Cryptic art, trivialities and mother-munchers

Writer: Murray Stewart.

Cheer your friends and family up during these stressful times with some interesting facts that will elevate their moods from morbid boredom to ‘for fact’s same, I didn’t know that’. Works every time.

Oranges and lemons

Mark Twain was a shrewd observer of humanity’s frailties and foibles. He had the knack – while blindfolded – of being able to find a hammer and a nail in life’s satirical storeroom, and hit it squarely on the head without mincing words or thumbs.

Few escaped his irony or caustic wit, and he was somewhat cynical about some of the famous French and Italian Renaissance painters with their murky interiors, unappetising bowls of food and gloomy flower arrangements.

“If the old masters had labelled their fruit,” he wrote, “we wouldn’t be so likely to mistake pears for turnips.” Which brings us to the question of the humble orange – thankfully not the one in the White House, but those depicted in some dubious renditions of historical events. Like the Last Supper, for example.

Click below to read more. (The full article can be found on page 6)