BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!

Subject: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 01:27 PM

The Father-in-Law just insisted that we take a pile of the stuff from one of his closets. It included a wrapped bundle labled "picture frames". We just undid it to see if there was anything usable. Mostly it's a pile of sappy little old floral, birdy, and puppydog prints in dirt-cheap frames. Basically worthless, but I could understand some little elderly lady buying them for decor. But then, in the midst of it, the unexpected treasure appeared; a print of what is apparently a classic painting related to the French revolution. I gazed at it in wonder, and asked myself:

Why in the name of God would anyone buy a cheap 6"x8" print of THIS and hang it in their home ?

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 01:30 PM

Should I put it in the mudcat auction?

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: Don Firth
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 02:19 PM

Historical, frogprince. Here's what you have:   CLICKY.

You might want to do a bit of research on this. I don't know, but the original is quite probably worth a fortune. And often prints of paintings can be worth a fair wad of money as well.

Ever watch the program on PBS affiliate TV stations, "Antiques Roadshow?" It happens with some frequency that some old print, poster, of dust-catching knick-knack that's been cluttering up the attic for decades turns out to be worth a small fortune. Check it out! You never know.....

Here's some information about the artist:   Jacques-Louis David.   He was an important French painter. Scroll down nearly halfway and the article discusses THIS particular painting depicting a rather gruesome historical event. Jean-Paul Marat, an important figure during the French Revolution, was assassinated in his bath, by a woman, as he was making out a list of people to be sent to the guillotine!

Kinda grim! Not something you would necessarily want to hang over the living room mantlepiece, but--

Google "Jacques-Louis David." Lots of information about him.

Good luck!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 02:21 PM

Why? Poor Marat was stabbed in his tub by a woman, that's why. Hung to remind the man of the house to beware the woman of the house, and to remind the woman tired of her husband that a remedy was as close as a kitchen drawer.

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: Don Firth
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 02:34 PM

Actually, she wasn't "the woman of the house." Here's the story:

On July 13, 1793, a young Royalist from Caen, Charlotte Corday, managed, by a clever subterfuge, to gain entry into his apartment. When Marat agreed to receive her, she stabbed him in his bathtub, where he was accustomed to sit hour after hour treating the disfiguring skin disease from which he suffered.

She was sent to assassinate him.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: gnu
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 02:50 PM

"by a clever subterfuge"

Yeah, I can think of a few.

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 03:00 PM

Well, as to cash value...I took it out of the 50 cent frame to scan it, and it was cut out of some book or magazine, with a couple of smaller art images on the other side of the paper.

I'm going to keep it until Christmas time. Our art association plays what we call "Dirty Santa" at our Christmas party: wrap something, anything, to put on the table, and take the package that looks interesting to you when your card is drawn. Someone is bound to treasure this.

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 03:04 PM

If you find the lower half of an ear , , ,

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 03:24 PM

Don, I haven't watched Antiques Road Show for a while now. But the first time I ever saw it, I was instantly hooked for a while. A guy brought in a good sized photo that had been in the family forever. A group of more-or-less cowboys were lounging around the front of an old-west building. In the middle of the group...almost unquestionably...John Wesley Hardin. Appraised value, $40k.

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 03:32 PM

999, I wonder, if I find that hunk of ear, do you think I would do better putting it on Ebay, or taking it to...whatyacallum, Sotherbies?...or what?

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 03:58 PM

But froggy, you answered your own question. He didn't buy it to hang in his home, he bought it to stick in the back of a closet.

But seriously, I agree with you. Why would anybody want to look at that everyday?

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 04:11 PM

Definitely e-bay, FP.


But seriously, I agree with you. Why would anybody want to look at that everyday?

Or this.

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 04:57 PM

We're pretty sure neither the Father-in-Law, no the late Mom-in-Law, ever bought the thing. My wife thinks it may have been passed down from some New England ancestors, but that's just a guess.

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: Don Firth
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 08:02 PM

Ah, what the heck!

I figured that if it turned out to be worth about forty-leven hundred thousand dollars, you might, in your delight at the windfall, feel moved to share the proceeds with someone who suggested you check it out rather than just get rid of it. Oh, well. Worth a shot, I guess.....

(But I did find out a lot about the artist and the Machiavellian nature of some of the folks involved in the French Revolution.)

Don (never let a chance go by) Firth

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: Bobert
Date: 14 Oct 11 - 08:07 PM

Always been one of my favorite paintings... The light is downright as eerie as the subject matter...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 02:00 AM

So where is your copy hanging, Bobert?

Subject: RE: BS: I just discovered a lost art treasure!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 01:01 PM

Obviously, it belongs hanging in the bathroom.

Charley Noble