That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for August 27, 2020

This is not what Ella and Anni were expecting when they answered the ad that said: Great opportunities in the Art World!

The case where the frame will cost more than the painting.

Now we know why these three were trying to escape in the boat yesterday.

The artist’s wives, keeping busy while their husbands paint nude pictures in the next room.

“Armed robbery, and forgery. How’d you end up here?”

It’s really a freaking shame/that nobody knows the name/ of the critical part/of each great work of art/ the dame who created the frame.

oops! i got the macaroni in the wrong place again…

I say we frame her for the portrait we dropped and ripped.

Behind the supervisor’s back, the women talked about unionizing in hushed tones – a living wage of 2 krone a day.

Leaf me alone!

“You know Lucille, this job requires patience and an incredible amount of attention to detail….but sometimes I think about just letting loose. What do you say to you and me and Emma breaking open a bottle of tequila, getting pissed drunk, and having a threesome. That’ll really give that damn boring artist over something to paint!”

Wait, that little curly-Q in the corner doesn’t look quite right, is that a word? Oh my! it says "F*@&^! …

a nod Wiley

Hmm, I wonder if that is the frame for this painting.

Whoa! Are you gettin’ a buzz from this stuff too?

“It just seems a little extravagant for a picture of Elvis on black velvet; that’s all I’m saying.”

Lily is doing the gilding, for a change.

FECKIN’ PLIERS!!!

Breaking down the no longer popular gilded picture frames was a difficult task given the inadequate tools provided by the company’s owners.

Gunnar says if this is hung in the Louvre we’ll be famous. Do you think that’s true? Well….yes, we were heading towards the bed….what’s that got to do with it?

At the gilder: 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis-Emile_Adan_-_Chez_le_doreur.webp 

(best viewed by Google Chrome, which can automatically translate most pages as necessary) has info and links that point to more info about this Louis Émile Adan (not Gunnar Berndtson) ca. 1905, roughly jumbo envelope size painting.

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/adan_louis-emile.html 

https://www.artrenewal.org/Artist/Index/1298 

https://rehs.com/eng/default-19th20th-century-artist-bio-page/?fl_builder&artist_no=577&sold=1 

all have info about the actual artist, perhaps in addition to what’s pointed to by the title URL, which indirectly points to his French Wikipedia page: 

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Adan 

(again, Chrome can automatically translate as necessary). First work by him used here.

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (⌘- or Ctrl-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #2523 (August 26, 2020) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment.

Sure, it’s an ornate expensive frame, but it’s still four dogs playing poker.

Early Meta art.

king louis had a square rear and commissioned a toilet seat to fit. the gals are just making it smoother to sit on.

How many guilders does it take to hire a gilder?

Teach him to treat my like that. How long do you think it will take for him to notice the shrimp I hid in the frame?