Dimensions: support: 197 x 162 mm frame: 310 x 267 x 33 mm
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: David Wilkie’s oil study, simply titled "Study of a Head for ‘The Rabbit on the Wall’," captures a young man bathed in a rather unsettling light. Editor: Yes, it's the kind of light that both reveals and conceals. It makes me think of Caravaggio, that dramatic tension between light and dark that speaks of inner turmoil. Curator: It's interesting you say that. Wilkie often imbued everyday scenes with theatrical flair. Perhaps he saw the mundane as inherently dramatic. Editor: Or maybe he was just really good at capturing what was already there. I can't help but think about how we look when we are lost in thought, illuminated only by the shadows of our own making. Curator: A rabbit on the wall! I wonder, what symbols did he weave into the larger painting to tell that story? Editor: Who knows! But I am off to go rabbit-hole diving.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wilkie-study-of-a-head-for-the-rabbit-on-the-wall-n03603
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Wilkie was renowned for depicting figures full of character, and for capturing recognisable social types. He used a familiar language of facial appearance and expression to render complex group scenes intelligible. Collectors were attracted to the variety and vitality of his pictures. This is a study for a work shown at the Royal Academy in 1816, The Rabbit on the Wall - a candle-light amusement, in which a father entertains his children by making shadow creatures. One contemporary critic commented on the artist’s skill at the ‘strong and accurate painting of character’. Gallery label, March 2011
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