1) Migues de Cervantes (Don Quixote) was captured during battle and made a slave for several years.  He  also had a permanently crippled arm from battle. 2) During his life, JS Bach was better known as a church organist than a composer.  His compositions were considered old fashioned. 3) Telegraph and Morse code inventor Samuel … Continue reading 10 Interesting Facts about Famous Artists

Most art critiquing is trying to force a work into the critic's pet form and shape. The corners of a square peg rhetorically lopped off to make it fit the critic's preferred round hole. One of my favorite stories is about Avalon, Barry Levinson's well regarded 1990 movie about a Polish-Jewish immigrant family's experiences in their … Continue reading Art Criticism as Reflection of the Critic

           Excerpted from the book 'Art Perception' by David Cycleback: "Beyond the West's blue-eyed pale-skinned version, it has long been common for Jesus Christ to be depicted in art as looking like the local people. The old Ethiopian painting on the upper right shows him as black.  The 19th century Chinese … Continue reading Racial Depictions of Jesus Christ in Art

The short philosophy/psychology book Return Trip by David Cycleback was named a finalist for the 2014 Eric Hoffer Award.  The book award is given out by the publisher and the estate of the late Eric Hoffer, the famed American social philosopher and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner. The following is Amazon's description of the book:  " 'Looking at visual … Continue reading David Cycleback’s book Return Trip is 2014 Eric Hoffer Award Finalist

The below link is to a pdf version of the illustrated 54 page booklet I wrote, A Brief Introduction to Ancient Counting Systems for Non-Mathematicians.  It is an introduction and beginner's guide to ancient counting systems, including Inuit (Eskimo), Greek, Hebrew, Babylonian, Chinese, Mayan, Egyptian, Armenian, Asian rods, the quipu and abacus.  This primer is intended for the non … Continue reading A Brief Introduction to Ancient Counting Systems for the Non-Mathematician

This is my infrared camera that I use in authentication. It's a normal over-the-counter Fuji digital camera, except it had the inside infrared blocking filter removed. As with x-ray machines, infrared cameras allow you to see through layers of paint on a painting. It shows a different layer of paint than an x-ray machine.  It … Continue reading The Infrared Camera and Art Authentication

In the 1800s, popular American magazines such as Harper's Weekly and Leslie's Illustrated had their pictures printed from original hand etched printing blocks. This was before modern 20th century reproduction technology, so all the prints in publications were made 'by hand,' the same way an original Picasso or Rembrandt was made. One of the artists/printmakers … Continue reading A way to get inexpensive original works of art by a famous artist

Pictured is an extremely rare mid-1800s photograph on a swatch of cloth.  It is similar to the commonly found tintype (on iron) and ambrotype (on glass), but on cloth.  In the nineteenth century, photographs could technically be made on cloth and wood, but examples are rarely seen today.

George Grantham Bain was a famed American news photographer based in New York City.   He first worked for United Press before starting his own photo service, named Bain News Service.  Bain's original photos are usually small, postcard or snapshot size, and  easily identified by his name or 'Bain New Service' rubber stamped on back, often … Continue reading Early 1900s Portraits by George Grantham Bain

Counting on the Inca's quipu, their ancient string counting device, is easy. Each hanging string represents a number. They used a base-10 system like ours, with the bottom group of knots being the ones (1 knot = 1, 3 knots = 3, 9 knots = 9), the next grouping above being the tens (3 knots … Continue reading How to count on the Inca Quipu