Puppy Urine and Picture Books

On Monday, I had the opportunity to sit down with some extra smart 4th and 5th graders at the Margaret Neary School in Southborough. I learned something very important. They don't read picture books. Yes, I already knew this, but I still needed to hear it. And boy did I ever hear it. I heard it about 10 times over. Their questions to me went something like this...

"Have you ever done a chapter book?"
10 minutes later....
"Do you think you could do a chapter book next?"
15 minutes later...
"What is your favorite chapter book?"
10 minutes later....
"Sooooooooo do you illustrate chapter books?"

ok ok I get it. When I was a kid, we loved picture books. Now, they are reading Moby Dick before they are out of diapers. Still, I wouldn't go down without a fight so I tried to explain that The Raucous Royals was a picture book for older kids.  But I just got that look. You know the look...like you are trying to convince them that red jello counts as a desert when clearly it is just a suspicious gelatin mass that should only be eaten by people missing teeth.

Luckily, they still enjoyed The Raucous Royals because of the puppy urine. (There is a page that explains how puppy urine was used to beautify women) I got quite a few questions about the puppy urine. Let that be a lesson to any picture book authors. Puppy urine is educational. Picture books are not.

The Quack Doctor has a new newsletter

One of my favorite blogs, The Quack Doctor now has a new newsletter full of odd and strange emphemera from medicine's painful past. (The newsletter sign up is on the right hand side. ) Check out this recent post on Omega Oil.

We could chortle at our silly grandparents for digesting green goo to cure "corset pain" but I am not entirely convinced our modern medicine is always safe. I was recently really disturbed to know that the Omega- 3 Fatty Acids I have been shoveling in my mouth (while pregnant and nursing) contain dangerous levels of PCB. Nothing like feeding your unborn child the same chemical used in flame retardents and paint. yum.

Who is the Old Duchesse?

People have often wondered who is portrayed in Leonardo's sketch, The Old Duchesse  (shown below). Some art historians believe the woman might have suffered from Paget's disease. Others believe that the drawing is meant to satirize a woman beyond the prime of her youth. Another theory is that she is a real person - a portrait of the Duchess Margarete of Tyrol-Görz, who was known as Maultasch, ("bag mouth"), which means "whore" or "ugly woman". (because of her marital scandals).

The Beauty in Ugly
Leonardo's drawing has been a big inspiration for me to paint the ugly as beautiful. Although this woman is certainly not The Pretty One there is still something undeniably beautiful about her. I love the way she is all gussied up with her breasts corseted and her hair in the horned hairstyle that had become so popular at the time. This woman may look ugly to us but she certainly doesn't feel ugly. It's a subject that I am exploring in my next book. More on that later...

Quentin Matsys painted The Grotesque Woman based on Leonardo's sketch.

And that served as a basis for John Tenniel's depiction of the Duchesse in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

I found this great post on the origins of some of the other characters in Alice in Wonderland from Jennifer over at Rambling, Rants and Other Random Nonsence

Sources and Further Reading:

Eco, Umberto On ugliness. New York, NY : Rizzoli, 2007

Fit for a queen giveaway winner!

The winner of this month's jewelry giveaway is.....The Thatcher Family. Congratulations Thatcher Family.

The drawing was pulled from all Twitter and Followers of this blog this morning. Unfortunately, most of you missed the live version including: the runway, the gowns, (I was wearing my best pink bathrobe) the upset, (my daughter was crying because we were ignoring her for two second) the cameras flashing and the applause. No worries. I have artfully reconstructed some of the drama below.

*I am referring to my husband as AH (annoyed husband) because I am told that you should never reveal too much information over the internet.

ME: Twitters or Followers?
AH: What?
ME: Twitters or Followers? (rolling my eyes)
AH: oh...I  know what Twitter is. I heard about that on the news. (trying to look cool).
ME: Twitters or Followers?
AH: Followers. I am sick of hearing about Twitter.
ME: OK pick a number between 1 and 94.
AH: 56
ME: Thanks for playing.

And thus I clicked on my followers gadget and then counted until I reached 56 and that was the Thatcher family (which I think has won before?). To receive this prize, you must be in the US. If the Thatcher family is not then I have to pick another winner.

I am going to try to have another giveaway this month for all of you old school newsletter folks (I know technology is scary). That giveaway is open to US and International contestants. If you are not a newsletter subscriber then you can subscribe here.

Whispering Pines Writers Retreat 2010: Giddy up!

Picture your editor whinnying and trotting around the playground as a kid. Or maybe their first big New York job that landed them smack in the middle of the not-so glamorous double skim latte world of Starbucks. How about your agent changing baby diapers for their clients? These are just a few of the intimate details that brought Whispering Pines Writers Retreat to life.

Whispering Pines is one of those retreats that fills up so fast, I usually never get to go. It is limited to 24 full time participants so writers really do get to know editors and agents on a first-hand basis. The retreat takes places in the Alton Jones Campus in West Greenwich, RI, a setting perfect for the next Shining sequel. I was a bit terrified that I would get mauled by wild bears, but I managed to survive the wilderness and come away excited to work on my next project.

Here are a few highlights:

Newbery Honor Winner, Cynthia Lord, author of Rules, spoke on the craft of plotting. Plot is one of those things that scares me more than wild bears, but Cynthia made plot look as simple as baking cookies on a Sunday afternoon (ok that is a bad analogy because I really can’t bake either). Of course plotting is not easy, but a good author always makes it look effortless.

Alexandra Penfold, Associate Editor with Paula Wiseman Books, spoke about her revision process and some of the projects she is working on such as, The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer. She not only had everyone laughing until it hurt about her former life as a show pony, but also had many insights into keeping the child’s voice in your writing.

Connie Hsu, Assistant Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers regaled us with tales of how she got her start in publishing (she knows your pain!) and then jumped into “World Building” for Fantasy writers. I also loved hearing the background story behind a new journal style book by comic artist Stephen Emond, Happyface. This book is on my must read list.

Agent Rebecca Sherman of Writers House read us her hilarious acceptance letter and got down to business on what she looks for in a good query.

I also had the honor to speak this year and babble on about some of my history crushes. Thank you to everyone who stuck around to hear about Michelangelo's angst and my messy writing process.

If you would like to go to Whispering Pines then you should contact Lynda Mullaly Hunt. I am not sure if they accept reservations this early, but I have heard that they are getting an amazing line up next year and spots usually fill up in less than a week.

I am going to pick a winner for the giveaway tonight...more later.

Me Me Me. It's all about me.

Several people have told me that the Bearded Lady, Annie Jones from my book Who put the B in the Ballyhoo? looks like me. I like those people. She is obviously quite a vixen.

Other people have said I look like my unflattering portrayal of Anne Boleyn from The Raucous Royals. I don't like those people as much.

And when my husband first saw the image of Babe Ruth, (The Fat Lady), he said that she looked just like me. I didn't speak to him for days.

But he was right. She does look like me. In fact, every face I paint looks a little like me. I paint me everywhere. Sheeeesh... I must be one of those narcissistic crazies. 

Or maybe all artists paint themselves in portraits? And I found this GREAT site (The artscholar.org)  to proove it.

Below is Titian's portrayal of Pope Paul III. They could be twins.

Did Van Eyck marry his sister? I doubt it.

And this is why art scholars who say the Mona Lisa is a self-portrait are just not getting it.

There is also a section on the site that has different portraits of Napoleon. Every artist made Napoleon look just a little like the artist. What do you think?

Sources:

Art from Who put the B in the Ballyhoo? and The Raucous Royals

Portrait comparisons from the Art Scholar

18th century Fan Flirting verses Chat Abbreviations... FYA (For your amusement)

You probably have heard about the latest phenomenon in online chatting - Chatroulette. Basically, it is speed dating on the internet where you click from one stranger to the next. All you need is a webcam and an internet connection. No age limits. No restrictions. Just type the usual cryptic chat abbreviations and move to the next person. Ugh. Where is the romance?

(switching to my patronizing old lady voice now...)
Teenagers today may think that they are the first generation to use a coded language to chat with their peers, but they don't have anything on 18th century fan flirting.

The following are the fan signals and their text messaging equivalents:

Hush...we might be overheard:

Text abbreviation: MOS (Mother over shoulder)
Fan abbreviation: Fan closed, place tip to lips

Keep our secret

Text abbreviation: BM&Y (Between me and you)

Fan abbreviation: Cover left ear with closed fan

If you mistrust the person:
Text abbreviation: TILIS (Tell it like it is)
Fan abbreviation: Fan closed, place tip to nose.

If someone’s conversation is not stimulating:
Text abbreviation: BOOMS (Bored out of my skull)
Fan abbreviation: Yawn behind a closed fan

If you want him to get lost:
Text abbreviation: BIH! (Burn in hell) or BOB (Back off buddy)
Fan abbreviation: Lower an open fan and point it at the ground

If you don't believe his compliments
Text abbreviation: GIAR (Give it a rest)
Fan abbreviation: Place your chin on the tip of the fan

To let him down gently:
Text abbreviation: NFM (Not for me)
Fan abbreviation: Open your fan and make a brushing movement like you are swatting an annoying fly

If you are interested:
Text abbreviation: BG (Big grin) or G (Giggle) or more to the point -  URH (You are hot)
Fan abbreviation: Open your fan and use it to coquettishly hide your eyes

If you are really interested
Text abbreviation: ILU, ILY (I love you)
Fan abbreviation: Place the tip of your fan to your heart

You are interested enough for a tryst
Text abbreviation: BTYCL? (Bootycall)
Fan abbreviation: Open fan slightly over heart and flutter it to indicate the time of your rendez-vous

Not only could a girl use her fan to communicate quick emotions, but have whole conversations in a sort of fan Morse code. Charles Francis Bandini's "fanology" taught the subtle art of fan flirting and much like today's text abbreviations, fanology promised to "Improve the Friendship and set forth a plan for ladies to chit chat and hold the tongue."

Below is the teaching device for "Fanology" or "The Ladies Conversation Fan."

Here is how it worked:
To chat with your buddies, you would place your fan in the correct letter position using a 2 combination number. Letters were first broken up into five different fan positions similiar to how the keys on some cell phones are grouped with 3 letters on one key (ok...I have a really old phone).

Position 1 was A-E.
Position 2 was F-K.
Position 3 was L- P.
Position 4 was Q-U.
Position 5 was V-Z
"J" was eliminated.

The second number would indicate the letter postion from within that group. So for example, if you wanted to spell L * O * V * E, you would put your fan in position 3 and 1 to indicate "L". Then you would put your fan in position 3 and postion 4 to sign "O". And so on. This would work wonders to flirt with your man across a crowded room....unless he was nearsighted, in which case all that incessant flapping would just cool your ardor.*

This fan language was not something to take lightly. If a girl didn’t know the correct fan signals then she could make some serious social blunders. Such was the case when Baroness Oberkirch leaned over to show Marie Antoinette her bracelet and accidentally opened her fan (gasp!...a fan was never to be opened in the presence of the queen in Versailles unless used as a tray.) But at least with fan flirting, there was not a Tiger Woods digital record of your social faux pas. FRT! (For Real Though)

Unfortunately, 18th century fan flirting was probably not as quixotic as the movies and bodice ripper novels portray it. Fans also allowed women to conceal their rotting teeth behind fluttering pictorials or at least keep a safe distance from her beau without knocking him out with her bad breath. Still, you have to love the delicate details in these fans. You can purchase this 18th century tortoise shell fan for $1,600. Isn't it beautiful? sigh. A girl can dream.

Now that video chatting has become so popular, maybe teens could at least skip the text abbreviations and get out their fans? No?? Feel free to share these fan flirting tips with an angst ridden teen. Don’t expect them to be impressed.

*By the 19th century, the Victorians had completely rewrote the fan language etiquette so you better have the most recent code book or you might tell the object of your desire to beat it when you really meant you make my heart beat.

Sources and Further Reading:
Wikipedia has more chat abbreviations here.
Images from V&A Collections
Picard, Liza. Dr. Johnson's London : coffee-houses and climbing boys, medicine, toothpaste, and gin, poverty and press-gangs, freakshows and female education, New York : St. Martin's Press, 2001.
Stabile, Susan. Memory's Daughters: The Material Culture of Remembrance in Eighteenth-Century America, Cornell University Press, 2004

The Old Mistress

Most people would never go near a city during a plague outbreak, but on July 12th, 1624, the great portrait painter, Anthony van Dyck feared nothing in his quest to reach Palermo, Italy. The 25 year-old virtuoso had a very important meeting with a prominent noble woman and was determined to paint her portrait. (The portrait he completed from this meeting is below.)

During the visit, van Dyck listened reverently as the old woman spoke of her bygone days as a lady-in-waiting in Philip II’s Spanish court. She squinted up at the young painter, trying to focus her half-blind eyes on his form, and advised him not “to get too close, too high or too low” because it would bring out the shadows in her wrinkles. (1) Van Dyck, grateful for her tutelage, recorded it diligently in his sketchbook—the only page to contain words.

Did this 96-year old bitty really have the right to give painting tips to one of the most talented portrait painters of the 17th century?

She most certainly did. For Van Dyck’s subject was not some crotchety, geriatric patron recording her portrait for posterity. She was Sofonisba Anguissola, one of the greatest portrait painters of the Renaissance.

Sofonisba was born in Cremona, Italy around 1532, in an age when most women were tied to a spinning wheel instead of a canvas. Believed to posses "a male soul that had been born in one of female sex," female artists were the bearded ladies of their day. (2) Yet, from a young age Sofonisba showed a spirit for painting that transcended what her contemporary John Knox identified as women's "weak, frail, impatient, feeble, and foolish" nature. 

We can thank Sofonisba's father for his daughter's artistic education. Amilcare Anguissola was not your typical Renaissance dad. He encouraged all six of his daughters to develop their artistic, musical and language talents. Educating daughters was not unheard of in the 16th century, but it was certainly not common. Moreover, painting was not considered a profession for nobility because painters were still viewed as craftsman. (Michelangelo's father railed at him becoming a painter.) Highborn ladies simply did not paint. Needlework was fine. Music part of a lady's polish. But mixing paint was for paupers.

Yet despite this social bias, Sofonisba's art education flourished in Bernardino Campi's studio when she was just fourteen years old. Typically, a painter would be apprenticed to a master for about five to seven years. During that time, the painter would learn how to mix pigments, prepare the canvas or panel, basic drawing skills and do many, many nude male studies. Similar to today's art foundation, learning how to the paint the nude body was de rigueur for any developing artist. As a woman, Sofonisba would never be given this foundation, but would instead have to rely upon what she knew of her own anatomy. I have often wondered if Sofonisba and her sisters would have dared to paint each other nude in private the way Michelangelo and Leonardo secretly painted cadavers?

One of Sofonisba's first assignments under Campi was to copy his Pieta. (shown here). Even at a young age Sofonisba was developing her own style. There is some of Leonardo's smoky background, and Campi's strong chiaroscuro, but Sofonisba's interpretation of this popular subject seems more doleful or delicate and her dark background forces the viewer to focus on the emotion in the painting.

In 1549, Campi moved to Milan and Sofonisba then studied under Bernardino Gatti for about three years. She then left for Rome where she met the rock star of Renaissance painting - the aging Michelangelo Buonarroti.


Michelangelo's Art Challenge
Many of the great masters like Michelangelo would circulate their sketches to be copied by other artists and admired by patrons. According to a letter from Michelangelo's friend, Tommaso Cavalieri, Michelangelo, had seen a drawing done by Sofonisba of a smiling girl, and "said that he would have liked to see a weeping boy, as a subject more difficult to draw." (3) Sofonisba took up Michelangelo's challenge and sketched the picture above of her little brother, - Asdrubale being bitten by a crab. This sketch was greatly admired and became part of Vasari's collection of drawings, Libro dei disegni and would later inspire Caravaggio's Boy Being Bitten by a Lizard. Sofonisba's completed painting is below.

After her stay in Rome, Sofonisba left for Milan and continued getting commissions for portraits as her reputation grew. One of these commissions was to paint the Duke of Alba (this paintng is lost). Alba was so impressed with Sofonisba's work that he commissioned three more portraits and recommended her to Philip II of Spain.

Then Tudor history changed the course of Sofonisba's life when Philp II's wife, Mary Tudor died. Philip's second marriage was arranged with Elizabeth of Valois, (later to be called Isabel) the daughter of the French king Henri II and queen Catherine de Medici. To celebrate their wedding, a tournament was arranged with several festivities to follow. But during the joust, Henri suffered a wound to the eye and died. Suddenly, Elizabeth was journeying to a new country while grieving her father. The Duke of Alba recommended Sofonisba as a lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth, probably knowing the new queen would be lonely in the somber Spanish court. Elizabeth was also learning how to paint and Alba knew that Sofonisba's instruction would be a comfort to her.

At 27, Sofonisba was a veritable spinster when she became a lady-in-waiting to the new queen of Spain.  It was odd that her father had not arranged a marriage for her by this time. Perhaps Amilcare could not afford a dowry. Or perhaps Sofonisba shared the same beliefs toward marriage as her teacher, Michelangelo who said of his art, "I have only too much of a wife in my art...and she has given me enough trouble." (4) In an age when many women died in childbirth, a spinster's life may have seemed like a more glorified path for someone of such immense talent.

Unfortunately, little is known about Sofonisba's time in the Spanish court because so many of her paintings have been destroyed in fires or have been attributed to other painters over the years. Sofonisba gave the young queen painting lessons, played the clavichord with her and was responsible for ordering fabrics. During this friendship, Sofonisba painted Elizabeth of Valois (shown here). Many of Sofonisba's painting (including this one) have been attributed to Philip's court painter, Alonso Sanchez Coella and several portraits are still in debate.

During the Renaissance, it was customary for a portrait to be made by one artist and then copied by subsequent artists. To add to the confusion, paintings could often be a collaborative effort where one painter would paint the head while another would paint the clothing and perhaps another background. (I wish I had such an assistant...I hate painting backgrounds.) Unfortunately, we have no record of Sofonisba having an assistant, but Philip did hire Coella to copy several of Sofonisba's works. This painting may have been a copy of a lost original.

Elizabeth gave birth to two children and the first, the Infanta Isabella Clara was to become a lifelong friend to Sofonisba and Philip's favorite daughter. (shown here. She is the one of the left) Sadly, Elizabeth's third pregnancy became her undoing. In 1568, she died during a miscarriage after suffering from several weeks of nephritis (possibly a kidney infection caused by her pregnancy?). Sofonisba must have been heartbroken over the death of her confidant and queen, as was Philip. The workaholic king was said to have loved Elizabeth the most out of any of his wives and he went into a deep mourning after her death.

Philip's third wife was Anne of Austria, (shown left) the daughter of Maximilian II, described as, "a plain girl with a good complexion, gentle, kind, dull, and as devout as Philip himself".(5) Around 1570, shortly before Philip's marriage, he arranged a marriage for Sofonisba to a noble Sicilian named Don Fabrizio de Moncada. Sofonisba may have painted the below marriage portrait of her and Don Fabrizio, but the portrait is currently attributed to an unknown artist. The women in the portrait is the correct age and she does have the exact same dimpled chin and ears as Sofonisba's earlier self-portraits.

Sofonisba and her husband stayed in the Spanish court for about 18 years until around 1578 when they traveled back to Palermo. The following year, Don Fabrisio died from a "violent disease," possibly another plague traveling through Italy. Sofonisba was then recalled to Spain, but she had other ideas. She decided she was going home to Cremona. The rest of Sofonisba's life could read like a Harlequin Romance except many of the details of her life are lost. What we do know is that on her journey home, she fell in love with a much younger ship's captain named Orazio Lomellino. Around 1580, they were married and moved to Genoa. The marriage had to be a happy one because it lasted 40 years.

In Sofonisba's later years, she painted several religious painting including Saint Francis, Lot with his Daughters, and Saint John the Baptist in the Desert. Unfortunately, these paintings are lost. The painting shown here, Madonna Nursing Her Child was once attributed to Luca Cambiaso until it was cleaned in 1967 and a faint signature emerged - "Sofonisba Lomellina Anguissola Pinxit, 1588". Art historians have described this painting as "Mary looks down lovingly at her son". (6) It could be that it has lost some details in the restoration process, but I just don't see that. To me, Sofonisba's Madonna looks like she is wistfully day dreaming and not really paying attention to the baby at her breast. As any nursing mother knows, if you are not totally focused on a baby when nursing....they can sense it. If you look closer, that baby is just about to do that thing babies do to get their mom's attention. ouch!

A painting that I think better shows Sofonisba's attention to human emotion is Holy Family with Saints Anne and John. (shown below)

I love the way the older woman is looking at the child. She seems to be reflecting on her youth. Notice the man in the background. Could he be a reminder of time passing? And look at the adorable little dog curled up in the corner. Sleeping dogs typically are incorporated into Renaissance paintings to honor the deceased. Perhaps this painting was an ode to one of her younger sisters or maybe the children she never had. (7)

Sofonisba later retired to Palermo when her failing eye sight prevented her from painting. During her retirement, van Dyck painted his famous portrait of her that would later be copied by several artists. Annibale Caro said that, "there is nothing I desire more than an image of the artist herself, so that in a single work I can exhibit two marvels, one the work, the other the artist." (8) He was never to get his wish. The following year, Sofonisba died in 1625.

Sofonisba sketches continued to circulate throughout Europe and would  inspire many other female artists including Lavina Fontana, Narbara Longhi, and Fede Galizia. Vasari said of Sofonisba that she, "has worked with deeper study and greater grace than any woman of our times at problems of design, for not only has she learned to draw, paint, and copy from nature, and reproduce most skillfully works by other artists, but she has on her own painted some most rare and beautiful paintings.”(9)

Sofonisba was one the first painters to break her subjects out of the stately and cold portrayals of court paintings. One of her most famous paintings, Lucia, Minerva and Europa Anguissola Playing Chess is a ground breaking work of art because portraits typically did not portray real people interacting in a family setting. We take for granted today the spontaneous family snap shots that capture smiling faces and playful interactions. Renaissance people had nothing similar.

Currently, Wikipedia states “van Dyck and his exact contemporary Velázquez were the first painters of pre-eminent talent to work mainly as Court portraitists.” If you could step back in time and ask van Dyck if this statement was true, I think he would have a more humble answer. He could have told you about Sofonisba Anguissola, a protrait painter he met in his youth, who inspired him and countless other artists to bring grace and sensitivity to Renaissance portrait painting.

Notes:
(1) Perlingieri. p. 204
(2) Perlingieri. p. 77
(3) Perlingieri. p. 72
(4) Vasari. p. 202
(5) Perlingieri. p. 143
(6) Perlingieri. p. 178
(7) Sofonisba's sister, Lucia Anguissola was also a talented painter, but many of her works are lost. 
(8) Jacobs. p. 1-2
(9) Vasari p. 343


Sources and Futher Reading:
Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the most eminent painters, Volume 2, New York: NY, Simon & Schuster, 1946.
Perlingieri, Ilya Sandrea. Sofonisba Anguissola, The First Great Woman Artist of the Renaissance, New York: NY, Rizzoli, 1992.
Charles de Tolnay. "Sofonisba Anguissola and Her Relations with Michelangelo" The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, Vol. 4 (1941), pp. 114-119.
Frederika H. Jacobs. "Woman's Capacity to Create: The Unusual Case of Sofonisba Anguissola", Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 74-101.
A nice collection of Sofonisba works can be seen  here and also at the Artchive

Ancient World in London Bloggers Challenge 2: The Most Important Site in London

The next Heritage Key blog challenge is on the most important sites in London. More details here>>

Check out last week's challenge on London's worst invaders

Another giveaway...earrings fit for a queen

What could possibly be better than curling up with a new book? Curling up with a good book while looking fabulous.

I have another jewelry giveaway this month complements of LuShae Jewelry. The winner will be able to pick from any of the following earrings or rings. That's right...any jewelry your heart desires! I have my eye on these Eternity Hoop earrings.

But whoever said diamonds are forever, didn't mean these earrings. You have until March 5th to enter. And I have finally found a use for my new "followers" gadget and Twitter account that I set up last week. It tells me who comes to the blog and the people that put up with my senseless babbling, awful spelling, and terrible grammar on a regular basis should be rewarded. So only followers of either the blog or my Tweets are eligible to win.*

Sorry, US residents only for this one.
* yes, this is my shameless bribe to have more "friends" thus I am putting my confession in very small print because it is well...shameless.

The Masked Lady

I found this great post over at Two Nerdy History Girls about 17th and 18th century masks. Below is a watercolor from Habits de France published in 1581.

In 16th century France, these full masks were worn to protect the woman's face from the wind and sun. Kind of Silence of the Lambs creepy huh? I doubt ladies could breath or even speak very easily under these masks. But maybe that was the point.

More Africans in Art for Black History Month

Here is a great post from Catherine Delors on Jean-Baptiste Belley. You might not have heard of him (at least I didn't) but he led a fascinating life.

When I do school visits, I often play a game where I ask the kids to guess the history of the person from the portrait. I ask them things like:  What do you think he/she is thinking at this moment? What is the meaning behind some of the surrounding objects? (Can they find some of the hidden objects?) What time period did he/she live? And then I tell them the story behind the person.

Kids love to play art dective and it's a great way to introduce a historical figure that they might not be familiar with. And when it comes to interpretting art...there really is no wrong answer. I think Jean-Baptiste Belley is a great candidate for this excersise.