The Lost Treasure ...

Salvator Mundi is a painting of Christ, recently attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, who is known to have painted the subject. It was lost and recently rediscovered.

The Salvator Mundi [Saviour of the World] was uncovered by New York art historian Dr. Robert Simon, who orchestrated a careful scientific analysis and restoration of the painting.

The painting depicts Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand holding a globe. It is painted in oil on a wood panel and measures 26 by 18 1/2 inches in size.

 Louis XII started negotiating with Leonardo in 1506 and the painting was finished by 1513. It was delivered after the Queen's death and so Louis decided he would donate it to the religious order connected with her in Nantes. A century later Queen Henrietta Maria of England saw the painting and had an etching made of it by Hollar, to add to a series of famous paintings he was doing for her. In the nineteenth century the convent was dissolved and the painting sold on to Baron de Lareinty of Paris; he had it until 1902 when it was again sold, this time to Comtesse de Béhague. It has remained in the family having been passed onto the nephew and then to the son, Jean Louis de Ganay.

Various tests and close examination has convinced experts this painting is genuine. Monochromatic sodium lighting, infra-red and ultra-violet tests were performed and, along with x-rays, these have revealed a number of interesting details:

The pearls around the jewel have been altered.
A cross has been removed from the orb.
Leonardo deviated from his basic sketch very little. Infra-red tests showed up the original sketch behind the painting.
X-rays show the paint has been applied in layers on a wooden base. This technique was used often by Leonardo during his last five years of work.
A thick coat of varnish has been added.

The nut wood used for Salvator Mundi is the same used on St. John the Baptist. The triangular composition, light angles, facial shadows and hair swirls are typical of many of Leonardo's paintings, while the colours used are reminiscent of the Last Supper.

I can almost hear Jesus saying ... "I am the Light of the world.".

Love is all there is ...

“Eventually, you will come to understand

that love heals everything,

and love is all there is.


The journey may take many lifetimes,

but you will complete it.

It is impossible not to complete it.

It is not a question of if but of when.


Every situation you create

serves this purpose.


Every experience you encounter

serves this purpose.”  

Gary Zuka

The History of Love ...

“Even now, all possible feelings do not yet exist, there are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written or a painting no one has ever painted, or something else impossible to predict, fathom or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges and absorbs the impact.”

 Nicole Krauss

Stop by Joe Henry

“Imagination is the golden-eyed monster that never sleeps. It must be fed; it cannot be ignored.”

Patricia A. McKillip

Dance At The Moulin De La Galette by Renoir

The Moulin de la Galette was one of 21 works shown by Renoir at the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877. Every Sunday afternoon young people from the north of Paris contributed in the dance-hall and in the courtyard behind it in fine weather. Most of the figures in Renoir's work, rather than being habitués of the Moulin were in fact portraits of his friends, with the occasional professional model posing for him.

The scene which Renoir has painted in this work is not an authentic representation of the clientele of the Moulin, but rather a scrupulously organized series of portraits. Renoir clearly wants us to see the Moulin De La Galette as men and women socialize in joyful harmony, but there was a darker side to the 19th century dance halls, which is suppressed. The dancing halls were also sites of prostitution where capitalism ruled, sex exploitation caused by the necessity that was derived of the crises generated by the industrialization - but in this picture, there none of that.

This painting is Renoir representation of his own fantasy - a escapist world, some sort of paradise enclosed in this small urban space.

We hold the key to survive ...

There is an answer to it all
We must embrace or we will destroy all we are ... 




Firewind - Brother's Keeper

Au revoir ...

“You Learn.

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security.

And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises,

And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn...
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure...

That you really are strong

And you really do have worth...

And you learn and learn...

With every good-bye you learn.”

Jorge Luis Borges

Girl in the woods by Vincent Van Gogh