Painting in a painting : Vermeer

somebody's Last Judgement
(detail of Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance )

The source of this Last Judgement painting is unknown. It isn't bad.

the full painting

Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance
oil on canvas, 15.875" x 14"
c1662-1665

an attempt to show the size and scale of the painting

Schuttersfeest by Meester van Frankfurt

Schuttersfeest (Festival of the Archers) by Meester van Frankfurt, 1493

oil on canvas, height 176cm x width 141cm

link

Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

The Artist
In the lower right quadrant is a man and a woman in white holding a dog : he is the artist. The Master of Frankfurt (aka Meester van Frankfurt)

The artist and his wife and her dog.

Did he wear the exact same clothes every day?

I'm struck by the similarities of the 2 self portraits. In both he is nearly in the same pose and in both his wife has something in her hand.


drummer
What's a black guy doing in the Hapsburg Netherlands (and what would eventually be Antwerp, Belgium)?

sure, give the black guy the flesh colored tights

The jesters
The jester in red & black appears to be wearing roller skates. The link above notes that the small white line going from the bird on the red & black jester's should to the eye of the jester in green Shrek hat might look like a scratch on the painting but it is not. It is paint showing the black bird bending down, lifting his tail feathers and spraying poop into the eye of the green jester.

Hey, look over there…

"Hey, baby, I really like your apples…"

Getting frisky

K - I - S - S - I - N - G

she is squeezing his thigh and looking at him with lust in her eyes

Saint George

A statue of a knight in armor with a lance (Saint George?) and a banner bearing the cross of Saint George (from the upper left corner of the picture)

Schuttersstuk

This is not typical of the schuttersstuk genre. The usual schuttersstuk focuses almost exclusively on the portraits of the militia members.  In this, it is difficult to tell who is a militia member and who is not. They are probably the men with an insignia on their arm, those holding bows and who knows who else.

a member of the militia, a heavy drinker, with an insignia on his arm carrying heavy drink containers. 

In common with other schuttersstuk, it was apparently commissioned by the Antwerp Crossbow Guild. The dutch wiki page describes the painting as allegorical but I haven't seen an explanation of the meaning.

Scale

an attempt to show the size and scale of the painting

Dutch Afro

click to embiggen

Officieren van de Haarlemse Kloveniersdoelen by Hendrik Gerritsz Pot, 1630
oil on canvas, height 214cm x width 276cm

dutch afro

Note the flag carrier in white towards the right and his afro. Everyone else seems to have more closely cropped hair but who knows what they have hiding under their hats.

Also of interest, a painting of a painting : the top of a group portrait can be seen through the window.

I think the metal hand rails with the upturn at the end is designed discourage people from sliding down them.

an attempt to show the size and scale of the painting

Transformation of Antiques magazine cover into the Apparition of a Face (1974) by Salvador Dali

click to embiggen

Transformation of Antiques magazine cover into the Apparition of a Face (1974) by Salvador Dali

Paranoiac-critical conversion 
11.5" x 8.75"

Dali modified the magazine cover to show a woman's face. Below is the original image from the cover of Antiques the Magazine January 1974. 

below the fold is a slow blinking animated gif contrasting the source image with Dali's modified image.

doing it like rabbits

click to embiggen (or super-embiggen)

Officieren van de Oude Schutterij in een landschap (Officers of the Old Militia in a landscape) by Claes Jacobsz. van der Heck, circa 1613

oil on panel, height 150cm x width 173cm
signed "C. Heck fecit" vertically on the end of a fallen log the militia men are sitting on in the lower right quadrant.

link

This is a unique among Dutch militia paintings. A few Dutch Militia Paintings are out of doors but this is the only one I'm aware of is set within a landscape (as opposed having a landscape as a background). Militias were formed to defend the towns and cities and the city of Alkmaar can be seen in the distant background.

Some militia's had their portraits painted in front of the Doelen (the militia headquarters). The reason for the setting could be that the militia went to the countryside to target shoot whereas other militias might target shoot to the city walls.

There is a house in the center of the picture and to its side is a cart/carriage. Another house is in the distance on the right. In the distance is the Sint-Laurenskerk (Saint Laurence) church.

The foreground has 17 men, the militia members. One of the foreground men gesturing to the left holds keys in his other hand.  A man pouring a drink on the right and several of the men in the foreground hold glasses. In front of the house appears to be dishes on the ground being licked clean by a dog. Many Dutch Militia Paintings were set during a meal with the members around a table. (like this one also from 1613 by Jan Tengnagel which also includes an ostentatious pouring of a drink.) The militia member sitting on the far left appears to have a dagger behind his back while, in contrast, the Tengnagel painting shows several men with swords.

The painter, Claes Jacobsz. van der Heck,  included a self-portrait of himself apparently as the man standing next to a woman in the midground in front of the house. In the background are many extraneous people (I count 15) which is uncommon for a militia painting. The painting has an assortment of sheep (11),  dogs (I count 8), and birds (including a peacock standing on the fence).

Also unique among Dutch militia paintings, in the upper left quadrant are 2 rabbits having sex :

detail of the center left section

an attempt to show the size and scale of the painting

movie notes : Man of Steel

spoiler alert below the fold