I was looking at some real estate listings online when I noticed some famous art reproductions all in the same house in Newburgh, NY. The first one that grabbed my attention was this copy of “Juan de Pareja,” by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez (the original is circa 1650), installed in this turquoise blue hallway. Of course the original is safely installed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but I kind of like this funky installation of the copy in this house!
There was plenty more art in this house, and as I looked closer, I found some more famous art reproductions. If you look above right, above the red book, it’s a copy (I assume) of Irving Penn’s “Football Face, New York, Sept. 24, 2002”. And next to that, a little harder to make out, but still recognizable, is a sculpture copy of “Why Born Enslaved!” by French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, also in the permanent collection of the Met.
While the color of this sculptural reproduction is totally different from the linked original, there were several versions of this sculpture created, as the Met even had a show dedicated to this image, which I saw last January. I also just saw another version of it at the Brooklyn Museum the other day, which is part of the reason why it’s still fresh in my memory.
Below are my own photos of some of these art works as seen at the Met and in Brooklyn, so you can make more of a comparison to the real estate photos above. Clockwise from top left: Diego Velazquez, “Juan de Pareja,” as seen at The Met; sculpture titled “Why Born Enslaved!” by Jean-Baptise Carpeaux, multiple versions seen at the Met (top right, bottom right); another version at the Brooklyn Museum, bottom left.
