I thank my cool friends Wendy, Darlene, Laura, and Andrew for joining me on Thursday night at the art museum. I had a great time seeing the exhibit at SAM. I had seen some of these pieces at El Prado in Madrid many years ago when I was in Spain and I think I even recognized this Carreño portrait of Charles II:




This portraint creeped me out a little bit because Charles looks so... pale... and odd. He clearly exhibits the "Habsburb Chin" which is a polite way of referring to the inbred physical deformity known as Mandibular Prognathism. Unsurprisingly, Charles II left no heirs in spite of many obvious attempts. He was also mentally retarded. His childlessness marked the end of the Habsburg reign in Spain. Darwin wins!!!

I think my favorite non-retard portrait at this exhibit was this El Greco portrait of a bishop:




Unfortunately this was the only image I could find online. In person, this large portrait is imposing and awesome. The bishop's face is lined and serious. The scary clouds in the background are ominous. The robe is colorful and imposing. El Greco is a wonderful artist and I wish SAM had more of his work.

Anyway, to my readers who have not yet visited SAM and if it's not yet January 2, 2005: go see this exhibit!!!