While We're On The Subject
Nov. 15th, 2023 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo Here, forty years after Friedrich, is another painting of arctic horror- Sir Edwin Landseer's "Man Proposes, God Disposes".
One polar bear is tearing the British flag with its teeth, the other is cracking human bones in its jaws. What we're looking at is the imagined aftermath of the disaster that was the Franklin expedition. The Victorians were more robust than they're often given credit for in that they tolerated and even admired this compelling image of imperial break down.
I don't know where Landseer's reputation stands at present but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think it's one of the greatest paintings of the19th century.
"Man Proposes... currently belongs to Royal Holloway College- where students "believe" it to be cursed- and that anyone sitting across from it in exams will fail. An elaboration of the legend asserts that a student once killed him or herself in front of the picture, leaving behind a note that said, "The bears made me do it."
One polar bear is tearing the British flag with its teeth, the other is cracking human bones in its jaws. What we're looking at is the imagined aftermath of the disaster that was the Franklin expedition. The Victorians were more robust than they're often given credit for in that they tolerated and even admired this compelling image of imperial break down.
I don't know where Landseer's reputation stands at present but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think it's one of the greatest paintings of the19th century.
"Man Proposes... currently belongs to Royal Holloway College- where students "believe" it to be cursed- and that anyone sitting across from it in exams will fail. An elaboration of the legend asserts that a student once killed him or herself in front of the picture, leaving behind a note that said, "The bears made me do it."
no subject
Date: 2023-11-16 07:48 pm (UTC)