I've often thought about getting the Touchstone, but the mention of "brownness" gives me pause. I'm still trying to flush the "brownness" of the Haindl from my memory. On the other hand, the Anna K's "brownness" just seems homespun and rustic, which I find very appealing for certain purposes. But "blueness" seems more reliable, somehow.
Of course, it all comes down to personal preference and while I like the Golden, the Touchstone leaves me cold. I am the only one in the world (I know) who finds it disjointed and heavy - Henry VIII's arm sewn onto a Medici shoulder, conflicting light sources, off perspectives. <snip>
But I honestly thinking that comparing the Touchstone with the Distant Past is a bit pointless just because they're the same media. The energies are so very different. But the brown-ness and trompe l'oeil frames and brass plaques of the Touchstone oppress me...
You're not the only one Le Fanu - Now you know of someone on literally the other side of the world!
Me three. Just look at the 3 of Wands. The head does not truly belong to that body, and the angle is so odd that you don't know if the guy is coming or going. I can forgive things like the different light sources, but this is too much.
Plus, for me, recognizing not only the painters, but the painted (and there are several
very well known historical characters here) just turns me off.
Don't get me wrong: I still love it, warts and all. And it reads well for me. (Those wonderful faces do make you forgive it all.) But I think the main reason that the collaging does not work as well as it does in the Golden is because the flat, stilted, unrealistic Medieval art was much more forgiving and easy to manipulate.
I like the browns in the Touchstone. It's like the brown of brown eyes.
THIS. There is something archeological about the Haindl. I find it a deck for study (especially after Pollack's books), but not for actual reading. All those browns and terracottas are like one of those simulated excavations one sees in museums.
The browns in the Touchstone are warm and inviting, and mostly confined to the borders. Which you can cut off, you know. I have both a trimmed and an untrimmed copy, and find both equally appealing.