Auguste-Dominique Ingres. It depicts Louis-François Bertin
(1766–1841), a writer, art collector and director of the pro-royalist
Journal des débats. Having achieved acclaim as a history painter,
Ingres accepted portrait commissions with reluctance, regarding them as
a distraction. The painting had a prolonged genesis; he agonised over
the pose and made several preparatory sketches. The final work presents
Bertin as a personification of the commercially minded leaders of the
liberal reign of Louis Philippe I, emanating a restless energy. He is
physically imposing and self-assured but his real-life personality
shines through – warm, wry and engaging to those who had earned his
trust. The portrait is an unflinchingly realistic depiction of aging;
Ingres emphasises the furrowed skin and thinning hair of an overweight
man who maintains his resolve and determination. Although Bertin's
family worried that the painting might been seen as a caricature, it is
widely regarded as Ingres' finest male portrait and has been at the
Musée du Louvre since 1897.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Monsieur_Bertin>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1345:
Inspecting a new prison without being escorted by his
bodyguard, Alexios Apokaukos, megas doux of the Byzantine Navy, was
lynched and killed by the prisoners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_Apokaukos>
1847:
Afonso died at age two, leaving his father Pedro II, the last
emperor of Brazil, without a male heir.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afonso,_Prince_Imperial_of_Brazil>
1956:
The six-day Gal Oya riots, the first ethnic riots targeting the
minority Sri Lankan Tamils in post-independent Sri Lanka, began,
eventually resulting in the deaths of at least 150 people and 100
injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Ceylonese_riots>
1963:
The University of Alabama was desegregated as Governor of
Alabama George Wallace stepped aside after defiantly blocking the
entrance to an auditorium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door>
2012:
Two earthquakes struck northern Afghanistan, triggering a
massive landslide that buried a village and killed 75 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Afghanistan_earthquakes>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
grit:
Strength of mind; great courage or fearlessness; fortitude. […]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grit>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
They say princes learn no art truly, but the art of horsemanship.
The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince
as soon as his groom.
--Ben Jonson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson>
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