaissance artist perfectly mastered the techniques of building a linear perspective. In fact, the sketch of the background is verified with mathematical precision — the glance glides along straight lines rushing to the central vanishing point * and is fixed on it. But look at the columns at the left edge of the picture. Don’t you notice anything strange? The columns are depicted in violation of the very perspective, which is so admired in the drawing of Leonardo. The column, which rests on the step, is depicted on two planes at once: the front (at the base) and the rear (at the level of the capital). And the second column is clearly out of place. Continue reading
Pissing pug, Lucifer and other ambiguous sculptures that caused a lot of controversy
Any art form is controversial, and statues are no exception. Considering that they are made, as a rule, in honor of famous people, objects or events, all people simply cannot have the same attitude to sculptures. Therefore, it is not surprising that often ordinary statues are the cause of discord.
1. Lucifer from Liege
“Lucifer from Liege” – a statue in the Cathedral of St. Paul in the Belgian city of Liege. The official name of the statue is Le genie du mal (“The genius of evil). It was made in 1848 by sculptor Guillaume Gifs. But few people know that in fact the “Genius of Evil” was not the original statue of Lucifer, created for the church. Earlier, L’ange du mal (“Angel of Evil”), who was made by Guillaume’s brother, Joseph in 1842, was born. Continue reading