The Art Connoisseur

Not only can I spell it but I believe I am it - a connoisseur. Defined by Mr. Webster as "one who enjoys with discrimination and appreciation of subtleties," I admit to having a love of fine art paintings. Admittedly there are certain styles and techniques I prefer to others but I do spend money on art books and art galleries. Whenever I travel in the world, I try to ensure a trip to a local museum. I boast that I have almost been thrown out of the Prado in Madrid and the Art Gallery of Southern Australia in Adelaide, on both occasions for taking photos.

Second Life allows me to indulge this little passion by providing me with the opportunity to create my own private collection of paintings that I no longer need to work out how to steal in Real Life. I already have one wall of my house dedicated to some of my favorite pieces, and there are more walls to cover. Each painting is one prim so I cannot have a viewable collection of more than about 150 items because my land has a finite number of allowable prims and I at least need walls -although in a surreal way I suppose I could just hang them in air and use ALL my prims for paintings.



My collection contains primarily J.W. Waterhouse and John Collier. In a sense, I would like to recreate in-world the entire contents of my favorite web site, ArtMagick. In fact, if I can convince the site owner to part with some cash, I would be happy to enter a joint project to build a spectacular Second Life museum of Art, which could house an awesome collection. I suspect that there would be some minor copyright issues (!!) but then I can dream, can't I?

Meanwhile I can sit in my favorite Cuddle Chair, turn in the radio, and sit back while looking at my art. Cool, huh?

Return of the New Romantics

I am a hopeless Romantic. And please take note of the upper case "R" there. The Romantic Movement covered most of the 19th century and its children included the Pre-Raphaelites and the Neoclassicists. Of the latter, I'm afraid I have an almost erotic fixation on the paintings of John William Waterhouse. For those who have never come across his works, you could do no better than taking a trip to the premier Waterhouse site at http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com

While browsing the site, take a peek at Circe Invidiosa, a positive riot of turquoise centered on the image of the witch, Circe. In the Odyssey, it was Circe who held Ulysses captive (or is it captivated) for many years before he escaped to travel home to Ithaca. In this painting, Circe is in the process of transforming the beautiful nymph Scylla into a hideous sea monster. Wicked, eh?
The only problem is that Waterhouse's Circe is stunningly gorgeous. If she IS evil, then it's an evil most men would die to be the victim of. With her slightly retrousse nose and large, dark eyes, it's impossible for me to find any fault with her. She is captivating and intriguing - a dangerous and fatal duo of qualities for a woman to have, in art or in life.

In life, Waterhouse was besotted by one of his models, Muriel Foster. Some critics have argues that JW only ever had one women in his paintings - I'd suggest two. But it doesn't take a degree in Fine Art to flick through the website to see that the same woman appears over and over in Waterhouse's paintings, and if that doesn't suggest an enchantment, I don't know what does. Ooh, "enchanting," a third dangerous adjective for a member of the fairer sex.

If you want to see the actual painting, you have to travel to the Adelaide Art Museum and venture into room 15. There you can stand for 15 minutes and simply stare at it. Which I did. I also took a photo, which is (a) forbidden, and (b) got me a stern lecture from some jumped up attendant who seemed to think it was OK to allow a bunch of school kids to wander around taking pictures with their cell phones but NOT some 40-year-old adult male to take ONE with a camera. Well fuck him; I did it anyway.

Unbeknownst to me, there was a second painting at the diagonally opposite location of the room that I am similarly enchanted by. In fact, it is on the walls of my Second Life house along with the Waterhouse. This is John Collier's Priestess of Delphi, yet another image of a femme fatale who, not surprisingly, bears a resemblance to Circe. Draped in red, the priestess has her eyes closed while she dreams up her prophecy high up in the mountains in Delphi, Greece.

Two women in one day. A priestess and a witch. A dangerous day indeed.