Constantin Hansen, Danish
Little Jack Horner Sat In The Corner. According To Witnesses, At The Time, He Was Fully Clothed. What Happened After That Is Still Under Investigation, 1838
Oil on canvas
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/// For a larger work, this was one study.
(Could the model have been Hansen’s buddy?)
Though he’s full naked here,
there, in pants he’ll appear.
Also, why is his right hand so ruddy?
/// A location in Naples is where
this young boy with the curly dark hair
will, as part of a crowd,
watch a speaker out loud
proclaim poetry in a town square.
/// Scores of people are shown, none are nude.
And so, why is this model thus viewed?
Did some posh Art Academy
say to study anatomy?
Or did Hansen have motives more crude?
(One translation of this painting’s Danish title is “A Sitting Lazzarone,” one of a specific group of poor Neapolitans. It was a study for a large Hansen painting called “A Reciter of ‘Orlando Furioso’ at the Molo, Naples.” The boy can be seen in the same seated position, but wearing a hat, trousers, and a pendant necklace.)