Artwork of the Week

[joe1It]

wonderful works by Pierre Bonnard. thanks for showing them to us

la Primavera di botticelli is an incredible masterpiece, beautiful your considerations to read it, appreciate it to the fullest.
la Venere di Botticelli is beautiful but this , la primavera is incredible, (200 opere d'arte in una sola opera )I like it even more.
true also what you said, the contaminations ( o i punti in comune )in your work, now that you say it, I am reminded of your works of art that I have seen (I think of the flowers in the sunflower post or two beautiful paintings with figures). wonderful .

 

[stlukesguild]

Yes, the Birth of Venus is a brilliant painting as well... and perhaps even more known... but I prefer Primavera myself.

 

[stlukesguild]

Hendrickje Wading by Rembrandt van Rijn

There are certainly far more famous (and larger) Rembrandts… but this one has long been one of my absolute favorites. I have several friends and acquaintances living in London who I envy for their access to this painting (among others). How about an even trade: MoMA for the National Gallery… straight up. Well... maybe not.

This small painting (approximately 18 x 24") of a woman wading in a stream has been almost certainly identified as Hendrickje Stoffels (1626 -1663) the long-time lover of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 –1669).

Hendrickje initially obtained work as Rembrandt’s housekeeper and seems to have lived with him from approximately 1647, a few years after the death of his first wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612 - 1642). After a short period of time, she became one of the artist’s models and then his lover. This led to an acrimonious fallout with Rembrandt’s previous live-in lover, Geertje Dircx, who sued Rembrandt for breach of promise in 1649, and demanded maintenance payments from him.

In spite of being Rembrandt’s long-time lover, Rembrandt was unwilling to marry Hendrickje… initially due to the fact that by doing so he would have forfeited the inheritance of his first wife Saskia. Even with this inheritance, he had major financial problems, but without it, he would have been bankrupt.

In 1654, when she was pregnant with Rembrandt’s daughter, Hendrickje had to appear before the church council for “living in sin” with Rembrandt, who was a widower and 20 years her senior. She was judged and found guilty by the Council of the Reformed Church in Amsterdam. She confessed to having fornicated with the painter and admitted to sharing his bed without being married, like a whore, or in a more literal translation, committing whoredom. Rembrandt was not found guilty, perhaps because the jury had in mind the episode of Eve and the apple. But the scandal caused the price of his work to tumble. According to some sources, Hendrickje was also sentenced to public flogging.

Some historians suggest that the entire reason that charges were brought forth was to allow Rembrandt's creditors to seize upon his and Saskia’s assets… including his paintings. In 1655, Titus, Rembrandt and Saskia’s son, turned 14, making him eligible by law to draw up his will. Rembrandt immediately made sure that Titus installed him as his only heir and by doing so circumvented Saskia’s will. Still, he did not marry Hendrickje.

In spite of the artist’s legal maneuverings, by 1656 Rembrandt was forced to declare bankruptcy. In 1658 he lost his house, and he, Hendrickje, and Titus moved into a rented property. In the same year, Hendrickje, who got along well with Titus, opened an art shop with Titus’ help where she sold Rembrandt’s paintings. In order to protect him from his money lenders, Hendrickje and Titus became his employers. In this way, his former maid became his boss – at least officially. Her biographer Christoph Driessen believes that Rembrandt’s noticeable productivity in the early 1660s was at least partially due to the obvious support Hendrickje was rendering him. She helped organize his life for him and prevented his complete downfall after his bankruptcy.

The painting of Hendrijke Wading in a Stream is dated 1654. Personally, I love this painting. It conveys such warmth and intimacy… yet without any hint of salaciousness. There are few paintings along this line prior to Degas, Bonnard, Vuillard, etc… One critic suggested that Rembrandt is here painting Hendrickje “wading into the water of innocence”… assuaging her guilt. But this is not complete innocence since the same heavy and ornate crimson and gold fabric (vanity, vanity) used for Bathsheba’s robe also lies on the bank beside his stunningly beautiful lover:

Hendrickje is seen raising her skirts or nightdress above the waters revealing her thighs while the deeply plunging décolletage exposes or rather suggests her delicate cleavage. The resulting image is extraordinarily sensual. In all likelihood a work so audaciously and daringly intimate was painted by Rembrandt solely for his own and Hendrickje’s enjoyment… a personal celebration of Eros and their own affection or love

In many ways this painting recalls Rubens’ Het pelsken or "Little Fur", to which it’s often been compared:

Yet there are more than a few telling elements that are quite different from Rubens’ great full-length portrait. Rubens' beautiful, young second wife, Helena Fourment is seen clad only in a fur wrap. She appears carefully posed… yet insecure. While in Rubens’ eyes, Helena may appear an Ovidian goddess, she clearly conveys a degree of unease or discomfort at posing. The black fur slides about her opal, glowing skin as she almost comically struggles to cover herself while warily eyeing the artist/viewer/audience.

But Rembrandt paints Hendrickje not looking at him (or at us… the audience). He catches her sidelong… in an act of self-absorption… allowing the viewer to contemplate her without interruption. In this sense, the difference is akin to that between Giorgione’s Dresden Venus…

and Titian’s Venus d'Urbino…

One painting invites an uninterrupted admiration of the beautiful female form, while the other engages in a dialog between the audience and the woman… a dialog that may include a degree of discomfort.

Considering this relationship between the viewer and the sitter, Rubens may actually be the more audacious… more in line with “modern” sensibilities than Rembrandt in this instance.

Returning to Rembrandt's painting we find the paint handling itself is marvelously varied; there is the lovely translucency of the water, the rich, almost Venetian sensuality of the heavy clothing cast to one side, the most exquisitely precise corkscrew curl hanging over Hendrickje’s neck, the creamy and well sculpted forms of the head and legs… which recall Vermeer's Maid Pouring Milk…

… and the rapid and calligraphic painting of the woman’s shift and her arm which recalls the artist’s beautiful ink drawings:

In spite of all this variety in the handling of paint, the end result hold together magnificently.

This is all part of the illusion… and the magic.

What artist would not envy the ability to do just one such painting in his or her entire career?

 

[joe1It]

I didn't know about the story behind the works, the story of his muse.
I am sorry for what he suffered, trial, conviction, etc.

these are all truly wonderful works,
the two drawings are also wonderful works of art.
wonder

 

[stlukesguild]

Gentile da Fabriano: Adoration of the Magi

The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1423) is the finest painting by the artist, Gentile da Fabriano and one of the greatest paintings in the "International Gothic" style. The "International Gothic" was a style of art that began in Southern France and Northern Italy during the early Renaissance. The style emphasized flatness, decorative pattern, and a lush, seeping use of gold leaf. The style began in more provincial French and Italian cities such as Sienna that had yet to grab onto the innovations employed by Florentine painters such as Giotto and Masaccio. Instead, the art of the International Gothic style continued decorative aspects of the Late Gothic akin to those found in tapestries of the period:

Examples of the International Gothic include paintings by Sienese painters Duccio:

... Giovanni di Paolo:

... and Simone Martini:

... as well as the Neapolitan (Naples) Pisanello:

... and even English artists such as the anonymous Master of the "Wilton Diptych":

The International Gothic would continue to influence artists well into the Renaissance, including painters such as Fra Angelico:

Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi:

and even Botticelli:

continued...

 

[stlukesguild]

Giovanni da Fabriano's Adoration of the Magi is actually an altarpiece constructed of multiple paintings and multiple narratives. The central image shows the Three Kings or "Magi" kneeling before the Madonna and Christ child:

The two older kings bow before Mary and the Child who reaches out to touch and bless the eldest. Mary's maidservants gosip while looking at one of the luxurious gifts given to their mistress. The elderly Joseph... portrayed in that manner to emphasize Mary's virginity by suggesting he was too old to get it up... looks on along with the cow and the donkey.

Behind the first two kings stands a handsome, younger, more fashionable king. His crown and halo... along with the wealth of gold in his dress... almost suggest Apollo, the Sun God. This would not be unusual. Ther were often elements employed in Renaissance paintings to suggest that the Catholic Church/Christianity represented a continuation of the Roman Empire. The brick building in which Mary is Sheltered with crumbling arches at the top is undoubtedly intended to suggest the architecture of ancient Rome (by someone who had never seen it) crumbling before the New Rome of the Church. I love the little detail of the guy in blue on the ground stealing the king's golden spurs.

Behind or to the right of the young king we see a crowd of princes and dukes and other aristocrats dressed in the finery of the era of the painting and accompanied by their horses, dogs, servents, falcons... and exotic pets such as the lion, monkeys, and love birds.

Above the central drama, we see three arches where the narrative of the Magi's journey unfolds. To the left (most Renaissance paintings... most Western paintings are read left to right just as our text is read left to right) we see the three kings disembarking from the ships which have traveled from far away:

In the central arch, we see the loud, raucous procession toward Bethlehem:

In the final arch, the Three Kings are entering to city across the drawbridge and through the open gate.

Below the central painting, we have the predella where we find three smaller paintings related to the central drama. In the first (left) painting we see the angels announcing the birth to the shepherds in the fields. Joseph sleeps oblivious... again suggesting is impotence.

In the central painting below, we have the Flight Into Egypt in which the Holy Family flees from Herod's order to kill all the first-born sons.

The last painting below shows the Baptism of Christ.

Of course, I would be enamored of such a painting due to the wealth of decorative elements, patterns, and gold leaf... but I am further blown away by the brilliant manner in which Gentile da Fabriano could show so much... multiple narratives within a single unified painting. In no way were Picasso and Braque the first to offer multiple viewpoints and multiple narratives within a single painting.

 

[joe1It]

beautiful work, interesting then what you said on The "International Gothic"
beautiful examples you posted about it.
a curiosity,
an artist I really like is Antonello da Messina,
I wondered if even in his works sometimes, if in some cases there may be this influence?

 

[stlukesguild]

an artist I really like is Antonello da Messina,
I wondered if even in his works sometimes, if in some cases there may be this influence?

Antonella da Messina was an interesting figure... something of a lynchpin in the major developments of Renaissance painting. He was born in 1430 and educated on the comparatively provincial island of Sicily. He later studied with the painter Niccolò Colantonio in Naples. There he would have been exposed to the paintings by Rogier van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck that belonged to Colantonio's patron, Alfonso V of Aragon, King of Naples. The masterful illusion of form and space conveyed through the minute gradations of light made possible through the use of oil paints undoubtedly impressed and inspired Antonella.

-Jan van Eyck

-Rogier van der Weyden

There are several theories/anecdotes concerning da Messina's mastery of the Netherlandish approach to the use of oil paint. In one, it was suggested that da Messina impersonated a wealthy patron and hired a Netherlandish artist to paint his portrait. During the painting process, he carefully observed and made notes of his methods. In a second suggestion is that Antonella studied under a Netherlandish master in Naples.

Recent evidence indicates that an Antonello di Sicilia was in contact with Van Eyck's most accomplished follower, Petrus Christus, in Milan in 1456.

-Petrus Christus

-Petrus Christus

It appears likely that Antonello di Sicilia was in fact Antonello da Messina. This would explain why Messina was one of the first Italians to master Eyckian oil painting, and Christus was the first Netherlandish painter to learn Italian linear perspective. From this meeting of Antonello and Petrus Christus the methods of oil painting and linear perspective spread throughout Europe.

-Antonella da Messina

-Antonella da Messina

Shortly after this meeting, Antonello returned to Sicily and established himself as The painting master there. He would continue to live and work in Sicily until his death in 1479. He did make several journeys throughout Italy. By 1460, his attention in the volumetric proportions of the figures suggests a familiarity with the work of Piero della Francesca...

-Piero della Francesca

In 1475 he traveled to Venice where he studied the work of Giovanni Bellini.

-Giovanni Bellini

-Antonello da Messina

Antonello likely saw the work of one or more artists of the International Gothic, but it doesn't appear as if these had any influence on him. He was far more inspired by the newest painting concepts and method of the Renaissance... especially those that would further the illusion of visual realism in his work. I suspect he would have found the International Gothic to be rather reactionary... if not quaint.

 

[Maybenartist]

Beautiful works and wonderful descriptive narrative of them.

 

[joe1It]

stlukesguild,
thank you very much, for the wonderful introduction to Antonello da Messina, thanks for the clarifications and the beautiful works you posted.
curious that fact, the name, Antonello di Sicilia,
so nice to know about his influences, history, his passion for these great artists, Dutch, Piero Della Francesca.
the anecdotes and therefore what you said about Gothic and perspective , Renaissance.
Thanks

 

[stlukesguild]

Bronzino: Allegory with Venus and Cupid

In 1527 the French under the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, defeated the forces of the Pope and the Papal States with the aid of a large army of German and Spanish mercenaries. Some 1000 defenders of the city were executed, and then the pillage began. The German mercenaries mutinying over unpaid wages, entered the city of Rome and sacked it in a manner reminiscent of the barbarian pillages committed 1,100 years earlier. Spanish soldiers and Italian mercenaries also took part in the sack. Churches and monasteries, as well as the palaces of prelates and cardinals, were looted and destroyed. Even pro-imperial cardinals had to pay to save their properties from the rampaging soldiers. Rome, which had been a center of Italian High Renaissance culture and patronage before the Sack, suffered depopulation and economic collapse, causing artists and thinkers to scatter. The city's population dropped from over 55,000 before the attack to 10,000 afterward. An estimated 6,000 to 12,000 people were murdered. Many Imperial soldiers also died in the aftermath, largely from diseases caused by masses of unburied corpses in the streets. Italy would not again strive for independence until the 19th century.

The chaotic events and uncertainty leading up to the Sack of Rome, and the even greater chaos and horror following had a major impact upon the artists of the period. As a result, we see the development of the style known as Mannerism after maniera, an Italian term for “style” or “manner,” denoting a stylized, exaggerated approach to painting and sculpture. During the Renaissance, Italian artists found inspiration in the ideal forms and harmonious compositions of classical antiquity. Mannerist artists took the principles established during the Renaissance to new extremes... or intentionally rejected them outright. The Mannerists consciously went a step further to create highly artificial compositions which showed off their techniques and skills in manipulating compositional elements to create a sense of sophisticated elegance. They employed expressive distortions of anatomy...

-Alessandro Allori

-a disjointed sense of space...

-Pontormo

...outrageous and at times gaudy color harmonies...

-Pontormo

... confused compositions...

-Rosso Fiorentino

...and shocking subject matter... especially the violent...

-Hendrick Goltzius

-Il Sodoma

... and the erotic:

-Lucas Cranach

-Joachim Wtewael

For a long time, I had a mixed response to Mannerism. I found the extremes of artifice unsettling... but at the same time I was fascinated... and no single Mannerist painting fascinated me more than Bronzino's Allegory with Venus and Cupid.

 

[stlukesguild]

Bronzino's Allegory with Venus and Cupid was painted c. 1545 for Cosimo I de' Medici to be presented as a gift for Francis I of France.

-Bronzino: Cosimo I de Medici

Unlike a Renaissance allegory, where the meaning is clear as a result of the use of commonly known iconography and images, there is much that is uncertain in Bronzino's painting. In fact, the only things that are certain are the two central figures: Venus & Cupid:

Venus is recognizable due to several common attributes: she is a beautiful nude who wears a crown...

In her one hand, she holds the golden apple which she was awarded by Paris beginning the Trojan War...

In her other hand, she holds a golden apple than she has taken from Cupid...

In the left corner, we see two doves, also common symbols of Venus, the goddess of Love...

Cupid is represented in a rather unusual manner... as a teenager.

We see an empty green quiver strapped across his back from which Venus has taken the last arrow. Higher up, we see a beautiful wing sprout from his back. Most disturbingly, Venus and the teenaged Cupid engage in a rather incestuously erotic tongue kiss. Both of their cheeks and her era are flushed with passion.

From here on, things get confusing... or uncertain. Behind Venus another nude figure... a putto or cherub prepares to throw a handful of roses over the lovers. He smiles knowingly at the couple. Is he perhaps Eros?

At Venus' feet, we see a pair of masks. Some have suggested that these denote deceitfulness or falsehood. Is this intended to suggest the often false nature of erotic love?

Behind Eros(?) we see another figure. She has the head of a girl/woman, the body of a snake, the feet of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. Her hands are backward, with the right on the left arm and the left on the right. In her backhanded way, she offers a honeycomb in one hand while holding the scorpion stinger in the other. Is she the figure of deceit, falsely offering the sweet pleasure of love while hiding its sting?

continued...

 

[stlukesguild]

At the top of the painting is a muscular male figure who represents Saturn or Chronos, the father of time. We can recognize him by his flowing beard and the hourglass upon his back:

His powerful arm stretches across the image and he grabs hold of a rich blue cloth. Is this blue cloth Night? Is he seeking to cover the lovers in the shroud of Night? Or is he pulling back the shroud to reveal them before all?

In the opposite corner is another figure who also grasps the blue cloth and appears to struggle with Chronos over is. Her face is rendered in an intentionally mask-like manner. Is she another image of deceit seeking to hide the lovers... to hide some negative aspect of Love?

In the shadows behind Cupid and beneath Venus' arm holding the golden arrow is the last figure. She is greenish in hue and writhes in apparent agony. Some have suggested she is Chaos, who instigated the competition for the golden apple that resulted in the Trojan War. Others have suggested that with her sickly tint she is the embodiment of syphilis, a common affliction of the time... and the result of Love or Sex.

The erotic imagery would have appealed to the tastes prevalent in both the Medici and French courts at this time. The same is true of the lack of clear or obvious "meaning". Ambiguity... riddles... puns... and visual games were beloved by both the Mannerist artists and their patrons.

My Love/Hate relationship with Mannerism eventually came around to Love. The artifice of Mannerism shares much with Modernism and the shift away from an obsession with painting as an illusion of visual reality. Like the Mannerists, I eventually came to appreciate the artifice of exaggerated color, expressive distortions, and the painting surface as opposed to painting as a photographic illusion.

 

[joe1It]

thanks a lot, awesome post, awesome work, thenks,
I love Pontormo very much while I didn't know other artists

 

[stlukesguild]

Pontormo and Bronzino are the two major figures of Italian Mannerism... if you don't count Tintoretto and Veronese... and the Venetians were something different altogether. Rosso Fiorentino was an influential figure but had a rather limited output... but this painting is one I always loved:

Parmigianino was interesting as well:

And then you have the sculptors... especially Cellini:

And then you have Allori who was rather a follower of Bronzino. The Northern Mannerists were again something else altogether... almost crazy at time. Cranach's nudes verge on pinups at time... and yet this guy was working for the very "Puritan" Lutherans. In fact, he was Martin Luther's "best man".

Hans Baldung Grien was even crazier... especially with his scenes of witches... but he was also a damn good painter and a brilliant printmaker:

Hendrick Goltzius' paintings are laden with violence and eroticism...

... and the same was true of Joachim Wtewael:

And Lucas van Leyden may have been the greatest printmaker after Dürer and before Rembrandt:

Beyond their own work, the Mannerists would be a major influence on the Baroque. The Baroque artists would reject their artificiality... but fully embrace their love of the dramatic and dynamic.

 

[joe1It]

stlukesguild heartfelt thanks, for all the example works of art and for beautiful insights and clarifications.

I did not know Rosso Fiorentino, this is an incredible masterpiece. wonderfull.
I like mannerism (but I know many of the exponents, and I didn't associate names, I mean those fantastic wood carvings), I like it, intrigued after hearing, seeing some of Pontormo's famous works, such as his piety, the Deposition, I don't know correct name, his Christ actually recall those positions of the bodies,
but it struck me so much to see Pontormo's drawings that I like to look for, I find them among the most beautiful, like those of Michelangelo, Raphael. o Leonardo,
if I may put, one, who in addition to being beautiful, well done, also intrigues me, since it is a self-portrait but I have never seen such a dynamic self-portrait.
beautiful all the works you posted, I have to look for more works by Bronziono and others, of these, perhaps Parmigianino is a name that sometimes cites, considers, that you hear (in the media or art critics who sometimes went on TV) , or Cellini. how wonderful that sculpture.
Cranach, , why that veil (invisible veil)? .
he painted the veil, being a Puritan, or the other Puritans insisted, maybe it's part of his genius, so they didn't tell him he was an unveiled painting.

Hans Baldung Grien, that work, that engraving is incredible, truly incredible what he could do,
it's one of the most beautiful things ..., maybe it's done so well that it could depict anything and you don't even notice it, however incredible Lucas van Leyden and the others, damn, thank you, nice to know also how they influenced the Baroque and then the history of art as well as the beautiful (and crazy) things they left behind.

I was saying about the drawing, in reality I probably like them, I love all his drawings
but I also added the painting since I was quoting it (this is the first thing I admired about him,)

 

[stlukesguild]

Yes, Pontormo's drawings are quite fine:

But I might admire his paintings even more... especially the deposition which you posted... but also these:

I didn't know that Bronzino was Pontormo's star pupil who may have surpassed his master:

 

[stlukesguild]

Bronzino was especially a fine portraitist... pointing the way from Holbein to Ingres:

 

[joe1It]

wonderful works, yes, beautiful paintings by Pontormo, of these I really like the work with the 4 women, but also the others.


how beautiful the portraits of Bronzino
how beautiful the portraits of Bronzino.
also the painting with all those figures.

 

[stlukesguild]

It's been almost a month since I really explored any works of art... or been able to work upon my own art. This has been due to the start of the school year. Nearly every year begins with chaos as we're overloaded with new curriculum and new expectations. But this year has been especially crazy. Due to the pandemic, we are beginning the year in "distance learning"... online learning through the internet. Over the last 3 weeks, we have been overwhelmed trying to learn a range of online platforms, apps, and software: Schoology, Seesaw, McGraw-Hill Exploring Art, Bitmoji Classrooms, Loom, etc... The so-called "specials" teachers (Art, Music, PE, Library, Band, etc...) are especially overwhelmed attempting to create online learning experiences for hundreds of students. I've been struggling to solve the issues presented by the fact that the students are working on 3 different devices: PCs, iPads, and Chromebooks and it is next to impossible to find software that will allow the students to engage in simple photo editing and drawing/painting... and then upload these to the teachers.

Anyway... I came across an article recently on this lovely painting by the Baroque Spanish Master, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo:

The painting portrays two young girls looking out from their balcony window at what we might assume is a handsome young man who is just passing by. The point of view and the eyes of the young girl in the front suggest that we... the audience... are the subject of her fascination. The hairstyles and the little details in the dress and the little scarlet bows suggest that the girl in the foreground is of a higher social status. She is free to flirt with passers-by. The other woman... who may be an older maidservant... draws back into the shadows and modestly hides her face... but she cannot disguise her laugh and her smiling eyes.

A generation or two after Murillo leads us to this similar painting by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, one of the finest painters of the Romantic-era, and one of the finest Spanish painters of all time:

Goya's scene is quite similar and yet equally different from Murillo's painting. Like Murillo, we see two women looking down from the balcony and locking eyes and smiling at the passers-by. But Goya's girls are far more brazen and knowing. They are majas: girls from the lower classes of Spanish society, especially in Madrid, who distinguished themselves by their elaborate outfits and sense of style in dress and manners, as well as by their cheeky and flirtatious behavior. It is not unlikely that they or courtesans... or prostitutes. Where Murillo portrayed the modest maid drawing back into the shadows out of embarrassment, Goya portrays his two majas accompanied by a couple of male figures who hide in the shadows and cover their faces with their cloaks and hats. There is quite a conspiratorial air. Are these men their procurers or go-betweens, brothel-keepers, clients... or something else... are they brewing something more sinister in the shadows?

And another century later we find still one more exploration of a like theme in this painting by Edouard Manet:

Manet's painting features a group of four like Goya's painting. In the foreground is the student of Manet and talented painter in her own right, Berthe Morisot, who married Manet's brother Eugène in 1874. On the right is Fanny Claus, a violinist. Behind the women, at the center, is the painter, Jean Baptiste Antoine Guillemet. Further inside in the shadows is another male figure... possibly Léon Leenhoff, Manet's son. In Manet's painting there is no longer any eye-contact suggesting a connection between the sitters and the audience. The three main characters, who were all friends of Manet, seem to be disconnected from each other. Berthe Morisot looks like a fierce inaccessible Roman Romantic heroine. Guillemet and Claus stare blankly... indifferently. Manet's painting was clearly inspired by Goya's balcony scene... but the deadpan realism and the graphic use of black suggests an influence of other Spanish painters... especially Velazquez.

Almost a century later we get yet another variation on the balcony theme with the painting, Perspective: The Balcony by Manet (1949) by Rene Magritte:

Magritte explained his painting by stating, "For me the setting of The Balcony offered a suitable place to put coffins." He went on to explain
his verbal pun on "perspective", which in French can also mean "outlook" or "prospect": suggesting the fate that awaits us all.