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Thursday, December 5, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Hanging On To A Dream
From the movie "Goodbye, My Fancy" (1951).
The Laughing Cavalier (1624) is a portrait by the Dutch
Golden Age painter Frans Hals in the Wallace Collection
in London, which has been described as "one of the
most brilliant of all Baroque portraits".[1] The title is an
invention of the Victorian public and press, dating from
its exhibition in the opening display at the Bethnal Green
Museum in 1872–75, just after its arrival in England,
where it soon began to be regularly reproduced as prints,
was among of the best known old master paintings in
Britain. The unknown subject is in fact not laughing, but
can be said to have an enigmatic smile, much amplified
by his upturned moustaches.
e·nig·ma
The character, Matt Cole, in this film is a Time Magazine reporter (media) who plays a previous love interest of Agatha Reed and brings the content of Ms. Reed's film to the attention of the Head of the College. The President is basically the "face" of the Head of the College, whom she thought she loved but didn't really know at all.
The "Laughing Cavalier" is a painting which was removed from the office of the President and placed in the dorm room in which Ms. Reed was staying.
Laughing Cavalier
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see The Laughing Cavalier (disambiguation)
The Laughing Cavalier (1624) is a portrait by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals in the Wallace Collection
in London, which has been described as "one of the
most brilliant of all Baroque portraits".[1] The title is an
invention of the Victorian public and press, dating from
its exhibition in the opening display at the Bethnal Green
Museum in 1872–75, just after its arrival in England,
where it soon began to be regularly reproduced as prints,
was among of the best known old master paintings in
Britain. The unknown subject is in fact not laughing, but
can be said to have an enigmatic smile, much amplified
by his upturned moustaches.
e·nig·ma
[uh-nig-muh] Show IPA
noun, plural e·nig·mas; Chiefly Archaic , e·nig·ma·ta [uh-nig-muh-tuh] Show IPA .
1. a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation: His disappearance is an
enigma that has given rise to much speculation.
2.
a person of puzzling or contradictory character: To me he has always been an enigma, one minute completely insensitive, the next moved to tears.
3.
a saying, question, picture, etc., containing a hidden meaning;riddle.
Description[edit]
The portrait measures 83 × 67.3 cm (32.7 × 26.5 in) and
is inscribed at top right "Æ'TA SVÆ 26/A°1624", which
expands to "aetatis suae 26, anno 1624" in Latin and
means that the portrait was painted when the sitter was 26 and in the year 1624.[2] The identity of the man is
unknown, and though the recorded 19th century titles in Dutch, English and French mostly suggest a military man,
or at least an officer in one of the part-time militia companies that were often the subjects of group portraits,
including some by Hals and later Rembrandt's Night Watch (1642), in fact he is as likely to be a wealthy civilian.
The composition is lively and spontaneous, and despite the apparent labour involved in the gorgeous, and very
expensive, silk costume, close inspection reveals long, quick brush strokes. The turning pose and low viewpoint are
found in other portraits by Hals and here allow emphasis on the embroidered sleeve and lace cuff. There are many
emblems in the embroidery: signifying "the pleasures and pains of love" are "bees, arrows, flaming cornucopiae,
lovers' knots and tongues of fire", while an obelisk or pyramid signifies strength and Mercury's cap and caduceus
fortune.[3]
In general, commissioned portraits such as this, rarely showed adults smiling until the late 18th century, though
smiling is often seen in tronies and figures in genre painting. But Hals is an exception to the general rule and often
showed sitters with broader smiles than here, and in informal poses that bring an impression of movement and
spontaneity to his work.[4]
The effect of the eyes appearing to follow the viewer from every angle is a result of the subject being depicted as
looking directly forward, toward the artist's point of view, combined with being a static two dimensional
representation of this from whichever angle the painting itself is viewed.[5]
History[edit]
The painting's provenance only goes back to a sale in The Hague in 1770; after further Dutch sales it was bought
by the Franco-Swiss banker and collector the Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier in 1822. After his death the painting was
acquired at the auction of his collection in Paris in 1865 by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford,
who outbid Baron James de Rothschild at more than six times the sales estimate. It was in Hertford's Paris home
in 1871, listed as portrait d'un homme ("portrait of a man"), and then brought to London, probably for the purpose of
exhibiting it in a large and long loan exhibition of old master paintings at Bethnal Green, which was deliberately
sited away from the West End of London to attract the working classes. The exhibition was a huge success and
A Cavalier (the catalogue title) a particular hit with both public and the critics; it played a considerable part in
raising the critical estimation of Hals in England. By 1888, when it was again exhibited at the Royal Academy, it
had become Laughing Cavalier, though a cleaning in the intervening period (in 1884) may have changed the effect.[6]
The critic in the Athenaeum noted a brighter appearance, but also that "The man smiles rather than laughs".[7]
Hertford's collection was bequeathed to his natural son Sir Richard Wallace Bt., whose widow donated it and his
London house to the nation as the Wallace Collection.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
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