Hacker News Reader

Edit: Links didn't work.

A Portrait of the Artist's Sisters: https://womennart.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/the_chess_game...

Lady With an Ermine: https://www.legendarte.shop/pimages/Curiosita-sul-dipinto-Da...

I understand what you mean, and have felt a connection to older art because the people look more “likely” or “realistic”. I’m having the exact opposite reaction to these two works though. “Lady With An Ermine” strongly reminds me of someone I used to know in college, while the faces in “Portrait of the Artist’s Sisters” don’t feel realistic to me. On the other hand, her “Boy Bit by Crawfish” is great and looks natural. Art is subjective I guess.

As a side note, I’ve often thought that maybe facial structures were just different back then and these works really ARE realistic. Harder lives, more homogenous groups, or maybe even inbreeding led to different looking people!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com