Purdy Pictures

Every time I go to a museum there seems to be one piece that just hangs with me. I find myself thinking about them years later. Invariably nobody else likes them, but I think I'll share two with you anyway.

The first is called Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus or Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus Would Freeze. It was painted between 1600 and 1603 by a Dutch man named Hendrick Goltzius. It is ink and oil- a very rare medium. It has the effect of an old book lithograph with actual fire coming from the canvas. It is warm and amazing. I first saw the painting on a date at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.



















The next is a self portrait by Degas. Degas (I'm sure you know) is most famous for oils and pastels of dancers. He also created amazing sculptures of dancers. I saw this small self portrait tucked away in a corner of the Getty Museum. It seems lifelike and I can't trace his expression. I love oil paintings.