Ruth Leon recommends…Why Does This Lady Have a Fly on Her Head? – National Gallery
Ruth Leon recommendsWhy Does This Lady Have a Fly on Her Head? – National Gallery
This charming little film from the National Gallery attempts to answer this question about this ‘Portrait of a Woman of the Hofer Family’. Francesca Whitlum-Cooper, The Myojin-Nadar Associate Curator of Paintings 1600–1800 at the National Gallery, investigates this portrait’s unusual addition.
Almost all we know is that the picture is Swabian, dating from about 1420 and that it was a gift to Queen Victoria from her husband, Prince Albert and, in turn, given to the nation by Queen Victoria at the Prince Consort’s wish in 1863.
Francesa Whitlum-Cooper tells us much more and does it most entertainingly.
The fly on such portrait of a wealthy and powerful is a conventional sign reminding all of their earthly flesh finite journey. It is often found in paintings then.
Where else, for example???
Flies are often found in Dutch paintings of Still Life, to indicate the mortality of all life.
It takes about 3 seconds to google “flies in ancient paintings”… longer indeed than thumbing down my comment.
The “fun” explanation by the lady in the video is typical of a society reducing everything to entertainnent value instead of depicting the symbolism used for many centuries.
The fly is there, and the forget-me-nots, also,
because the woman is dead. It is a portrait of someone who died, perhaps, just after being painted, or while the work was in progress.