Rare Pre-Columbian Colima dog with corn. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery.
ERIE, Colo. – Artemis Gallery Ancient Art, will conduct another exciting live auction of antiquities, Pre-Columbian and ethnographic art on Saturday June 4, 2011 through LiveAuctioneers.com.
Presented in two sessions, this fully vetted, online-only auction features 250+ lots of authentic antiquities and art from around the world. The first session starts at 8 a.m. Pacific Time (11 a.m. Eastern) with Classical antiquities from Greece, Italy, Rome, Egypt, the Middle East and the Far East. After a short break, the second session will commence, with the focus being on art from the ancient Americas – Mexico, Central/Latin America and South America – as well as ethnographic art from Africa and New Guinea.
Auction items have been consigned by prominent dealers in the United States, Canada and Europe, as well as private collectors.
The Classical lots encompass pottery, bronze, glass, faience, wood, stone, silver and gold from the Egyptian through Roman periods, plus selected examples from India, China and Thailand.
Featured Classical lots include: an Egyptian steatite pectoral with heart scarab, an Egyptian composite faience Ushabti-Psamtek, and a Romano-Egyptian plaster head of a man (ex Sotheby’s).
Greek items include an Attic white figure Lekythos and an exceptional Apulian Hydria. From India comes a Pala stone stele of Parvati.
The Pre-Columbian and Ethnographic Session is a varied offering of polychrome, pottery, stone, metal and wood artifacts and figures, and includes examples ranging in date from 1,000 BC through the early 20th century. Featured lots include a giant published, carved Mayan cylinder, a Chupicuaro female figure (ex Sotheby’s), and a rare Pre-Columbian Colima dog with corn. A Chokwe/Lwena wood stool was previously auctioned at Christie’s.
Artemis Gallery Live holds online-only auctions of antiquities, artifacts, ancient and ethnographic art from around the world. All items have been legally acquired, are legal to sell and have been vetted for authenticity.
After registering, bidders may participate in real time or leave absentee bids up to 30 minutes before either session begins. For additional information, call 720-890-7700 or 720-936-4282.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid live or absentee at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Egyptian steatite pectoral with heart scarab. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery.Egyptian composite faience Ushabti – Psamtek. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery.Romano-Egyptian plaster head of a man, ex Sotheby’s. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery.Chupicuaro female figure, ex Sotheby’s. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery.Chokwe/Lwena wood stool, ex Christie’s. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery.Greek Attic white figure Lekythos. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery.Giant published, carved Mayan cylinder. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery.
This elaborately carved wall box with drawers, circa 1930s, 18 inches tall by 12 inches wide, was offered by Florida dealer Larry Roberts. Image courtesy of the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – West Palm Beach Antiques Festival owners Kay and Bill Puchstein reported another sold out house for the May 6-8 event with Florida dealers having an especially good weekend. It is no longer necessary to leave the State to find rare and outstanding antiques, said the promoters. The Friday event had some rain but by Saturday and Sunday it was long gone and sunny Florida put on its best display for the record crowds on hand to enjoy it.
Len Bartkowiak of Fort Meyers, a dealer in specialty smalls, reported selling over $100,000 worth of ivory on Friday to get the weekend off to good start with other dealers following the lead.
Greg Biaggi takes a minimalist approach to the festival, bringing only a small number of artfully restored pieces to each event. This time he sold a 1948 5-cent Coca-Cola machine for $6,800 and two slot machines, leaving him with only a 1953 10-cent Coke vending machine left in his inventory. Larry Roberts, a Micanopy, Fla. dealer, offered a hanging wall box with drawers acquired over 30 years ago at Brimfield for $875. James Holmes of Wellington, Fla., had a child-size period Hepplewhite chest with an old refinish and and a good price of $795, and he had good movement on many of his Modernism pieces.
Other Florida dealers reporting good outings included Elizabeth Bartholomew of Juno Beach, who was selected Dealer of the Month for her inventory of hand-woven Oriental clothing and accessories; Pete Hahn of Wilton Manors, who always has a great selection of books and decorator items at every show; and Deborah Gentile of Boca Raton with her stacks of vintage suitcases along with a fine display of linens and fabrics.
The summer season kicks off the two-day summer shows with the July 2-3 event. The format for the entire summer season will be the two-day affair, Saturday and Sunday, instead of the normal three-day event during the regular season. Summer show dates will be July 2-3, Aug. 6-7, Sept. 3-4 and Oct. 1-2. The summer shows have with a full day of setup for dealers on Fridays, 8 a.m.-7 p.m.
The Puchsteins have lowered booth rent for the summer season. The popular early buyers admission feature will be continued in the summer. Early admission starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday before the regular show opening time of 10 a.m.
West Palm Beach Antiques Festival is held the first full weekend of every month at the South Florida Fairgrounds located off Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach, FL, 1 1/2 miles west of the Florida Turnpike and 1 mile east of U.S. 441/SR7.
The next show is June 3-5 with over 300 dealers in attendance. Festival hours are Friday noon-5 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Early buyer admission is Friday 9 a.m.-noon, and the early admission fee of $25 is good for all three days. Adult daily admission is $7, seniors $6, children 12 and under are admitted free. There is no charge for parking at the fairgrounds.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
This elaborately carved wall box with drawers, circa 1930s, 18 inches tall by 12 inches wide, was offered by Florida dealer Larry Roberts. Image courtesy of the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival.Bob Franks of Delray Beach, Fla., shows off an outstanding pair of French side chairs, priced $1,900 for both, among his other decorator pieces and accessories. Image courtesy of the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival.Greg Biaggi of Jupiter, Fla., sold the 1949 5-cent Coca-Cola vending machine (right) priced at $6,800. All he had left on Sunday afternoon was the 10-cent Coke machine from 1953 priced at $5,800. Image courtesy of the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival.
PAAM’s Hawthorne Gallery. Image courtesy of Provincetown Art Association and Museum.
PROVINCETOWN, Mass. – Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) is planning a new summer series of evening computer seminars with tech guru David Cox, to be held at the Museum School. The series includes social networking in business, how to create a website, iPhoto and photo stitching, e-marketing, the ins and outs of the iPad, and how to get one’s business on YouTube. The seminars are aimed both at individuals and small business owners.
The seminars run on Wednesday evenings June through August. Participants do not have to own a computer, nor are there any prerequisites. The seminars can be taken as a full series or a la carte. A recent student of Cox wrote, “What makes David an amazing teacher more than anything is his seemingly never-ending amount of patience. When you’re working with older adults, sometimes it takes them a few tries before they get it. David truly works with you and never makes you feel like an idiot. What sets David apart from every other computer teacher is that he is more than just a good teacher, he’s an amazing communicator.”
David A. Cox is an Apple Certified Product Professional and offers private lessons to seniors, as well as consulting services to small businesses, and anyone wanting to know how to use their computer better. He teaches public and online seminars weekly and has over 50 Mac Tutorial Videos on YouTube, attracting over 50,000 hits. In February of 2011, David was hired to become the head Technology Writer for the popular online magazine OneNewEngland.com. David also produces and co-hosts “Tech Talk America,” a consumer friendly radio podcast which is broadcast internationally via iTunes and can be downloaded for free.
Of teaching, Cox says, “Everyone when they were young had that one teacher that just stood out. It wasn’t necessarily because they taught a subject matter that they cared about, but because the teacher showed an interest in their students and how to the engage a classroom. Teaching is not a monologue, it’s about having a dialogue with your students so that they can receive the maximum benefit. I love teaching technology to people because there is nothing more rewarding than to see someone’s face light up when they finally ‘get it.’ Or when they discover something they never thought was possible in fact is possible.”
The Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Museum School at PAAM is committed to year-round programming, taking advantage of the talented artist-teachers who live here and students who are excited to learn from them.
Full course descriptions and registration information are available at www.paam.org or by calling 508-487-1750.
Ai Weiwei in a June 2007 photo by Benutzer. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany license.
HONG KONG (AFP) – A leading international art fair is to display a provocative work by detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in Hong Kong in a show of solidarity with the outspoken dissident amid a government crackdown.
Director Magnus Renfrew said the organisers of ART HK shared the concerns of the international community over Ai’s fate, and called for “due process” of the law to be upheld in his case, which has sparked an international outcry.
“Ai Weiwei’s works have been greatly admired,” he said.
The fair, starting Thursday, is to display Ai’s 2007 sculpture Marble Arm, which depicts an outstretched arm and hand – with its middle finger raised.
The artist was taken into custody in Beijing last month during the government’s biggest crackdown on dissidents and activists in years, with authorities later saying he was suspected of unspecified “economic crimes.”
The U.S. and European Union have called for Ai’s release, but Beijing has rejected such calls, denouncing them as interfering and inappropriate.
Marble Arm is being brought to the fair by Switzerland-based Galerie Urs Meile, which also runs a gallery in Beijing.
“By presenting his work, we believe his situation will be discussed,” the gallery’s assistant Rene Meile told AFP.
Chinese police alleged last week that a firm controlled by Ai had evaded taxes, in a move that appeared to be aimed at building their case against the detained artist.
Hong Kong maintains semi-autonomous status from China and enjoys civil liberties not seen on the mainland. Artists and campaigners have staged a series of protests there calling for Ai’s release.
ART HK, which is now in its fourth year, will see a record 260 galleries from 38 countries taking part in the four-day fair. It is expected to draw at least 45,000 visitors to see work by over 1,000 artists.
The city, which has become the world’s third-biggest auction hub behind London and New York, has ambitions to establish itself as a center for art in Asia.
The fair will also show new works by cutting-edge artist Barnaby Furnas and an acclaimed anamorphic projection by South African artist William Kentridge.
Organizers said they expect to see tens of millions of dollars in sales over the four days, but could not provide a forecast for the private transactions.
Several auctioneers, including Christie’s and Sotheby’s, are holding Hong Kong art sales to coincide with ART HK. The auctions are expected to gross in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
DALLAS – Visitors to Dallas’ Fair Park, where the Texas State Fair is held annually, will soon be taking a trip back in time – way back in time, to the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth. A display of no fewer than four complete or near-complete dinosaur skeletons is being prepared for its public unveiling at the fairgrounds’ 179-ft.-tall Tower Building.
Heritage Auctions is hosting the unprecedented exhibition, which includes “the fighting pair” – Allosaurus and Stegosaurus; a near-complete Triceratops, and a complete duck-billed Maiasaurus – along with dozens of important prehistoric treasures. All of the specimens are highlights from Heritage’s June 12, 2011 Natural History Auction and may be viewed in the Tower Building Thursday to Saturday, June 9-11, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, June 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Every one of these incredible fossils is museum quality,” said David Herskowitz, director of Natural History at Heritage Auctions. “It’s rare to find even one truly great dinosaur for an auction, let alone the four we’ve managed to assemble for this summertime auction.”
Far and away, the stars of the dino show are the Allosaurus and Stegosaurus, known collectively as “the fighting pair” because of their proximity to one another when discovered in the Dana Quarry in Wyoming, in spring of 2007. The team of excavators at this legendary site thought they were on to the find of a lifetime when they found the Allosaur, whose name is Dracula. Imagine their surprise when they subsequently found a complete Stegosaur – named Fantasia – occupying the same space.
“They were literally right on top of one another,” said Herskowitz, “and they were evidently engaged in mortal combat at the time of their demise, as the leg of the Stegosaurus was found in the mouth of the Allosaurus. The association is undeniable.”
“The fighting pair” is being sold as a set due to its scientific importance. It carries a pre-auction estimate of $2.8 million.
Next in line is a virtually complete Triceratops skeleton, checking in at more than 19 feet long, seven feet across and more than 12 feet tall, found in the famous Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota in the spring of 2004. It is estimated at $700,000+, and will be on display at the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science, also at Fair Park in Dallas, through early June.
“The completed skeleton is enormous,” said Herskowitz. “If you can imagine this animal when it was alive bearing down on you with that massive skull and those epic horns, you wouldn’t stand a chance. This creature was the size of a small bus, and certainly a lot meaner.”
A complete duck-billed Maiasaurus, hailing from the Two Medicine Formation in northern Montana, completes the dinosaur quintet being sold in the auction. The specimen, named Cory, was originally discovered almost 20 years ago, but was not fully mounted until a few years ago. Measuring more than 17 feet (5 meters) in length, it is one of the most complete mounted specimens of this species known and possesses a particularly well-preserved skull. It is estimated at $450,000+.
While the dinosaurs will be center stage in the auction, it is the largest set of prehistoric shark jaws ever assembled, from the ferocious Megalodon, the largest predator that has ever existed, that may well steal the show from his terrestrial cousins. The jaws, when fully assembled, measure an impressive 11 feet across and almost 9 feet tall. It is estimated at $700,000+ and is also currently on display at the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science in Fair Park.
“The Megalodon was a shark that grew up to the length of two freight cars and preyed on whales and other sharks,” said Herskowitz. “This is the biggest Megalodon jaw ever assembled. It took 16 years to assemble and is composed of 182 fine-quality fossil teeth up to 7¼ inches in length. With jaws this size, and an appetite that was hugely voracious, you or I would be no more than an hors d’oeuvre for this monster.”
Most of the teeth in this specimen were personally collected in the rivers of South Carolina by the esteemed Vito Bertucci. The late Mr. Bertucci collected Megalodon teeth for more than 20 years, and his tireless work is on display in the American Museum of Natural History, the Houston Museum and the Baltimore Aquarium and has been featured in National Geographic World magazine and on the National Geographic Channel. He opened and operated a shark museum in Port Royal, S.C., before passing away in October of 2004 while diving for shark teeth.
Other prehistoric highlights of the auction include a superb Giant Ground Sloth skeleton, Late Pleistocene, 180,000 to 550,000 years old, estimated at $450,000+; a huge ferocious Dinosaur-Age Fish, dating to the Cretaceous period, estimated at $120,000+, and a giant Devonian Armored Fish skull more than 400 million years old, estimated at $40,000+.
Additional information is available by visiting Heritage Auctions online at www.ha.com.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Virtually complete Triceratops skeleton. Heritage Auctions image.Skeletons of Allosaurus and Stegosaurus, known asWorld’s largest shark jaw. Heritage Auctions image.Superb specimen of skeleton of Giant Ground Sloth. Heritage Auctions image.Skeleton of Duckbill Dinosaur. Heritage Auctions image.
Visitors to the Cincinnati Art Museum can get a firsthand view of the restoration of van Gogh’s ‘Undergrowth with Two Figures.’ Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. CINCINNATI (AP) – One of the Cincinnati Art Museum’s most famous works, Vincent van Gogh’s 1890 masterpiece Undergrowth with Two Figures appears to most visitors to be a beautiful, well-preserved, post-Impressionist painting.
After 121 years, the broad, vigorous brushstrokes of green, yellow and white on the forest floor and the imposing gray-blue tree trunks still pop from the canvas, providing a stark contrast to the two shadowy figures walking through them.
The painting is a visitor favorite, voted the No. 1 piece of art in the Museum’s 60,000-piece collection in its 2006 People’s Art Poll. While the museum does not release the values of works in its collection, van Goghs have fetched tens of millions of dollars at auction.
But most visitors don’t see what the museum’s chief conservator, Per Knutas, sees in this van Gogh, one of the great artist’s last masterpieces: extensive damage done by well-intended conservation efforts in the mid-1970s.
But now, they can.
Knutas himself is on view in the Cincinnati Wing of the Museum as he carefully restores the painting to lengthen its lifespan and prepare it for loan to the Philadelphia Museum of Art next year.
The Cincinnati Art Museum has displayed conservation work before. But this is the first time that, at Knutas’ suggestion, the museum has connected the powerful microscope he uses – the same kind that’s used for surgical procedures – to a 42-inch flat screen TV hanging on the wall behind him. Visitors can see the painstaking conservation work like never before.
“For me, it’s really important to heighten the awareness of conservation,” Knutas said. “Most of the time, conservators are tucked in the back vaults of museums. People just expect the paintings to look great. But there’s actually a profession behind the painting.”
Born in Sweden, Knutas was trained in Denmark and previously worked at the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art before coming to Cincinnati two years ago.
It likely will take him through July to finish restoring the van Gogh.
In 1975, Cincinnati Art Museum conservators, following the best practices at the time, used a wax resin to attach a second canvas to the back of the original 20-by-39 1/2-inch canvas.
The purpose of the wax lining was to secure any loose paint and to make the original canvas less vulnerable to fluctuations in humidity and temperature, Knutas said. But over the years, the wax penetrated microscopic cracks in the canvas, pooled in the heavily textured brushwork of the painting and turned from clear to a milky white color.
“It obscures the colors that van Gogh was so famous for,” Knutas said. “By gently removing the wax, I expose the intended colors so the painting will be more vibrant, and the texture will be more true to how the painting looked when van Gogh was done with it.”
Knutas uses a soft brush dipped in solvent to soften the wax, then a soft bamboo stick to scrape off the wax without harming the paint.
He also will be removing varnish, a clear protective top coat, which past conservators had applied to the painting. While varnish can protect a painting, it also can alter its composition, hardening once-soft transitions and deepening colors. Research has shown that van Gogh did not varnish his paintings, Knutas said.
Watching Knutas work recently, museum director Aaron Betsky compared the painting’s amorphous, magnified forms appearing on the TV screen to contemporary video art and said it was a revelation to watch the conservation process happen.
“It’s going to make the quality of the painting come alive so much more,” he said. “One of the joys to me is when we clean our great works of art, and so much comes out that has remained hidden. It’s quite often as if you’re seeing them for the first time.”
The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of many that are opening up conservation labs to public view, said Eryl Wentworth, executive director of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.
“What I love about it is that the public is becoming more aware of what conservation is and what conservators do and the importance of conservation for preserving our cultural materials for the future,” she said. “And this is a way to get kids excited about science and the arts.”
Knutas will also field questions from visitors while he works, like this one: How does it feel to be tracing the brushstrokes of a master?
“Working on the paintings, you can’t think about the value. You can’t think about the importance of the piece. You just can’t,” he said. “And ethically, within our professional organization, we are supposed to treat this painting the same as a painting painted by (anyone), with the same respect and the same care.
“It hits you sometimes, but very rarely,” he said. “You know what you’re doing.”
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Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Visitors to the Cincinnati Art Museum can get a firsthand view of the restoration of van Gogh’s ‘Undergrowth with Two Figures.’ Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky. Image copyright Sarah Lyon, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A stolen 14th-century panel painting depicting the Virgin Mary and Child has been recovered at a Kentucky art museum, which agreed Monday to return the piece to Italian authorities.
The triptych, taken from an Italian villa in 1971, was traced to the permanent collection of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville. Court records state that the Speed Art Museum bought the painting in 1973 from the Newhouse Galleries in New York for $38,000.
The piece was one of 14 taken from the Italian villa. Federal prosecutors say the stolen art had a total value of $33 million.
U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Robert Nardoza in Brooklyn, N.Y., said no one has been charged in the theft. Nardoza declined to say how the painting was traced to Kentucky and said he couldn’t get into the details of the investigation.
Charles Venable, director of the Speed Museum, said a scholar in Italy matched a photograph that the family had taken with photos of the work in the Speed collection a couple of months ago and the match was reported to authorities in that country.
“To be honest, works of art have complicated histories sometimes, particularly ones that could be very old works of art,” Venable said.
An email sent to Newhouse Galleries in New York was not immediately answered Monday.
Recovering stolen art is sometimes difficult. The FBI lists more than 6,200 pieces of art as stolen on its website. Interpol, the international law enforcement group, lists Italy and France as the two countries most affected by art thefts.
The three-panel painting recovered in Kentucky features the Virgin Mary and a child in the center, surrounded by two saints, John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria. The right panel depicts the crucifixion of Jesus and the annunciation to the Virgin Mary, with the left panel showing two saints.
The painting has been attributed to Jacopo del Casentino, who died in 1358.
The triptych disappeared from the Villa La Giraffa owned by Lidia Bianchi Perdomini in Goito, Italy, on Oct. 2, 1971. Italian police reported that burglars cut through metal bars and a glass window, leaving with multiple pieces, including works by Italian realist painters Giovanni Fattori and Silvestro Lega.
Federal prosecutors say the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage in Rome contacted Homeland Security Investigations in New York about the painting, which was tracked to the Speed Art Museum. Art consultants identified the work based on unique markings in old photographs.
A stipulation filed in court says Speed Art Museum officials had no knowledge the painting was stolen until Homeland Security Investigations contacted the museum in 2010. Because Bianchi is dead, Italian authorities will determine what will become of the painting, federal prosecutors said.
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Associated Press reporter Brett Barrouquere can be reached at http://twitter.com/BBarrouquereAP
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky. Image copyright Sarah Lyon, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The New Kingdom Cemetery is in South Saqqara, better known for its pyramids. The Step Pyramid of Djoser is 203 feet tall. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. CAIRO (AP) – The tombs of seven men, including several who served King Tutankhamen and his father, the pharaoh Akhenaten, were opened to tourists on Monday after restoration.
Egypt’s minister of antiquities, Zahi Hawass, told reporters that the tombs in the New Kingdom Cemetery could draw more visitors to the site in South Saqqara, which is better known for its pyramids, including the Step Pyramid of Djoser.
The area served as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital at Memphis.
Hawass noted that two of the men who built tombs for themselves – Maya, the treasurer of King Tutankhamen – and Horemheb, a general under King Tut who later became king himself, “were very important men during one of Egypt’s most tumultuous periods.”
Akhenaten, who lived some 3,300 years ago, closed down the temples where Egyptians worshipped in Luxor and moved his capital to a site in the desert known as Amara. After he died, King Tut tried to restore order in Egypt by moving the religious capital back to Luxor and re-establishing worship of the traditional god, Amun.
Under King Tut, “Maya was responsible for restoring order in Egypt, while his colleague Horemheb restored order abroad,” the antiquities ministry said in a statement.
A tomb built for Meryneith, who was temple steward under Akhenaten, was of mudbrick encased in limestone blocks. A scene on a rear wall shows metal workers plying their trade.
Other tombs were built for Ptahemwia, who was the royal butler to both Akhenaten and King Tut; Tia, a top official under Ramses II who ruled from 1303-1213 B.C.; and Pay and his son, Raia. Pay was the overseer of the harem under King Tut, and Raia was a soldier who later took over his father’s post.
Some of these tombs were first discovered in 1843 by German explorer Richard Lepsius, but were not fully excavated until an Anglo-Dutch mission began excavating there in 1975. Now a Dutch team from Leiden University excavates at the site and has been restoring the tombs.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-23-11 1610GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The New Kingdom Cemetery is in South Saqqara, better known for its pyramids. The Step Pyramid of Djoser is 203 feet tall. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
