What am I Looking at Today: Old Master Paintings vs Mall 'ART'

Greetings All,

I get to visit a lot of people's homes and at times they have wonderful collections and a great eye. Other times the house is entirely empty, a clean open canvas that can be filled with beautiful objects. Yet other times, the prospective clients have a few costly items that they've spent a great deal of time acquiring, usually at the mall, usually a Thomas Kinked original. "Painter of Light". 

[hint: NEVER GONNA BE A GREAT PAINTING, save your money]

Now, I have no problem being a snob. It's what I'm paid for. People hire me to help them not only put together a house but to help them invest their money wisely. My heart sinks whenever anyone shows me a collection of objects, bought at top dollar that are entirely worthless. Not only monetarily, but visually, especially when they could buy some wonderful items for a fraction of what they've spent. Of course it's all very subjective, there's not much one can do if someone really doesn't like a certain style, but consider that one can still find lovely Old Master paintings for a fraction of what you'd pay for an assembly line 'masterpiece' or even a vintage poster.

Below are a few examples. Maybe a Madonna is not your cup of tea. A landscape is too quiet.  A poster of an old painting is so much more cool because you fear that paintings will look 'old', they ARE OLD and they'll make you're room look modern, remember it's a point of view', layered and very cultured. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom to see a few examples in rooms.

Below is a large 18th c Italian landscape painting.

Placed in it's room.

An 18th c English portrait of a lady in a Spanish frame.

Placed in it's room. Remember that not everything needs to be hung on the walls.

So when you have that urge to buy that painting with pretty little trees, or with that spray painted shadow, remember that you could instead buy something really lovely and  for lack of better word 'real' for the same, if not less. 

How? Knowing where to shop, what to buy and making a phone call.

That's all I have for today. Have a great weekend!

L