Charles Willson Peale's portrait of Yarrow now hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On Friday, May 11, I gave a lecture there as the museum's guest. This was the first time that I saw the portrait rather than just photographs of it. Someone asked me how I felt seeing the portrait after researching Yarrow for nine years. I had no remarkable emotion, but what I did notice was that I felt I was looking at Yarrow in the flesh. Peale was that good of a portrait painter. There is a depth and three-dimensional aspect in an oil portrait that is not found in photographs. The painting seems literally to come alive. So here we are, me, Yarrow, and Peale, together again for the first time. The paintings are so lifelike that I should point out that I'm the one who is not framed.
When I saw Peale's portrait of Yarrow for the first time in person last December I became emotional for the exact reason you stated...because I felt like I was seeing Yarrow in person. Yarrow's humanity transcended almost 200 years. It was an amazing experience!
ReplyDeleteI liked your appreciation of the actual portrait of Yarrow as you descibe it. I think it had to be an emotional moment because you have given the man in the picture a life and a story during your research the past seven years. And anyone who was connected to him in his story share that tinge of emotion upon looking at you and the portait in the photo. I would like to see the actual portrait in Philadelphia also.
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