Why does this lady have a fly on her head? | National Gallery

Summary

In this video, a museum curator analyzes a 15th century portrait of an unnamed German woman from the Hofer family. She highlights details conveying the sitter's wealth and the artist's skill in creating a hyper-realistic image, down to each eyelash and fur trim. The curator hypothesizes why there is a fly on the woman's headwear - as a joke for viewers to demonstrate the painter's ability to create illusion. She traces this impulse back to early Greek painting and its radical illusionism, making images seem so real that birds would try to eat painted grapes. Though the portrait's origins remain mysterious, it came to the museum via a love story between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Takeaways

• 😊 The portrait depicts an unnamed German woman from the wealthy Hofer family in 1470
• 👩‍🎨 The identity of both the subject and the artist who painted this portrait are unknown
• 👗 The fine clothes and jewels worn by the woman signify her wealth and high social status
• 🌼 She holds a sprig of forget-me-nots, which may relate to love, marriage, or remembrance
• 👘 Her pristine white headdress exemplifies the skill of the artist in rendering fabric
• 🪰 A fly sits on the headdress, tricking the viewer into momentarily thinking it's real
• 😜 The fly is likely an inside joke that the woman would have appreciated
• 🎨 The extreme realism reflects how Renaissance art aimed to capture nature convincingly
• 😍 The portrait was a gift from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria, linking it to a love story
• 🔍 Close examination rewards the viewer with appreciation for the artist's virtuosity

Q & A

Who is the woman in the portrait and what clues do we have about her identity?

We don't know for certain who the woman is. The only clue is an inscription indicating she was born into the Hofer family, but Hofer is a very common surname in that region at the time.

Why would the woman have worn expensive clothes and jewelry for the portrait?

The clothes and jewelry, like the fur lining and gold rings, indicate the wealth and status of the subject. Fine portraits were very expensive so subjects wanted to showcase their affluence.

What is the significance of the forget-me-not flowers the woman is holding?

Art historians think objects held by portrait subjects offer clues, but here the meaning is unclear. Forget-me-nots may symbolize love or remembrance, but we don't know if that applies to this portrait.

Why did the artist paint the intricate details of the woman's white headdress?

The headdress shows off the artist's technical skill in depicting texture, light, and shadow. It also symbolizes the subject's wealth to be able to keep such a garment so immaculate.

What is the purpose of painting the fly in the portrait?

The fly adds an element of visual trickery and humor. It fools the viewer initially into thinking it's real. This demonstrates the artist's ability to paint highly realistic illusions.

How does the fly relate to the origins of Western painting?

The illusionism connects to stories of ancient Greek painters like Zeuxis who could paint grapes so lifelike that birds tried to eat them. The goal was to trick viewers with realism.

Would the portrait's subject have been aware of the fly when sitting for the painting?

Almost certainly yes. The fly seems to be an intentional joke that the woman was likely in on at the end when she saw the finished work.

How did the portrait make its way into the National Gallery's collection?

Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert gifted her the painting. She then donated it to the National Gallery as part of its founding collection.

Why does the curator say this portrait rewards close looking?

There are abundant small details that reveal information and delight viewers, like the intricate clasps, pins, and stitches - plus the humor of the trompe l'oeil fly.

What is the overall importance of this particular portrait to the curator?

More than a noteworthy work, this portrait makes her smile every time with its playful trickery. It also epitomizes painters' enduring ingenuity and skill.

Outlines

00:00

😄 Introducing the portrait and key questions

Francesca introduces herself and the portrait of an unknown 15th century German woman with a fly on her head. She poses two main questions - who is the artist and subject, and why is there a fly, which tricks viewers and shows the artist's skill in creating realistic illusions.

05:04

😊 Explaining the context and meaning of portraits

Francesca explains that in the 15th century, portraits were incredibly rare and expensive, reserved for the wealthy. The woman wears expensive clothes and jewelry, indicating her wealth and desire to convey status. The forget-me-nots may symbolize love or remembrance.

10:07

😀 The intricate details of the portrait

The portrait has many intricate, skillfully-painted details showing the artist's talent - the woman's smooth complexion, beautifully rendered clothes and jewelry, metal clasps matching her hands, and precisely depicted forget-me-nots. The challenging depiction of the white headdress also demonstrates the artist's abilities.

Keywords

💡portrait

A portrait is a painting, drawing, or engraving that depicts the image or likeness of a person. In the video, the narrator analyzes a 15th century portrait painting of an unknown German woman from the Hofer family. She discusses how portraits were very expensive at the time, so the fine details of the painting indicate the wealth and status of the woman.

💡illusionism

Illusionism refers to artwork that is so realistic and life-like that it gives the illusion of being three-dimensional. The narrator links this back to the origins of Western painting in ancient Greece, with stories of the painter Zeuxis creating such realistic still life paintings of grapes that birds would try to eat them.

💡brocade

Brocade is a luxurious, decorative fabric woven with elaborate designs. The woman in the portrait is wearing an expensive black brocade dress, which is another indicator of her wealth and high social status.

💡forget-me-nots

The woman in the portrait is holding a small bouquet of blue and white forget-me-not flowers. These flowers often carry symbolic meanings of love or remembrance in art and poetry. The narrator speculates they could represent an engagement, marriage, or commemoration in this context.

💡headdress

The woman is wearing an intricate white headdress, which the narrator describes as an "amazingly architectural" feat of painting. The attention to detail suggests the skill of the artist as well as the wealth required to keep such a headdress so clean.

💡fly

There is a fly painted on the woman's headdress. The narrator proposes this is likely an intentional trick by the artist to create such a convincing illusion of reality that viewers would initially think the fly is real.

💡illusion

An illusion is something that deceives by producing a false impression. The fly creates an optical illusion, fooling the viewer briefly into thinking there is an actual insect on the painting's dimensional surface. This demonstrates the artist's ability to accurately capture the real world.

💡love story

Though the actual story behind the portrait's subjects is unknown, the narrator reveals it entered the National Gallery's collection by way of a love story. Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert gifted her the painting, so it came to the museum through their relationship.

💡close looking

Close looking refers to the practice of observing art extremely carefully and paying attention to small details that may reveal deeper meanings. The narrator praises how this relatively small portrait rewards close looking with its delicate illusionism and playful fly.

💡illusionism

As mentioned previously, illusionism means the realistic or life-like quality of certain styles of art, especially those that give a convincing three-dimensional impression. The narrator concludes by saying the fly and level of detail showcase the artist's ability to trick the eye, linking back to illusionism's importance in the origins of art.

Highlights

Having your portrait painted was unimaginably expensive, so you would dress in your finest clothes to look as presentable as possible

The fly landing on the woman's head is a visual joke playing with the illusion of reality in painting

The incredibly detailed depiction of the fabric and accessories indicates the wealth of the woman being painted

The portrait subject's smooth complexion and fine details show the artist's great skill in capturing lifelike qualities

An inscription provides a clue that the woman was born into the Hofer family, a common name locally

The forget-me-not flowers she holds may symbolize love or remembrance, but their meaning is uncertain

The bright white fabric of the headdress demonstrates the painter's skill in creating light, shadows and depth

Keeping fabrics perfectly clean and white would require great wealth to afford servants for laundering

The fly shows the artist's ability to trick viewers into briefly thinking part of the painting is real

The origin of painting lies in creating such realistic illusions that viewers are momentarily fooled

The portrait likely depicts the woman as young, based on her smooth skin and intricate details

The woman seems to be painted from life, not from the artist's imagination

Neither the identity of the artist nor the portrait subject are conclusively known

The portrait was a gift of love from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria

This painting rewards close looking and serves as an ongoing reminder of artists' tricks

Transcripts

Hello I'm Francesca. I'm an Associate Curator here at the National Gallery and

today I'm talking about this portrait, a woman from the Hofer family from about

1470 and I'm trying to answer the question

'Why does this lady have a fly on her head and what does that tell us about

the tricks the artists play on us?' [Music]

So, imagine the year is about 1470 you are having your portrait painted. Now

even if you're really wealthy this is unimaginably expensive. You might maybe

once, maybe twice in your life get to sit before an artist who's going to paint

you and commemorate what it is that you look like at that particular moment.

So you are going to get yourself ready in your finest clothes you're going to

do your hair you're going to make yourself as presentable as possible. You

go to the sitting you sit there maybe for hours in front of this artist. They

might go away work on the picture come back you're waiting waiting waiting and

finally you get to see your finished portrait

and there's a fly on your head. why on earth would there be a fly on

your head? Well I think this takes us right back to

the origins of painting this question and what it is that makes art so magical.

So when we look at this portrait here in the National Gallery we've got a lot of

questions. First question, who's the artist? And actually we don't know we

think they're probably an artist working in Southwestern Germany in, as I said,

around about 1470 but we don't know who the artist is we

think that on kind of stylistic grounds historical grounds, but we don't actually

have one single artist's name yet. And who's the woman? Well again we don't

know who this lady is sitting for this portrait is. We've got one clue which is

up here in the top left hand corner where

there's an inscription that reads 'Geborne Hoferin' which means she was born

a member of the Hofer family and that's amazing you might think oh goody we've

got a clue we can go from there but annoyingly Hofer is a really really

really common surname in Southwestern Germany so it doesn't actually help us

that much in tying down exactly who this lady is.

So really when we look at this panel and the portrait that's painted on it,

all the information we have is kind of in the picture itself.

She's not an old lady, she's not a young young

girl. I've landed on her being young-ish because if we look really closely you

can see that she has this amazingly smooth complexion, there's no lines no

wrinkles, and the artist has lavished incredible attention in painting every

single detail. So we can look at her eyes and you've got every eyelash picked out

there. She's got this beautiful face, unlined, kind of slight turning up of the

lips as she's kind of almost almost on the verge of smiling.

Like I said she's dressed in her finest clothes so we've got this black fabric

here but it's not just a kind of plain black fabric it's not matte, if you look

closely it's a brocade so it's been woven. It's got these amazing kind of

swirling patterns to it and that would have been incredibly expensive. She's

wearing that for a reason and that brocade actually that extends not only

just in her clothes but also in the background behind her she's standing

against again a kind of woven fabric background so all of these are kind of

markers of her wealth, indicators that she really has put on her very finest

clothing. If we look at even more detail we can look around her neck or around

her cuff and we can see that her garment is fur lined. Well,

really only they're like very very wealthiest people could afford a fur line

costume so again this is telling us that she's absolutely putting her best foot

forward in this picture. I love the detail of the metal clasps

holding this garment together because they're so intricate and lovely and I

think they work really well actually with the kind of the jointedness of her

hands and the way that she's holding her hands up to us here. Her hands as well

they've got more clues on because they've got lots of gold rings again

ordinary people don't have this kind of finery, ordinary people aren't sitting to

have their portraits painted either so all of this is telling us just how

wealthy she is and in her hands there's one more clue

for us, she's holding this little sprig of very delicate blue and white flowers,

forget-me-nots. Now normally if you're looking at a portrait from the second

half of the the 1400s and you have a sitter holding something, especially a

plant, art historians think that's like winning

the jackpot because that's a clue, that's included by the artist to give us some

kind of information whether it's why the portrait is painted at that

moment or who the person is or what their profession might be and we do have

some kind of tantalising glimpses with these forget-me-nots because

often they're associated with love, especially in german poetry of this

period, so is she holding forget-me-nots because this is a picture that's being

painted to commemorate an engagement or a marriage?

We don't know. At the same time think about the name even in english forget me

not, that's a flower that's associated with remembrance and not forgetting

people, so is this a portrait that's being painted

so that we remember this woman after she's gone?

we don't 100 percent know. Having looked at all those details we

have to get to this amazing white headdress that she's wearing. I

deliberately left it but it's really hard to avoid it you come at this

picture and there's this amazing kind of pale

swirl of fabric. It's an incredibly architectural bit of painting actually

to have the kind of sweep of the folds that sense of volume

but again these very sharp corners and points and folds. It's

something the artist has lavished a lot of attention on. It's also worth saying

that for an artist it's incredibly difficult to paint white like that

because how do you, if you've just got white, how do you create

light and shadow and depth and volume? It's a really hard ask and I think

that's why this artist has shown off their skill as much as they have with

this headdress. Every detail has been included so we can

look at the edges and see every individual stitch, we can look at the

pins that presumably kind of hold this headdress together or maybe even fasten

it to the woman's hair, we've got every single pinhead and the kind of

indentation in the fabric. It's absolutely beautiful as a piece of

painting and it's again about money. Imagine the

wealth you'd have to have to keep a piece of white fabric like that so

spotless and pristine and imagine all the servants you'd have to have to

launder it for you and iron it and even kind of put it on you again it's a way

of saying how well off this woman is and of course the headdress brings us back

to this pesky question, this pesky fly sitting there with its horrible googly

eyes and its transparent wings, painted in such detail that you've not

only got the spindly fly legs but even the shadow cast by those legs on the

white headdress. So what is this fly doing there? Why has

this artist included a fly on this lovely looking lady's head?

I think the answer is it's a joke and it's a joke that works on different

levels because on the one hand the fly has been tricked into thinking this is a

real headdress, so the flyers come and landed on it thinking it's real and it's

not it's painted, but obviously there's a double joke

because we looking at it think 'oh my gosh, there's a fly on that painting oh

my gosh' and in that moment that instinct to kind of

bat it away or be panicked that it's there,

the artist has tricked us, we've been duped because actually everything

here is two-dimensional. This is just paint

and the skill of the artist is that they've been able to take that paint and

a brush and a bit of wood and to conjure it into something that

feels so lifelike, we do believe even just for a second that that's a fly

sitting on that picture. She is living hundreds of years before the kind of

image saturated world that we live in. We've all got cameras in our pockets. We

can, any moment of the day or night, capture anything and everything around

us and she's inhabiting a totally different universe to that. For

so many artists for so many centuries capturing a moment in time and capturing

that sense of life likeness, that was the kind of ultimate goal, and I think that's

what this artist is doing here with the detail of the fur trim and with

every single eyelash being painted and, kind of gross as it is, with that fly as

well. They're saying 'look at me, look how I can capture the

world around me', and that impulse, that impulse to trick

us, to make something, to make this fiction of a picture that's so

believable, that takes us right back to the origins of painting. So painting in

the kind of western tradition is thought to begin in about the fifth

century bc in ancient Greece there's a famous painter called Zeuxis who

paints still lives and paints them in this kind of radical radical way with a

radical illusionism, whereby although they're fresco, so kind of painted

onto a wall, they are so lifelike that if he paints a bunch of grapes birds will

come and peck at them and knock themselves out on the wall. That's the

kind of myth the story around Zeuxis. So that's how we think of paintings

starting. It starts with that trick, with that moment of looking across a room and

going 'oh for a moment I thought you were there, I thought you were real and that

it was you not your painted person, but actually your physical person

here in the flesh'. This lady, whoever she is, this lady born

into the Hofer family, I think she must have been in on this joke because

there's no way an artist just kind of sticks a fly in there without her

knowing about it at the end right she'd have known and I think, for me I love

that because I look at her and I look at these slightly upturning lips and I look

at the fly and I think she must have been in on that. She must have

appreciated what that meant in terms of tricking people. She must have had, when

this portrait was finished, a sense of pride not only about how it captured how

she looks, but also that it was going to trick people. That friends and family

that people coming to view it, they'd have that moment of being duped by the

illusion. I like to think that in some way or other it is a bit of a love story

this picture, and although we don't know for certain, we do know that it gets to

us here at the gallery as part of a love story. So this is a picture that was

owned by Prince Albert the Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria and he

gives it to Queen Victoria as a gift and his encouraging she gifts it to the

nation. So, whatever this lady's story might be we

know that it comes to us by a bit of a love story.

It should go without saying this is by no means the largest picture in our

collection at the National Gallery I think you'd have a hard time arguing

it's the most important but it is a picture that really rewards close

looking and for me it's not only a painting that

makes me smile every time I come and see it but actually it's one that reminds me

that the very best artists always keep us on our toes.

If you'd like to know more about our collection you can click here or here

thank you so much for joining us, I hope to see you again soon