Life Imitates Art

Jacques-Louis David was a French Neoclassical artist. And up until the time I took Art History class in college, I had no idea who he was.

But after studying his work I began to admire it more and more, probably because it isn’t what I’ve coined “mouse-pad art” like Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (and I can easily name more).  Just one look at David’s work and it’s easy to understand why he was one of the most influential painters of his time. The attention to detail is simply unreal; there is symbolism in each and every work.

Flash-forward to 2007. As usual, The Kid hadn’t taken a nap so I decided to stick him in the Explorer and drive around the block a few times in the hopes he’d give up.

He did. But it was the way I found him that fascinated me. Check out this side-by-side image:

The moment I saw him in this pose I immediately grabbed my phone-cam and took this shot, which reminded me of David’s “The Death of Marat” (on the left).

After admiring the pose he managed to put himself in, I scooped him out of his seat, put him in bed and let him sleep the sleep of a good child.