~Duane Michals
For Art Thursday, a bunch of characters by 17th century Dutch painters (Gerard Terborch and Ferdinand Bol). I love how these folks all seem like they are caught mid-story, and their clothes are marvelous. Those fabrics! Some are intricate, some look sooo soft. (Who is the message from and is she happy to receive it? Is Rembrandt giving his wife a necklace? Why does he look so glum? Why is Ferdinand leaning on a sleeping Cupid? To me, the man with the fur-trimmed hat looks like he is trying to sell you something and he's pained that you think it's overpriced.) These are ripe for ekphrastic poetry, aren't they?
The Message, c.1660
by Gerard Terborch
An Astronomer, 1652
by Ferdinand Bol
Man with a Fur-Trimmed Hat
by Ferdinand Bol
Rembrandt and his Wife Saskia
by Ferdinand Bol
Self-portrait
by Ferdinand Bol
3 comments:
Yes, these are begging to have poems and stories written about them! Thank you for sharing them!
Oh, you are absolutely right on with your observations. The subjects (and their clothing) seem remarkably lifelike, and the expressions/body language speak volumes.
You can definitely get lost in these paintings.
(And have fun, too: the guy in the fur-trimmed hat, for example, is an ancestor of Ringo Starr and he's just dropped his drumstick. :-)
Ha, he does look like Ringo's ancestor who dropped a drumstick!
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