Unseen Visitors
An ideal bust, animal sculptures, prints and copies after the old masters. There's plenty of evidence here that the inhabitant of this skylit studio was no mechanical hack. He was a student of the ancient triumphs, like the Borghese gladiator and the Venus de Milo. All these must now make way for an insolent photographer who has only learned to manipulate machines and chemicals.
Suddenly we become aware of three empty chairs. One (top, left) clearly belongs to the painter who was recently painting this bearded gent.
Another, (at right) holds a lady's hat, shawl, and purse.
And this chair (bottom, left) must belong to "Daddy Bear," with its walking stick and discarded newspaper. But where has everybody gone?
They're all out here with us, the viewers! We're standing together just outside the picture frame, watching the scene before us. Mom and dad are getting ready to say "Cheese!" LeClear manages to let us know he has six people in his studio today, not just the three you saw at first. And that was before WE dropped by!
Pictured: Thomas LeClear, Interior with Portraits, about 1865, oil, 25 7/8 x 40 1/2 in., Museum purchase made possible by the Pauline Edwards Bequest.
Part 4
Discussion:
Interior With Portraits
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