F L Y B Y E
love
dad
Sunday, January 4, 2026
Saturday, January 3, 2026
Renaissance
S A I N T J O H N T H E B A P T I S T
D O N A T E L L O 14 3 8
For hundreds of years artists were limited
to portraying their gods as divine beauty,
too perfect for this world. So with this crop
of superheroes running the universe why
bother wasting time depicting anyone else?
It was the gods that determined your fate.
John the Baptist was a gaunt ascetic.
His hand to mouth existence living
in the desert was shared by many
of his followers. They were a dogged
group of scrubs, stubbornly persisting
about the harsh, skimpy landscape.
Donatello carved his Saint from the trunk
of a poplar tree, one both simple and rough
by nature. A marble monument was never built
to describe someone's humility.
B I R T H O F V E N U S
B O T T I C E L L I 1 4 8 5
Venus, goddess of love, was born from an
ocean's froth. To see her beauty first hand
was to awaken spiritual ideals that would
otherwise remain dormant.
Sensual pleasure was given a spiritual formula.
Botticelli painted for us a full-scale nude
to make his point about anatomical beauty.
A more sensual medium than stone would be
needed. Nothing but luminous paint would do.
His Birth of Venus was an early example of
brushing oil on canvas. Until now a wood panel
was the preferred surface and tempera the paint.
Da Vinci's Mona Lisa was painted on a panel of
Poplar wood.
V I T R U V I A N M A N
D A V I N C I 1 4 9 2
We are a microcosm of the universe itself.
The Roman architect Vitruvius mathematically
proved something having to do with perfect
proportions of the human body and how this all
concerned the governing of the stars and nature.
Even scientists read their horoscope.
Da Vinci speculated in all manner of things.
He was a scientist that happened to draw pictures.
His curiosity was expressed in both mathematics
and art. He was the Renaissance man.
P I E T A
M I C H E L A N G E L O 1 4 9 9
Michelangelo was twenty-two when he began
carving a large marble block into a sculptural
centerpiece of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.
Mary's face is serene, not contorted with agony.
She is also far too young to be the mother
of Jesus, her thirty-three year old son.
"Virgin mother, daughter of her son."
Dante, Divine Comedy.
Here was Michelangelo giving himself artistic license
to portray the mystery of baffling contradiction.
S C H O O L O F A T H E N S
R A P H A E L 1 5 1 1
Raphael painted this monumental fresco for
the private viewing of Pope Julius II, his patron.
Julius was pleased with Raphael's painting
but not enough to distract him from overseeing
Michelangelo's ongoing work on the ceiling
of the Pope's Sistine Chapel.
Raphael painted the world's greatest minds
of antiquity gathering to share among themselves
their reasoning and philosophy.
The message to Julius was that Classical
learning, pagan though it was, often
harmonized with Christian teaching.
The time was right to read from your
books by Plato and Aristotle.
V E N U S O F U R B I N O
T I T I A N 1 5 3 8
This isn't Venus.
It began with Botticelli painting nude women
posed at Venus, Goddess of Love. Now it's
the lady next door in a pin-up poster
sending seasonal blessings.
The Duke of Urbino commissioned this painting
to celebrate his marriage, one presumably filled
with seduction.
* * * * *
OVER EASY
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Saturday, December 27, 2025
Winter
G R A M P S A N D T H E S N O W M A N
N O R M A N R O C K W E L L 1 9 1 9
Rockwell was twenty-five when the popular
Saturday Evening Post magazine chose this
whimsical illustration for their week's cover.
Rockwell would create 321 of these covers
during his forty-seven years with the magazine.
R O O S T E R M A N A B O V E V I T E B S K
M A R C C H A G A L L 1 9 2 5
Here is Russian folk art painted by a Jewish
mystic who believed in the logic of sentiment.
You want to know what people are about?
It starts with the heart.
Then find folks that float in the air.
Add rooster heads as needed.
C A T C H I N G T H E T H A N K S G I V I N G T U R K E Y
G R A N D M A M O S E S 1 9 4 3
Arthritic hands forced Grandma Moses to give up
needlepoint and take up painting. She was 83 when
she painted this "old-timey" memory of rural life.
The painting was country nostalgia minus all the
telephone poles, tractors, cars and assorted other
odds and ends produced from industrial might.
We could do without all that racket.
J A N U A R Y
G R A N T W O O D 1 9 4 0
One of Wood's final paintings.
A rabbit's tracks are the only sign
of life in this frozen, dormant scene.
Grant Wood spent three years
working on this portrayal of
snow-laden corn shocks
before he felt it to be right.
S L E I G H R I D E
R U D O L F K O L L E R 1 8 9 2
A hurtling mail coach forces an ox-driven sleigh
with its heavy load into the deepest snow.
In close pursuit comes a petulant, dark storm.
Crows swirl about, excited, overhead.
The Twentieth Century approaches.
The Age of Progress is about to begin.
T H E F A L L O F T H E C O W B O Y
F R E D E R I C R E M I N G T O N
Soon enough railroad tracks were laid
everywhere, making long cattle drives
to Dodge City and Wichita unnecessary.
Then cheap barb wire became plentiful
and suddenly everyone had their cattle
penned in. This led to controlled breeding.
People wanted Hereford and Angus beef
in place of the tough but hardy Longhorn.
The frontier was closed.
The cowboy was now legend.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, December 21, 2025
Saturday, December 20, 2025
China
S A N X I N G D U I B R O N Z E H E A D
1 3 t h C E N T U R Y B C
Sanxingdui was a highly advanced, Bronze Age
civilization that abruptly vanished about 1000 BC.
A number of heads with mysterious alien-like eyes
have been unearthed at pits associated with ritual
sacrifice. They may represent deities, ancient spirits
or legendary kings of the Shu Dynasty, such as
Cancong, the ruler with bulging eyes.
W O M A N W I T H A M I R R O R
E A S T E R N H A N D Y N A S T Y 2 2 0 A D
A warm greeting from one that serves the deceased
in the afterlife. But she is not Cinderella cleaning
cinders from the fireplace. This is a lady of the
Han court. The elaborate headdress, the sophisticated
getup and the very pricey bronze mirror all announce
her elite status in society.
She is all these things as well as someone's aunt,
delighted by a toddler's first efforts to walk.
E N L I G H T E N E D B E I N G
S O N G D Y N A S T Y 9 6 0 - 1 2 7 9 A D
Divinity has come down to Earth and is accessible
to all. Still this Buddha is at Royal Ease - relaxed,
but with divine authority. Here is the Moon-Water
Buddha, having a compassionate ear but also lost
in contemplation over the illusion of existence -
a glimmering mirage, as is a moon's reflection
over water.
F L Y I N G H O R S E O F G A N S U
2 N D C E N T U R Y A D
This mingai, or burial object, resided undisturbed in
the tomb of an army general for nearly two thousand
years before its discovery in the 1960s. The vigorous
naturalism of this galloping bronze horse breaks with
the static formalism that ruled over the design of
traditional monuments for hundreds of years.
The weight of the horse is perfectly balanced on a
single hoof. This cultural icon is on a short
list of artifacts that are far too treasured by the
nation to ever be allowed to leave mainland China.
L E S H A N G I A N T B U D D H A
8 0 3 A D T A N G D Y N A S T Y
Maitreya, the Future Buddha, symbolized happiness
and was carved from red sandstone in the hope this
towering sculpture would calm the confluence of three
rivers that passed by its feet. It worked.
The vast amount of rock excavated from the site
in order to create the statue was dumped into
the river, stabilizing the turbulent currents.
G U A N Y I N O F T H E S O U T H E R N S E A S
L I A O - J I N D Y N A S T I E S 8 0 7 - 1 2 3 4 A D
The Guanyin Buddha was depicted as approachable,
benevolent, and personally appealing.
What began as a male representation of this form of
Buddha became, over time, increasingly androgenous
as characteristics shifted towards feminine features.
There was no reason to fear this deity of mercy.
This Buddha of compassion would readily tend to
your suffering. You mattered.
Here was a humane expression of values.
The world was growing a heart.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
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