yillimuh and probookie, I'm running late but I just have to post: I think we need to schedule mutual house tours! I'm so with you, yillimuh -- most of what I've collected I've 'acquired' from thrifts, and that includes serigraphs and oils worth thousands as well as really well done, unusual paint-by-numbers. The three of us have similar tastes, and probookie, the Lady Godiva is delicious -- who did it? I have many three-dimensional pieces as well, including midcentury textiles and studio pottery/ceramic by PNW artists that was made for hanging and midcentury brass by some of the usual suspects. Even an African wood inlay piece of women going down to a waterfront with big baskets on their heads -- on the laundry room door, palimpsest : ) My taste runs from the most abstract to the PNW Mt. Hood landscape -- I like different things for different reasons. We also have a vintage aerial photo of Grand Army Plaza/Prospect Park and a map from when Prospect Park was being proposed (that we found out here, of all places--no one else wanted it at an estate sale so we got it for a great price!) because that's where DH and I got married. Not too many other sentimental pieces up, other than one piece by DD of the Nutcracker Suite when she was very young that I put in a huge rococo frame : ) I grew up in a world of reproductions -- those mdf-mounted things from the Met -- and posters. As an immigrant from the middle east educated in Europe, my father completely worshipped European high culture. Reproductions were the closest he could get. My American, Bryn-Mawr-educated mother had a few nicer pieces she got during her 'world tour' in the late 40s, but otherwise, that was it. The reproductions actually worked the way my parents intended, which was to have me growing up looking at excellent art, even though they couldn't afford it. Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the age of Mechanical Reproduction" was not only significant in a theoretical way to my professional work later on, but *so* personally resonant for me. I'm still amazed by his insight. I wish he hadn't died when he did.

This has all been interesting. One thing to note is that when a woman married she was considered a "bride" during the first year of marriage. Sophie could have died during that time and been designated as such on the headstone. The designation would have indicated that yes, they were legally married but they did not share a long life together where they were known in the community as a 'couple' and they were probably childless. This archaic designation is sometimes still used today with introductions, such as "This is my cousin Jake and his new bride Mary" or "My brother has returned from his honeymoon with his new bride". Knowing local history can sometimes yield clues. Often times there was a sweeping pestilence that wiped out huge numbers suddenly and headstone markers where put up fast or further engraved years afterwards when some of the defining information had been lost or was unknown. One of the most interesting bits of history I learned was the time period designated Year Without A Summer. Large numbers of people died in the Northeast. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer Here is a link that might be useful: Year Without A Summer

MESSIE BESSIE OF KRUMPETVILLE by Janet Krumpet ( I did order a copy to casually display on my coffee table for some in my family to take the hint !!! )

I’ve posted this link to the ise of portraiture in interior design before but it bears a repeat performance 🙂 From Joseph Paul Davis’ Master Class blog https://josephpauldavisinteriors.com/blogs/news/portraits?_pos=1&_sid=5d42e9588&_ss=r In my own home I have many silhouettes displayed together in a bedroom wall. I love silhouettes, especially the vintage and antique. For a few years we had a portrait of one of DH’s forebears hanging here; it was a very good work by a known artist of the general in his uniform from the Spanish American War. Unfortunately it looked far too much like the Civil War confederate uniform and I always felt compelled to tell people it wasn't. We gave it to our eldest son, who was happy to have it. Aside from portraits of our children I also have a charcoal pencil drawing of my father and a colored pencil drawing of my mother, so we have both strangers and loved ones well represented.