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Programmer Buys Original Ada Lovelace Painting On eBay
Posted by
kdawson
on Tuesday March 25, @01:29AM
from the mother-of-us-all dept.
from the mother-of-us-all dept.
An anonymous reader sends the story of the rediscovery of an original painting of Ada Byron at about age 4, the girl who was to become Countess Lovelace and the world's first computer programmer. A US Army sergeant in Tajikistan caught wind of an eBay auction of a 180-year-old painting of Ada Byron, with provenance; he notified a programmer buddy in Texas, who won the auction.
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Firehose:Original Ada Lovelace painting purchased on eBay by Anonymous Coward
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
In Other News... (Score:4, Funny)
suspicious? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:suspicious? (Score:5, Informative)
Paintings of nobility from the 1800's are not in short supply, they are usually valued by the reputation of the artist not the subject of the painting. It's much more likely that the dealer had no idea why geeks would be more interested than art collectors.
Re:suspicious? (Score:5, Insightful)
A real provenance needs to make specific reference to the article and have specific and traceable details about the past owners. This looks to be just a quick history of the painter, if it was the correct painter. There is nothing that directly relates to the painting or who the painting is of.
As for the subject I presume they would of done a quick search of the subject, the painter, Frank Stone ARA, is fairly famous for his painting and mainly for being the father of Marcus Stone. Marcus was really famous in his time and was a close friend of Charles Dickens. Any search for Ada Byron links right to a history of her. So you have a painter who has some name recognition and a named subject who is easy to research; tie that in with a tech savy, sells on ebay(tech savy may be a strech) but aleast is capable of doing some searching.
BTW, what was the final selling price for this?
Re:suspicious? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:suspicious? (Score:4, Informative)
Who cares what he believes or what he's 'confirmed'. 'Provenance' in the art and antiques world means something - it means an expert has performed the research and certifies the item is real. For an item this important, it's a quasi legal document, signed and notarized - with a full description of the item, a full description of the research, and a full description of why the expert believes the item in question to be real. It's not a handwritten biography of the supposed subject of the provenance on a sheet of letterhead.
Mandatory disclaimer: I have been a used and rare bookseller and have dealt with provenances on a minor basis.
Wrong on all three counts.
Motive? (Score:3, Interesting)
Wrong on all three counts.
Let's see, the OP is saying he is convinced the painting is real, he is doing his best to shut up anyone questioning his claim, and he is claiming anyone who does question his claim is irrational.
You know, if someone was trying to sell a fake they'd do
Re:suspicious? (Score:4, Funny)
A.I... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A.I... (Score:5, Funny)
Let's not neglect Percy (Score:5, Informative)
Shelly [wikipedia.org] "is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets of the English language."
That's a strong endorsement. Lord Byron had an interesting group of characters about him. Between them they make Generation X look like a bunch of prudes.
Since he died before Mickey Mouse was born, you can find all of his works here at project Gutenberg [gutenberg.org].
Oh - support Project Gutenberg. When works in the public domain are forgotten we all lose something precious.
Re:A.I... (Score:4, Interesting)
http://frankensteinia.blogspot.com/2008/01/frankensteins-volcano.html [blogspot.com]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Colin Clive played Dr. Frankenstein in the 1931 movie, then was in Clive of India (1935) with Don Ameche, who was in Things Change (1988) with Clark Gregg, who was in The Air I Breathe (2007) with Kevin Bacon.
Next up.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Next up.... (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Sorry (Score:5, Insightful)
But Jacquard wasn't programming a computer - he was programming a loom. Not that we're not indebted to him, but a loom is not a computer.
Re:Sorry (Score:5, Informative)
That's the power of the computer - the fact that it is general purpose, not single purpose.
FWIW Jacquard got the idea of using cards to control looms from earlier mechanised looms that used cylinders with raised dots - which in turn came from mechanical music organs.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sorry (Score:5, Funny)
First Program (Score:3, Funny)
About Lady Ada (Score:5, Funny)
Cheers!
The Cogwheel Brain (Score:4, Informative)
As far as major role models for female software developers go I pick Grace Hopper, who is on record as having had considerable involvement in computer development, and may, or may not have coined the term "computer bug".
Prayer to Lady Ada (Score:3, Insightful)
Look down upon this humble coder,
Guide me with your unerring logic.
Lady Ada,
Inspire me with your genius,
may I code a thing of beauty.
Lady Ada,
You set the path before me,
may I follow it for the rest of my days.