Thomas Gainsborough: the eyes have it

Photo (C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

My wife and I spent Friday in Williamstown, MA visiting The Clark Art Institute and then in the evening catching a play at the Williamstown Theater Festival where they have high quality acting on par with Broadway. If you have not been to The Clark, you are really missing out. Fortunately, for us it is a short drive to a regional museum with world renown.

This is a photograph I took of a detail of Thomas Gainsborough's (1727-1788) 1768 painting titled "Elizabeth and Thomas Linley" during our visit to The Clark. This brother and sister came from a family of musicians in Bath, England. According to the blurb next to the painting, she was a celebrated singer, and he was a precocious violinist. Our guide from a few years back, informed us that both died tragically at young ages.

I find the eyes to be all consuming in their different gazes and soul-revealing clarity. Physically, the eyes along with the red lips seem to unite the two children. One of the qualities of the painting I really love is the harmony of color from the young boy's rosy cheeks to the girl's subtly pink complexion and the overall warmth of the ochre background inviting us into the picture.

When we go to The Clark we alway look for this painting as if it is a memento of a loved one. It makes you stop in your tracks as if you are in their breathing presence.