Perdita: A Romance in Biography (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

Inhaltsangabe

Excerpt from Perdita: A Romance in Biography

All that can be said is, her thoughts are chosen by the artist at a moment unbecoming to her loveliness; and curiosity, however high it rises, does not soften wonder into admiration.

The full-length picture Of Gainsborough does not resemble the others. Indeed it is not long since surmise gave place to the certainty that this strangely beautiful figure is no other than Mary Robinson. But the discovery, while it silences the high voices Of art critics at variance, opens the lips of her apologist for the first time. Sadness and pride look out from beneath those relentless eyebrows, a sadness and a pride made inextinguishable by the painter's genius. She is seated in an attitude Of stiffness made doubly perceptible by the haunting slightness of her limbs. As if to heighten the effect Of superb but sorrowful condescension in the human figure, a white fox dog, embodying the very spirit of restless merri ment, rests for a moment at her side, a creature made for boisterous gambol on a lawn. The parted jaws, the panting vigour, and the sanguine life in the eye Of the animal are what first provoke a comment from the casual spectator, and the liveliness of this impression deepens for him the neighbouring melancholy Of the lady's mien as he glances upwards. Everywhere the picture is one of strong contrasts. The light gossamer of her dress, the delicate fairness Of her flesh, emerge from the sombre richness Of dark foliage passing from her immediate neighbourhood into the familiar distinct ness Of Gainsborough's blue-green trees bending their feathery heads one towards the other up a gently rising slope Of park land.

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