Saturday, April 6, 2013

Art and the icon

It is often asked how art (especially religious art) differs from icons. In reading the below this morning I've come upon a rather good answer.


"Harry," said Basil Hallward, looking him straight in the face, "every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul."

- Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray

No comments:

Post a Comment