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annalois36.bsky.social
I Don't Want to Grow Up
for #BlueSkyArtShow theme of #Growing

Saturday sarcasm in the alt text.

#EastCoastKin #ECK #photography #fineart #sarcasm #UptonHouse #Warwickshire #ArthurDevis
(iPhone camera)
"Elizabeth just take the bunch of grapes I'm holding out to you please. They'll make you big and strong and beautiful just like me!" "No. I. Don't. Want. To." I don't even like them. They are weird looking, bobbly things aren't they? Charlotte didn't pick them either! The man with the smelly paints made her hold the basket of them, as if she did. As for 'big and strong and beautiful', she's hardly a giant is she? Given she's whinging her arm is aching holding a bunch of grapes, she's not that strong either. As for beautiful, OK, I'll give her that. Humph, I hate this dress. I look like a sugar plum fairy! I'm just going to ignore her. I won't even make eye contact, nor with the painter man either. It's not fair, I just want to play with the puppy daddy bought for me. That's allowed to wander about, why can't I? Anyway, what on earth are they making me hold? It looks like the glass paperweight from mummy's drawing room. That makes me stronger than Charlotte! It's way heavier than a bunch of bobbly things. Maybe I'm going to grow up to be a strong woman! I could tour the world with a circus troop and have an elephant as a best friend. How much longer before Elizabeth makes eye contact? Will Charlotte hold those heavy grapes for much longer? Will Elizabeth grow up and join the circus? This beautiful painting was done in 1762 by Arthur Devis of the Edgar sisters, Charlotte and Elizabeth. I'm not sure which child was which but given the painting descriptions note Charlotte first, I assumed she was the elder. The younger child looks bored which amused me. It's on display at the fantastic Grade II listed Upton House in Warwickshire, along with a notable collection of other great works including Bruegel, Hogarth and El Greco. The guides in the house were wonderful, hilarious and had a great sense of down-to-earth fun. Much laughter and banter was shared.
July 18, 2026 at 12:14 PM
britishartjournal.bsky.social
britishartjournal.co.uk new issue NOW. Free. Please click subscribe. Christabel Pankhurst portrait identified #sufragettes #williamhogarth #RichardDadd #canaletto #arthurdevis #carelweight #welshhistory #hanoverians #jacobites + lots more @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 11:10 AM
mdstamper.bsky.social
Portrait of Alicia Maria Carpenter, Later Countess of Egremont by Arthur Devis (English) - Oil on canvas / 1745 - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (California) #womeninart #dress #art #oilpainting #portrait #ArthurDevis #FAMSF #artwork #Devis #womensart #portrait #baroque #rococo #portraitofawoman
In 1745, English artist Arthur Devis painted this full-length portrait of Alicia Maria Carpenter calmly wearing a silver ruched ivory silk dress with gold trim and pannier (hoop skirt) with extremely wide sides and flat front extending the skirt to be wider than her height. This style originated in Spanish court dress of the 17th century, spread thanks to portraits by Diego Velázquez, and became popular with the social elite after hitting the Paris fashion scene in 1718-1719. Carpenter's dress uses panels of ruched white satin between strips of gold (possibly lace). The revers (lining facing outside) extends to her open low neckline and up over her shoulders. In a room with wood floor, stone (or stone-like) walls and columns, the slender aristocrat stands with her hands at her narrow waist next to a small wooden round table with her folded fan and a single long white elbow-length glove on top. She is in the process of reaching to take off the matching glove from her left arm. Her overly-pale skin and facial features are delicate, with a rounded face, expressive eyes, a straight nose, and a gentle smile. Her lips with dark red rouge are full and soft. Her dark brown hair is styled in a fashionable neatly-arranged series of tight curls to her shoulder and topped with a looping headdress of small pearls that matches her earring with a larger shiny pearl. Devis was a Lancashire-born British artist from a dynastic family of artists descending from his father Anthony Devis including Arthur's half-brother painter Anthony Devis and Arthur's painter sons Thomas Anthony Devis and Arthur William Devis.
March 7, 2025 at 6:46 PM