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The Pope (and Jim) in Philly
I got to see Nelson Shanks' portrait of the Pope just before it left the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a national tour. There was not much about seeing the painting in the real to change any of my earlier comments. I was pleased that the face looked better than any of the reproductions that I had seen previously and was surprised that much of it was in shadow. Tricky to pull off but well done. I attached a picture that shows the painting in a frame that has Latin text in relief and was beyond my understanding of Latin save a reference to the Pope's predecessor, St Peter. Excuse the picture quality. The Museum does not allow tripods or flash. The hat was every bit as strong in intense yellow as my earlier post showed and, without continuing to nit pick, his hand holding the staff looks a bit large. I have seen other Shanks paintings that look like he avoids the common mistake of making hands too small by making them large. But then, again, maybe the Pope has large hands.
The overall effect is very spiritual and given its eventual home, will be very effective.
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