I know why

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So many of the people in portraits at the National Gallery of Art are so serious and even grumpy looking.
But in the case of this portrait of Catherine Bras(s) Yates I understand why she is grumpy.  Not only is he making her look up from her needlework but. . .
the artist, Gilbert Stuart, had the gall to paint in the hairs growing above her lip.  How dare he!

Comments

Alan said…
Faithful representation? Less of a beauty concern back then?

(or attractive trait? Of the few things I took away from War and Peace in junior high was the phrase "downy upper lip," which I guess Tolstoy liked).
May 5, 2011 at 2:42 PM
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