Seduced by an older woman

December 29, 2008 10:55 AM | Related Categories: artists

That should get me a few google hits, although the woman in question is almost 500 years old. The drawing is by Hans Holbein the Younger and was used to illustrate a London Review of Books article by Peter Campbell.

Holbeins drawings, mostly made as preliminaries for full worked paintings, have always seemed much more effective to me. The subject is Grace Newport, The Lady Parker. For a start, what a beautiful name! The quality of this scan is not good - taken again from a newspaper - but for me this looks like a thoroughly modern woman, who could be appraising you with that steady gaze and hint of a smile from any of the glossy front pages. At least I think so. Hilary Mantel called her a "wide eyed child" in another article in the LRB, but she may not have been looking at this drawing - there seem to be many versions - but this one really caught my attention.

I've commented before about the differences between painting and photography. For me the area where they come very close is in portraiture, where representation and insight always perform a subtle duet.

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Photographs have today to a large extent replaced the portrait painitngs and drawings from previous centuries. Real portrait photographing is also an art (where you are good)! Today, we all have our portraits, more or less pieces of art.
# Posted By Peter | 12/29/08 2:02 PM
Gee, some folks will do anything to get "Googled"!HA
V
# Posted By Virginia | 12/31/08 8:18 AM
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