THE QUEEN’S SKIRT: A Reflection on Power and Privilege

The Queen's Skirt, 65” x 94”. oil, metallic paint on canvas

One day I was moving paintings in the "gallery space" of my studio  and I heard the words, "French Revolution". We had just been through a long spate of Trump tantrums and I believe it was that, as much as anything, that brought the French Revolution to mind. I love French history, and while I haven't studied the Revolution in many years, I spent the afternoon in a revery of free association. I was working on some large paintings that are mostly abstract, but with a representational association. And I was using a lot of metallic paint. I decided that I wanted to paint one of those wide, diaphanous skirts worn by Marie-Antoinette. I found such a skirt misidentified as hers on Google.

The skirt was actually the wedding dress of Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein Gottorp. Mari-Antoinette's wedding dress said to be made of a cloth of silver and covered with diamonds has not survived. It had all the qualities I was looking for - diaphanous, enormous, like a curtain on a stage, with layers and layers of labor-intensive lace.

As I started to paint this I thought of the French court and how a century before the Revolution Louis XIV declared, "L'état c'est moi!" "The State is Me!" He brought all the nobles to court, where he could keep his eye on them, and then he sent his minions to the provinces where they could corral the land profits for the State. This structure was unsustainable, as more and more of the wealth was concentrated at the top. While the Queen play-acted at being a simple shepherdess at her faux farm, her people were starving. Parallels mount as you look at our current situation.

I did not so much paint this picture as I attacked it. I flung paint at it and rubbed my hands in it. In the end came a shocking moment of beauty, like the sparkling glass of a broken vase. Should I have called the piece, Vanitas?