Skater's Greetings

I downloaded The Skater by Gilbert Stuart courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington. As I mentioned in my last post, I love it that so many museums now have Open Access collections!

The Skater amused me and led to a bit of reading about the history of ice skating. Check out The Ice-Skating Dandies of 18th-Century Paris by Lauren Young on the Atlas Obscura website or The History Of Ice Skates by Johanna Mayer on the Science Friday website.

It also inspired me to make something with the image. I experimented with cropping the painting to make bookmarks (and I may yet finish that project later), but ultimately I felt compelled to design greeting card around it.

If you want to send a message with all the panache of an 18th century ice skater, you can purchase a printable PDF on my Etsy store, HannahRoseTruett.etsy.com

Exploring Open Access Collections: The Skater by Gilbert Stuart

A few years ago I learned about the Rijksmuseum inviting creative people to download images from their collection to do creative things.

Now I find many museums with Open Access collections and I rejoice.

Today I will share a portrait that fascinates me: The Skater (portrait of Sir William Grant) by Gilbert Stuart. The portrait is from 1782 and is done in oil on canvas. The image is available for download courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington here:

https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.39729.html

Just look at that stern, focused face, those standoffish crossed arms and the incongruous grace and whimsy of the shapely legs on skates. I'm comforted to learn that the action pose was as unexpected to audiences of the time as it was for me. Good job Gilbert Stuart!

Next time I'll show you what I made from the picture after I downloaded it.