Letters in Painting: Henry John Hudson

The Letter by Henry John Hudson

Henry John Hudson, (1862-1911), peintre célèbre comme auteur de nombreux portraits que nous en avons déjà parlé ici.

Dans ce tableau, on peut voir une jeune fille en train de lire une lettre, sagement assise sur une chaise. Le visage est aperçu de profil, le corps basculé, et son regard attaché à la lettre. Attrayante, tentante,... nous pouvons distinguer les lignes et même la signature. Il semble que elle nous invite, en toute indiscrétion, à partager son secret amoureux. 

Letters in Painting: Henry John Hudson

Neaera Reading a Letter from Catullus (1894) by Henry John Hudson

Henry John Hudson (1862-1911), British portrait and genre painter, captured here Neaera while reading a letter from Catullus (1st century BC), a Roman poet. Curiously enough, this letter is a scroll. I was surprised to find out that a scroll was also usually divided up into pages, which were separate sheets of papyrus or parchment glued together at the edges. The scroll was usually unrolled so that one page was exposed at a time for reading, with the remaining pages rolled up to the left and right, the way Neaera is holding it in the painting.