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Picturing a World

Botticelli, Three Graces

Just for the fun of it, the Botticelli fresco seen in the previous two posts!

Now consider this: A fresco of female mythological figures is shown in two paintings that also include a woman copyist. The first is by a man and shows the copyist off to one side; the second is by a woman and shows her front and center. Where else might the situation arise besides Paris and the Louvre? Why not, say, in the Boston Public Library where a fresco by Puvis du Chavannes surrounds the door to Bates Hall? The pleasure a reader feels at recognizing a real work of art would remain; but shifting the setting and making up characters whole cloth would give a writer's imagination much greater freedom. Maybe I’ll work on a plot. Maybe you will!

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