Madame Seriziat

My father has always loved this portrait of Madame Seriziat. Over the years I have come to admire it a great deal, too. Such a subtle, but beautiful woman.

The art of our ancestors is a wonderful thing. In the midst of cell phone notification-overload and Tivo-remorse, it is a joy to pause for a moment and enjoy something simple and still. I have to wonder what is making this woman smile. I also wonder what her toddler grew up to become, and frankly how the artist (Jacques Louis David) was able to keep him still long enough to capture his likeness.

I don’t know anything about art, but David’s other work (he is a renown artist) includes recurring themes of politics, religion, and death. This portrait is so wonderfully absent those things. It makes me grateful for my family & grateful that my dad shared it with me.