Mixed Feelings

                                    Jan Frederick Portielje

SIMPLY SNICKERS

MIXED FEELINGS

Victoriana at its best, in mood and dress and pose.

But why, I ask myself, are they in dark and mournful clothes?

If there's been a death, the faces simply don't reflect it,

And Death was such in those days everybody would respect it.

Yet here there's a delightful child with a smile upon her face,

And Mother looks serene and calm, exuding charm and grace!

The Mother's hand is graceful, upraised in a guiding way

Poised to point-out a tricky word, gently, as though in play.

It's a scene of domesticity, sweet and innocent.

Yet full of gloom and shadows and something malevolent.

The cloak that's hanging to the right and draping on the couch,

Appears to threaten as it looms with an almost dominant crouch.

How Victorians loved pictures that told a story too!
One feels compelled to study them to pick-up any clue.
Contrast this with the scene below, so natural, so light,
Painted by the same artist, but so relaxed and bright!

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