Don't You Guys Love It When Women

There’s a good man within you Arthur, but he is wrestling with a giant

Armand dragging Daniel out of bed but having coffee ready for him is so sweet

that old man is once again occupying my every waking thought

Partners for life 🤝🏳️‍🌈

Albert Mason, in a way, mirrors what Arthur could have been if he wasn't outlaw. While they both share a love for nature, they represent different sides of it; Arthur embodies the rough, dangerous, and wild side, while Albert symbolizes the innocence and delicacy of nature. They both find beauty in the world, but in contrasting ways; Albert gets to experience nature purely for his enjoyment, but Arthur is in a way, like an animal, in a constant fight to survive.

mrs sadie adler, widow

i didn't get a minor in art history for no reason, so let's talk about

The Adoration of the Shepherds with a Donor by Palma Vecchio, c. 1520-1525 (held at the Louvre under the French name L'Adoration des bergers avec une donatrice, here's its collection details)

What's fascinating about this painting (done in the very very late High Renaissance to early Mannerism) is that the identity of the commissioner of the painting is the one kneeling to the far right, who Armand in the episode says is modeled by him, is actually unknown. (So that makes it very handy for the show to claim it's Armand without actually being inaccurate or anachronistic)

What this depicts is the Christmas story (though yes, I know, it doesn't look like Christmastime in the painting) where the shepherds pay Jesus a visit after he's born. There's a lark sitting in the window on the left, which often symbolizes rebirth, and there's a dog all the way to the very right, which usually symbolizes loyalty.

Of course, within the IWTV verse, the choice of using this painting (which doesn't have much, if any literature on it by itself--maybe because for a long time it was attributed to the painter Titian by mistake instead of Vecchio) is extremely fascinating to me. There's a lot of dimensions here: most notably, as another user I saw pointed out, Armand was the model for this, and the painter (Marius de Romanus in the show, Armand's maker) whitewashes Armand. Now, Armand is immortalized in room 711 in the Louvre forever as a 20 year old, looking nothing like himself, his identity effectively completely erased, while thousands of people pass and see this painting every year.

It raises a lot of poignant questions, also: since the commissioner of real life (who is the real life model) doesn't exist in IWTV, what is the motivation for Marius to paint Armand in a Christ scene? Because obviously, Armand would not have commissioned this painting. What spurs him to do that? Since the real life artist, Vecchio, was very influenced by Titian at the point when this painting was made, was Marius also? I really do want to know the team's thought process behind choosing this painting, because it's endlessly interesting to me. It's definitely one of the lesser known works in the Louvre, even just a cursory glance over JSTOR barely has any information. I might literally email my art history professors and ask if they have any material on this or Vecchio because I'm so intrigued... anyone else wanna discuss <3?

daniel molloy 📼

i did not appreciate the dead part in red dead redemption

everything reminds me of him (middle aged daniel molloy who gets lost in his work, ignoring his wives and daughters, but can't find anything to fill the void of loneliness generated by something he doesn't even remember)