Ideal yet Actual: Actresses Posing as Antique Heroines in Late-Victorian “Classical” Portraits
The late-Victorian neoclassical artists George Frederic Watts, Frederic Leighton and Edward Poynter posed three famous actresses, Ellen Terry, Dorothy Dene and Lillie Langtry, in paintings whose subjects were drawn from Antiquity. The choice of mythological or tragic themes would categorize these wo...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces, |
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| Autore principale: | |
| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
| Pubblicazione: |
Interfaces
2024
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| Soggetti: | |
| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:interfaces_8808 |
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openedition |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:interfaces_8808 https://doi.org/10.4000/122dn urn:doi:10.4000/122dn en https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/8808 2024-07-20T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/122dn https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ideal yet Actual: Actresses Posing as Antique Heroines in Late-Victorian “Classical” Portraits Interfaces Université Bourgogne Europe info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2647-6754 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1164-6225 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces Gillard-Estrada, Anne-Florence portrait Watts (George Frederic) Leighton (Frederic) Poynter (Edward) peinture victorienne antiquité dans la peinture actrices sujets littéraires et mythologiques Watts (George Frederic) Leighton (Frederic) Poynter (Edward) portraiture Victorian painting subject pictures classical painting actresses The late-Victorian neoclassical artists George Frederic Watts, Frederic Leighton and Edward Poynter posed three famous actresses, Ellen Terry, Dorothy Dene and Lillie Langtry, in paintings whose subjects were drawn from Antiquity. The choice of mythological or tragic themes would categorize these works as “subject paintings” and not as portraits and yet the actuality of and likeness to the sitter blur such classifications. Building on research on 18th-century portraiture, this article studies a number of works that help address issues linked to their unstable categorisation as portrait or “subject picture”. Besides, two of the artists were romantically involved with the sitters, which raises autobiographical issues. All in all, the painters resorted to Antiquity in order to ennoble the celebrities at a time when models and actresses were frowned upon. However, this artistic ambition collided with the commodification of these actresses’ faces in the context of marketplace culture. Les artistes néoclassiques de la fin de l’époque victorienne, George Frederic Watts, Frederic Leighton et Edward Poynter, firent poser trois actrices célèbres, Ellen Terry, Dorothy Dene et Lillie Langtry, dans des tableaux dont les sujets étaient tirés de l’Antiquité. Le choix de thèmes mythologiques ou tragiques implique que ces œuvres appartiennent au genre des « subject paintings » et non dans celle des portraits, et pourtant, la ressemblance avec un modèle au visage connu brouille ces catégorisations. Cet article, qui s’inscrit dans des travaux portant sur le portrait au xviiie siècle, se propose d’étudier quelques œuvres situées entre le portrait et les « subject pictures » pour mettre au jour les enjeux de leur instabilité générique. En outre, le fait que deux de ces artistes entretenaient une relation amoureuse avec leur modèle soulève des enjeux autobiographiques. Par ailleurs, ces peintres eurent recours à l’Antiquité pour ennoblir ces célébrités à une époque où modèles et actrices étaient encore mal considérées. Mais dans le contexte de la culture du marché, cette ambition artistique est à mettre au regard de la marchandisation du visage de ces actrices. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
portrait Watts (George Frederic) Leighton (Frederic) Poynter (Edward) peinture victorienne antiquité dans la peinture actrices sujets littéraires et mythologiques Watts (George Frederic) Leighton (Frederic) Poynter (Edward) portraiture Victorian painting subject pictures classical painting actresses |
| spellingShingle |
portrait Watts (George Frederic) Leighton (Frederic) Poynter (Edward) peinture victorienne antiquité dans la peinture actrices sujets littéraires et mythologiques Watts (George Frederic) Leighton (Frederic) Poynter (Edward) portraiture Victorian painting subject pictures classical painting actresses Gillard-Estrada, Anne-Florence Ideal yet Actual: Actresses Posing as Antique Heroines in Late-Victorian “Classical” Portraits |
| description |
The late-Victorian neoclassical artists George Frederic Watts, Frederic Leighton and Edward Poynter posed three famous actresses, Ellen Terry, Dorothy Dene and Lillie Langtry, in paintings whose subjects were drawn from Antiquity. The choice of mythological or tragic themes would categorize these works as “subject paintings” and not as portraits and yet the actuality of and likeness to the sitter blur such classifications. Building on research on 18th-century portraiture, this article studies a number of works that help address issues linked to their unstable categorisation as portrait or “subject picture”. Besides, two of the artists were romantically involved with the sitters, which raises autobiographical issues. All in all, the painters resorted to Antiquity in order to ennoble the celebrities at a time when models and actresses were frowned upon. However, this artistic ambition collided with the commodification of these actresses’ faces in the context of marketplace culture. |
| author |
Gillard-Estrada, Anne-Florence |
| author_facet |
Gillard-Estrada, Anne-Florence |
| author_sort |
Gillard-Estrada, Anne-Florence |
| title |
Ideal yet Actual: Actresses Posing as Antique Heroines in Late-Victorian “Classical” Portraits |
| title_short |
Ideal yet Actual: Actresses Posing as Antique Heroines in Late-Victorian “Classical” Portraits |
| title_full |
Ideal yet Actual: Actresses Posing as Antique Heroines in Late-Victorian “Classical” Portraits |
| title_fullStr |
Ideal yet Actual: Actresses Posing as Antique Heroines in Late-Victorian “Classical” Portraits |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Ideal yet Actual: Actresses Posing as Antique Heroines in Late-Victorian “Classical” Portraits |
| title_sort |
ideal yet actual: actresses posing as antique heroines in late-victorian “classical” portraits |
| publisher |
Interfaces |
| publishDate |
2024 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/122dn https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/8808 |
| _version_ |
1877292352229343232 |