THE PAINTINGS ON THIS SIDE
ARE NOT FOR SALE

In time I will display more paintings. I get so busy I
have to prioritize. Eventually I will post some older paintings
from the 1960's. These will be at higher prices as they are
scarce and limited. And, others are from the beginning of my
CSO research since 2000. These vary in price. Now that I
am finished [ 2012] with research and writing and producing
DVDS, I will be painting more. These will be offered at lower
prices. A normal painting takes me about a week or two to
complete. Some take longer.

Please note this about the selling of paintings.
When an artist CONSIGNS his paintings to a COMMERCIAL
ART GALLERY, he agrees to a contract calling for the Artist
to receive only about 50% of the agreed CONTRACT
RETAIL PRICE. The prices I list here take this into account.
My price of $500 for a painting is equivalent to a retail sale
price by a gallery for $1000. Also, I will pay for shipping and
any California State taxes. A low cost frame is included and
will not be removed - and the price will not be lowered by
being asked to remove the frame. Purchasers can always
purchase a more expensive frame locally. My frames also
MAY have very minor dents, etc, and these in no way
change the price. Frames protect the painting and Master
paintings in Museums are seen to have frames with minor
dents etc.

BEFORE purchasing a painting please ask all the questions
that come to mind.--Thank you---Louis
I learned to oil paint by studying books by Mr. Frederic Taubes (
1900-1981), the noted American artist and educator. Mr. Taubes
believed the 15th century Flemish Old Masters, known for some of
the best preserved oil paintings, used Copal Resin, as an
ingredient in their painting medium. In the 1940's Mr. Taubes'
experiments and studies, led him to formulate a line of paint
mediums that became famous, and were sold under his name,
"Taubes".  I learned to oil paint using his mediums. Subsequent
developments in technology resulted in wide use of Acrylic paints,
and development of Synthetic resins, including synthetic Copals.
After Mr. Taubes' death, his paint mediums declined and
disappeared from the market. During Taubes' life, there were
notable 'experts' who disagreed with Mr. Taubes' beliefs.They
claimed use of hard natural resins, like Copal or Amber, were in
fact injurious to the long term preservation of oil paint. They
claimed eventual darkening and  brittleness of the oil paint layers.
After Mr. Taubes' death, the scientific analytic methods of paint
samples from Old Master paintings improved, providing
information Mr. Taubes was unaware of. Since the 1990's,
advanced studies show the addition of calcium carbonate in the
colors of some masters ( it was known to be used in the white)
and the addition of protein ingredients such as egg, in the paint
structure. Professor DR. Ernst Van De Wetering, a renowned
Rembrandt scholar has stated the protein ingredient has been
found in the work of Rembrandt AND Jan Van Eyck.
My book will show how to easily make and apply two different  
Emulsions, each having important different properties. The
Emulsion has several uses. One purpose is to use the Emulsion
as an 'Oil out' to insure adhesion. Another purpose is to stop
wrinkling in polymerized impasto paint. A very important purpose
of the Emulsion is to use it as the ideal paint thinner, to change
the paint consistency and to allow the painting of micro-fine lines
and details.
My experiments with "Calcite Sun Oil" and "Emulsions" have
resulted in a SAFE and PERMANENT method of oil painting that
has solved all the technical problems I encountered for many
years using hazardous solvents, resins, and driers. The benefits
of using "Calcite Sun Oil" and Emulsions are many, and my book
will provide you with knowledge to help you master the oil painting
medium with excellent results.
'Butterflys' ( Mariposas) Oil on Birch plywood, 2006,  24" X
18", 2006, with details. The actual size of the butterflys is about
two inches. The micro-fine white lines were painted on top of a
wet black paint. My book will show you how to do this. Each
white line or dot is raised, firm, clear, without any bleeding or
distortion. And, they dry within 24 hours.
LA PALOMA TRISTE ( THE SAD DOVE) Oil on Birch plywood, 24" X 18",
2006, with detail. "Calcite Sun Oil" as the Grinding Oil creates a viscous paint, and
the Emulsion is used as the thinner and the 'oil out'. Together they allow the artist
to create abstracted forms or fine detailed realistic forms. Addition of dry calcite
allows thick impasto when desired.
"SHORTY" Oil on Birch plywood, 30 X 24" , 2006, with detail. This
painting evolved through five overpaint sessions. Each time, a Viscous
Emulsion was used as the 'oil out' to insure adhesion of the new paint
layer. And, to allow firm clear thick and thin paint that stayed exactly as I
placed it. Blending was easily done when needed.
"La Paloma y La Tormenta" ( The Dove and the Storm)
1/2 Inch Wood Birch plywood, 18" X 24"
CSO Oil Paint medium and Emulsions
PRICE  $1500
CONTACT  velapress@aol.com

EMULSIONS,
the " WONDER MEDIUM "

The effects you see in my recent paintings using
my formulations of "Calcite Sun Oil" ,and
Emulsions
are easily accomplished. The ingredients are
SAFE and have been proven to be PERMANENT
as famous masterpieces of history show. EGG is
one of the oldest binders ever used for painting,
and experts have stated it is more durable than
oil as a binder. The main limitation of the EGG
TEMPERA PAINTING METHOD, where egg is the
binder, is that it dries so fast, and blending is
made very difficult even in the hands of highly
skilled masters. One method of blending is by
hatching and cross-hatching fine lines. Andrew
Wyeth, a famous American artist is a master of
EGG tempera painting and the famous Van Eyck
brothers from 15th century northern Europe were
trained as EGG tempera paintings.

It is the Van Eyck brothers who formulated a
revolutionary new paint medium ( kept as a
secret) that allowed them to overcome all the
deficiencies of the ancient oil paint medium. The
oil in the ancient oil paint medium had either one
of two properties: viscosity or non-viscosity, and
each had great advantages and disastrous
disadvantages. Read my book for a full
explanation of these two conditions of the oil, and
why they caused artists so many problems.
TRIANGULARISM
A STYLE I DEVELOPED, BASED ON THE
PAINTINGS OF ' EL GRECO'

El Greco , Domenico Theotokopolous, has always been one of my
favorite painters. He lived in an era surrounded by the art history
of Greece, Rome, the classical Italian Renaissance art of Da Vinci,
Michelangelo, Raphael and others and actually studied with Titian.
He left Italy to live in Toledo Spain, where he died in 1614.

When I was 10 years old, I saw my first E Greco painting in a book.
His paintings IMMEDIATELY and POWERFULLY appealed to me
because of his masterful control of the Oil Paint; his very personal
vibrant, rich, deep color combinations; his extraordinarily personal
dynamic design composition structure; and his unique realism,
using aspects of surrealism...  much of the masterful aspects of his
work, were far ahead of his time, while his form of 'realism' was still
accepted in his own time. Velazquez, born in Seville Spain in 1599,
loved his work! Francisco Pacheco, Velazquez' teacher, wrote
about actually watching El Greco paint!

Over the years I was so captivated by and drawn to El Greco's
elongated forms, and the other aspects of his work I described that
I  sought out every original I could find. Ive traveled Spain, Europe
and American museums...
JUST to see the El Grecos ( and also to see every one of
Rembrandt's work I could find).

I the year 2006, I was painting the painting " SHORTY", shown here
below. Shorty was my dog when I was a youth, and the person in
the painting is me ... an imaginative self-portrait of myself at about
age 17. As a youth, I was a farm worker, and I show myself under
an olive tree, after a day of harvesting olives.

During the painting of " Shorty" I has CONSCIOUSLY not trying to
paint Photographically, nor with Naturalism. For the past twenty
years, my youthful realist style had been undergoing changes with
influences of Modernism. Modernism, since CUBISM, uses
geometric, man-made shapes. Circles, Rectangles, Triangles,
Cubes, etc. all very consciously. CUBISM was a way to change
REALISM, yet keep REALISM.  It was a way to paint a MODERN
form of realism.  In this painting, I was using the palette knife
frequently with application of thick paint, and avoided subtle
changes of values, and ignored natural color as seen in nature. As
the painting evolved over several difficult over painting sessions, I
saw that I was combining REALISTIC shapes with TRIANGLES.

Then one evening, as I often do, I picked up a book on a famous
artist. On this date I picked up the EL GRECO book. As I leafed
through the book, loving every very familiar painting, I saw for the
very first time in my life...
that EL GRECO... used lots of TRIANGLES in his work. There are
TRIANGLES everywhere! There are Triangles within Triangles.
There are TRIANGLES forming NEGATIVE spaces as well as
forming POSITIVE spaces. Some triangles are short and fat, others
extremely elongated. Some disappear , yet they can still be
detected!

The painting of "La Paloma Triste" uses this new 'Triangularism"
approach in a more modernist way, yet combining the abstractions
with the ' reality' of natural forms.  Mountains are based on the
triangles, and the negative spaces as well, as can be seen in the
space between the two tails of the doves, and the tails themselves.

This realization changed my viewing of El Greco's paintings. It
helped me understand how he composed and designed and
structured his work, and gave it its DYNAMIC sensation! Using this
knowledge, I consciously explored the use of TRIANGLES in these
recent paintings of mine. I have explained this aesthetic approach
to other painters and have now seen its impact on their work. I am
excited that it will develop by others into a very recognizable style.
If you found this of interest, please write to me with your own
experiences.
MY TEACHER:FREDERIC TAUBES (1900-1981)

Frederic Taubes was born in Poland and emigrated to the USA in about 1930. He is an important American
Artist and Art Educator. His paintings are in many US Museums and he authored over 20 books on the
methods and materials of art. He had great respect for the craftsmanship and the art of the great masters of
oil painting.I consider Mr. Taubes to be my teacher, who instilled in me the love for the methods and materials
of oil painting while emphasizing the importance of originality, creativity, and individual expression.

Like many realists of the early and mid 20th century, his fame and reputation diminished with the onset of
abstract expressionism of the 60's and latter part of the century. All indications are that his importance is
gaining a resurgence of attention. His grandson, Timothy Taubes, has recently created an important website
to celebrate and share Frederic Taubes important legacy to American Art. I invite all readers to take the time
to study this website:www.frederictaubes.com

A monograph was published in 1946 by the American Artists Group of New York. The set of over 20 important
artists of the era included such recognized masters as John Stewart Curry, John Sloan, Stuart Davis, Edward
Hopper, Kuniyoshi and others. Mr. Taubes' inclusion with such important artists reflects the high regard he
was given in his life.

I believe his paintings reflect the uniqueness of his personal aesthetic vision, the craftsmanship and love of
the great masters and his place in modern art and life. His artworks are characterized by beauty of design,
sumptuous paint quality and an imaginative sometimes surreal expression of visual reality.

Mr. Taubes was the formulator of the once famous TAUBES painting mediums based on his studies and
beliefs that the Old Masters used hard COPAL RESIN. His products were manufactured and produced for the
market and were quite famous for many years. After his death, his formulated mediums were replaced by less
expensive synthetic materials. Coincidentally, it was the loss of his Copal painting materials that caused my
life long search for the best painting materials and mediums. The final result was ' Calcite Sun Oil" and the
two egg glair- unrefined linseed oil emulsions described in my book.

The Taubes COPAL products HAD all the hazardous ingredients that I now no longer will use. His
formulations used Turpentine, Petroleum Distillates, Resins, and Driers. As a 13 year old youth in 1956, I
learned to oil paint with his mediums. BUT... I was unaware of two important things.

ONE: The detrimental effect of hazardous art materials on the human body.

TWO: A method to oil paint with SAFETY and PERMANENCE without the hazardous materials. PAINTING IN
OILS, without the hazardous materials was important knowledge and was not available to me nor to any other
person, in any of the instructional art books of the era ( 1950's) AND NOT EVEN to artists of the present.
UNTIL I published my book in 2004. My book provides the knowledge on how one can paint in oils Safely and
with Permanence, without use of any of the hazardous materials I mentioned. TODAY my book allows
professional and amateur oil painters a choice on whether to paint with or without hazardous materials.

Even though Frederic TAUBES' method used HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, I respect all the dedication and
effort and knowledge expressed by Mr. Taubes, and I will always have the highest regard for him as an artist,
educator and person. I was lucky to have met him in person when I was 15 years old. I wish I could visit with
him today ...  we would have so much to talk about.

Please visit the TAUBES website and write Mr. Timothy Taubes a note.

www.frederictaubes.com

TWO REMARKABLE EMULSIONS

I HAVE DEVELOPED TWO EMULSIONS  (  THE '
VISCOUS EMULSION" AND THE ' NON-VISCOUS
EMULSION") THAT ALLOW AN OIL PAINTER TO
ACCOMPLISH IMPORTANT VISUAL EFFECTS
AND FACILITATE THE HANDLING OF THE OIL
PAINT. THESE TWO EMULSIONS ARE SIMILAR,
BUT STILL DIFFERENT. THEY ACCOMPLISH
THE SAME NEEDS, BUT DRY AT DIFFERENT
RATES. THESE EMULSIONS ARE SAFE AND
PERMANENT, AND ARE MADE OF TWO
ANCIENT BINDERS OF PIGMENTS THAT HAVE
BEEN USED FOR CENTURIES. MY BOOK
EXPLAINS THEIR PURPOSES, THE APPLICATION
METHODS ( WHICH ARE IMPORTANT TO
KNOW), AND THEIR IMPORTANCE.

THIS PAGE INCLUDES NEVER BEFORE SEEN
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE 'VISCOUS EMULSION"
THAT DEMONSTRATES ITS NON-YELLOWING
QUALITY. THE EMULSION IS MIXED IN A JAR,
AND IS EASILY MADE WITHIN 10 TO 15
SECONDS IF THE TWO VERY SPECIFIC AND
IMPORTANT INGREDIENTS ARE AT HAND. THE
EMULSION MUST BE REFRIGERATED WHEN
NOT IN USE, AS THE EGG PORTION WILL SPOIL
IF NOT REFRIGERATED.
WHAT IS AN EMULSION?

An Emulsion is a perfect blend of an oily
substance and a watery substance. On a
microscopic level, one  will enter the other, so, it
can be either a 'watery' or an ' oily' Emulsion,
depending on which enters which.

An Emulsion is superior to mixtures of resins
and oil, as these two ingredients will only
CO-MINGLE and dry at different rates, whereas
an EMULSION is a perfect mixture.

The jar has a rectangle drawn with black
ink.
This area in the rectangle was wiped down thinly
as one would use it in applying the oil out, when
oil painting.

It is completely clear and transparent and it is
completely emulsified and it has no yellowish
color at all.
Please note that the emulsion that was NOT
wiped thinly is encrusted on the side of the glass
jar and any discoloration is due to the thickness
of the concentration.

The emulsion that is stuck to the side of the jar
demonstrates its adhesiveness. I shook the jar
very hard and could not dislodge the emulsion
that is on the jar.

These photos, shown for the first time
anywhere, show the beauty and wonder of the
TRANSPARENCY of the Emulsions. This photo
is copyright protected
copyright 2008, Louis R. Velasquez
Please note this photo cannot be used without
my permission.


JACQUE MAROGER'S EMULSION
FORMULA
In 1931, Jacques Maroger ( French 1884 -
1962) published his claim of having
re-discovered the ' lost secret medium of the
Van Eycks". France bestowed  great honors on
Maroger for his 'discovery'.

Maroger later moved to the USA, and continued
to make Formulations and eventually published
his  book, which in 1948 was translated into
English. His subsequent Formulations, listed as '
painting mediums' of the Old Masters are
referred to as " Meguilp" , or ' Maroger's
Medium" and have a stormy reputation.
However, his 1931 Formulation, which he called
an EMULSION, is wholly different from his latter
MEGUILP formulations.

My book includes an in depth analysis of
Marogers 1931 EMULSION formulation.
I believe my essay clearly explains WHY
Maroger's EMULSION formula failed.
I believe I can prove WHY Maroger did NOT
rediscover the " lost secret medium of the Van
Eycks".

I own several original
Taubes Paintings.
In time, I will place them all here on my site.
Some are in better condition than others.

The first one to your right is a portrait of his
wife LILY. It is an outstanding TAUBES
painting. Taubes normally did not date his
paintings. But, going by the style, this
painting can be guessed to be from the early
1940's. This large painting is about 40" X 30"

BELOW in the photo, is my wall of honor  
dedicated to Mr. Taubes.
A large beautiful unsigned painting, several
etchings in a variety of styles, and the cover
of American Artist magazine from Jan. 1943.
THE DRY EMULSION
A resurrected Old Master procedure
by Louis R. Velasquez copyright 2011 = posted 2/17/2011

The Old Masters used emulsions and other non-solvent
mixtures for the OIL OUT step in oil painting.
There is some confusion today in the TERMINOLOGY used in
describing the OIL OUT medium.
Some have called the OIL OUT... a 'couch' [ a couch is a sofa ] , and
others call it a ' cushion' [ which is a pillow]. The FRENCH word
,'couche', has confused some ENGLISH ONLY speakers, because the
French word COUCHE means a layer or coat of paint, and the English
word 'COUCH' is 'Canape' in French. The words COUCH and CUSHION
are NON DESCRIPTIVE for painting, but VERY DESCRIPTIVE for
furniture and bedding.

The term, ' OIL OUT' is a shortened term for
'OIL RUBBED IN AND OIL WIPED OUT'.
This term is descriptive, instructional and important for oil painting: The
oil is RUBBED IN and then it is WIPED OUT, in order to leave the
thinnest film possible. Languages use lots of contraction terms: FYI is
For Your Information, others such as ASAP and J.LO, are used to save
us time.

The important purpose of the OIL OUT is to act as a LUBRICANT for
allowing easier brushing as well as to act as an adherent. The
composition of the OIL OUT LIQUID is very important. Any OIL OUT
liquid containing any SOLVENT causes problems, since the OIL OUT
liquid must be RUBBED IN in order to achieve an ultra thin film. ANY
liquid containing a solvent will loosen and weaken ANY lower paint film
that is in process of drying.

A well formulated EMULSION contains NO SOLVENT. One can
vigorously RUB IN an emulsion on a fragile oil paint film, without lifting,
softening, or disrupting the paint film. OIL BY ITSELF is not an effective
medium as oil by itself will drip...even thin layers. The old Masters
added a PROTEIN such as egg or milk to stop the drip.

TRADITIONAL EMULSIONS are made by mixing two WET fluids. Two
examples are the mixing of egg glair and oil, or the mixing of non-fat
milk and oil. Recently I began to use a procedure I believe to be an
UNWRITTEN PROCEDURE used by the Old Masters. In recent years,
modern Science has discovered unwritten procedures used by
Rembrandt, Velazquez and Rubens. It is clear the ancient historical
written record has not recorded all the procedures artists used. For
personal reasons, some procedures were kept secret.

THIS RESURRECTED OLD MASTER PROCEDURE IS A: ....
DRY EMULSION.

This recognition resulted from my development of CSO-EGG
TEMPERA and CSO-CASEIN TEMPERA.
During these developments, THE challenge was posed on HOW TO
SEAL the tempera before applying oil paint on top. Museum
conservators and important well known artists also had this technical
issue to deal with. One museum conservator advised one artist to allow
the egg tempera to cure for two weeks, then apply SHELLAC as a
sealant. I see this answer is inadequate because egg is slow to cure
and a shellac is an air-tight sealant stopping the curing process. One
artist advised her students to allow the egg tempera to dry a couple of
hours, then apply the shellac before applying the oil paint. This short
wait time is inadequate , but of course this was in the interests of saving
time as the lessons proceeded. One cannot wait two weeks before
going onto the next step in the lesson.

IT WAS THIS TECHNICAL QUESTION THAT RESULTED IN MY
IDENTIFICATION OF A 'DRY EMULSION"
In 2009 and 2010, I developed two NEW Tempera mediums by adding
CHALK to the ancient mixtures of EGG TEMPERA and CASEIN
TEMPERA. This resulted from my development of a formula of mixing
CHALK with OIL , as modern science proved Rembrandt and other
Masters had mixed chalk with their oil paints. Also in my development of
the ' Calcite Sun Oil' method of oil painting, I had developed two
Emulsions. EMULSIONS are a wonder medium that allow many
important procedures in oil painting, including the all important OIL OUT
procedure.

Using my background knowledge, I determined that any tempera
painting should not be sealed by any sealant such as a SHELLAC. The
better technical answer was to IMPREGNATE the DRY TEMPERA with a
fast drying SUN OIL, the same sun oil used by the Old Masters. My
advice is not to use the currently available INDUSTRIAL slow drying
linseed oil sold in ART STORES. The IMPREGNATION APPLICATION
PROCEDURE takes a short amount of time, an hour or two. One adds
more oil to areas that  turn MATTE.
Once the entire surface appears shiny with no MATTE areas, the
surface is buffed down to remove all excess oil. One can then begin to
apply oil paints on the Tempera painting with no fear that the dry
Tempera paint will absorb oil out of the oil paint. More importantly, the
impregnated oil is absorbed by the Tempera [ Egg or Casein tempera]
in a WET-INTO-DRY manner. This is accommodated by the CHALK
addition the Tempera was made with, as CHALK is very absorbent.

This creates a natural mixture, one WET and one DRY, that is in
essence, an EMULSION mixture. The TEMPERA CHALK with OIL
mixture becomes a cement-like substance, and since the OIL does
breathe as it cures, the TEMPERA component is allowed to also
breathe cure within its own time.

THE PAINTINGS ON THIS SIDE
OF THE PAGE
ARE FOR SALE

More paintings will be added in time
Purchase instructions are given via EMAIL

contact me at
velapress@aol.com

PLEASE NOTE:
I DO NOT OPEN EMAIL
THAT HAS A BLANK
"SUBJECT" AREA
DOG   24" X 30"  Cotton Canvas Stretched on wood bars
CSO Oil Paint medium and Emulsions
PRICE: $1500
CONTACT: velapress@aol.com
CHRIST WITH THE CHILDREN
CSO OIL PAINT AND EMULSIONS
1/2 INCH BIRCH WOOD PANEL . 24 INCHES X 18 INCHES
PRICE $1500
CONTACT velapress@aol.com
Table of Contents for this page

1.  MY PAINTINGS MADE WITH 'CALCITE SUN OIL' and EMULSIONS

2. EL GRECO and the style of 'Triangularism"

3. EMULSIONs - The 'wonder medium"

4. Maroger's failed Emulsion method . My book has a 10 page essay on Maroger's failed mediums

5. The DRY EMULSION: An Old Master method

6. My teacher  FREDERIC TAUBES [ 1900-1981]
THREE WHITE DOVES IN A LANDSCAPE
DATE PAINTED: May 2012
18"X 24"  1/2 inch plywood  Underpainted with MILK OIL PAINT, Over painted with Calcite
Sun Oil / Oil paints
PRICE:  $1500   CONTACT: Velapress@aol.com

COMMENT ON THIS PAINTING:
I grew up in farm country. My
grandmother had a 30 acre
olive ranch 7 miles north of
Porterville, a small city of 6,000
people [ back then] in California.

This image is from memory and
imagination of things I saw as a
teenager. East of Porterville are
the 'ROCKY" hills and the area
has lots of doves, pigeons,
pheasants, quail, grape
vinyards, wheat fields, olive and
orange groves.

The scene shows the evening
as the sun begins to set.
Shadows are cool and purple
bluish.

ORIGINALLY TITLED: " Two
white doves"
As I was looking at it, I "SAW"
the faint image of a DOVE in the
clouds-- with a bit of white, blue
and red applied with my fingers,
I accentuated the image of the
dove in the clouds -- but without
it becoming too evident. This bit
of mystery, imagination, subtle
fantasy and subliminal
projection gives the painting an
additional interest for the
viewers.

Thanks --Louis
SAMPSON AND THE LION
48" X 36",  OIL ON STRETCHED COTTON CANVAS
FINISHED SEPT. 2012
PRICE: $5,000.-
MARIPOSAS HERMOSAS  [ BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLYS]
30" X 24" OIL ON WOOD
DATE: August 2012
PRICE: $1500-  Please see additional photos on the main page
end of page
ALL ITEMS ARE COPYRIGHT
PROTECTED

MY TEACHER  MR. FREDERIC TAUBES  (1900-1981)
on Oil Painting and other paint media, with information on Aesthetics and much more. Mr. Taubes instilled a great respect for the Great Old
Masters, as he too was their student. My book and DVDS are a testament to the highest regard I have for Mr. Taubes as an Artist and as a
Teacher. Were it not for the influence and wisdom I received from Mr. Taubes in my formative years, this book of mine, would not exist, and I
proudly say,  HE IS MY TEACHER.
Recently, I received this touching letter From Mr. Timothy Taubes, who is Mr. Frederic Taubes’ grandson.
Please visit the website dedicated to the art and life of Mr. Frederic Taubes at:  www.frederictaubes.com   , and drop a note to  Mr. Timothy
Taubes.

Louis! What an amazing book!
I cannot think of any other book that deals with the subject of painting mediums in such a comprehensive manner. And the dedication to Frederic
Taubes is truly heartfelt. Your book is an important link in a tradition more than half a millenium in the making. In your dedication you say, "I wish I
could visit with him today." BUT YOU DO!!! You commune with him on a daily basis. Last August I took my kids to Italy. In Venice, we went to the
scuola San Rocco to see the magnificent Tintorettos. We gaped in awe and read from Frederic's book, The Illustrated Guide to the Great Art in
Europe, AND HE WAS THERE WITH US! If there is a rebirth after death, it is because the living are the vessel from which values are passed from
generation to generation.
All the best, Tim Taubes