Jesse Locker
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jessemlocker.bsky.social
Jesse Locker
@jessemlocker.bsky.social
22K followers 1.9K following 2.9K 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
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jessemlocker.bsky.social
Fire-damaged fragment of the Talmud tractate Yevamot, remnant of the Talmud burning of 1553 decreed by the Roman Inquisition [Archivio di Stato di Roma (ASR), MS. Pergamene, Appendice B, Documenti ebraici, n. 264]
Damaged pages of a book with text in Aramaic
January 15, 2026 at 4:02 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Attributed to the Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds, A Peasant Boy Eating Pasta, 1630-50, Oil on canvas, 77 x 64 cm
(Private collection)
"This depiction of a peasant boy eating pasta captures a curious sub-genre of Neapolitan culture. As meat prices rose in the 17th century, pasta became less expensive and provided a more affordable alternative. Maccheroni (as all types of Neapolitan pasta were then termed) was sold by street vendors and often cooked in a meat broth, giving much-needed sustenance to peasants, who traditionally ate it with their hands. So-called mangiamaccherroni (macaroni-eaters) became a familiar spectacle in the streets of Naples, so much so that in the 18th and 19th centuries, tourists would pay for plate of hot pasta in order to watch peasants scoop it with their hands and swallow it whole. From the 16th century, these mangiamaccheroni became a popular subject in Neapolitan painting, at times used as a humorous personifications of "taste" in representations of the five senses. The small boy in the present painting, however, instantly recalls one of the young urchins in Bartolomé Estaban Murillo's iconic Two Boys Eating Pie and Boys Eating Grapes and Melon, both in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich. The boys' poses are very similar, with right arm raised, head tilted upward and eyes fixed on the next mouthful, pinched between finger and thumb. This impish pasta-eater probably pre-dates the painting by Murillo. Given the distinct likeness of the respective figures, it is possible that Murillo used the present figure as a model for the boys in the Munich pictures." https://www.wga.hu/html/m/master/annuncia/eating.html
January 14, 2026 at 6:37 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Online event with author Carmen Ripollés discussing Portuguese painter Josefa de Óbidos. Free for National Gallery members www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/a-bar... #earlymodern #nationalgallery
A Baroque star: The life and work of Josefa de Óbidos Talks and conversations | Talk Date Tuesday, 21 April 2026 Time 6 - 7 pm BST Location Online Audience For Members
January 14, 2026 at 2:52 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
"and a special hello to all the ladies out there"

[José de Ibarra, Cristo en el jardín de las delicias o el Divino esposo (Christ in the Garden of Delights or the Divine Spouse),
1728, oil on canvas, (Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán)]
In the center, Christ is reclining in a garden, resting his head on his right hand, holding flowers in his left hand, and with his feet crossed. In the sky above are angels with flowers https://arca.uniandes.edu.co/obras/1024
January 13, 2026 at 10:34 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Attributed to Gonzales Coques, Unfinished portrait of a man, full-length, handing a letter to a boy in an interior, 1640s? (Orsay Collection)
A full length portrait of a man in 17th-century costume in an interior looking out at the viewer and a boy handing him a letter. The costumes are unfinished, revealing blue underpainting
January 13, 2026 at 3:10 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Don't Feed Things That Have Sharp Claws!
"Feed Not Things That Have Sharp Claws" [fol. 38 recto] 1512/1514, French early 16th Century(National Gallery of Art) - A jester feeding lions inside an enclosure https://www.nga.gov/artworks/86052-feed-not-things-have-sharp-claws-fol-38-recto
January 12, 2026 at 5:41 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Don't eat beans!
Pythagoras shunning fava beans, accompanying the advice, "Do Not Eat Beans!" from Speculum principis (Mirror of Princes) [fol. 25 recto], French, 1512/1514 (National Gallery of Art) 'Drawn using pen and brown ink on cream-colored paper, a robed man to our right holds up both hands and looks away from a plant in this vertical composition. A hood covers the man’s head, and he has a long beard. His hands shield his face from the plant to our left, which is painted with watercolor to give it green leaves and stems and dark pink flowers. A handwritten name above the man reads, "Pythagoras." The plant is labeled “Fabe.” A crack splits the ground from the bottom right corner of the paper across the page.' https://www.nga.gov/artworks/86044-do-not-eat-beans-fol-25-recto
January 12, 2026 at 5:20 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Friendship Is Equality; A Friend Is Another Self!
"Friendship Is Equality; A Friend Is Another Self" [fol. 10 recto] c. 1512/1515, French early 16th Century (National Gallery of Art) Two male friends holding a heart, above them allegorical figures of ANIMUS holding a scale and the hands of two blindfolded women with their hands on a wheel https://www.nga.gov/artworks/86038-friendship-equality-friend-another-self-fol-10-recto
January 12, 2026 at 5:20 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Do Not Put Food in a Chamber Pot!
"Do Not Put Food in a Chamber Pot" [fol. 24 recto], c. 1512/1515, French early 16th Century (National Gallery of Art). A jester pours wine in a chamber pot https://www.nga.gov/artworks/86051-do-not-put-food-chamber-pot-fol-24-recto
January 12, 2026 at 5:20 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Adam Elsheimer, Flight into Egypt, with a remarkable depiction of the Milky Way, 1609, Oil on copper, 31 x 41 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
A small painting of the Holy Family traveling across a nocturnal landscape on a donkey with the Milky Way visible above and the moon reflected in the water
January 12, 2026 at 3:11 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Coptic spell to Acquire a Beautiful Voice, 6th–7th century CE, Egypt, ink on papyrus, 37.3 x 25.4 cm (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven)
archives.yale.edu/repositories...
Worn papyrus with drawings of figures, symbols, and writing in Coptic. More here https://smarthistory.org/coptic-magical-text/
January 10, 2026 at 10:20 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Louise Hollandine, Princess Palatine, Self-portrait holding a paintbrush, c. 1650, oil on panel (formerly Sotheby’s)
“The sitter was the seventh child and second daughter of Frederick Elector Palatine and his wife Elizabeth. She was born in The Hague, shortly after her parents' arrival in the Netherlands following Frederick's defeat in Bohemia in 1620. She was christened Louise after her paternal grandfather and Hollandine as a tribute to the States of Holland, her godfathers, and the country of her birth. She was a talented artist who studied with Honthorst and painted a number of members of her family. In December 1657 she left her home in disguise and became a Catholic nun. In 1664 she became Abbess of the convent of Maubuisson, and continued to live there until her death at the age of eighty-eight. This elegant self-portrait dates from c. 1650.”
January 10, 2026 at 4:25 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
I searched for "sprezzatura" on Amazon and I think they got the right idea
An ad for tight, tan bell-bottomed pants with the caption "70s Disco Pants for Men, Jeans for Men"
January 9, 2026 at 9:11 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Happy birthday to Elisabetta Sirani, who had the right idea. Born January 8, 1638.
Elisabetta Sirani, Timoclea Throwing the Captain of Alexander the Great into a Well, 1659, oil on canvas, 228 cm (89.7 in) s 174.5 cm (68.7 in) in the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples
January 8, 2026 at 9:44 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Symposium at the @museodelprado.es: "Protagonistas femeninas en la formación de las colecciones del Museo del Prado. Isabel de Farnesio," March 6-7 www.museodelprado.es/recurso/prot...
January 8, 2026 at 5:57 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Sad Forebodings of What is to Come (plate one from The Disasters of War series), 1814/20, published 1863, Etching, burin, drypoint and burnishing on ivory wove paper with gilt edges, Art Institute of Chicago.
"The lone figure kneeling in a garden evokes Christ in the garden of Gethsemane before the Crucifixion. Ill-defined chaos swirls in the dark background, as the man’s outstretched arms signal his apprehension of and abandonment to the unknown future." https://www.artic.edu/artworks/79014/sad-forebodings-of-what-is-going-to-happen-plate-one-from-the-disasters-of-war
January 8, 2026 at 3:57 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Jacopo Ligozzi, Jerboa, c. 1580-1600, drawing, 260 x 341 mm (Gabinetto disegni e stampe degli Uffizi, Florence)
A drawing of a jerboa, a hopping desert rodent, in an empty background
January 7, 2026 at 4:58 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Julius Exner, A girl from Fanø, Denmark, in traditional dress and mask (strude) for the harvest, 1899, oil on canvas, 31 cm (12.2 in) x 23 cm (9 in), Private collection
A painting of a woman in a harvest costume, holding a basket and a wooden rake, and wearing a dress, scarf, apron, and a traditional mask (strude) that covers all of her head except her eyes
January 6, 2026 at 3:36 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Finding novel ways to get moving on the first day back at work
Galvani, Luigi 1737-1798.; L. Galvani, De viribus electricitatis in motu; musculari commentarius, cum J. Aldini; dissertatione et notis. Acc. epistolae ad animalis; electricitatis theoriam pertinentes. Mutinae :; Soc. Typog., 1792.; Tab. II (Wellcome collection). An illustration of a man applying electrical currents to a dead sheep and pairs of frog legs to trigger movement
January 5, 2026 at 5:11 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Leonardo da Vinci, Cats, lions, and a dragon, 1517-18, Pen, ink, black chalk on paper, 271 x 204 mm (Royal Library, Windsor)
"A sheet of more than twenty drawings of cats and lions in a wide variety of positions; lying asleep, sitting, prowling, playing, fighting, and in one case frightened, standing with humped back and fur standing on end; in the lower half, drawn at an odd angle, is a study of a dragon, with its head bent back over its shoulder. One of the most charming of all of Leonardo's drawings, it covers the full range of his modes from the most stylised and 'Leonardesque', in the coiling dragon, to the most acutely observed and unaffected, in the many studies of domestic cats. The most detailed studies, at centre right, show the cats sleeping, and seem to have been done directly from the life, with the subject motionless; by contrast the depictions of cats fighting had to be visualised on the basis of fleeting impressions. In most of the fights it is difficult to discern which limb belongs to which cat, and in the study at lower centre he has drawn the two cats locked together as a single unit, almost symmetrical, in the manner of a Romanesque carving. Surrounding the studies of domestic cats are seven drawings of a single lioness, mostly crouching or prowling." https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/cats-lions-and-a-dragon-leonardo-da-vinci/OQFncnIYokEdMg?hl=en
January 4, 2026 at 5:47 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
January (detail), Castello del Buonconsiglio (Trento, Italy), c. 1400
A fresco of people in a snowy landscape dressed in not very seasonally appropriate medieval costume engaged in a snowball fight
January 4, 2026 at 1:03 AM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, The sleep of reason produces monsters (Plate 43 from "Los Caprichos"), 1797-98, Etching and aquatint, 216 x 152 mm (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
"This is the best known image from Goya's series of 80 aquatint etchings published in 1799 known as 'Los Caprichos' that are generally understood as the artist's criticism of the society in which he lived. Goya worked on the series from around 1796-98 and many drawings for the prints survive. The inscription on the preparatory drawing for this print, now in the Prado Museum in Madrid, indicates that it was originally intended as the title page to the series. In the published edition, this print became plate 43, the number we can see in the top right corner. Nevertheless, it has come to symbolise the overall meaning of the series, what happens when reason is absent. Various animals including bats and owls fly above the sleeping artist, and at the lower right a lynx watches vigilantly alerting us to the rise of monstrous forces that we are able to control when sleep descends." https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/338473
January 3, 2026 at 5:24 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Pietro Longhi, The Meeting, 1746, Oil on canvas, 24 x 19 1/2 in. (61 x 49.5 cm) (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
"Longhi made his career with small-scale scenes of contemporary Venetian life, often focused on erotic anecdotes and not necessarily with clear narrative sequences. Like those of his English contemporary Hogarth, many of these compositions were engraved and circulated as prints throughout Europe. Here, amid the games of disguise that fueled flirtations during Carnival, a man in blue invites a woman for a tryst. The man in the red cloak holds keys to a private theater box that he is willing to rent to the couple for a private meeting. In the mirror overhead, the reflection of a canopied bed and a painting of the Holy Family offers ironic commentary on the scene." https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436905
January 2, 2026 at 5:14 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Pythagoras shunning fava beans, accompanying the advice, "Do Not Eat Beans!" from Speculum principis (Mirror of Princes) [fol. 25 recto], French, 1512/1514 (National Gallery of Art)
'Drawn using pen and brown ink on cream-colored paper, a robed man to our right holds up both hands and looks away from a plant in this vertical composition. A hood covers the man’s head, and he has a long beard. His hands shield his face from the plant to our left, which is painted with watercolor to give it green leaves and stems and dark pink flowers. A handwritten name above the man reads, "Pythagoras." The plant is labeled “Fabe.” A crack splits the ground from the bottom right corner of the paper across the page.' https://www.nga.gov/artworks/86044-do-not-eat-beans-fol-25-recto
December 30, 2025 at 11:21 PM
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Adam Elsheimer, The Stoning of Saint Stephen, about 1603-1604, Oil on tinned copper, 34.70 x 28.60 cm (National Galleries of Scotland)
“Saint Stephen was the first Christian martyr and experienced a vision of the open heavens as he was being stoned to death. He had angered the authorities in Jerusalem with his zealous preaching and was accused of blasphemy. He wears the robes of a deacon, as he was also one of the first seven deacons appointed by the apostles. A beam of intense light shines on the kneeling saint and angels tumble towards him bearing the palm fronds of martyrdom and a laurel crown. The Flemish landscape artist Paul Bril, who lived in Rome, may have owned this painting.” https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/4874/stoning-saint-stephen
December 26, 2025 at 5:56 PM