JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE, ANTOINE ! Some arts and one question

[fatimahcrossin.livejournal.com]

Today is the 241th anniversary since Antoine Saint-Just's birth. All the best to my most beloved Citoyen :x !
It's a perfect day to dedicate to him some drawings. I made them with traditional items (pencils, ink, felter-pens) so they are full of mistakes. But I am lazy and I don't have the suppport of an appropriate pc software, so I leave them just as they are. Here the portraits:

Louis Antoine Saint-Just after me + Prudhon

This is my favourite Antoine's portrait ever.
I am sorry because the sentence at the bottom is written badly. But I decided to leave it as it was. Too lazy to change it. 





Louis Antoine Saint-Just after me & Greuze 1

My second favourite Antoine's portrait ever.
Someone say it's not him in the picture (it would be Talleyrand instead) but I don't believe it. The features of this cinically smart, cooly outrageous feline predator are typically Antoine's. More, I love it to be him 


Ps.: I added those golden earrings and stole over the verses on a yellow background from Rimbaud - thank you, Arthur !






Louis Antoine Saint-Just after me & Greuze 2

Other (and beloved) portrait. I have seen it only on a b/w version so the colour (included that kitsch one of his clothes) is mine too.

(If you want to see the portraits in an enlarged and higher definition version then check my DeviantArt: http://www.fatimahcrossin.deviantart.com)



Saint-Just's portraits raise a question - the well-known one of his physical appearence: how did he really look like ?
We know many portraits, prints, engravings etc. all featuring him but each one of them shows a man who looks completely different from the others (I am sure you know all his portraits - if there is anyone who doesn't here it is a good link with a rather complete list of his iconography: http://www.saint-just.net/arts.html).
 Plus, written accounts aren't of much more help. His contemporaries' witnesses vary one from another and they are often in an open contradiction. So again: how did Antoine really look like ?
Despite what it is often commonly said, I believe physical appearence is (at least in a certain way) "the mirror of personality" - an old Sicilian proverb tells - and physiognomy has its reasons to be, I guess.
Antoine was handsome, yes, this appears to be the most common opinion about its physical appearence - how was he handsome ?

Comments

[fatimahcrossin.livejournal.com]

Well, of course people's expression vary considerably according their mood - we are not statues, it is obvious, isn't it ? So, taken this into account I just think that the "spirit" of the painting is very different from that of taking a photo. If you take a photo you catch the moment - it is a snapshot recording reality as it is exactly there, but if you are a painter and you have to make a portrait I guess you have to go beyond what you are seeing just in front of you and try to grasp the essence of what you have to portray... I believe portraits are not realistic because of this, firstly ! (And then yes, there were rules and conventions about how to portray people and oh, people liked to be painted in a certain way rather than others...)

I imagine Saint-Just very severe, but not as Hamel's "German priest" XD XD-> this portrait features a kind of empty coldness I don't feel appropriate to the subject ! I rather imagine him as a mix between Prudhon's portrait (who looks severe too, but in a different way - not only this, it's much more mysterious and nuanced) and David's, which I am personally not fond of, I believe it is very realistic, though (if you read Charles Nodier accounts of Saint-Just's physical appearence you will find something very similar to David's version !). And you ? How do you imagine him ?

Really a pity they didn't have photos !! I imagine a photo reportage of Danton's trial... *gg* :D

[hanriotfran.livejournal.com]

Hi, Fatimah!:

Well; before I said how I imagine Saint-Just, here it is something I had promised to you: a link with Argentinian National Anthem music:

Here you go:

http://www.iruya.com/kumiko/himno_nacional_argentino.htm

I warn you it's not the better version I've heard. The one we sang at school was very moving, but the only thing the web seems to have is some sappy, modernized versions of it. This is the slightly better of them I've found. But al least, you'll know how the music is similar too...

How I Imagine SJ? Severe, yes, but not cold. He is a sort of a mix between a severe man and a dreamer. Dreamers could be severe too. I imagine him with dark hair and blue eyes.

In fact I imagine him as a mix between the Proudhon portrait and Greuze's one...

And speaking about Saint-Just portrayals...Which Saint-Just was your favorite at THE SCREEN? I'll say my answer later, but by now, I could advance that Christopher Thompson is clearly out of my list of favorites...:D

HanriotFran (Vanesa)

[fatimahcrossin.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the link ! Actually it's true - it sounds a bit too "sappy" as you said, but it gives a good idea of what it would be if performed with the right inspiration ! Yes, anthems singing requires inspiration...

I imagine him with dark blond (or light brown) hair and blue-grey eyes :) severe, rather more cerebral than a dreamer and very, very passionate. That kind of men who are used to hide their passion behind a mask of coldness. More, their coldness helps them to control it and not to be controlled by it - or, at least, they are illuded they can do it this way (have I given the idea ?).

Prudhon's and Greuze's portraits are far absolutely my favourites-> there is a reason why I chose to make my versions after them, or ? ;)

Mmm, in my opinion there is still not an actor who managed to play Saint-Just really well. My favourite is Abel Gance in his "Napoléon", however. With many reserves: he is too old for the role (more than 10 years over-age - and despite the gorgeous make up this clearly appears), his hair are black, he looks too dandish (yes, Saint-Just was a dandy, but I imagine not at that point) and also gayish (the so-said homosexual attitude of Saint-Just should be re-discussed, I think). Of course every character in this film is treated almost like an expressionist caricature, and so many things which could seem strange or exaggerated can be explained this way (Gance indeed didn't mean to create a realistic film). Well, sometimes I have the impression he has quite a few to deal with the real Saint-Just, but I believe he still remains the best in cinema. Anyway.
Linda's one in "Danton" features some traits I like: his way of talking, of moving, of interacting with other characters is modern, coincise, smart... but he often loses his point and then looks like a psychopath with his crazy all-teeth laugh, pleased when someone is guillottined and yeah - he seems completely done. Sister cocaine ? XD
I warmly hate Thompson's Saint-Just. Do you call that a Saint-Just ? With that hollywoodish face ?
OMG. No, thanks.
The whole film then is awful. An entertaining feuilletton for people who love telenovelas. Vade retro.

A mention for Jean Pierre Léaud in Godard's "Weekend". Cute. A bit too cuddle-child but cute. I use to like the young Jean Pierre Léaud and I like his disoriented Saint-Just too. Ah, la Nouvelle Vague !

[hanriotfran.livejournal.com]

I also think that movie does not show us a believable Saint-Just. Cristopher Thompson doesn't exist for me. It's an idiot , and watching "The French Revolution" you can't just realize why did he terrorize the whole Convention. I won't be terrorized by such a teenage rocker! :D And yes. The whole movie is pure shit. I found it not only fake, but also boring.

The Wajda's guy was O.K, but at some points, he looked a sadistic young man. Manuel, from "la Terreur et la vertue" it's better, but he lacked of severity...and I didn't watch "Saint-Just ou la force des choses", so I can't really said if I like it.

My perfect Saint-Just in a movie would have been a mix of Wajda's one with "la Terreur et la vertue"'s one. THis last movie is my very favorite about FR. It has very moving parts. And of course, it's Hanriot it's a cutie pie! (Not like the fat, ugly old man who performed Hanriot in "The French Revolution")

Hanriotfran Vanesa)

[fatimahcrossin.livejournal.com]

"Teenager rocker"...:D :D :D

I have never seen "La Terror et la Vertue" - it seems it has never been distributed in Italy. I should look for it somewhere on the web :)

[hanriotfran.livejournal.com]

It was not distributed in Argentina, either. A friend of mine send me it from France, saying I "MUST" absolutely watch this. And he was not wrong. It's excellent. I think you may purchase it online. He did. He send me it as a gift for here, money exchange differences makes that an item should cost three or four times its real price fpor my pocket. GRRRR. Some time ago, I was always purchasing music and books from internet, but they're gone so expensive that I couldn't do it any more.

HanriotFran (Vanesa)