Leonardo Da Vinci

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David Grann recently published an excellent piece in the New Yorker about a mysterious death in Guatemala. Here’s the opening of another great article for the same magazine, 2010’s “The Mark of a Masterpiece,” about an Oxford professor who authenticates art:

“Every few weeks, photographs of old paintings arrive at Martin Kemp’s eighteenth-century house, outside Oxford, England. Many of the art works are so decayed that their once luminous colors have become washed out, their shiny coats of varnish darkened by grime and riddled with spidery cracks. Kemp scrutinizes each image with a magnifying glass, attempting to determine whether the owners have discovered what they claim to have found: a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci.

Kemp, a leading scholar of Leonardo, also authenticates works of art—a rare, mysterious, and often bitterly contested skill. His opinions carry the weight of history; they can help a painting become part of the world’s cultural heritage and be exhibited in museums for centuries, or cause it to be tossed into the trash. His judgment can also transform a previously worthless object into something worth tens of millions of dollars. (His imprimatur is so valuable that he must guard against con men forging not only a work of art but also his signature.) To maintain independence, Kemp refuses to accept payment for his services. ‘As soon as you get entangled with any financial interest or advantage, there is a taint, like a tobacco company paying an expert to say cigarettes are not dangerous,’ he says.

Kemp, who is in his sixties, is an emeritus professor of art history at Oxford University, and has spent more than four decades immersed in what he calls ‘the Leonardo business,’ publishing articles on nearly every aspect of the artist’s life. “

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Air rifles will help your sons build confidence.

 

This 1948 pocket-size comic book (priced at 10 cents), produced by the Plymouth, Michigan, air-rifle seller known as Daisy, offered a variety of heroic tales (Captain Marvel, Robotman, Red Ryder) and cartoon histories (Leonardo Da Vinci, German mechanical engineer Rudolph Diesel, Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller). And of course, it contained an 8-page catalog of Daisy Air Rifles, including the 1,000-shot repeater Cowboy Carbine and the Daisy Pump Gun, both available for purchase. But wait, there’s more, and some of it involves cows! An excerpt: 

“ALSO: Camping Tips, Fishing Lore, Marksmanship Manual, How To Be A Cowboy, Jokes, Quizzes, How To Read Cow Brands, Wood Carving, many others! Limited supply. Mail coupon with thin dime (10c in coin) plus unused 3c stamp–we’ll rush your copy postpaid! Do it now–this very minute–send coupon.” 

More Old Print Ads:

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