Telling Transparence

School of Fontainebleau
1550-1560
Museum of Art and History Geneva

La nature, qui sur l'invisible met le masque du visible, 

n'est qu'une apparence corrigée 

par une transparence.
Victor Hugo
Carnets

Nero's second wife was said to be calculating. Through her scheming Sabina Poppaea ousted Empress number 1 and took her place. Ambitious and without scruples, reported Tacite. Beauty alone with no other qualities, agree all but one of the historians from the ancient world. Flavius Josephus on the contrary believed her to be extremely religious to the point of proselytism.

Most see an seductive vision of beauty in this painting. To me, she is a ravishing
spider waiting in the center of its web, gazing out from the thin, circling folds of her veil.

Titian
Portrait of Cardinal Filippo Archinto, 1556
Philidelphia Museum of Art

The Philidelphia Museum of Art says of this portrait with a translucid curtain, "the unusual portrayal of this man can be explained by facts known about his life. Archinto was appointed archbishop of Milan in 1556, but political troubles prevented his taking possession of the post. The veil obscuring him from view stands for these difficulties. The episcopal ring, which the artist carefully reveals just outside the veil, symbolizes Archinto's legal right to office." Another portrait without the veil is held in the Metropolitain.

Eric Rondepierre
from the series: Précis de décomposition ,Masques
silver gelatin print on aluminum

This is a veil, but not a cloth. In his series Précis de décomposition, photographer, Eric Rondepierre worked with archival fragments of anonymous silent movies that had been corroded by the effects of time, humidity and poor storage. Here a woman from a forgotten scenario stares from behind what appears to be a panel of lace.

Revealing, isn't it?

Nature, putting the mask of the visible over the invisible,
is only an appearence corrected by a transparence.
Victor Hugo
Carnets