Middle Grade Gallery 5

This week in the Middle Grade Gallery, a real painting, not a fictional one.  Actually, it's a reprint of a real painting, but close enough.  It's quite throughly described here:

"I'm going to hang old Elizabeth Bas by the fireplace," said Dean.  "'Engraving from a portrait by Rembrandt.' Isn't she a delightful old woman, Star, in her white cap and tremendous white ruff collar?  And did you ever see such a shrewd, humorous, complacent, slightly contemptuous old face?"

"I don't think I should want to have an argument with Elizabeth," reflected [xxx].  "One feels that she is keeping her halds folded under compulsion and might box your ears if you disagreed with her."

"She has been dust for over a century," said Dean dreamily.  "Yet here she is living on this cheap reprint of Rembrandt's canvas.  You are expecting her to speak to you.  And I feel, as you do, that she wouldn't put up with any nonsense."

"But likely she has a sweetmeat stored away in some pocket of her gown for you.  That fine, rosy, wholesome old woman.  She ruled the family--not a doubt of it.  Her husband did as she told him--but never knew it."

"Had she a husband?" said Dean doubtfully.  "There's no wedding-ring on her finger."

"Then she must have been a most delightful old maid," averred [xxx].

[Me again.]  I couldn't resist quoting this passage at length; Dean and "Star" have so thoroughly imagined old Elisabeth Bas.  The image above is of the original painting, now believed to be by Ferdinand Bol (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).

Based on this portrait, do you think her personality is as they have described it?  Would you hang this portrait (or any portrait) at your house?  If you know who did (and in what novel, not necessarily middle grade but that's when I first read it), please leave a comment.  And thanks for visiting the Middle Grade Gallery!  I appreciate your patronage.

Middle Grade Gallery 4

So far the Middle Grade Gallery has only featured paintings from fantasy novels.  This week's description, however, is from a family story set in mid-twentieth century New York; it may even refer to an actual work of art (not the one pictured, which is Renoir's Girl with a Hoop, 1885).

[She] was always finding things that belonged to her in a special way, though ownership had nothing to do with it.  Now she had found the picture.  The catalogue told her that the picture was called The Princess, that it had been painted by someone named Jules Clairon in the year 1881.  In the picture a girl about [her] age was sitting on a garden wall and looking out over an enormous city.  She had a solemn little face: her long hair hung to the sash of her old-fashioned dress, and her high-heeled boots were buttoned almost to the knee.  Among the potted chrysanthemums at her foot sat a black poodle with a red bow on top of his head.  On either side the clipped plane trees were almost bare, and in the distance the huge city was spread in a dusky web of blue and gray.

This must be referring to the French artist Georges Jules Victor Clairin (1843-1919), although I can't find a painting of his online that fits this description.  I substituted Renoir's roughly contemporaneous Girl with a Hoop:  she has the same solemn face, long hair, and old-fashioned dress.  Sadly, no poodle.

Please leave a comment if you think you recognize the source of this description (or if you're an expert on Clairin).  And check back on Monday for the details!

Middle Grade Gallery III

This week in the Middle Grade Gallery, a painting (one of several) from a brand-new novel I absolutely adore and can't wait to review.  In the tradition of paintings like the one of the Narnian ship at sea, it's a portal to another, mysterious place. 

It was a painting of a forest at night.  The twigs of leafless trees made a black web against the sky.  A full moon pressed its face through the clouds, touching a path of white stones that led into the dark woods and disappeared.  But it seemed to [her] that somewhere, maybe just at the end of that white path, maybe in the darkness where the moonlight couldn't reach--there was something else within that painting.  Something she could almost see.

[Me again.]  Okay, so there are no trees in Andrew Wyeth's Snow Flurries, 1953 (NGA).  There is the suggestion of a white path, though, and of something else....

I'll reveal (and review) the source of this description next week.  In the meantime, please comment if you can recall any other portal paintings in middle grade novels, so I can add them to my collection.  Thanks!

[The review is here.]

Middle Grade Gallery II

This week in the Middle Grade Gallery, a work of art which might be more familiar than the portrait of Oldknow children we looked at last week, and maybe even instantly recognizable.  As you read, try to imagine what this work of art looks like (I'm not a visual thinker, so I have to remind myself to do this):

It was a picture of a ship--a ship sailing nearly straight towards you.  Her prow was gilded and shaped like the head of a dragon with wide open mouth.  She had only one mast and one large, square sail which was a rich purple.  the sides of the ship--what you could see of them where the gilded wings of the dragon ended--were green.  She had just run up to the top of one glorious blue wave, and the nearer slope of that wave came down towards you, with streaks and bubbles on it.  She was obviously running fast before a gay wind, listing over a little on her port side.  All the sunlight fell on her from that side, and the water on that side was full of greens and purples.  On the other, it was darker blue from the shadow of the ship.

[Me again.]  It doesn't look anything like Fitz Henry Lane's Lumber Schooners at Evening on Penobscot Bay, 1853 (NGA), does it?  In many ways the two paintings are exactly opposite, yet I think they share the same magical quality (hint).  If you can identify the source, please be sure to leave a comment so I don't lose faith in my readership.

[See this post for the answer.]