I’ve been reading about the Monument Men who were charged by the Roberts Commision to protect cultural Heritage in Europe and later Japan during WWII. They were responsible for the return of many looted items to the correct owners/museums. Lots of great dio moments
At Schloss Neuschwanstein [remember Doogs 1/200 scale dio of the castle] in southern Bavaria, Captain James Rorimer supervises the safeguarding of art stolen from French Jews and stored during the war at the castle (April-May, 1945)
Some soldiers with Leonardos “Lady with an Ermine” (this scene was also loosley featured in an episode of the Simpsons)
Soldiers Looking at Manet: American GIs admire In the Conservatory, a masterpiece by Edouard Manet. This painting, from the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum in Berlin, had been brought to the mine for safekeeping. Merkers, April 1945
A Rembradnt being recovered from a mine where it was stored.
Eisenhower, PAtton, Bradley etc inspecting looted art in a salt mine (very stable humidy, so actually a good palce to store art) in Germany
One of the greatest goodwill gestures of all time. How easy it would have been for America to do the typical “conquerer thing” and just take hoe all the “prizes”. Instead, a conscious effort was made to return as much as possible to the rightful owners.
It was the absolute disgrace of the entire Iraq “war” that we allowed the museum to be ransacked and looted while our troops just stood by and watched.
Subfixer got it right… Vespa has the skill as he has showed us already with his alley work… he can paint tiny masterpieces! I think it would be cool to see diomaras about this… never ever thought about it before. You go for it!!!
Sub I don’t think its cheating to use a reduced image. I certainly could not paint a Manet on a postage stamp…and I can’t imagine how cheesey my attempts at painting a miniature masterpiece would be!
The story, as I see it, is that these guys (about 350 of them in total) saved Europe’s cultural treasures, and if I had to use a reduced and printed image to get the story across, I wouldn’t hesitate.
One a side note, when curators plan out a hang in a museum they often use a 1/24 scale model of the gallery space with 1/24 scale print outs of the art…no one thinks that is cheating!
I’m not going to make a dio on this subject, but I thought it was such a great change from the usual topics of dioramas that I wanted to post it.
PWB really made some great points. Thanks for sharing them
Believe me, I know that decals aren’t cheating and I wouldn’t expect you to actually attempt to recreate a miniature masterpiece. But it would be entertaining to see your results.
I have also thought of a dio like this. Opel truck with the Germans hauling some famous pictures away, I have the truck alomost built but no further. Go for it! Biggest problem will be some fancy frames as in your first picture as I haven’t solved that part.
Sub: I will not even attempt a miniature painting when Photoshop can do it for me that much better!!
Pam: I think that there are some fancy frames available in 1/12 scale for dollhouses. If you don’t find the right ones there you can still use the basic frame and add some shell details on the corner, some waxed thread to make the C-scrolls between the shells/acanthus leaves details etc. Another thought is to use epoxy putty to make a master mould of a detail and then cast it with plasticine and superglue. It may be a lot of work, but it would be well worth it as it is the centre of the attention for the diorama.
The simplest solution would be to have the painting in an open faced moving crate so the painting is seen but the frame is hidden by the wadding that goes around the inside of the plain wooden outer case and the gilded frame.
Or even to have the painting rolled up (like Rembrandt’s Night Watch)
When a painting is rolled it is always paint side out around as wide a tube as possible (3’ is not uncommon), so you could tell exactly what it is in the back of the truck.
