Page 30 - Jacques Blanchard - Myth and Allegory
P. 30
Fig. 5 - GERARD EDELINCK, nymph. The nymph corresponds to
engraving after Blanchard’s reputed self-portrait, Blanchard’s favoured female type, with the
snub-nosed face and dimpled joints that
Paris, Private coll. appear in almost all his compositions
involving the female nude. We can sense a
specifically Venetian inspiration for
Blanchard’s female nudes, but like the stocky
male figures seen in the Rennes Flagellation,
their anatomy is more of a Venetian type
translated into Blanchard’s very French
idiom. Equally, in Blanchard’s parlance, the
almost d’Artagnan-like facial type of the
Bravo could, upon closer examination,
almost be a portrait, particularly when it is
recalled that in almost all his other
mythologies, Blanchard’s male figures seem
curiously anonymous. The similarity is
perhaps coincidental, but an engraving
survives of Blanchard’s lost self-portrait,46
which shows a long-haired bearded and
moustachioed young man, with the same
hooded eyes with distinctive arched
eyebrows. (Fig.5) In any event, whatever his
precise inspiration may have been,
Blanchard’s distinct approach to both his
female and male ideals has reached an
apogee in this work.
eee
On stylistic grounds, the picture was
thought to date from the middle of the
30
