I would love to post a real post today, but I can’t. Instead let me just tell you how much I love you all. Really. I have the best readers out there. Thanks for going to see Catherine yesterday.

Now….let’s see. Reader request. What would you like to have me post about next week? I’ll do my best to oblige. You deserve it.

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This one is for Jean-Luc, who asked that I talk about my favorite paintings.

I will preface this by saying, I am not an art historian. By no means am I an expert, but I know what strikes me. I saw this one at the Louvre in Paris. Let’s just say that it struck me hard.

From WebMuseum, Paris:

Liberty leading the People (90 Kb); Painted on 28 July 1830, to commemorate the July Revolution that had just brought Louis-Philippe to the French throne; Louvre.

“This painting, which is a sort of political poster, is meant to celebrate the day of 28 July 1830, when the people rose and dethroned the Bourbon king. Alexandre Dumas tells us that Delacroix’s participation in the rebellious movements of July was mainly of a sentimental nature. Despite this, the painter, who had been a member of the National Guard, took pleasure in portraying himself in the figure on the left wearing the top-hat. Although the painting is filled with rhetoric, Delacroix’s spirit is fully involved in its execution: in the outstretched figure of Liberty, in the bold attitudes of the people following herm contrasted with the lifeless figures of the dead heaped up in the foreground, in the heroic poses of the people fighting for liberty, there is without a doubt a sense of full participation on the part of the artist, which led Argan to define this canvas as the first political work of modern painting.

More later. I’ll try to post regularly on paintings. Not because I know what I’m talking about, but because it’s fun. And I loved Arethusa’s week of art.