Duck Dayz...

Cloud 9…

The Rubber Duck in art...

The Quacking Cavalier
The Quacking Cavalier (1624) is a famous painting by the Ducktch Baroque artist Frans Hals. The title is a Victorian invention; although the subject does, in fact, sport a cheeky, enigmatic smile.

The portrait is inscribed in the top right "Æ'TA SVÆ 26/A°1624", which expands to "aetatis suae 26, anno 1624" in Latin and means that the portrait was painted when the sitter was 26 and in the year 1624. The identity of the duck is unknown; when the painting was acquired in 1865 (for the Wallace collection) it was simply called "Portrait of a Young Drake". The most likely theory is that the duck is in fact a minor Ducktch noble from Haerlam.

The canvas measures 83 × 67.3 cm and is famous because of the artist's skill at painting the lace of the costume and that the eyes and bill appear to follow the viewer from every angle.

And finally…

A rubber me.

How flattering that somebody should take the time to make an effigy of my-good-self. This custom-altered rubber model sits on the desk of a colleague (who shall remain nameless) in Birmingham.