Friday, August 9, 2013

Getting Ready

Marie-Antoinette by Heinrich Lossow 
Above is a young Marie-Antoinette getting ready for a night on the town. It looks like Mercy, the Austrian ambassador, is speaking gently with her, reminding her of her duties. Another courtier is reading to her, while in the background Léonard and a lady-in-waiting fiddle with her coiffure. Marie-Antoinette has a gleam of mischief in her eyes as if she cannot wait to get away from them and on to her party. Share

3 comments:

julygirl said...

Considering there were no cameras in those days that could just shoot and click all of her activities, there seem to be many paintings in spite of the time and talent needed to produce them.

G. Thomas Fitzpatrick said...

Compare this to Hogarth's earlier Marriage a la Mode number 4. One wonders if the artist was familiar with Hogarth's work and intended to reference it and insinuate the double meanings that Hogarth certainly incorporated.

elena maria vidal said...

I don't know. Most of Hussow's work is quite unpleasant and he does not seem to be into subtleties.