Jesse Locker
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jessemlocker.bsky.social
Jesse Locker
@jessemlocker.bsky.social
14K followers 1.9K following 2.7K posts
Professor of art history at Portland State University. Author of Artemisia Gentileschi: The Language of Painting (Yale University Press) and some other stuff. 2 parts Weltschmerz, 1 part vermouth, a dash of film noir.
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Jesse Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · Aug 11
How your email finds me
Pier Francesco Mola, Caricature of a man with four flying letters, pen and ink drawing, ca. 1647-1657 (Victoria and Albert Museum)
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Goals.

[Attributed to Artus Wolffort (or Wolfaerts), Man Cooking Sausages. oil on canvas, 114.3 x 89.2 cm. (45 x 35.1 in.), (formerly Sotheby’s)]
A bearded man in a fur hat and a beer stein grills sausages at a table covered in root vegetables
November 29, 2025 at 10:15 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
What painter Jacopo Pontormo ate in 1554:
On Sunday, I ate lunch with Bronzino—chicken and veal—and felt well... In the evening I ate a bit of roasted dry meat which made me thirsty.
Saturday I went to the tavern: salad and omelet, and cheese, and I felt good. cabinetmagazine.org/issues/18/pi...
Ingestion / Pontormo’s “Diary” | Elizabeth Pilliod
Food and the management of the artist’s melancholy
cabinetmagazine.org
November 28, 2025 at 7:45 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
On the 400th anniversary of the death of Sofonisba Anguissola
In search of Sofonisba
The 400th anniversary of the death of an artist who was hugely acclaimed in her lifetime is going mainly unmarked by museums – which means that devotees have their work cut out to see her paintings in...
apollo-magazine.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:13 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
What to serve your racist uncle
jessemlocker.bsky.social Jesse Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · Nov 26
"[The Turkey] has a fleshy appendage which hangs above the bill. It puffs up, swells or shrinks. People who dislike others give them to eat or drink that bit of soft flesh above the bill, so that they may not get an erection." -Bernardino de Sahagún, 1579, Florentine Codex, Book 11, Folio 57r
A page from the Florentine Codex, commissioned by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún as La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, describing and illustrating the characteristics of the turkey A drawing of four turkeys, two nesting, two flying(?)
November 27, 2025 at 7:53 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Patti Warashina, Airstream Turkey, 1969. Earthenware with low-fire glaze and low-fire luster, 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. x 19 3/4 in (Seattle Art Museum)
"Air Stream Turkey by Patti Warashina dates from 1969. It’s made of earthenware with low-fire glaze and low-fire luster. It’s about 9 inches in height and width, and about 1 foot 8 inches in length. The shiny silver glaze gives this sculpture the appearance of a sleek metallic object. The form is abstract but it’s possible to interpret it as suggesting various – very different – visual parallels. The sculpture is roughly the shape of a loaf of bread, or bread pan – rectangular but with curved ends. These curved ends, together with the shiny silver glaze, evoke the form of a caravan or trailer – in particular, the vintage Airstream aluminum travel trailer. This likeness has been enhanced by a panel, like a glass window, in the side. Inside the window, it’s possible to make out tent-like forms. A soft light can be seen glowing from the inside. Above the window, in red letters, are the words Air Stream Turkey, and thin red parallel stripes. The red stripes are echoed, at the bottom rear of the sculpture, by five raised parallel bands, lying horizontally, rather like the wing feathers of a bird. And, in front of this – what you might call – wing is a form suggesting both a gear stick and a turkey drumstick: it’s a rod sticking diagonally upwards, with a rounded knob on the end. There are two of these ‘drumsticks’ – one on either side – as they would be on a Thanksgiving roast turkey served up on a platter. At the front end of the sculpture is a circular dial, with MPH written above in red. A red arrow points to a range of speeds." https://www1.seattleartmuseum.org/tours/media/1553
November 27, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Jesse Locker
colindickey.com
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
vulture.com Vulture @vulture.com · 3d
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
Even God Is Worried About ChatGPT
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
www.vulture.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Before you indulge in any holiday mirth, remember that Peter of Damascus (12th century) warns against 298 passions mentioned in the Bible: harshness, trickery, malice, perversity, mindlessness, mindlessness, licentiousness, enticement, dullness, lack of understanding, idleness, sluggishness (1/?)
November 26, 2025 at 5:24 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Claes van Heussen, Fruit and Vegetable Seller, 1630, Oil on canvas, 157 x 200 cm (Private collection)
"This colossal still-life is signed and dated 1630 by Claes (Nicolaes) van Heussen, a Haarlem specialist of the genre. Details regarding his life are sparse and only a handful of his works have been identified. They are variously signed (C.v. Heussen and C.V. Heus) and are dated between 1626 and 1631. He won enough local fame in his own day for Samuel Ampzing to make a passing reference to him in his history of Haarlem, published in 1628. To judge from his surviving works van Heussen was inspired by the huge, abundant displays of fruits and vegetables favoured by Flemish artists and by their followers in the Northern Netherlands. Apparently he did not attempt the unpretentious, monochromatic still-lifes that Pieter Claesz and Willem Claesz Heda were painting at this very time in Haarlem, today prized as Holland's unique contribution to the subject. Like so many exuberant Flemish still-life specialists, he felt compelled to animate his still-lifes with some live action and, as they often did, he called upon a figure painter to do the job. In this painting, Frans Hals painted the coquettish young woman who has turned momentarily to look at the viewer as she reaches into a basket." https://www.wga.hu/html_m/h/heussen/fruit_ve.html
November 24, 2025 at 10:22 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, La Brioche, 1763, Oil on canvas, 47 x 56 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris)
"Chardin ranks as one of the forerunners of modern painting. Volumes and empty spaces stand in a reciprocal relationship within his compositions. There is a magical quality to the mutual self-definition of the assembled objects, each of which possesses its own field of tension and individual aura. Chardin succeeds in lending objects an emotional dimension, in animating them, without stripping them of their concrete tangibility His achievement consists of enriching a painting based on art and tradition with everyday experience, actualised thanks to direct observation from nature. His masterly brushwork interprets his preliminary studies and eschews the danger of formulaic banality and the vapid perpetuation of well-known motifs." https://www.wga.hu/html_m/c/chardin/2/11brioch.html
November 24, 2025 at 4:39 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Federico Castelluccio, best known for playing Furio Giunta in the Sopranos, is a master painter and art collector. He discovered a long-lost painting by Baroque artist Guercino and assisted with the restoration on Artemisia Gentileschi at the Getty bsky.app/profile/coli...
Federico Castelluccio as Furio Giunta in the Sopranos wearing one of his signature patterned shirts
November 23, 2025 at 7:47 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Unidentified Spanish painter (known as Master of the Amsterdam Bodegón), Kitchen scene, c. 1610-1625, oil on canvas, 100 cm x 122 cm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
"Kitchen piece or Bodegón. The smiling chef stands with a large bowl of red wine behind a table laid out with all sorts of food: poultry, quail, a duck, a turkey, fish, mackerel, cheese, pies, rolls, sausages, hams, a pigeon, a red sea bream, and a pig's trotter. In front lies a deck of cards and some coins." https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/Kitchen-Scene--3864a99eda3ad3900cfd4f947e6bb385?tab=data
November 23, 2025 at 5:12 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
How to make tortillas, from Girolamo Benzoni, La Historia del Mondo Nuovo (Venice, 1565)
A woodcut of three women in a thatched hut grinding maize, forming and cooking tortillas text reads: "Modo di fare il pane Le donne Molandaie che lo macinano pigliano una quantità di questo grano, & la sera inanzi lo bagnano con acqua fredda; la mattina con due pie[tre]..." ["Method of making bread The miller women who grind it take a quantity of this grain, and in the evening they soak it in cold water; in the morning, with two stones..."] https://archive.org/details/la-historia-del-mondo-nuovo/page/n123/mode/1up?q=pane
November 22, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Jesse Locker
openculture.bsky.social
When Neapolitans Used to Eat Pasta with Their Bare Hands: Watch Footage from 1903
When Neapolitans Used to Eat Pasta with Their Bare Hands: Watch Footage from 1903
Even if you don't speak Italian, you can make a decent guess at the meaning of the word mangiamaccheroni. The tricky bit is that maccheroni refers not to the pasta English-speakers today call macaroni...
www.openculture.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Félix Nadar, Pierrot the Photographer, 1854-55, 210 x 280 mm (Musée d'Orsay). From a series of photographs of the famous mime Charles Deburau (son of Baptiste Deburau who was portrayed in Marcel Carné's “Les enfants du Paradis”)
"The portrait of Pierrot as a photographer is the first in the Deburau album. It was the perfect introduction to the series intended to promote Nadar's studio. The star is shown alongside a camera which he seems to be operating. His left hand is telling the model to look at the lens and not at him. With his right hand, he is taking out a plate." https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/pierrot-the-photographer/2gFyvE8QvTMW_A?hl=en
November 21, 2025 at 7:06 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Sir Anthony Weldon, A Cat May Look Upon a King (printed for William Roybould, at the Unicorn in Pauls Church-yard, 1652)
Frontispiece of a book with a portrait of James I of England and opposit, a sleepy looking cat
November 21, 2025 at 5:15 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Honestly a little excited for the Leonardo-Epstein-Illuminati conspiracy theory convergence
What Those Jeffrey Epstein Emails About Leonardo's 'Salvator Mundi' Really Mean | Artnet News
Emails reveal that Epstein was speculating about the $450-million sale of Salvator Mundi—and whether it was connected to Trump.
news.artnet.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:52 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Adam Elsheimer, The Artist in Despair, c. 1599, pen and brown ink, 71/8 x 75/8 in. (182 x 195 mm), Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung
An artist its at a table in a gesture of melancholy surrounded by tools of art, an allegory of poverty, and hungry children and animals. To the left, a child peers into a bare cupboard
November 20, 2025 at 4:24 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Art school problems
Hand-drawn sign reading "Did you lose your beret? Someone found it! Come to the art office"
November 19, 2025 at 4:54 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Johannes Jelgerhuis, Pieter Meijer Warnars' bookstore on the Vijgendam in Amsterdam, 1820 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
"Amsterdam’s cultural elite met up in this book and print shop. Warnars, the owner, was a bookdealer, publisher and printer. These activities are reflected in the full bookcases, the hanging banner, new reams of paper and the printing press on the floor. The painter of this scene, Johannes Jelgerhuis, was also a noted actor. The pronounced perspective of the shop interior makes it look like a stage set with a city view as a backdrop." https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/The-Shop-of-the-Bookdealer-Pieter-Meijer-Warnars-on-the-Vijgendam-in-Amsterdam--f1db15873a09965c63b77155a777d2ff
November 19, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Jesse Locker
mollycrabapple.bsky.social
Hey authors! Check to see if Anthropic stole your book to train their slop generator on. You’re entitled to $1500 per stolen Work.

Look up your work, and if you’re in the database, file a claim
secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/
Submit a Claim
secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:39 AM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Looking for (extremely subtle) Michaelina Wautier socks?
Socks Wautier - Flower Garland with a Dragonfly : KHM Shop
Add a touch of Flemish art into your wardrobe with these vibrant socks featuring a detail from Michaelina Wautier’s (c. 1614/18–1689) unique painting 'Flower Garland with a Dragonfly' (1652).
shop.khm.at
November 19, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Reposted by Jesse Locker
dbellingradt.bsky.social
Nice one! Reminds me of bsky.app/profile/dbel...
dbellingradt.bsky.social Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · Sep 26
Hard to unsee that the #earlymodern papal secretary Giovanni Battista Agucchi (holding a letter on the painting) made it somehow to nowadays Argentina.
A young man from Argentina looking like the papal secretary Giovanni Battista Agucchi. A painting of papal secretary Giovanni Battista Agucchi holding a letter.
November 18, 2025 at 6:59 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Oil sketch by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo stolen from the Prado in 1897 discovered in France. ¡Enhorabuena, @benitonavarrete.bsky.social!
El Museo del Prado logra la cesión temporal por diez años de un Murillo robado de sus salas en 1897
   El Museo del Prado ha anunciado este miércoles que expondrá próximamente un boceto de mano...
www.europapress.es
November 18, 2025 at 8:43 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
A+ butt engraving

[Hendrick Goltzius, The Farnese Hercules, 1591, 16 9/16 x 11 15/16 in. (42.1 x 30.4 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art]
Rear view of an impossibly large statue of of the Farnese Hercules with two men looking on Detail of Hercules' but showing burin lines
November 18, 2025 at 4:14 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Black Glass Madonna, by unknown artisans of the Innsbruck Court Glassworks, 1570-1591, Lampworked and pressed glass on wood mount, 52.5 x 28.8 cm (20 11/16 x 11 5/16 in.), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
"This depiction of the Virgin and Child was made in the Innsbruck Court Glasshouse or Innsbrucker Hofglashütte of Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria by Venetian glass artisans. The composition is likely based on the statue of Our Lady of Loreto from the cathedral in Loreto, Italy of a Black Madonna and Child. Our Lady of Loreto refers to the Holy House (or Santa Casa) where the Virgin Mary was born. According to tradition, the house was transported by angels from Nazareth to Loreto. When locals went inside the house they found a beautiful dark wooden statue of the Virgin and Child. They thought the dark or black skin of the mother and son signified the carving was old and made by St. Luke, one of the authors of the gospels about the life of Jesus." https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/12086
November 17, 2025 at 6:49 PM