Art History Tote Bag - Famous Women from Museum Paintings Meet at a Cafe

Art History Tote Bag: Famous Women at the Cafe

What would the women of famous paintings talk about over dinner? This art history tote bag seats them on a Vincent van Gogh cafe terrace. It is a lightweight, water-resistant polyester canvas bag, printed in full color and sized for a tablet. Mona Lisa checks a phone in the center. At left, a lady cradles a white ermine. The Girl with a Pearl Earring watches from a blue turban. At right, a milkmaid pours milk beside a basket of bread. Above them stands a lady in a black hat and gold patterned dress. Nearby are a pale veiled figure and a white marble head.

Product Details

• Material: Lightweight polyester canvas, water-resistant
• Weight: 2 oz
• Dimensions: 13 in W x 15 in H, with a 9 in handle drop
• Handles: Black woven handles with stitched interior seams
• Print: Full-color digital print on both sides of the bag
• Opening: Open top with a narrow opening that fits a tablet or small laptop. Too narrow for a binder.
• Product Number: EV1010

The Women at the Table

Leonardo da Vinci painted Lady with an Ermine around 1489 to 1491. The sitter is probably Cecilia Gallerani, mistress of Duke Ludovico Sforza. The ermine was Sforza's emblem and a symbol of purity. The painting is now at the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow. His Mona Lisa, here checking her phone, sits beside her in the center. See more in our Renaissance collection.

Johannes Vermeer painted The Milkmaid around 1660, and it hangs in the Rijksmuseum. The museum describes a maidservant standing like a statue in a bright room, absorbed in her work. Vermeer Milkmaid art is rarely this sociable. His Girl with a Pearl Earring, a tronie or character study, joins her. Explore our Vermeer collection.

A Nod to Klimt

The lady in the black hat and gold patterned dress echoes the Golden Style of Gustav Klimt. His Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I of 1907 is the best known example. It combines oil, gold, and silver on canvas and hangs at the Neue Galerie in New York. Browse our Klimt and Art Nouveau collection.

A Gentle Art Parody

Seating portraits from several centuries at one table is a classic art joke. Each woman keeps her original style, from soft Renaissance blending to Van Gogh's thick brushwork. The digital print holds the saturated blues and golds across the canvas weave. This museum painting tote bag carries the party on both sides. It is a famous women tote bag with art history wit. The Van Gogh backdrop is part of our Van Gogh museum gifts collection.

Display and Care

Carry it to a gallery or hang it from a hook as casual wall art. Spot clean with a damp cloth and air dry. As a tablet tote bag, its narrow opening holds a tablet snugly, so slide it in flat. Browse more art-inspired bags in our museum tote bags collection.

About the Artists

Leonardo (1452-1519) was a master of the High Renaissance. Vermeer (1632-1675) worked in Delft during the Dutch Golden Age. Klimt (1862-1918) was an Austrian painter known for his Golden Style. Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist.

For More Reading from the Web

• Meet the maidservant the museum says stands like a statue: The Milkmaid - Rijksmuseum
• Discover why the ermine is a symbol and a family pun: Lady with an Ermine - Wikipedia
• See where Klimt's glittering Golden Style reached its peak: Austrian Masterworks - Neue Galerie New York