The Pose

[Catherine Muhly]

I have no quarrel with the "candid" pose as a work of art, but for me, a portrait is something the sitter wants said to the viewing public, and to posterity. As a history buff, I love portraits of famous people, kings, ministers, etc., because of who the sitters are. I never leave the Metropolitan museum of art without giving my salutations to the large bust of the emperor Constantine, for instance.

Sitting for a commissioned formal portrait is not an everyday event. The formal portrait declares to whomever gazes upon it, "Greetings. I wish to present for your contemplation...me." Thus do kings, generals, philosophers, what have you, daign, through their portraits, to connect directly with me, as the posterity for whom their portraits are intended. Tokens of achievements, insignia of office, tools of trade, family crests, views of their property or valued possessions, any or all would find their way into the formal portrait to communicate into the distant future who the sitters were, and how they mattered in their day.

As a portrait painter, I naturally pay attention to the craft, technique and genius of the painter, but a true portrait ought to efface the artist and leave the viewer and the sitter alone together.

This is a portrait of Louis XIV by Rigaud. The Sun King's gift of his likeness to me, his posterity.