DJ Qualls

DJ Qualls Instagram – “Hey babes, can you help me get this head into that bag? Thanks” Hello and welcome to my Sunday things that I love post. Today, I’ve chosen Judith with the head of Holofernes, oil on wood panel, Antwerp School, circa 1550. I chose this painting to talk about my love of old master works. Growing up a bookish child in the rural south, one of the fastest ways to get your ass kicked was to admit that you liked books about Greek myths. (I also liked scary bible stories. The ones about hell and disasters;Sodom and Gomorrah and judgment day). I used to check out this giant book from my school library detailing these myths and the illustrations were 400 year old paintings. The moody photo realism and the barbarity so exquisitely rendered, hooked me and followed me into adulthood. When I decided to seriously collect art, this is where I headed. Before I started to learn about old master paintings (that’s just the term used for paintings pre 19th century) I assumed they cost millions of dollars and I could never afford one. Well, a lot of them DO cost millions of dollars, but many, many more do not and you can acquire one or two of them a year for what you used to spend on cigarettes. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m going to use a gorgeous little Martyrdom of St. Ursula painting I picked up for very little dough to talk about affordable collecting, but I’m going to do that at a later date.This mid 16th century beauty tells the Bible story of Judith and Holofernes. Holofernes was an Assyrian General sent by King Nebuchadnezzar to take over this Jewish village. His soldiers stormed the village and then camped outside, blocking food and supplies. You can see this in the upper right. There are heads on spikes and cracks in the castle. You can see it better in the second image. Old master paintings are hard to photograph because of the varnish. This went on for so long, the village men gave up hope. Enter Judith. Judith was a hot widow. She got wind that Holofernes was into her so she and her maid went down to his camp, got him drunk and cut his fucking head off! Seeing the head, the men regained courage and drove out the Assyrians! #artcollector #arthistory #thingsilove | Posted on 16/Jul/2018 02:19:34