Another favourite, “The Gossips,” (below) a montage that includes Rockwell’s friends, neighbours and even the artist himself, painted in 1948, sold for $8.45 million. Apparently when the  Post cover ran on March 6, 1948, the magazine was flooded with inquiries from readers wanting to know what the heads were gossiping about.      
 
The third major painting in the sale, “Walking to Church,” which appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1953, brought just over three million.

I'm sure that both saying a blessing over a meal and seeking out a place of worship on Sunday mornings are considered anachronisms by the majority of North Americans today. How our culture has changed in a little more than half a century. Of course gossip is enduring, which might be the major indictment of the way we live.

What are your thoughts about these paintings? Do you still say a blessing over a meal? Would you do so in a public place? Do any of you walk to church? How about gossip?