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There is a definite look of Virginia Woolf about this one too. Tilly always said that she thought of herself like Virginia Woolf, there was the picture this resembles up next to it. |
Anna told me that it was something to do with the wife of Aeneas, or the fellow from the Illiad (on which the Aeneid was based), waiting for his return - hence the ship in the background. I have no idea if she's just drinking seductively or if she's drinking something to get rid of the child that she is so obviously carrying or what. I think it may well be Queen Dido, and didn't she threaten to kill her unborn child if Aeneas left? I don't know. My knowledge of the Classics is skimpy at best and the rest is based on half forgotten epitaphs proclaimed by my father.
Whatever is going on in the image there is something there to fit most viewers. I find it truly beautiful. I could happily stare at it for hours. I recall that I used to get illicit glances of it when Anna and I were working side by side in the office and mourned its loss when we lost the office and it became the nursery. I looked it up again quite recently and was again struck by it. The muted colour, the use of the eyes, the look of the woman and the whole darn thing. There's a whole novel hanging in there but I'm blowed if I could write that pig. Also, I know that it's in the style of hyper-realism but, you know, I can't shake the power that was in there as I saw it and that is still there now. I wouldn't suggest that it would replace Modern Art or challenge works on emotions but I do feel that it is 'pregnant' (sorry) with plotty goodness.
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