amo

Reading the Choir Notes
Francesco Bergamini (1815-1883)
Oil on canvas
26 x 32-3/8 inches

Still Life of Tulips and Carnations in a Vase
Hubert Bellis (1831-1902)
Oil on canvas
22 x 18-1/4 inches

Video: Selecting a Reader by Ted Kooser, 0:58.

Video: Summertime, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, with some truly fabulous photographs, 4:59.

The Flower Seller
Jacques-Laurent Agasse
Oil on canvas, 1822

From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April (dressed in all his trim)
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing:
That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any summer’s story tell:
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew:
Nor did I wonder at the lily’s white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose,
They were but sweet, but figures of delight:
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seemed it winter still, and you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.

–William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Five Members of an Orchestra
Gaetano Bellei (1857-1922)
Oil on canvas
29-3/8 x 52-7/8 inches

The Alchemist
Cornelis Bega (1631-1664)
Oil on panel, 1663
14-1/8 x 12-1/2 inches

This painting reminds me of this:

And this:

. . . though I can’t make gold. I’m pretty good at making a mess, though!

Blowing Bubbles
Luigi Bechi (1830-1919)
Oil on canvas
20-3/4 x 26-5/8 inches

A Pensive Moment
Jean Beauduin (1851-1916)
Oil on canvas
24 x 29 inches

A Pensive Moment by Friedrich von Amerling is here.