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Philip McCouat
Personal blog · artinsociety.comhistoryculture
Philip McCouat writes Journal of ART in SOCIETY, a personal blog at artinsociety.com about history and culture. Since 2014, 10 different Hacker News readers have linked it 12 times, most often “The Life and Death of Mummy Brown”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (6) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Philip McCouat's art-history articles, especially the mummy brown piece on ground-up mummies used as medicine and paint, and on photography's effect on painters' livelihoods.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 6 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Welcome to Journal of Art in Society by Philip McCouat, contents, latest changes
Most-linked posts?
- The Life and Death of Mummy Brown7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2014-06-14
What Hacker News says?
Photography had particularly dramatic effects on the livelihoods of painters who operated on the fringe of the mainstream. This included the portrait miniaturists, whose markets fell drastically, particularly after the introduction of the multi-pose and cheap cartes de visite in the mid-1850s. Many gave up, while others turned to colouring photos [25]. Some painters of sentimental genre scenes were also particularly…
Comment linking /pt-1-initial-impacts.html
on “Spotify reportedly investigating Anna's Archive's scraping of their library”Submitted Egyptian Blue: The Color of Technology as a story · 39 points
HN discussionWow, it blows my mind that dried human flesh was ground up to make paint. More about it here: http://www.artinsociety.com/the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brow...
Comment linking /the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brown.html
on “Observations on Some Egyptian Mummies Opened in London (1794)”Submitted The Life and Death of Mummy Brown as a story · 18 points
HN discussionThis article has a section on Mummy - apparently it had become an accepted treatment for a wide selection of ailments. http://www.artinsociety.com/the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brow... Mummy, or “mumia”, was typically the ground-up body, or body parts, applied topically to be rubbed on, or mixed into drinks to swallow. Its medical benefits were proclaimed in standard pharmacopoeia and extensively promoted by physician…
Comment linking /the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brown.html
on “A Renaissance Merchant's Book of Fashion”Submitted Early Influences of Photography on Art – Part 1 as a story · 1 points
HN discussionForget about Egyptian Blue and its techno-wonders, did you see the link to Mummy Brown? http://www.artinsociety.com/the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brow... Far more fascinating. tl;dr: for several hundred years, Europeans traded in Aegyptian mummies (real ones and various imitations thereof) first for apothecary medicine (ergo consumption), then as paint pigment. Horatio must be spinning in his grave ("there are more th…
Comment linking /the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brown.html
on “Egyptian Blue: The Color of Technology”Submitted Early influences of photography on art – Part 1 as a story · 1 points
HN discussionPhotography’s rapid commercialisation [21] meant that many painters – or prospective painters – were tempted to take up photography instead of, or in addition to, their painting careers. Most of these new photographers produced portraits. As these were far cheaper and easier to produce than painted portraits, portraits ceased to be the privilege of the well-off and, in a sense, became democratised [22]. Some comment…
Comment linking /pt-1-initial-impacts.html
on “I Miss Thinking Hard”Submitted The Life and Death of Mummy Brown as a story · 1 points
HN discussionTo me, this linked reference to the Wikipedia entry is a more compelling read, http://www.artinsociety.com/the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brow...
Comment linking /the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brown.html
on “Mummy Brown”Submitted The Life and Death of Mummy Brown as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
