companions

Vladimir Borovikovsky [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

1814: a well-to-do, artistic young couple poses with their woolly poodle.  This portrait of A.A. and A.G. Lobonov-Rostovsky - I can't figure out which is which - was painted by Vladimir Borovikovsky (Ukrainian-Russian, 1757-1825).  A popular portrait painter, he grew up in a family of icon illuminators.  I wonder if that has anything to do with the luminosity his portraits often show; those of his sitters who are young and/or beautiful often seem lit from within.  In this case that even extends to the dog:

"if cats had wings, larks would be expensive" - russian proverbs

From a 20th-century collection of 1200 Russian proverbs comes this selection, none of which I think I've seen before.

• Manure does not shame the field.
• The horse is often wiser than its rider.
• A stupid dog is not a tiger.
• The dog that likes to eat partridges is of no use to the hunter.
• If you deal with dogs, learn how to bark.
• The cat saw the camel and immediately arched its back.
• Old mice like fresh lard.
• If the cat can't eat the fish with its mouth, it will eat it with its eyes. (Too true - curator)
• A wet poodle does not fear water.

-- Langnas, Izaak Abram, 1911-. 1200 Russian Proverbs. New York: Philosophical Library, 1960.  Passim.

happy halloween, happy harvest

By Grigoriev (http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Page-207.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The harvest is in, the spirits are out.  In Boris Grigoriev's "Still Life with Cat and Onions" (Russian; circa 1928), this fine black kitty seems to take her duties overseeing this world and the next very seriously.

From our haunt to yours, dear Museum friends,

Happy Halloween!!

maray on the job

thanks internet archive (PD)

I'm betting most if not all of you have seen the news about the new staffer at Serpukhov's Museum of History and Art in Moscow.  He's a big ginger fellow who had been hanging about getting to know the staff, and recently that staff decided to take matters into their own hands.  They sent out a press release with his application letter and their decision to hire him. . .
. . . on April 1.  Their new hire is a cat.
My hamhanded GoogleTranslate on the museum's announcement told me that Maray (as he's christened, after the family who owned the property originally) thought he owed it to the Museum to help protect their paintings, since cats are in so many fine works.  I also learned that he had considered giving his services to the nearby butcher's, but traded bodily food for spiritual and didn't regret it.  (This was where everyone was tipped off to the joke, surely.)
Want to see where Maray's working?  Here's a virtual tour of the Serpukhov.
The moral of the story for museums in general may be: Hire a cat = free media coverage beaucoup.