トレイシー・シュヴァリエ：絵画に見つける物語 (4)

The last painting I'm going to talk about is called "Anonymous" by anonymous.

This is a Tudor portrait bought by the National Portrait Gallery. They thought it was a man named Sir Thomas Overbury, and then they discovered that it wasn't him, and they have no idea who it is.

Now, in the National Portrait Gallery, if you don't know the biography of the painting, it's kind of useless to you. They can't hang it on the wall, because they don't know who he is. So unfortunately, this orphan spends most of his time in storage, along with quite a number of other orphans, some of them some beautiful paintings.

This painting made me stop in my tracks for three reasons: One is the disconnection between his mouth that's smiling and his eyes that are wistful. He's not happy, and why isn't he happy? The second thing that really attracted me were his bright red cheeks. He is blushing. He's blushing for his portrait being made! This must be a guy who blushes all the time. What is he thinking about that's making him blush? The third thing that made me stop in my tracks is his absolutely gorgeous doublet. Silk, gray, those beautiful buttons. And you know what it makes me think of, is it's sort of snug and puffy; it's like a duvet spread over a bed.

I kept thinking of beds and red cheeks, and of course I kept thinking of sex when I looked at him, and I thought, is that what he's thinking about? And I thought, if I'm going to make a story, what's the last thing I'm going to put in there? Well, what would a Tudor gentleman be preoccupied with? And I thought, well, Henry VIII, okay. He'd be preoccupied with his inheritance, with his heir. Who is going to inherit his name and his fortune? You put all those together, and you've got your story to fill in that gap that makes you keep coming back. Now, here's the story. It's short.



最後にご紹介する絵は 作者不詳の「不詳」です

ナショナル・ポートレート・ギャラリー所蔵のテューダー家の人物の肖像画です トーマス・オーバーベリー卿と考えられていましたが そうではないことが判明し 結局誰かは判らないままです

肖像画美術館で 描かれている人物が誰かわからないなんて 全く意味がないですね 誰だかわからない肖像画を展示しておくわけにもいかず 残念ながらこの名無しさんは他の多くの名無しさんと一緒に ほとんどずっと倉庫で過ごしています 中にはこんなに美しい絵もあるのに

私がこの絵に立ち止まる理由は３つあります まず一つ目は笑みをたたえた口元と もの言いたげな眼差しとのギャップです 幸せではないのかしら？そうだとするとそれはなぜ？ 私を惹きつけてやまない二つ目の理由は 彼の明るく上気した頬です 彼は赤くなっています肖像画を描かれることに照れている 彼はいつもこんな風に照れ屋さんだったに違いありません でも何を考えてこんなに赤くなっているんでしょう？ 私がこの絵に足を止めた三つ目の理由は 彼が着ている素晴らしく豪華な上着です グレーのシルクで きれいなボタンがついています それを見て私が何を思ったかと言えば 暖かくてふわふわのまるでベッドの上に広げられた羽毛布団

私はいつもベッドとこの赤い頬を思います つまり彼を見るとセックスのことを考えてしまうんです もしかして彼もそのことを考えていたのでは？ もし私がお話を作るとしたら 他に加えるべき要素は何だろう？ テューダーの男が考えていたことって？ 例えばヘンリー8世はどうかしら？ 彼の頭は跡継ぎのことで一杯だったでしょう 彼の立場と財産を受け継ぐべきは誰か？ それら全部を合わせてこの絵が起こさせる胸騒ぎを鎮めるための 物語の出来上がりです さてその物語とは・・ そんなに長いものではありません