Fanny Seward's dress

[Eva Elisabeth]

(02-15-2015 08:35 PM)Anita Wrote:  I was not aware of the clues hidden in the portrait to indicate it was painted posthumously.

Don't worry, Anita, obviously the lady from the Seward House wasn't either - "I do not know what they all are or what exactly they mean..." To me the wording means she (only) knows we would (immediately) have noticed such clues if we had seen the portrait in 1866. (???) However.

According to Trudy Krisher's bio, the portrait was only completed posthumously, but Leutze evidently began when Fanny was still alive. Ms. Krisher also writes:

"The soft, romantic brush strokes he [Leutze] used echoed the tenderness that was Fanny's character, yet the lavender shades of Fanny's gown subjected a subdued, mournful spirit of loss*. The fall leaves...hinted at the October autumn of Fanny's death, and the morning glory vines...at the nature's seasonal resurrections. The symbolism of Fanny's approaching death was suggested in the sky darkening above her head, and the soft parting in the clouds implied that, after death, Fanny had been taken to a better place**."

* My question - if I remember correcly, lavender/purple was a Victorian mourning color, which would support this interpretation. On the other hand the lavender dress really existed, and Fanny wore it, it was not a feature and meaning posthumously added by the artist. And I cannot imagine Fanny wore it to hint at her own death, nor the artist asking her to do for this purpose. How would this go along?

**...in which she herself (- if I remember correcly, I have to check again, maybe Linda knows either - ) didn't thoroughly believe...