The Crying Boy is "a mass-produced print of a painting by Spanish painter Bruno Amadio, also known as Giovanni Bragolin. It was widely distributed from the 1950s onwards. There are numerous alternative versions, all portraits of tearful young boys or girls." (wikipedia)
This tacky piece of mass produced kitsch used to be quite popular until the myth that it is cursed became widespread (see link)
Houses which had been gutted by mysterious fires were found to contain an undamaged copy of the Crying Boy, fuelling the myth of the curse.
Given the as yet to be explained resistance of the Crying Boy image to flames, this makes it the ideal candidate for printing unto fire blankets.
The actual image would be rolled up so that its accursed gaze could do no harm, but in the event of fire, it would be unfurled and made to face the flames, protecting those who shelter behind or beneath.-- xenzag, Sep 24 2011 http://www.forteant...the_crying_boy.html [xenzag, Sep 24 2011] The Crying Boy http://www.google.c...wi&biw=1153&bih=596 [xenzag, Sep 24 2011] BBC Radio programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v697r [hippo, Sep 24 2011] I listened to the Steve Punt programme this morning about The Crying Boy. I preferred the scientific explanation (There were a lot of them, so it was associated with more house fires than other pictures, and it had a fire-retardent varnish so it usually survived fires) than the "psychic" one ("Ooh, I'm feeling some energy - Does the name 'Thomas' mean anything?").-- hippo, Sep 24 2011 twin apparently - hah, I did wonder why you asked that!
you would think that varnish would make the painting even more flammable. of course the tears would dampen the flames.
more likely is that the type of person that has this kind of painting is more likely to be careless with the matches and the fact it didn't disappear in the inferno is just a coincidence that got picked up along the way.-- po, Sep 24 2011 It's self-selecting too - no one notices the pictures which do get incinerated because they, like the rest of your house, are just a pile of ashes.-- hippo, Sep 24 2011 You could probably make a conflagration-promoting piece of wall art.
Maybe an even kitcshier version of the Crying Boy print, but with the teardrops made out of glass hemispheres affixed to the surface. With the right sun angle...-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 24 2011 //tacky piece of mass produced kitsch used to be quite popular until the myth that it is cursed became widespread// A technique for making bad art unpopular? This is an important development!-- mouseposture, Sep 24 2011 //I preferred the scientific explanation// .... I preferred the demonic explanation.-- xenzag, Sep 24 2011 Obviously this needs to be a wallpaper print.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 24 2011 random, halfbakery