Renate at eight
In the Musée de Beaux-Arts de Montreal, I saw this portrait of a young shepherdess who’s a dead ringer for Renate at that age. (Try this page also; click on the thumbnail for a popup image.)
The setting, the heavy boots, the stick and the button-down bodice and the stiff linen skirt—they’re all perfect. Best of all, though, is the smudged face with its expression of politely-suppressed annoyance. I have been told to pose for this picture, so pose I will, despite all the many more fun things I could be doing at this point in time. That’s little Rennie all over; it wasn’t until she grew up a bit that she learned to hide that particular annoyance better.
I think a later portrait would show a similar expression, of sick, patient acceptance of far worse things than portraiture.
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