Christina Rossetti: In an Artist's Studio
The poem In an Artist’s Studio by Christina Rossetti explains an artist observing a model and painting pictures of her. The first quote that I thought was interesting stated, “Every canvas means the same one meaning, neither more or less.” Since before this, the artist was explaining how lovely and angelic she is, this line could mean that she is simply beautiful. I was confused by the part where she said neither more or less because it makes the reader question the artists view on the model.
The next line that stood out to me was at the end; it stated, “Not as she is, but as she fills his dream.” I think this line was trying to say that the artist paints the model not how she actually looks or is, but how he dreams of her. One thing that this could possibly mean is that the model isn’t a real person and only exists in the artist’s head. On the other hand, this could mean that the model isn’t as beautiful as models are supposed to be, but that the artist is interested in her. It is left up to the audience for interpretation.
Rossetti, Christina. In an Artist’s Studio.
I really enjoyed your analysis of the second quote and how you recognized that it could have different meaning based on who was reading it. I personally agree found a third meaning that you did not mention, which was that the model was beautiful on the outside, but full of sadness on the inside, but the artist was only interested in her outer beauty so he never paid any attention to her emotions. I think your analysis of the first quote alludes to this, in that you recognized the artist saw the models exterior beauty.
ReplyDeleteI like your explanation of the two quotes here and how you left the second quote open to interpretation. In my opinion, I believe the artist is painting a woman and that woman exists; however, he paints her as he wants her to be. In addition, in the middle of the poem, the author uses imagery and describes several portraits already done and they all look different, yet with the same woman. I believe the first quote you used was the author saying that all of these portraits had the same meaning and that "meaning" was basically the same woman on each canvas.
ReplyDeleteYou have some very good insight about the idea of beauty through an artists eyes. It is very possible artists could not necessarily paint someone as they really are, but as how they want them to look. This shows how much artists sexualize women. Back then, there was a very heavy focus on the woman's appearance and not who she was as a person.
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