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  • Arm and a leg

    From Mark Shaw@mshaw@panix.com to alt.folklore.urban on Tue Mar 29 01:36:15 2022
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.urban

    Saw this one elseforum today. I dimly recall it from the Before
    Time, but my googlegroup-fu seems to be weak.

    Supposedly, when you sat for a portrait, there was a base fee and
    a surcharge per limb. And that's why some historical figures are
    pictured with an arm behind their back.

    Anyone else?
    --
    Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
    "All of my mistakes are giving me ideas." - Natalie Lileks
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Don Freeman@Don@cosmoslair.com to alt.folklore.urban on Wed Mar 30 11:23:18 2022
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.urban

    On 3/28/2022 7:36 PM, Mark Shaw wrote:
    Saw this one elseforum today. I dimly recall it from the Before
    Time, but my googlegroup-fu seems to be weak.

    Supposedly, when you sat for a portrait, there was a base fee and
    a surcharge per limb. And that's why some historical figures are
    pictured with an arm behind their back.

    Anyone else?


    Not only that, but it has been attributed (incorrectly) as the basis for
    the term "cost an arm and a leg".

    From:
    <https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/arm-and-a-leg.html>

    "'It cost and arm and a leg' is one of those phrases that rank high in
    the 'I know where that comes from' stories told at the local pub. In
    this case the tale is that portrait painters used to charge more for
    larger paintings and that a head and shoulders painting was the cheapest option, followed in price by one which included arms and finally the top
    of the range 'legs and all' portrait. As so often with popular
    etymologies, there's no truth in that story. Painters certainly did
    charge more for large pictures, but there's no evidence to suggest they
    did so by limb count. In any case the phrase is much more recent than
    the painting origin would suggest."

    --
    Don Freeman
    www.cosmoslair.com
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Mark Shaw@mshaw@panix.com to alt.folklore.urban on Wed Mar 30 18:10:21 2022
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.urban

    Don Freeman <Don@cosmoslair.com> wrote:
    On 3/28/2022 7:36 PM, Mark Shaw wrote:

    Saw this one elseforum today. I dimly recall it from the Before
    Time, but my googlegroup-fu seems to be weak.

    Supposedly, when you sat for a portrait, there was a base fee and
    a surcharge per limb. And that's why some historical figures are
    pictured with an arm behind their back.

    Anyone else?

    Not only that, but it has been attributed (incorrectly) as the basis for
    the term "cost an arm and a leg".

    From:
    <https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/arm-and-a-leg.html>

    Thanks. This is, indeed, the very thing I was asking about - not
    that I was at all clear about that.
    --
    Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
    "All of my mistakes are giving me ideas." - Natalie Lileks
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2