The Dweller in the Innermost (Q28533549)painting by George Frederic Watts (1817-1904)
Posted on 01/24/2025 5:29:52 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A hidden face recently uncovered in a 1789 Joshua Reynolds painting proves the devil is in the details. In "The Death of Cardinal Beaufort," Reynolds included a demon-like face lurking behind the dying cardinal. But the controversial and chilling demon appeared to fade out of the painting over the years, as multiple conservationists worked on it. Now, the painting has been restored to include the original fiend...
Reynolds created the painting for the Shakespeare Gallery in London's Pall Mall at the end of his career and the inclusion of the lurking figure over the deathbed was not well received, said John Chu, the Trust's senior national curator for pictures and sculpture...
Early prints of the painting showed the demon, but in a second printing of the work in 1792, there was an attempt to remove the evil-looking face, according to the Trust...
The work seemed overpainted to the Trust conservationists. Several layers of paint and six layers of varnish made conservation difficult, said to Becca Hellen, the Trust's senior national conservator for paintings...
The painting is on display at the Petworth House in West Sussex – where it has been for decades, excluding when it was being conserved by the Trust.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Couldn’t be. There’s no crack-pipe.
Ha!
Thanks ‘Civ
Some beautiful works by Joshua Reynolds.
It’s no mystery. It’s Shakespeare:
“Second Part of King Henry the Sixth
Act III. Scene III.
Scene III.—London. CARDINAL BEAU-
FORT’S Bedchamber.
Enter KING HENRY, SALISBURY,
WARWICK, and Others. The CARDINAL
in bed; Attendants with him.
K. Hen. How fares my lord? speak, Beaufort,
to thy sovereign.
Car. If thou be’st death, I’ll give thee Eng-
land’s treasure,
Enough to purchase such another island,
So thou wilt let me live, and feel no pain.
K. Hen. Ah! what a sign it is of evil life
Where death’s approach is seen so terrible.
War. Beaufort, it is thy sov’reign speaks to
thee.
Car. Bring me unto my trial when you
will.
Died he not in his bed? where should he die?
Can I make men live whe’r they will or no?
O! torture me no more, I will confess.
Alive again? then show me where he is:
I’ll give a thousand pound to look upon him.
He hath no eyes, the dust hath blinded them.
Comb down his hair; look! look! it stands up-
right,
Like lime-twigs set to catch my winged soul.
Give me some drink; and bid the apothecary
Bring the strong poison that I bought of him.
K. Hen. O thou eternal Mover of the
heavens!
Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch;
O! beat away the busy meddling fiend
That lays strong siege unto this wretch’s soul,
And from his bosom purge this black despair.
War. See how the pangs of death do make
him grin!
Sal. Disturb him not! let him pass peace-
ably.
K. Hen. Peace to his soul, if God’s good
pleasure be!
Lord Cardinal, if thou think’st on heaven’s
bliss,
Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope.
He dies, and makes no sign. O God, forgive
him!
War. So bad a death argues a monstrous life.
K. Hen. Forbear to judge, for we are sinners
all.
dose up his eyes, and draw the curtain close;
And let us all to meditation. [Exeunt.”
Cardinal Beaufort failed to signal Heaven, thus the demon portrayed by Reynolds in the painting is certainly what he saw coming to hold the Cardinal accountable for his sins.
Quite a clever interpretation of the scene, now revealed rather dramatically.
My pleasure.
Probably not a, “hidden demon”, but rather the artist painted over an existing piece and the paint thinned over time. It was common for painters to re-use canvases or mediums if they weren’t happy with a project. It’s not like these materials were affordable or as common as they are now.
I knew a woman with one of those.
Needs more bare breasts er sumpin’
Unfortunately, some cardinals have this choice behind the face, and Francis and the bishops do nothing of the responsibility about it.
I grok that.
Hey, what doesn’t?
Thanks for the explain.
Ah, that was blake- i didn’t ca5ch that when I saw the thread- yep, he was a whackadoodle artist (but good). I am familiar with all those artists you mentioned too- they too delved into the spirit world often. Some pretty freaky works by those blokes.
Doh, not a Blake painting, I’m too tired to be responding lol. 😴
It’s probably not a coincidence that European exploration and expansion had led to the availability of various hallucinogenic substances.
Yep. Thanks to one of your links, i Just spent a good while checking out the artist watts
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/watts-george-frederic/
He was a precursor to painters like Odilon Redon, one of my favorite artists for his dreamlike qualities in his paintings and wild colors and symbolism- seemingly hallucinatory in nature. Several of Watts paintings reminded me of his.
That particular one has been a longtime favorite of mine, I think it was one of the works in “Fantastic Paintings”, a softbound obscurity I picked up from a remainder table, uh, hmm, 40 years ago? Years later I wound up buying a used copy because some art student ‘borrowed’ mine and wouldn’t return it. :^)
Another big fave is Arcimboldo ‘the Marvelous’.
https://giuseppe-arcimboldo.org/
Despite being a realitic representational artist, he’s the godfather of trompe l’oeil, plus foreshadowed most of the artisitic movements of the 20th century — surrealism, dadaism, dogs playing poker...
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