Portrait d’Edmond Taigny 1890

Jean Béraud painted this portrait of Edmond Taigny, capturing the gentleman surrounded by objects symbolic of his era and status. Consider the accoutrements of modern life: the top hat, gloves, and the pocket watch, each a symbol of a society increasingly governed by industrial time. The hat and gloves remind us of similar head coverings and hand gestures that we see in ancient rituals and ceremonies, repeated throughout history in different guises. The watch, in particular, echoes earlier symbols of time, like the hourglass or sundial, representing the passage of life and the control, or perhaps the illusion of control, we seek over our fleeting existence. The almost subliminal comfort we derive from these objects speaks to a deeper psychological need for order and continuity. It is as if, by marking time so precisely, we seek to ward off the inevitable chaos of existence. This impulse—the quest to understand and master time—reappears, transformed, yet fundamentally unchanged, across the centuries.