miércoles, septiembre 23, 2009
From a Distance
This, as many of you know and recognize, is Lady Emma Hamilton, famous for being Lord Nelson’s great love (and mistress), and of course for her looks. Look at her. Her beauty and “Attitudes” impressed people like Goethe; and she continues to impress us, looking out from several canvasses (but, in my opinion, especially this one).
This canvas is not her; it is her through the eyes of the painter, George Romney, who used her as a model for many of his works. And painting such a work as this, one cannot help but think that at least a part of him worshipped her (and of course, one learns through trusty Wikipedia, he “was obsessed with her”).
I have a theory that everyone has been secretly loved by someone at some point. Someone for whom you become half mystery, half repository of perfections and attributes, who may see you as a winged being suffused with light for all you know. And we have also done the admiring-from-a-distance thing, where the person you see becomes the basis of fantasies long after they’re out of sight.
And boy did I ever want to be this (and, let’s not kid ourselves, I am not free of vanity and still love the idea). The girl (or should I say woman) you think about when you’re in jail or at sea or at the top of a mountain or alone in the dark with your thoughts. The Platonic Girl of Perfection. Superbeauty. Muse. Someone’s hope. Something beyond human, flawed little me.
This, as many of you know and recognize, is Lady Emma Hamilton, famous for being Lord Nelson’s great love (and mistress), and of course for her looks. Look at her. Her beauty and “Attitudes” impressed people like Goethe; and she continues to impress us, looking out from several canvasses (but, in my opinion, especially this one).This canvas is not her; it is her through the eyes of the painter, George Romney, who used her as a model for many of his works. And painting such a work as this, one cannot help but think that at least a part of him worshipped her (and of course, one learns through trusty Wikipedia, he “was obsessed with her”).
I have a theory that everyone has been secretly loved by someone at some point. Someone for whom you become half mystery, half repository of perfections and attributes, who may see you as a winged being suffused with light for all you know. And we have also done the admiring-from-a-distance thing, where the person you see becomes the basis of fantasies long after they’re out of sight.
And boy did I ever want to be this (and, let’s not kid ourselves, I am not free of vanity and still love the idea). The girl (or should I say woman) you think about when you’re in jail or at sea or at the top of a mountain or alone in the dark with your thoughts. The Platonic Girl of Perfection. Superbeauty. Muse. Someone’s hope. Something beyond human, flawed little me.
Etiquetas: aquí hay arte, cosas de niñas, estarás tan buena, there must be more to life than being really really ridiculously good-looking
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