poliphilo: (corinium)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2014-02-01 02:47 pm

Uncle Ran

I plonked a Georgian photograph album in front of my mother in the hope she might identify the people in it but she couldn't; she could pick out her mother and father- but so could I-  and when it came to cousins, aunts and uncles she was reduced to guesswork. "Uncle Ran?"  Well, quite possibly, but they can't all be Uncle Ran- especially when two possible Rans appear side by side in the same shot.

Ran was a painter- not an important one- but good enough to be elected to the RA. I remember meeting him once- on which occasion he gifted me a collected Tennyson. He was a bit of a rapscallion I believe- at last by the standards of his high-minded Unitarian family- and there was more than one wife- the last a good deal younger than he was.  I've looked for him online but, unfortunately,  he shares his name with a minor but controversial American pop singer and if he's there- and surely he must be- he's buried deep.

[identity profile] lblanchard.livejournal.com 2014-02-03 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
Have you tried some search strings that would emphasize his painterly nature or deemphasize the pop singer? e.g.

Ran Rapscallion +painter
Ran Rapscallion +"Royal Academy"
Ran Rapscallion -singer


Replace "Ran Rapscallion," of course, with Uncle Ran's real name...
Edited 2014-02-03 04:33 (UTC)