Help my short-sighted mind's eye.
March 30, 2010 12:11 AM Subscribe
I am attempting to identify the artist and time period of a specific painting. Vague (and possibly unhelpful) details inside- any help would be appreciated.
The painting I'm looking for was (I believe) exhibited at the National Gallery in London, but I've been unable to find it on their website. I saw it about five years ago, and remember that among the elements it contains, the main is a dead man, stretched on the ground in prone position reminiscent of the Four of Swords in the Rider-Waite Tarot.
Ducking away from the light of specifically remembered details and into the murky depths of possibility and doubt, other symbols associated with this memory are a skull, a lamp, a dark, blasted landscape, a scarab (?), possibly a withered or petrified tree. When attempting to visualise this painting in my memory I'm struck with a vivid sense of death, negation and loss.
I'm almost certain someone will know it- I've tried Googling the various incorporated symbols and trawling through lists of previous exhibits but nothing has come up.
The painting I'm looking for was (I believe) exhibited at the National Gallery in London, but I've been unable to find it on their website. I saw it about five years ago, and remember that among the elements it contains, the main is a dead man, stretched on the ground in prone position reminiscent of the Four of Swords in the Rider-Waite Tarot.
Ducking away from the light of specifically remembered details and into the murky depths of possibility and doubt, other symbols associated with this memory are a skull, a lamp, a dark, blasted landscape, a scarab (?), possibly a withered or petrified tree. When attempting to visualise this painting in my memory I'm struck with a vivid sense of death, negation and loss.
I'm almost certain someone will know it- I've tried Googling the various incorporated symbols and trawling through lists of previous exhibits but nothing has come up.
Response by poster: Ah, wonderful. Thanks for the quick response- it would've been humiliatingly easy to find had I thought of "a dead soldier" rather than "a dead man". *hangs his head in shame*
posted by malusmoriendumest at 1:21 AM on March 30, 2010
posted by malusmoriendumest at 1:21 AM on March 30, 2010
...other symbols associated with this memory are a skull, a lamp, a dark, blasted landscape, a scarab (?)...
A scabbard, perhaps?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:27 AM on March 30, 2010
A scabbard, perhaps?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:27 AM on March 30, 2010
I wonder if "A Dead Soldier" was a source for Manet's "The Dead Toreador" (in the National Gallery in Washington, DC).
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 4:26 PM on March 30, 2010
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 4:26 PM on March 30, 2010
Response by poster: heh, considering that it's been five years since I saw this painting (and it was only a cursory glance, at that), I'm surprised that I got quite so many of the details. Thanks again.
posted by malusmoriendumest at 12:24 AM on March 31, 2010
posted by malusmoriendumest at 12:24 AM on March 31, 2010
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(If the link gets goobered up somehow, it's a painting in The National Gallery called "A Dead Soldier," and it's Italian, 17th century, with no artist attribution.)
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 1:07 AM on March 30, 2010