many people thought that the praying hands belonged to jesus christ or to one of the apostles. in fact, it is a drawing by Albrecht Dürer, a german artist of hungarian-born parents. he was born in 1471. there were eighteen children in the family and his father worked hard to feed his large family. albrecht and his brother albert wanted to become artists, but because they knew their father would not be able to afford sending them to study, they made a pact. they would toss a coin, and the loser would work in the mines to support the other at the academy in nuremberg and afterwards support the loser to take his turn at the academy. albrecht won the toss and his brother albert worked in the mines so albrecht could study.
albrecht went to the academy in nuremberg for four years where his work was an immediate sensation and by the time he came back home, he was already getting commissions for his work. the work in the mines though had ruined albert's hand and he could no longer take his turn to study. so albrecht, to pay homage to albert's sacrifices, drew albert's abused hands, palms together and the thin broken fingers pointing skyward as if in prayer. he called this painting "hands" but the world immediately warmed to this great masterpiece and it became known as "the praying hands".
albrecht dürer's hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver point sketches, water-colours, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of his works; more than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office. it serves as a reminder to us that no one - no one - ever makes it alone.
-o0o-
i forgot to pass by the flower shop so i scoured the whole apartment for something nice to photograph with the radiator when i noticed this drawing that my sister, the artist, gave me when i visited manila last year. she made another one for my other sister here in toronto. my sister, the artist, made a little money out of copy-drawing this and selling them. whenever she would make this drawing, she would painstakingly write the above story on the back of her drawing so that people would know the true story of this famous painting.
i must say, today, i didn't take photos at all. i went out of the apartment twice without my cameras. and i wasn't looking for any potential subject. except i wish i had my nikon when a motorcycle ran a red light and almost caused an accident and the two police cars that were chasing it almost collided against each other. but i didn't care. because i was hungry and on my way to the grocery store. all i did in the morning after i decided to turn off my laptop was read a book. on the floor. and the floor was dirty because i haven't mopped in a week. so i did a general cleaning then did my laundry and read a book again. then i remembered that i had ordered a dvd of "butterflies are free" because ann h. lefevre mentioned it in one of her posts so i bought it together with "40 carats" and the fourth season of "the big bang theory" from amazon.ca. so i watched some dvd's.
thank you for your views and kind comments; know that they are much appreciated.
I did NOT know that story about that artwork. Wow. I learn so much "stuff" from you! That is why I made sure to come over and see what you were up to...which sounds like being hungry, eating, reading, cleaning, and watching DVDs. haha! :0) Nice photo!
Yes, I knew that Duher did the drawing, but I never knew the whole story about his life and what the family went through. I've always loved the "praying hands." Now I am going to try to find one, because knowing the whole story makes it all that more meaningful. I LOVE your thumbnail challenge, summerfield. It has all the things in it that mean so much to you. Bless you for taking the whole day off and just taking care of summerfield. You deserve the break and I am going to do it myself soon.
@espyetta - but when i'm not on here, i am always up to no good. they call me 'trouble' with a T. hehehe. thank you, MB. well, i thought i should relax and just shoot tomorrow all day. today, except for this shot, i touched my camera only once. and i only took one shot.
@karenann - thank you, karenann. it felt good just relaxing and not have any pressure. as partner said, i probably have enough photos to last me five years or more. but i'm aversed to using really old photos for fillers. a month is probably okay or a something recent. but it was a pleasant change. can i as you: are the lenses that came with the D3100 usable on the D5100 or the D7000?
As far as I know, yes they are, summerfield. Are you thinking of getting one of those models? If so, let me tell you that you should read the blogs on the net about the D7000. The model that I (and hundreds of others have) is having problems with dust/oil spots on the sensor. I have had to have my sensor cleaned twice since I got it. One woman here in town is getting legal counsel. Hers has the same problem and she wants something done. Nikon will clean the sensor, but charge you for the shipping and sometimes the cleaning. They won't take real responsiblilty for anything else. There are people on the site here who have the same problem as I do. Don't know why ... but may be the big demand for this model and quality went downhill. Just saying ...in case you want to check it out.
@annaruth - hi, kiddo. nice of you to stop by. it is a very nice story, isn't it? thank you.
@myautofocuslife - thank you, livia. it is difficult to make a living as an artist, especially in the third world, when a family can only afford to send their children to study a course, if they can afford it at all. unlike here where jobs are a plenty and an artist can work at something else to support their art. my sister made a living drawing, painting and other crafts to get by. this apparently is her 'bestseller', especially in the philippines where people are mostly christians or catholics.
I knew that story because I had been lucky enough to study a lot of art classes. I love the way that you tell it though and this is a great addition to the week.
@pandorasecho - why, thank you, dixie, very kind of you. there are a lot of things people generally take for granted. like i've known this painting for forever but until i saw my sister explained the story to me, i had to admit i didn't know. i think little sister was quite proud and happy that for once big sister didn't know something that she knew.
you sister is very, very talented and i, too, did not know this story. thank you so much for sharing it with us and this beautiful sketch of hers. it makes such a wonderful addition to your project; your calendar view is outstanding. talk about lines 'lining up'!
oh great! Now you're blaming your shopping sprees on me! lol These are beautiful- both in the original and also by your sister. I think that's about what my hands look like now! Maybe not as wrinkled, but the arthritis sure makes my fingers look crooked! Nice shot!
@catsmeowb - thank you, camille. hahaha! the lines at the bottom was purely accidental. what i was aiming for was to make the radiator look like it's one very long radiator, i was so concentrated on that not realizing until the fourth day when i tried to straighten up the photo. and then ann @olivetreeann mentioned about the alternate green and white colours. until then i really had no clue what i was doing. :-)
@olivetreeann - yes! yes, it's your fault, ann. :-) amazon must love me. i must've spent at least $130 last week. three dvd's but mostly i ordered accessories for my new camera. stuff that's less than $10 each but the darn shipping cost more than the items. i have viewed "40 carats" and realized that i saw that movie 40 years ago! wow! don't i feel so old! not! i actually was going to see 'butterflies are free' but at the last minute, i decided i'd reserve it for next weekend. thank you, ann, for your wonderful insight and support. much appreciated, really.
@summerfield lol Vikki- I know. The last health stuff I ordered on line was dirt cheap, but after the shipping it didn't look like I'd be saving anything!
Wow. That's an incredible story. Thank you so much for sharing. Love that your sister adds the history on the back. And beautiful art by her too. Great capture.
August 11th, 2012
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@myautofocuslife - thank you, livia. it is difficult to make a living as an artist, especially in the third world, when a family can only afford to send their children to study a course, if they can afford it at all. unlike here where jobs are a plenty and an artist can work at something else to support their art. my sister made a living drawing, painting and other crafts to get by. this apparently is her 'bestseller', especially in the philippines where people are mostly christians or catholics.
@boogie - thank you, mags. new profile pic? nice!