"Imaginary Portraits" by Walter Pater is a series of character studies from the late 1800s, that examines the lives and artistic feelings of different historical and fictional characters. The opening story is about Antony Watteau, a painter who goes from growing up modestly in Valenciennes to the art world in Paris, all while experiencing hopes and emotional struggles. His early life is told through the eyes of someone watching him closely, showing his artistic ability and inner conflicts. Watteau deals with being unsure of himself and wanting to get away from where he comes from. The story captures happy and sad moments as he lives his life, interacting with his family and the city of Valenciennes. When Watteau goes to Paris, his excitement and worries are obvious, suggesting his artistic journey will be complicated, setting up the themes of wanting more, finding oneself, and artistic expression that are found throughout the other stories.
Imaginary Portraits
By Walter Pater
Enter the world of a young painter as he navigates love, loss, and triumph on his journey to becoming a renowned artist.
Summary
About the AuthorWalter Horatio Pater was an English essayist, art and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), revised as The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry (1877), in which he outlined his approach to art and advocated an ideal of the intense inner life, was taken by many as a manifesto of Aestheticism.
Walter Horatio Pater was an English essayist, art and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), revised as The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry (1877), in which he outlined his approach to art and advocated an ideal of the intense inner life, was taken by many as a manifesto of Aestheticism.
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