Ludwig Deutsch
Dean
I'm a fan of what the folks at the Art Renewal Center. I'm never sure how to plug the work they do. Then I thought: why not just show one of the fine works in their online museum once a week?
Hey, I think I'll do just that!
Here's this week's painting, The Palace Guard, an 1892 painting by Austrian master Ludwig Deutsch.
(click to enlarge the image!)
I'm not sure where this is supposed to be. Syria? Morocco perhaps? I can't say. But I like how alert he looks, and how badass. But if you look closer, you can tell he's loafing on duty. He's probably supposed to be at attention, but he's leaning against the wall and he's kicked off his shoes.
Here's a really great detail to show the painstaking work that went into this painting:
(click to enlarge the image!)
What I noticed right away was how the spike on his helmet is just brushing the wall, leaving a shadow. Then I looked into his eyes. He's obviously a tough hombre, but if you look a little harder, there's a little more there, isn't there? Almost like he's daring someone to notice he isn't standing at full attention and that he's got those shoes kicked off.
"Yeah, what are you looking at, punk?"
It's tiny, almost insignificant details like that which, to me, distinguish a great painting from just a good one. You almost feel like you know this guy. Heck, he looks a little like Samuel L. Jackson in a 19th century version of Pulp Fiction, doesn't he?
(Remember, click the images to see full-sized versions!)
You can buy a high-quality print of this classic painting if you just click right here.
(No, I don't make any money on it or anything. I just dig the Art Renewal Center.)
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I was thinking the exact same thing about the resemblance to Samuel L. Jackson. After he goes off duty he's headed out with his pal Travoltus to grab a Royale with Cheese.
Thanks for sharing.
And that look in his eyes is the same as you see in photographs of any member of the US Secret Service, on duty guarding one of the American royals.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Great post. I had recently spent about 12 hours just looking around the ARC site, it is truly awesome.
Actually, I downloaded several super-hq jpegs that I have subsequently printed out on an industrial printer onto canvas. Mrs. Shackleford is getting a very nice piece of art for Valentine's!
I find the pistol tucked into his breastplate telling. Probably an exotic and expensive weapon at the time, but one that would eventually obsolete all that armor he's wearing. Shades of a time just as the modern world was beginning to creep upon us.
(The PR Brotherhood is one of my favorite bunches of painters. Their work all looks photographic, yet dreamy)
In case you haven't heard, I'm redoing Mythusmage.com, and art like that would work great with it.
Probably fit best as cover art for a section on the southern shores of The Wolf Folk Sea. The pistol could be explained as a personal magic item of some sort.
You find more stuff like this, let us know.