What is this provocative painting supposed to be a parody of in Chapter 4?
 

In Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood, Guybrush can look at the provocative painting of a Vaycaylian atop W.P. Grindstump in the cupboard. But I don't know what the painting of the Vaycaylian is supposed to be a parody of. Do you know? :confused:

The only thing that springs to mind is the painting in the SCUMM bar in EMI. Who knows.

Titanic?

I can't seem to find a picture showing the portrait of Chieftain Beluga. Can someone send me one and/or give me an answer? :(

I suspect it's just a riff on the archetypal "reclining woman" pose ... it's one of the most common artistic subjects, and has been for centuries. If it's modeled after some specific work of art, I have no idea what it would be. I suppose it might be interesting to know what references Derek Sakai used when making the painting.

P.S. I couldn't find an image of the painting online, but it was on the DVD, and I used it in my entry for the Telltale Blog "Photoshop at the Inventory" contest:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/...2d8c6084_b.jpg

I always saw it as a reference to the famous 'redhead'-painting by Marc Davis from the original Pirates of the Carribean-ride in Disney World:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...head_final.png

I think this is probably a parody of a mix between Venus of Urbino and Venus and Music by Titian, and Danae by Rembrandt, if I'm not mistaken.

Venus of Urbino

Venus and Music

Danae

I'm not sure of these, but maybe someone at Telltale Games might know.

Actually, to give credit where credit is due, I believe this painting was actually done by one of our art directors, Derek Sakai! (He also did 2D animation on Curse of MI)

Ah, my mistake! Shouldn't have assumed -- original post fixed.

So, Derek did a parody of Rembrandt's Danae, since the MerLeader painting most likely resembles Rembrandt's Danae painting to me, am I right? Anyway, well done, Derek.