A Day Out With Grandma and Grandpa

 

A perfect activity for a summers day in 1970.

And, unless I am mistaken, in the background is the statues of Pluto and Prosperine, an infant triton on a winged horse, and tritons and sea creatures, in the Fountain of Pluto and Prosperine in the grounds of Waddesdon Manor.

Bonus -A woman called me ugly until she found out how much money I make.

Now she's calling me ugly and poor.

The Greek Runner

 

A statue by William Blake Richmond.

Obviously.

Bonus : 

Another classic

Statue of a Pigeon on a Man on a Horse.

 

Probably some famous pigeon who won a battle, or something, but I don't recognise him.

Bonus - 

Look. David's On The Telly

 

Tho' to be honest, it's a small tourist repro of Michelangelo's statue of David in Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze. (Florence).

Actually on the TV screen is what seems like an advert for a MIL Marquis Farm Tractor Front Loader.  My all-time third favourite tractor front-loader attachment.

Bonus - 

The Headless Icon

 

It's unclear to me whether this is a small religious statue to a saint, which has subsequently lost his head and hand,  or this saint who lost his head and hand has been accurately immortalized in this religious statue.

And I doubt if anyone else cares.

Bonus - 

A Priest On Points Duty

 

Well, that's what it looks like to me.

If you want a challenge, starting just with that image, and nowt else, see if you can figure out who, what, where.

For the rest of us, the info is below the cut.

Chaudet's Cupid

 

You don't need me to tell you that this is by Antoine-Denis Chaudet. It's obvious from his dexterous wielding of a Dremel multi-tool.

Also, I know that you know that this is his Cupid (I said that in the post title), which was completed posthumously by Pierre Cartellier in 1817.

Looks like Cupid is about to fart

Bonus - Great White Sharks have never been observed mating and it's unknown where, how or when they do it.

Bonus 2 - Seen on a bench in Margate.

"Damn, I'm Rock Hard"

 

" I wonder if I can hide it with....uh. I guess not."

Actually, the slide is labelled "1986 06 Jerichau NY Carlsberg", which naturally leads to the Ny Carlsberg museum, but it appears that this is actually Slaven now at the Brandts.

Bonus - The mysterious worldwide epidemic of Encephalitis lethargica. The disease attacks the brain, leaving some victims in a statue-like condition, speechless and motionless. Between 1915 and 1926, 500,000 dead or incapacitated from it. It disappeared as mysteriously as it came in to the world.

It's Art, but ... WTF?

 

The info on this slide is "Helsinki Hvittrask 1987", so...Yay for photographers who label things.

Hvittrask is a venue in Helsinki, which attracts Architecture and Art buffs. Info.

I can't work out who the artist is, but Finland does have a history of interesting artist.

Bonus - There is probably a direct correlation between nostril size and index finger size because it is always a perfect fit.

Bonus 2 - 

Saint Harvey of Flintshire

 

With today being Comic Relief - Red Nose Day 2021, I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate Saint Harvey of Flintshire, that man generally accepted as being the inventor of the "Knock Knock" joke.

He lived in the 9th Century, and attempted to convert the people of Flintshuire to Catholicism through the use of parables, good deeds, miracle (basically card tricks) and .... jokes.

Alas, after a particularly badly-time "The Baron is so stupid" joke, he was eviscerated and died on stage. Literally.

Bonus - Casu marzu: The world's 'most dangerous' cheese

Flower Samurai Statue Outfit

 

I see it and I can assemble words to describe it. But I cannot figure out what or why.

Flower festival?  Traditional story?  Art Project?

I Dunno.

Bonus - The barking mad story of the decade-old Jack White record found inside furniture.

The Temple of Osiris, Filby

Most folk know that the Egyptians were the people who invented paper, however fewer people know that they actually didn't manufacture much of the stuff.

Instead, they outsourced the paper-making task, and mostly it was manufactured in Norfolk, which at the time was much closer to Egypt.

Little remains of those paper factories (due to the great storm of 86 BC), but in 1966, this statue was unearthed just east of Filby.

It's on show in the local pub now.

Bonus - Sandra the Orangutan started washing her hands after observing her caretakers doing it.  If she can manage it, surely you can as well.

Bonus 2 - Thank You Amazon - Essential supplies have arrived.

Paul Bunyan

Who appears to be wearing a Bike Helmet.

Strange.

Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack in American folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the oral tradition of North American loggers,and was later popularized by freelance writer William B. Laughead (1882–1958) in a 1916 promotional pamphlet for the Red River Lumber Company. He has been the subject of various literary compositions, musical pieces, commercial works, and theatrical productions. His likeness is displayed in several statues across North America.

I think this one might be in Ossineke, Michigan.

Bonus - If it wasn't for Bad Luck...

Meanwhile, In Greece

...the Greek Euro Financial Crisis means that Greece is desperate for foreign currency. This statue will be appearing on eBay, on a cash-on-collection basis.

  No info on this slide, but if (like me) your are an ancient Greek scholar, you'll recognize this bloke as Achilles.  And if (like me) you're a student of regional cloud patterns, you'll recognize the location as Corfu. Which means that this is the statue of Achilles at Achilleion.    The statue was commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II, statue-fans.

Bonus -

Moissac Entombment detail 1485

Amusingly, autocorrect wanted to change that to Moistness Entombment.

Moissac Abbey was a Benedictine and Cluniac monastery in Moissac, Tarn-et-Garonne in south-western France. A number of its medieval buildings survive including the abbey church, which has famous and important Romanesque sculpture around the entrance.

Bonus -

The Statue

No info on who or  where, blah blah blah.

But, Debunking Time !

Claim:   The number of hooves lifted into the air on equestrian statues reveals how the riders died.

Status:   False

Snopes 

Bonus - Thar She Blows

The Local Market

Ah. The beautiful colours of Kodachrome.

More intriguing is "Where"

The rest of the set were stereotypically American, but this car park has British Cars and a statue that looks rather British King -ish....  Bermuda?   But those hills in the background.

My Guess is Cape Town.

Bonus - Strange Vehicles

David Florence

Or to be more precise, Michelangelo's statue of David in Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze. (Florence).

It sometime comes as a surprise to be firtling thru a bunch of anonymous slides, of long forgotten trips to stately homes and even more ugly babies, and WHAM... one of the most famous works of art. Ever.

Bonus - Cyriak and Bonobo.    Mesmerising. especially in HD and full-screen.

Final Hallowe'en week tomb

Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of English 17th Century tombs will recognize the tomb of Sir Richard Mompesson in Salisbury aCthedral.  However, you may not be aware of the exciting news of the finding of what is believed to be a 17th century polychromed Coat of Arms on the reverse of the stone supporting the Coat of Arms at the top and front of the monument.    Yawn.

Bonus - Woke up last night with an unexpected memory of a wish being granted on Jim'll Fix It. It sounded like a false memory (Like Roger The Cabin B oy on Captain Pugwash), but a quick bit of googling, and  oh yes, it's true.     So, ladies and gentlemen,Jimmy Savile and a lucky young girl who gets to "Polish A Python".   No, really.

Where In The World

It's been a while since we had a quiz, so here's a good tricky one to puzzle over.

Where In The World Was This Slide Taken?

a.      Skegness
b.      Kansas City
c.      New York
d.      Falkland Islands   ?

Bonus - 55 years ago, 6 stood under atomic bomb blast -- on purpose.