Almighty painter

Chapter 843 Liu Ziming's Boomerang

Objective facts are not affected by personal perceptions.

It doesn’t matter how incomprehensible and incredible means the Oil Painting magazine obtained the ticket.

Nor does Rosings's confusion matter.

What’s important is that amid the incredulous gazes of countless people, the ticket, the ticket with the letters “Coral” written on it, really appeared in the hostess’s hands.

Miss Elena held it up, allowing thousands of eyes present to examine it.

It is well preserved.

Even after one hundred and fifty years, the gold embossing on the corners of the ticket has not faded at all - it looks like paint, but in fact it is real gold foil mixed in during the manufacturing process.

Considering its high price, this extravagant behavior seems extremely reasonable.

"It's really beautiful? The design is very luxurious. The ship ticket from more than 100 years ago can be made more exquisite than I thought. No wonder it is regarded as a collectible." A guest in the front row said softly, "I thought it was just a small piece of paper."

“It’s more than exquisite.”

Liu Ziming smiled when he heard this, "This is a first-class ticket. Whoever takes the first-class cabin of a long-distance flight today will also receive luxury cosmetics."

"A second-class, third-class or lower-class ticket is just a piece of paper, but the one in her hand is a 19th-century first-class ticket. Well, taking inflation into account, that's probably equivalent to several of them? Maybe ten? Cruise companies print the tickets prettier, which is considered basic courtesy to sell them at a high price. These tickets were considered souvenirs at the time. You could put them in a diary or put them in a frame to show off to your besties. For the price of one ticket, you could buy a carriage."

"Is it so expensive?" Lin Tao asked curiously.

"It depends on what you are comparing it to."

Liu Ziming replied: "We don't have any passenger ship business, and the cruise ship operation model has long changed. But now, it's normal for a cruise ship like Royal Caribbean to cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for a first-class suite."

"Traveling in state-class—"

Mr. Liu concluded.

"——It does fit the personal portrait of Carol that they discussed earlier."

"The purchaser chose to pay in pounds sterling, totaling £106."

Without understanding the context of the times, it would be difficult to understand the true meaning of Miss Elena's light-hearted words on the stage.

106 pounds?
Today, if you want to travel long distance across the country, you can't even buy a red-eye economy class ticket on a low-cost airline with this money.

150 years ago, it was a truly astronomical figure.

At that time, the British pound had certain properties of a world currency and was directly linked to gold. If you deposited 20,000 pounds in a commercial bank in London, you could live a life of luxury without working every day and just earn the interest, just like the Count of Monte Cristo.

At about the same time as Carroll's shipboard trip, in the famous travel-related science fiction novel "Around the World in Eighty Days", the protagonist, in order to complete the bet and return to Europe within the stipulated time, finally paid thousands of pounds and bought the small steamship under his feet. He let the captain and a dozen sailors wield axes wholeheartedly, dismantled the deck, and threw it into the coal stove along with their leather shoes to provide fuel for the steam engine.

With 100 pounds, you can buy an apartment in a slightly remote area in Europe.

In the field of art, if you are a British painter, you probably can't afford a Turner, but as for the remaining masters like John Constable, you can buy any of them as long as they are not particularly long.

This was many times more than a decade later, when the public believed that the only painting Van Gogh sold in his life was "The Red Vineyard".

In fact, Van Gogh was not an unknown painter, and the prices of his works were not low at that time.

The boat ticket in the woman's hand made Rosings' previous doubts about "why an unknown female painter would use titanium white" seem much more pale.

Painting supplies are expensive, and paints are expensive too.

An unknown painter means that she never participated in the Salon exhibition.

Not only did he not participate in major art exhibitions jointly organized by the country and local cities, such as the Official Salon in Paris, France and the Royal Spring Exhibition in the UK.

She didn't even attend the street art exhibitions that were part of the Impressionist circle.

This itself is strange enough.

How can a painter not participate in an exhibition? How can a painter not want to participate in an exhibition?

For most artists who can find their names nowadays, it is common that they cannot get into major exhibitions. They will always participate in some small marginal exhibitions. Even if they do not, they at least have the intention to participate.

For example, there are official records available today of the 1880 Brussels Art Salon rejecting a sketch submitted by an unknown painter named Vincent van Gogh who was seeking to exhibit.

Carol couldn't even find such an application.

She is like a real ghost floating outside the entire history of European art.

Well, let’s not talk about her motivation for not participating in the salon exhibition.

Not participating in art exhibitions means no exposure opportunities, and no exposure means no fame, which also means that she can't find sponsors to support her "pure artistic creation".

From "since ancient times" to "looking to the future", the patronage system has always been the most important component of the European art ecosystem.

Excluding Manet, Degas and a few other rich second-generations.

Generally speaking, during those years when Impressionism was not welcomed by the Parisian academic community, a large group of poor Impressionists relied on the help of a few rich fans they met at the Salon exhibitions to avoid starvation.

If there were no sponsors, the best way out for painters in the 19th century was to paint portraits for others and earn some hard-earned money.

Back to that question again.

Not participating in art exhibitions means no fame, and no fame means that the works cannot be sold at a good price, and no orders from high-level clients can be received.

That living condition is really miserable.

During the Industrial Revolution, many unknown painters at the bottom of society who had no orders could not even afford linen textile canvas, let alone good pigments. Even the relatively cheapest cotton canvas had to be used over and over again.

All of Rossings's inferences are logical, and his doubts are completely reasonable.

However, my friend.

At this moment.

The hostess took out a boat ticket worth 106 pounds from her pocket, which would be the decisive blow.

Regardless of whether Carroll is unknown in the art world, whether he can find sponsors, and whether he can sell his paintings.

Rosings said so much doubt.

This ticket is enough as an answer.

For someone who could easily spend the money for a house on a 40-day ocean voyage at the end of the 19th century, the money for high-end pigments was really a joke.

"Gu Weijing's luck is so good?"

Liu Ziming looked at the projection screen carefully.

He also looked confused.

"Is Oil Painting Magazine collecting information about Carroll from the industry? Did they just happen to get this ticket from a collector? Or did they find relevant clues while tracking down Father Anderson?"

No matter how I guess, it seems unreliable.

but.

Even Liu Ziming couldn't think of a more reliable speculation.

This is really too strange and bizarre.

"Oil Painting" magazine has a god-like status in the European art market, and it is true that Sir Brown is honored as the Pope of Art, but some things have gone beyond the scope of what can be achieved with wealth and status and have entered the realm of fantasy.

Now Miss Elena took out an old ship ticket from one hundred and fifty years ago.

It's like the academic community is still arguing over the authenticity of "Salvator Mundi", and someone pulls out an envelope with a message inside: "I, Leonardo da Vinci, painted this on March 1486, 3 while eating an apple. Don't talk nonsense, just transfer the money quickly." They want to produce this kind of ironclad evidence.

Even the God of Art may not be able to help. Maybe you need to have a close relationship with heaven and invite the real God to take action.

Liu Ziming felt very disillusioned.

"Maybe there is a collector who has collected this antique ship ticket? He happened to read the article in Asian Art and learned that Oil Painting was going to hold an interview for this, so he took the initiative to contact the magazine, hoping that the collection in his hands could also appreciate in value?"

Just like he said.

This gorgeous gold-studded ship ticket also served as a postcard in the 19th century.

People at that time liked to collect every one of their ship tickets, and some even put them in a glass cover and placed them in a cabinet of curiosities, together with peacock feathers, deformed fish bones, and animal fossils found in coal, to show off to their friends and family.

It is not only a memory of life, but also shows their rich experience and broad knowledge.

Nowadays, there are also miscellaneous collectors who prefer to collect such old items.

If things happened at the right time, it's not impossible.

Liu Ziming shook his head slightly.

His expression at this moment was mixed with extremely complex meanings, including relief and liberation.

No matter how the artistic director on the stage got the boat ticket, even if it came out of a stone, it was really Gu Weijing's good luck to get it at this moment.

As long as this ticket is not fake.

Then.

Not to mention that the intensity of Rosings's doubts faded a lot.

Even if Liu Ziming did not change his mind and had people mingle among the audience and spread the true and false materials that Basong had carefully collected in the opera house through mobile phone transmission and network disk links, the effect would not be as good as he had originally imagined.

It will only intensify the various conspiracy theories about this matter, but it will not have the effect of making the final decision.

If things go wrong, the entire Oil Painting magazine might be dragged into this.

Just like Cui Xiaoming, when Liu Ziming was planning this matter, he never considered the fact that Oil Painting magazine would stand on Gu Weijing's side.

And by then, what if some rumor gets out?

The person in charge may not only be under pressure from Kazunari Sakai, but also from the entire Oil Painting magazine. Liu Ziming believes that no concrete evidence will be leaked, but...

Need it?

Some times.

With the overbearing style of Oil Painting magazine, they don't even need any concrete evidence to crush someone to establish their authority.

This is what it means to follow the Gu Sutra.

Where is Liu Ziming?
A harder nail.

But too much debt is always a burden. The Oil Painting Magazine is in a fierce power struggle. Both the Elena family and Sir Brown have openly caused such a big incident. In the absence of Cao Xuan's statement, for the sake of the magazine's interests and authority, do they really care about offending one more Liu Ziming at this moment?
"Pfft."

Think about this.

Young Master Liu suddenly laughed.

He smiled very freely, full of joy.

Joy cannot fully describe this smile.

Liu Ziming's eyes flashed with a certain insight and clarity about the laws of the world. Different from Tonks's laughter that showed her back teeth, his smile was based on spiritual form rather than physical action.

Liu Ziming is a person with a delicate mind, deep thoughts and reserved attitude.

In the past forty years, he rarely showed such a straightforward and carefree smile, which made Tang Ning, who was watching this scene, almost get a stiff neck.

"You...are you so happy?"

Tangning turned her head and stared at the scene in shock.

She was stunned.

So what? Miss Elena just took out an antique ship ticket.

Where's the joke here, hey!
That is Gu Weijing's thesis, not Liu Ziming's thesis. Is he crazy?

"It's okay, I just thought of something fun."

Liu Ziming shook his head.

He restrained his smile, but there was still a smile in the corners of his eyes.

He thinks this world is really interesting.

He used to not care about Gu Weijing's feelings at all, and felt that there was no need to care whether the other party was salt or arsenic.

Liu Ziming was hesitant, wondering whether he should throw the can directly into the trash can.

just now.

He realized that if he did this.

So, when facing a stronger person, facing similar things, in front of the domineering "Oil Painting" magazine, people would not care about Liu Ziming's feelings, nor would they care whether he was salt or arsenic. If they had any doubts in their hearts, they would throw them into the trash can along with the can.

"When facing a basil leaf, do you see a cow's butt or the Alps, or just see a basil leaf like me? The answer itself does not contain any moral judgment. It is difficult to say which one is better and which one is worse. Just like the wild flowers on the roadside and the fake roses in the vase, it is difficult to say which one is better and which one is worse. The only question is which scene touches you more. And the way they touch you determines who you are." - Cao Xuan said in a letter to Liu Ziming.

“The way you see the world and the way you are touched by the world determines who you are and perhaps also how the world sees you.”

These words sounded like the kind of vulgar, boring and meaningless chicken soup for the soul that Liu Ziming hated the most.

but.

That's fair, isn't it?

The cycle of cause and effect will always pay off.

When he was hesitating about stepping on Gu Weijing to death, he was thinking and hesitating, and was about to throw the fatal weapon at Gu Weijing, he was touched.

Liu Ziming changed his mind and threw it far into the sea.

three days later.

When the boomerang came whistling with thunder, it also dissolved in the void before it touched him, turning into a breeze that lifted his hair.

although.

Such a scenario was the result of Liu Ziming's worst imagination.

Gu Weijing is just a piece of bubble wrap, and Liu Ziming can be considered a very hard iron nail. Even if Oil Painting magazine is wearing boots with steel plates inlays, it will not step on iron nails for fun.

With emotion and reason.

There was no need for Oil Painting magazine to fight to the death for Gu Weijing and Liu Ziming. The more likely scenario was that after the release of those materials, they simply threw Gu Weijing overboard and gave up.

despite this.

Liu Ziming was still very glad that he did not act like a villain in vain.

(End of this chapter)