I went to the Holbein Exhibition at the Tate on Saturday to see a masterpiece in PR - Holbein creating the image that Henry VIII wants us to remember...that of the mega-monarch. Forget the fact that Henry was already beginning to suffer ill-health, was potentially the laughing stock of Europe after disposing of three wives (there's a great portrait of Christina of Denmark who turned down any chance of the King's proposal pointing out that she would gladly marry him if only she had two heads at her disposal) and that the arch- alpha male had managed to father only one rather sickly son....
It made me think again how important the image is...and to try to justify my day trip as as relating to my research, how image is all in deciding which disasters are remembered and which forgotten. Part of the reason that coverage changed for the tsunami and the Pakistani earthquake is because of the flow of images back to the West; in fact the BBC set up a whole new unit of UGC (user generated content) to cope with it.
On a lighter note. I love this picture of Mary Wotton. When Holbein paints her she looks stiff and rather terrified. Here she looks like a tremendous good-time girl.
No comments:
Post a Comment