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

[hanriotfran.livejournal.com]

No; as far as I know Dostoyevsky didn't write anything about Saint-Just. He is an entire Dostoyevskyan's character, tough.

But all French Revolution is somewhat a Dostoyesvyan play...Oh; I'm under "Danton's" of Wajda's influence. I know, I know...Forgive me . :D

Hanriotfran (Vanesa)

[fatimahcrossin.livejournal.com]

During these days I am reflecting on the archetype of "dionysiac" for a project I have with a friend of mine... It has much to deal with Saint-Just. I noticed how it requires a great amount of hyper-sensitivity and on the other side a lack of affectivity for close, concrete individuals. This is near to many dostoevskian characters...

[hanriotfran.livejournal.com]

Yes. Saint-Just has much of a "dionysiac" archetype on him...And he had a great sensitivity for "the general world" without being able to approach concrete individuals. I think this very thing makes of him a great character for a good fictional-history book or a movie, or a play...But this goes for other Revolutionnary types as well. I can't understand why there's no more GOOD movies about French Revolution characters. They could be real human dramas!

A good movie about Collot d'Herbois could be a great succes. Did you read Michel Biard's book about him? It has a lot of info and shows the man was quite a character! His life before the Revolution was very interesting.

HanriotFran (Vanesa)

[fatimahcrossin.livejournal.com]

Yes, I also wonder why there isn't a really good rev-related film yet !
Actually many major revolutionaries shared with Antoine this kind of sensitiveness (which has much to deal with a well-defined specimen of narcissism !), but I see the so-to-say "dionysiac" only in him... Hopefully some director will notice it and think about a wonderful drama :)

No, I didn't read it. I have to admit, I don't know Collot very well. Though I am sure he was very, very interesting his own way. As you already know, I rather prefer his friend Billaud - and often think of writing a screenplay for a film about his incredible life ! One about Collot would be a good idea too, nonethless...