This is a beautifully charming portrait of a member of
the aristocracy with her young daughter.
It is not as formally posed as many portraits. The little girl is staging of a table and has
a ragamuffin of a dog begging at her feet.
While neither the mother or daughter are smiling – you
don't feel they are awkward or unhappy.
The girl's face represents total innocence while there is a little
reticence in the mother's eyes.
The little girl was in fact Princess Diana's
great-great-great-grand aunt! She was
also born at Althorp. In this painting
she is only 2 or 3 years old. Her father
was the great grandson of Sarah Churchill.
So these characters are very well connected!
My attention was drawn to this work by a huge doorstop
of a book I got from the library – The Art Book from Phaidon Press. Get it out if you have strong enough
muscles. There are 579 pages, each
dedicated to one work by an artist. The
artists are in alpha order so you get interesting juxtapositions between modern
art and old masters.
Such a beautiful painting :)
ReplyDeleteVery nice.
ReplyDelete