tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27631362066531085442024-03-16T19:52:45.648+01:00Great Expectations IllustrationsBy Stefano PaggiStefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-74825075618854384262024-01-04T14:32:00.003+01:002024-01-04T14:37:40.980+01:00Chapter LVIII<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_zdLI5BfxtUDYMK5WRobb6aOA54JTXOLqsYrcJV34lNK7-lD3Stn5jRkCPBcNJadCKWuuKZ_cDSLvuNSVPF7aNWnAGTkUKZnbVn9p3gR0o5YFzV2zzmqXVvkoPkY80WA5P1uHcRCXu-whZCYhh8Zh1xkKsTKKFJxV-8aNXTRbk3LXaR7_7dfv27lP0jTc/s3822/ge58.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2651" data-original-width="3822" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_zdLI5BfxtUDYMK5WRobb6aOA54JTXOLqsYrcJV34lNK7-lD3Stn5jRkCPBcNJadCKWuuKZ_cDSLvuNSVPF7aNWnAGTkUKZnbVn9p3gR0o5YFzV2zzmqXVvkoPkY80WA5P1uHcRCXu-whZCYhh8Zh1xkKsTKKFJxV-8aNXTRbk3LXaR7_7dfv27lP0jTc/w400-h278/ge58.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><b>Size: 42 cm x 30 cm</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Pip witnesses how Miss Havisham's Satis House is taken apart for auction.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In the penultimate chapter of the book, Pip returns to his childhood town, hoping to start over his life, trying to leave back his turmoil with the convict, and his London dandy life. He lodges at the Blue Boar, where he so often went. The next day, early in the morning, he goes for a walk down memory lane:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"Early in the morning while my breakfast was getting ready, I strolled round by Satis House. There were printed, bills on the gate, and on bits of carpet hanging out of the windows, announcing a sale by auction of the Household Furniture and Effects, next week. The House itself was to be sold as old building materials and pulled down. LOT 1 was marked in whitewashed knock-knee letters on the brew house; LOT 2 on that part of the main building which had been so long shut up. Other lots were marked off on other parts of the structure, and the ivy had been torn down to make room for the inscriptions, and much of it trailed low in the dust and was withered already. Stepping in for a moment at the open gate and looking around me with the uncomfortable air of a stranger who had no business there, I saw the auctioneer’s clerk walking on the casks and telling them off for the information of a catalogue compiler, pen in hand, who made a temporary desk of the wheeled chair I had so often pushed along to the tune of Old Clem."</i></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Pip looks right into the viewer in the lower right corner, while some locals try to get a hand on the items that will be auctioned. They camp out at the entrance, waiting for the carriage coming out, and then surround it like vultures. A man from the auction crosses his arms to discourage them.</div><div><br /></div><div>A worker is covering a big mirror with a blanket. It was in the wedding cake room (See <a href="https://ge-illustrations.blogspot.com/2019/08/chapter-xi.html" target="_blank">Chapter XI</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>Some other men are taking away Miss Havisham's chair, in which she sat so prominently. A man sits by the window from Miss Havisham's favourite room (e.g. <a href="https://ge-illustrations.blogspot.com/2019/07/chapter-viii.html" target="_blank">Chapter VIII</a>, <a href="https://ge-illustrations.blogspot.com/2019/11/chapter-xxix.html" target="_blank">Chapter XXIX</a>, <a href="https://ge-illustrations.blogspot.com/2021/09/chapter-xliv.html" target="_blank">Chapter XLIV</a>), in which Pip met her for the first time.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the far back, a mountain of discarded furniture is taken apart and loaded on a cart. In the background, one can see the overgrown gardens of Satis House.</div><div><br /></div><div>This illustration is done mainly with washed ink.</div><p></p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-85372856265530218422023-07-20T14:12:00.000+02:002023-07-20T14:12:48.445+02:00Chapter XL<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_Hu3X0LrDfh4sj3dDhY-uaOxomf6kg7Euc1TgZbylhN7gqK2_hRufrGFNmSgosvaazwTqxfLWdOtmgE8-SWM6QvX24CiqebnaKeiOWmdZahrP1cbQlNRh3V3J9ATLsP0gOCSa9vIQV5YDmur46uLQuZ97oh7hcLgEQCrOE-deMy3LTVQcdMZQXF-JMiL/s4000/ge40_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2486" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_Hu3X0LrDfh4sj3dDhY-uaOxomf6kg7Euc1TgZbylhN7gqK2_hRufrGFNmSgosvaazwTqxfLWdOtmgE8-SWM6QvX24CiqebnaKeiOWmdZahrP1cbQlNRh3V3J9ATLsP0gOCSa9vIQV5YDmur46uLQuZ97oh7hcLgEQCrOE-deMy3LTVQcdMZQXF-JMiL/w398-h640/ge40_small.jpg" width="398" /></a></div><b>Size: 36 cm x 59 cm</b><p></p><p>Pip and a watchman of the Temple chambers look for an intruder on the stairways, who is cowering beneath in the shadows.</p><p>The first chapter of the third volume picks up right after the end of volume two. On a stormy night, the convict Magwitch revealed himself to Pip. After getting him accommodated in Herbert's empty room, Pip falls exhausted into a sleep in his armchair, of which he wakes up later in the wee hours, in a dark room with all lights extinguished. </p><p>The new chapter then continues with him searching for a light at the lodge at the bottom of the stairs in the building. On the way down the stairs, he stumbles upon a figure cowering in the shadows. Alarmed, he rushes to the watchman in the lodge to investigate the person under a light. Back again, the hiding man is, however, not to be found again, despite them looking up and down the stairs. </p><p>In the end, Pip asks the watchman if he saw another person come in besides the convict, and, to his great distress, the watchman confirms having seen a man sticking to the convict like a shadow. </p><p>Thus apprehended, it marks the start of a race to get the convict out of this man's reach, who turns out to be a malefactor bent on settling counts with Magwitch.</p><p><b>About the composition:</b></p><p>Regarding the topic itself of Pip looking for the intruder, the novel does not waste more than a sentence, yet the scene seemed to me interesting enough for an illustration given the unusual setting of people on a staircase. The rest of the chapter eventually tells of the encounter of Pip and Magwitch and Herbert, which is in itself much more captivating to the reader, yet not very exciting to draw - just three persons standing in a room. However, the action involved in going up and down the staircase, as well as the dynamic of the light source, and also the fact the scene needs a special angle to get all characters on the picture, was far more alluring to draw. </p><p>I spent quite some time thinking about which angle to take. Other possibilities I thought about where to put the viewer outside, watching the intruder outside the mansion looking furtively back in the rain, while Pip and the watchman look up and down the stairs. Or even a picture in which we see the whole scene unfolding from a bird's eye's view down the empty space in a stairwell.</p><p>The stairs themselves proved also to be a challenging object to work on. I was inspired by some Milanese spacious stairs that are not set in a rectangular fashion, but rather triangular, or spiralled.</p><p></p><p>The triangular opening allows for a more dynamic view up the empty space of a staircase.</p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-41693756633971491282023-04-30T22:10:00.000+02:002023-04-30T22:10:41.944+02:00Chapter LVI<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwaLM82Am6Dp9oeK6m3zvWIO384rDpRzoS0vLMyVn-zeAbi7hKw0nPVogNNwOW0Is32ZDv2qT40_Hi8OjhKBb1apd_125yyD1XQIbCyVU75URxwKknv2KiiinpIlxahM0IgKSlV8RcpZ1JprZOCSB4DTORc5BG97Nktx6mzpAUWHxof142bNFIv_vkw/s4504/ge56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2936" data-original-width="4504" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwaLM82Am6Dp9oeK6m3zvWIO384rDpRzoS0vLMyVn-zeAbi7hKw0nPVogNNwOW0Is32ZDv2qT40_Hi8OjhKBb1apd_125yyD1XQIbCyVU75URxwKknv2KiiinpIlxahM0IgKSlV8RcpZ1JprZOCSB4DTORc5BG97Nktx6mzpAUWHxof142bNFIv_vkw/w400-h261/ge56.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><b>Size: 57 cm x 36 cm</b></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">An exhausted Pip sits down by the convict Magwitch's
infirmary bed at Newgate prison for a last time, while two guards
sympathetically assist the scene from afar.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Magwitch was sentenced to death for leaving his exile to
illegally enter<br />
Britain, and, on top of that, for assumedly killing his informer in an
underwater fight. The fight and the strenuous botched escape from Britain left
Magwitch injured to such a degree that he was moved<br />
from a cell to the infirmary of the prison. Meanwhile, Pip spends day after day
writing petitions to various people for showing mercy to Magwitch and to avert
the impending death sentence, while also being nearby to the convict at every
visiting hours. <br />
As the frequent petitions falling on deaf ears grind down our protagonist, so
does also the daily sight of Magwitch's failing health. The light and
liveliness slowly drains from Magwitch up to a point in which spoken words
become a scarcity, and he only communicates by slight pressures with his hand
in Pip's.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The last time Pip sees his benefactor is captured in this
illustration. The governor of the prison, now a friend of Pip's, allows him to
stay a little longer than the visiting hours. He is seen beckoning another prison
officer away, to the left. In the quietness of solitude, Pip holds Magwitch's
hand, and inches closer to him to impart to him the news of his daughter that
he believed death. When Pip tells him of Estella, he is only able to react with
a last kiss on Pip's hand, which Pip helped raise to his lips.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This picture took an unusual long amount of time to draw.
Partly, due to a lot of stuff having taken place in my life, and partly because
I tried to find the right composition for this touching moment. The prison
interior is bleak and unwelcoming, with jagged metal fences, heavy doors,
barred windows, and dusty stone columns. In contrast to it, the convict almost
looks as if he were to float away and merge with the with wall behind him. He
is already with one step in a better world. The high contrast of Pip compared
to Magwitch make him stand out, as well as stand apart from the convict. Pip
continues the journey on this world, while Magwitch concludes his final act.
Pip's line of sight is also not directed towards Magwitch's face, but rather to
some point behind him, as if he were looking away, or looking through a ghost.<o:p></o:p></p><b></b><p></p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-86591958632576143682022-10-23T21:48:00.002+02:002022-10-23T22:11:37.526+02:00Chapter LIII<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxN0ycHqLVMVcnTux-f2XrJ2bzE02e46HfLYrztne-6D3o17KfvGQWDVB4NxOJO_FyabkrSijo5KBpsKoTR51XxT8NDXt70uyJHaSLzXjwasNRbCOZingAFIe8OXQ_ZgWe4d1EPYPpM6-qo0oRKCJ-ZKuDOAle5UPr111KtUbQDr_ePcAQmHV2Kw2gA/s5528/ge53final2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3950" data-original-width="5528" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxN0ycHqLVMVcnTux-f2XrJ2bzE02e46HfLYrztne-6D3o17KfvGQWDVB4NxOJO_FyabkrSijo5KBpsKoTR51XxT8NDXt70uyJHaSLzXjwasNRbCOZingAFIe8OXQ_ZgWe4d1EPYPpM6-qo0oRKCJ-ZKuDOAle5UPr111KtUbQDr_ePcAQmHV2Kw2gA/w400-h286/ge53final2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Size: 70 cm x 50 cm</b><p></p><p>Without a second to spare, Pip's friends come to rescue<br />Pip, who is inches away of being killed by the brute Orlick.</p><p>In the last newsletter, chapter 52, Pip received the ominous letter<br />from a stranger who beckoned him to go to the marshes adjacent to<br />his home town alone, lest something bad should befall the convict Magwitch. <br />Head over heels, he rushes to the marshlands to confront the blackmailer, leaving<br />in his confusion the letter in his London lodgings. <br />After having dined at his old home town's inn, where at the expense<br />of his appetite the waiter tells him a distorted version of Pip's story,<br />he rushes at the setting of the sun to the marshes. The letter mentioned<br />to seek out the old, abandoned sluice house near the lime kiln.</p><p>Pip finds the place dark and empty, so he decides to wait there. In <br />a moment of distraction, he gets overwhelmed by a bulky figure. He gets<br />tied up to a staircase, much to the displeasure of his broken arm. <br />The assailant lights a candle, and popping up in the flickering flame is one of <br />the last persons Pip expected to see: the oaf Orlick, his uncle's other <br />apprenticeship. </p><p>While Pip is recollecting his thoughts, Orlick confesses to have been the<br />unknown attacker who knocked Pip's draconic sister unconscious, making<br />her lose her speech, who stalked the town girl Biddy, and who teamed up<br />with the nemesis of Magwitch Compeyson to trap Pip. Compeyson also laid<br />the snare by writing the letter to Pip, since Orlick is illiterate. Orlick<br />also accuses him of losing his position as private guard in Satis House.</p><p>Passing over this avalanche of nonsense, Pip realizes that he has to fight<br />not only for his life, but more importantly for the life of Magwitch, who<br />he's trying to save from the gallows. With all his might, he tries to knock<br />the table onto Orlick, who's already reaching for a blunt hammer...</p><p>His shouts for help don't go unheard, and Pip's friends bust into the sluice<br />house, and in the following scuffle, save Pip, but Orlick slips their grasp.<br />Why they're there? Because Pip left the letter in London, and Herbert just <br />read it minutes after Pip left. Very convenient for our hero.</p><p>The painting is done in gouache on canvas.</p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-52586112755534092002022-08-29T13:43:00.000+02:002022-08-29T13:43:01.468+02:00Chapter LII<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zqZcooixKbB-gk_L1wGt0t124rETkprzyPgoQLx8eYzMcqqAvfJ1mnjojFbTU9e_JRVB9EWF3BBKHQMjIFx4-kZ--ilD_4EUOe4k6EP0gfL0fSBi5fAWs0YVZdBJu9ooSBspWLFxFtcaQmiGqMlBIP1HOrcmUkVFvH6yBtomHU9vJE3zlmbyfXSiMQ/s7193/ge52_v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6830" data-original-width="7193" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zqZcooixKbB-gk_L1wGt0t124rETkprzyPgoQLx8eYzMcqqAvfJ1mnjojFbTU9e_JRVB9EWF3BBKHQMjIFx4-kZ--ilD_4EUOe4k6EP0gfL0fSBi5fAWs0YVZdBJu9ooSBspWLFxFtcaQmiGqMlBIP1HOrcmUkVFvH6yBtomHU9vJE3zlmbyfXSiMQ/w400-h380/ge52_v2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b>Size: 30 cm x 30 cm</b><p></p><p>A crestfallen Pip is blackmailed to meet someone at the marshes lest something bad happens to Provis.</p><p>The preparations for the flight of the convict Provis from British territory meets a sudden hurdle with <br />Pip's incapacitated arm due to having saved Miss Havisham from the flames. As a resort, he and Herbert decide<br />to include Startop in the rescue operations, since they need a second oarsman in the boat with which<br />they'll escort Provis to a steamboat bound to foreign lands. Having thus settled the problem, Pip <br />returns to his lodgings at Temple, with the intent of waiting out the remaining days to the flight.<br />However, he spots a dirty letter at the entrance directed to him, which ushers him to come either the same night, or the next night to the little sluice-house at the limekiln on the marshes if he cares for Provis's safety. <br /></p><p>Pip, severely aggravated, looks dejected at a mirror on a table while almost lifelessly letting his hand with the letter repose at the foot of the mirror. Without thinking for too long, he rushes out of the building to get<br />the last coach to Kent, forgetting in the heat the letter on the table, which will prompt Herbert to aid to his rescue later.</p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-49043957415579493082022-04-02T12:29:00.001+02:002022-04-02T12:31:18.298+02:00Chapter LIX<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQO2COiwmeRvH0aOBPGDD1Pi93djFtXtAsIP4_8ucKddXoIAy2TZQmTvsbWBH0RNZ2PyNjcpbwVdilCMVM6CKc7OjFdFU_oJEnfMboDnOa7tcnByB0xsVG57oEiNwkhEm4gCBkRXSbUD-72fvxnup3I3yyg2A40q2QUo0BNJsOJ5jI8dy30yJ5JiRRMg/s4438/ge59_part1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4438" data-original-width="2946" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQO2COiwmeRvH0aOBPGDD1Pi93djFtXtAsIP4_8ucKddXoIAy2TZQmTvsbWBH0RNZ2PyNjcpbwVdilCMVM6CKc7OjFdFU_oJEnfMboDnOa7tcnByB0xsVG57oEiNwkhEm4gCBkRXSbUD-72fvxnup3I3yyg2A40q2QUo0BNJsOJ5jI8dy30yJ5JiRRMg/w424-h640/ge59_part1.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><b>Size: 22.5 cm x 32.5 cm</b><p></p><p>An old Pip re-enacts his first encounter with the convict with the son of Biddy and his uncle Joe.</p><p>After the capture of the convict Magwitch, and the following long period of sickness of Pip, he decides to work with Herbert in his shipping company, for which he leaves England for a long time. Eleven years later, a 35 years old Pip returns to his childhood place to visit his uncle Joe and his second wife Biddy, who he married some years after the death of Pip's sister, his first wife. Unlike the unhappy first marriage, this one proved more fruitful with the enlargement of the family by a boy named in honour Pip, and a little girl.</p><p>Pip grows promptly fond of the boy, and brings him to the graveyard to tell him the adventurous story of his meeting the convict, and all that followed. </p><p>As you may have noticed, this drawing is the spitting image of the very <a href="https://ge-illustrations.blogspot.com/2019/06/chapter-i.html" target="_blank">first illustration of Great Expectations</a> I did; a fitting entry as the illustration of the last chapter of the book, bringing the story full circle. However, there are some differences: The "new" Pip is much fatter, and careless, than the mistreated, underfed, poor Pip from the first chapter. He takes Pip's re-enactment lightly, and gives him a wry smile with a sideways incredulous look. Why should he worry? In the caring embrace of Biddy and Joe, not having been "brought up by hand", the "new" Pip just shoos away worries, and doesn't foster a hunger for riches, and recognition, as it were the case for the "old" Pip. Our Pip, on the other side, is the much wiser, a bit bent by his troublesome life, but not pessimistic in the least.</p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-51448448655104239142022-03-09T22:37:00.004+01:002022-03-09T22:37:26.831+01:00Chapter XLVI<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMrog7Fj7StPg4gnohWrnvd2NzV7A8adBnfK76n4WsE8du_nPyTmEl2YbvamZAEflhpHakE5zl5pzHglh1KBYG9Kmha8F1i1FKHeg3OytYeBzs68U0z4wfHmq1aZ0dZtDhsD4uCU49TZAR96V-Ksnt3p4T5PBthqMCJmWffH5lAXuE1SbW48DV5BbnjQ=s9860" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6493" data-original-width="9860" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMrog7Fj7StPg4gnohWrnvd2NzV7A8adBnfK76n4WsE8du_nPyTmEl2YbvamZAEflhpHakE5zl5pzHglh1KBYG9Kmha8F1i1FKHeg3OytYeBzs68U0z4wfHmq1aZ0dZtDhsD4uCU49TZAR96V-Ksnt3p4T5PBthqMCJmWffH5lAXuE1SbW48DV5BbnjQ=w400-h264" width="400" /></a></div><b>Size: 42 cm x 27 cm</b><p></p><p>Clara Barley serves her father a glass of rum.</p><p><br /></p><p>The convict Magwitch returned to London. Pip's surprise<br />visitor, however, cannot take a stroll down England's avenues <br />lest he gets caught, and turned to the gallows. Herbert therefore<br />decides to hide him under a pseudonym for the time being at <br />his fiancé's Clara Barley's place at Mill Pond Bank, <br />until they can safely escort him out of Britain.</p><p>In this chapter, Pip is visiting Mill Pond Bank, where Herbert <br />already awaits him. There, he gets introduced to dark-eyed Clara,<br />who spends most of her time attending her bedridden father upstairs.</p><p>The father, sardonically nicknamed by Herbert "old Gruffandgrim",<br />is no easy fellow to live with. Because of the gout, he spends<br />all day lying with his back on a bed, easing his pain trough <br />carefully weighed amounts of rum, <br />and killing his time by singing obscene songs, and scanning<br />the River Thames, with a telescope mounted at his bedside.</p><p>Since he's unable to move, his ever-patient daughter administers<br />drinks to him, or tends his other needs.</p><p>In the picture, she's seen holding him jovially a glass of rum,<br />his hand interlinked with hers. The scene is framed on top by<br />the telescope and on the bottom by a table in disarray with<br />many household items.</p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-66678992127896530552021-12-09T13:29:00.005+01:002021-12-09T17:04:41.596+01:00Chapter L<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmtVCziat9B2vohcckcurdavEn98dmnhQr8LRrLalCfb4q9K55Y0XJU14iARG6OkPhWdEbtlzQy1YAkNHRiu3qdT3jptsH1UzMG4poXvWI28DTrlc2dknTTO3lPgAs4DE5smNyAlOS5atMNM605KhjeEeCPUWUE75yKnNGv6oBI_nFPz_eOHhKcW05xg=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1787" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmtVCziat9B2vohcckcurdavEn98dmnhQr8LRrLalCfb4q9K55Y0XJU14iARG6OkPhWdEbtlzQy1YAkNHRiu3qdT3jptsH1UzMG4poXvWI28DTrlc2dknTTO3lPgAs4DE5smNyAlOS5atMNM605KhjeEeCPUWUE75yKnNGv6oBI_nFPz_eOHhKcW05xg=w349-h400" width="349" /></a></div><p></p><b>Size: 28cm x 28cm</b><p></p><p>As Herbert tends to Pip's burns from the fire at Satis House, Pip
realizes the heritage of Estella: She's the daughter of the convict
Magwitch, and Mr Jaggers's housekeeper. <br />
<br />
Pip's looking back on some wearisome days: First the bad news of
Estella's wedding with his arch-rival Drummle must have been a blow to
his feelings for her, and the definite mark of defeat in front of his
foe. On top of that, mentions of Compeyson's appearance in London, the
guy who wants to see Magwitch on the gallows, pull at his already
strained nerves, which are on edge, too, due to fearing the convict
Magwitch's hideout at the wharfs might be found out, or, even worse,
might have been already found out...<br />
<br />
In the midst of the preparation of the plan for smuggling the convict
out of Britain, Miss Havisham calls him to Satis House. When he arrived
there, she was only a wreck, trying to find redemption through Pip
forgiving her unkind acts in the past. As a sign of her being earnest,
she grants Pip's bidding to secretly aid Herbert with her last will. <br />
Instead of calming herself, Miss Havisham's seems to lose her mind more and more, almost like a mad scene in a <i>bel canto</i>
opera, and ends up catching fire at the fire place. Pip rushes to help
her, suffering a lot of burns on his arms, but eventually leads her out
of danger. <br />
<br />
Exhausted, knowing that she's in recovery, he comes back to London,
where he recollects his thoughts with the helping hand of Herbert. By
and by, both connect the dots, and Pip learns about Estella's origins -
ghostly figures in the background from left to right: Magwitch, Estella,
and Molly, the housekeeper of Mr Jaggers. In this picture, he lost all
of his energy to properly react to this shocking news. He merely sports a
sad smile of empathy on the total situation, seemingly ignoring the
sharp pain of his burnt arm, which is about to being cooled by a piece
of cloth in Herbert's hand. This picture captures the moment when Pip
realizes the truth, before Herbert could, hence the latter looking
confused and preoccupied at Pip's sudden calmness, or melancholic
illumination, if you will...</p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-82390706160621769152021-09-29T19:13:00.001+02:002021-09-29T19:13:13.353+02:00Chapter XLIV<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFIN-QJcy13O0YA27j-jtIcB4YbFO12yHbArMONd2S8oG6QnDKeDEfHxfUFK1XVFSlwvHWEycY5coX6dXzFZuqamX_n04kjBFknAtrNp0NjHNNYZ3274s6shzkM7a_BdisNGB2jGFj0_8Q/s2048/ge44_hd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1443" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFIN-QJcy13O0YA27j-jtIcB4YbFO12yHbArMONd2S8oG6QnDKeDEfHxfUFK1XVFSlwvHWEycY5coX6dXzFZuqamX_n04kjBFknAtrNp0NjHNNYZ3274s6shzkM7a_BdisNGB2jGFj0_8Q/w450-h640/ge44_hd.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><br /> <b>Size: 39 cm x 27 cm</b><p></p><p><b></b></p><p>After Pip learns that Estella is going to marry his arch-rival Drummle, he delivers a heart-wrenching monologue about his good intentions on and for Estella, while holding her hand. Miss Havisham is awestruck by his words from deep down his soul, and by his noble behaviour.</p><div>The convict Provis escaped from Australia, and made himself known to Pip in London as the man who realized his great expectations. Pip is in a grave crisis. Not only does he need to keep Provis away from getting executed, for his staying in Britain is a capital crime, but his overestimation of Miss Havisham's role in his life, whom he thought to be his secret benefactress, and more so believed Estella to be given to him as bride, sends him back to his old town in Kent on the path to learn the truth about his misconception.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>In his hometown, he stumbles accidentally unto Drummle at the Blue Boar. Drummle hints at meeting a certain lady, and Pip gets a very bad feeling. He then goes to Satis House, Miss Havisham's place, to confront her. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>In Miss Havisham's obscured room with the mirror, Estella is employing herself on an embroidery hoop. She sits at the foot of Miss Havisham, who looks into the fire, and holds a walking stick. First, Pip confronts Miss Havisham why she never told him not to be his secret benefactress. The discussion terminated, he turns to Estella, and asks her if she's going to be married to Drummle. When she affirms it, he almost collapses with grief. He implores her to not throw herself away on Drummle, and not to listen to Miss Havisham's foul scheme. But this plea falls on deaf ears. She coldly refuses Pip's advice, and as a throwaway motion lays her hand on Pip's, telling him to not mind it. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>Pip sheds some tears on her hand and stutters a brilliant monologue, which I must include in this description:</div></div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><i>Estella: </i></b></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>‘You will get me out of your thoughts in a week.’</i></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><b>Pip:</b> </i></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>‘Out of my thoughts! You are part of my existence, part of myself. You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here, the rough common boy whose poor heart you wounded even then. You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since - on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made, are not more real, or more impossible to be displaced by your hands, than your presence and influence have been to me, there and everywhere, and will be. Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation I associate you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel now what sharp distress I may. O God bless you, God forgive you!’</i></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><p> Miss Havisham holds her hand to her heart, and looks with a ghastly look, mostly remorse for having deceived Pip into believing Estella was meant for him, just to hear the benevolent and revenge-free speech of Pip. She, left at the wedding altar by a scoundrel, expected only the worst from the heart of man. In her folly, she encouraged Pip to fall in love with Estella, hoping to see his heart break on the knowledge of this terrible news. However, Pip's self-sacrificing behaviour came as something totally unknown to her, who expected everybody to act as selfish as she was.</p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-57222325968551719372021-05-04T17:12:00.001+02:002021-05-04T17:12:42.004+02:00Chapter XXII<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY__PGdjfEpv72pcK7xFL4fJUBZec28b6RdBuDNSOIbK9BFe2J0MZNB9G-l4OxkLlIWWdU6hLqCDcgpxJN4aRUifIIHAKjflch39vGfGW92OidFgqTt6CcKjCk8QAnx5d3IYmqmsnCZuIY/s2048/ge22_color2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY__PGdjfEpv72pcK7xFL4fJUBZec28b6RdBuDNSOIbK9BFe2J0MZNB9G-l4OxkLlIWWdU6hLqCDcgpxJN4aRUifIIHAKjflch39vGfGW92OidFgqTt6CcKjCk8QAnx5d3IYmqmsnCZuIY/s320/ge22_color2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Size: 30 cm x 56 cm</b><p></p><p>In this five-in-one picture, Herbert tells Pip at a dinner the story of Miss Havisham, which is embodied in the four pictures framed by roses, overseen by the captions: "The Will, The Pact, The Courtship," and "The Wedding".</p><p><br /></p><p>Pip met Herbert again in London, after their scuffle at Miss Havisham's place, Satis House. At Barnard's Inn, Herbert invites him to dinner, which seemed to him "a very Lord Mayor's Feast". There, Pip disclosed to him that he knew scarcely nothing about Miss Havisham's life. Herbert proceeds to tell the story, and while doing so gently corrects Pip's peculiar table manners. An occasion for such a correction is shown in the picture: Herbert points with his fork at Pip, who unconsciously stuffed his napkin into the tumbler. In the picture, he looks at it incredulously.</p><p>Now to Miss Havisham's sketchy past.<br />It starts on the very left with <b>"The Will"</b>: Miss Havisham's father, who was a brewer, and is depicted dressed as a jolly Bacchus with a pint on a gigantic painting festooned with mourning ribbons, passed away, and left her daughter, and his son from another marriage an unequal amount of shares in the promising brewery. The half brother, who looks abject, and arm-crossed in the corner of the picture, got the short end of the stick, while Miss Havisham received a much bigger share of the deceased fortune. Knowing this, her hypocrite relatives ostentatiously show their affection for her, gathering around close to her, while a notary is reading from the brewer's will, one even drying a tear on the fatherless daughter, hoping to profit from Miss Havisham's wealthy status.</p><p>The half brother, however, quickly makes the best of the situation, and spends all of his inherited fortune on bawdy amusements. In <b>"The Pact"</b>, the tipsy half brother just lost another game with a shady fellow to the right. As reparation for his debts, he proposes to the fellow to court Miss Havisham, and to move her to buy him out of his shares, in order to pay his debts. The fellow accepts the exciting adventure.</p><p>In <b>"The Courtship"</b>, the shady man, dressed as a well-to-do gentleman with a fine wig, walks with a smiling Miss Havisham through the park adjacent to Satis House. Despite his winning looks, Herbert's father recalls him as a showy-man, never to be mistaken for a gentleman: "because... no man who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentleman in manner." On this point, Miss Havisham and Mr Herbert clashed together, splitting the relatives for years to come.<br />Eventually, the shady man succeeds, and Miss Havisham buys her half brothers shares, bailing him out of his debts.</p><p>At last, in <b>"The Wedding"</b>, the Miss Havisham <i>we</i> know is born: On the day of the wedding between the false gentleman and her, at twenty minutes to nine, while she is sitting in the dressing room in full bridal garments, in the middle of putting one of her shoes on, she receives a deadly blow in the form of a letter, in which the false man, without warning, and seemingly without any explanation, annulated the engagement, and bids her farewell forever. Miss Havisham quickly orders her servants to darken all windows, and to stop all clocks at twenty minutes to nine. Then, in the picture, she slumps over the letter, and a golden repeater. The picture shows the last ray of light being suffocated by a servant drawing the curtains. Miss Havisham's hypocrite relatives, Camilla, Sarah Pocket, and Georgiana, light candles, while on the left, two head servants look in confusion and concern towards Miss Havisham's slumped figure. </p><p><br /></p><p>I wanted to draw a picture similar to Norman Rockwell's "The Land of Enchantment". There, two boys read books on the foreground, while all kind of fable characters are depicted on the background, in a lighter hue. In this illustration, Pip and Herbert take the place of Rockwell's boys, and the four stages replace the fable characters. Also, you may notice that some faces in "The Will" and "The Wedding" seem abnormally protracted. This is due to the idea that the four stages surround Pip and Herbert as if they were four paintings. As if they were sitting in a rose pavillon. Therefore, due to perspective issues the faces become long and thin near one edge, and broader near the other.</p><p>Furthermore, the image in "The Pact" is inspired by the Polish painting "Gamblers by Candlelight" by Feliks Pęczarski, especially Miss Havisham's picture becoming see-through against the candlelight.</p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-34460813390872434922021-03-26T18:29:00.001+01:002021-03-26T18:39:19.498+01:00Chapter XXV<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFfG_nUWD3tCzbVBrd9AcX1h__upGrcCg1JLcxo1QU95IsfDVete3tl8ICJ_wU6pBeCF1Iie1brp7F4dBvSK4MJohfRVCgIW3YLmHK2tH93x1dJiHj7nt7-JyKSjwxb6vfMDonM3gIqxG4/s2048/ge25.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="2048" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFfG_nUWD3tCzbVBrd9AcX1h__upGrcCg1JLcxo1QU95IsfDVete3tl8ICJ_wU6pBeCF1Iie1brp7F4dBvSK4MJohfRVCgIW3YLmHK2tH93x1dJiHj7nt7-JyKSjwxb6vfMDonM3gIqxG4/w400-h263/ge25.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b>Size: 42 cm x 27 cm</b><p></p><p>At an evening, Pip and Herbert row a wherry in a race against Startop and Drummle on the River Thames.<br />In the background, the Hammersmith Bridge blocks the setting sun, and casts a shadow on the riverbed.<br /></p><p>Pip owns a boat, but shares it with Herbert, who on the other hand shares with him his chambers in the City of London. Since the sport was right at the house door of his tutor, Mr. Pocket, and Startop and Drummle were already practising it, Pip joined the fun.</p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-332529208688036732021-03-11T10:55:00.000+01:002021-03-11T10:55:23.805+01:00Chapter XXXVI<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhDLhUvqqx7nRhF__kZIVU4AUa1w7CgkTzPKbfZgGiIL-EDLDZrBw5fECUkPRGeVp3UuRABPsaA9-gL92hio9K2-I4HPlH1613cO89Xu-kNfYV5-k14mRGp2wnPkJl8AyZ-DGDglHuw83/s2048/ge36_illustration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1882" data-original-width="2048" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhDLhUvqqx7nRhF__kZIVU4AUa1w7CgkTzPKbfZgGiIL-EDLDZrBw5fECUkPRGeVp3UuRABPsaA9-gL92hio9K2-I4HPlH1613cO89Xu-kNfYV5-k14mRGp2wnPkJl8AyZ-DGDglHuw83/w400-h368/ge36_illustration.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b>Size: 36 cm x 27 cm</b><p></p><p>This scene takes place just outside Mr. Jagger's office. Pip asks Mr. Jaggers's clerk Mr. Wemmick,<br />how he could help out his friend Herbert with a little financial aid. Mr. Wemmick, who is busy<br />locking the law firm's safe in the corner, smiles at Pip's question, and proceeds then to explain him<br />that he could find a better use of his money by throwing it down the bridges of London.<br />Pip is disheartened by this reply, however, Mr. Wemmick quickly adds that this was his opinion at<br />the law firm. This remark didn't go unnoticed to Pip, and he promptly asks the clerk whether he could<br />come to dinner at his place in Walworth and discuss the matter over there. Latter takes the invitation with pleasure.</p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-61269662136085853492021-01-13T09:22:00.000+01:002021-01-13T09:22:35.915+01:00Chapter XXIII<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFqaMcCS6ULrLGxorVm7_qi1dws63p7YsrH0S3GU9L6A7wUu3AABuLnjbz633U2JGc1ZVaP7s4ZUG-RAUkcZlAZOe2lLTocsAMzv8K1f2LGSGTXl-BNRFiBO_gbp6qubRoIKxFFeDmk_BJ/s2048/ge23_brown-8.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1171" data-original-width="2048" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFqaMcCS6ULrLGxorVm7_qi1dws63p7YsrH0S3GU9L6A7wUu3AABuLnjbz633U2JGc1ZVaP7s4ZUG-RAUkcZlAZOe2lLTocsAMzv8K1f2LGSGTXl-BNRFiBO_gbp6qubRoIKxFFeDmk_BJ/w400-h229/ge23_brown-8.png" width="400" /></a></div><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;"><b><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p>Size: 59 cm x 34 cm</b></span></span><p></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">Pip and Herbert have lunch together with the Pocket family, Startop, Drummle, and Mrs. Coiler at the Pockets house in Hammersmith, London.</span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">This lunch scene is a blend of nice moments from the chapter, rather than a specific scene.</span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimy7DhLx4kwe0zUudxlxUPa34Lb3pNnTPzFsAKNtwjJRSLl72kuU5nK__JoZk4rIOJ0eXgfWtPAka-JxG5Oy3r9imVg9DGcS2m6L-Y5pnbxN0yLlEPzQcZW4M3wSUB-Rs8agpjY833Tm4w/s1000/ge23_small_description.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimy7DhLx4kwe0zUudxlxUPa34Lb3pNnTPzFsAKNtwjJRSLl72kuU5nK__JoZk4rIOJ0eXgfWtPAka-JxG5Oy3r9imVg9DGcS2m6L-Y5pnbxN0yLlEPzQcZW4M3wSUB-Rs8agpjY833Tm4w/s320/ge23_small_description.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1: Belinda Pocket, the mother; 2: Baby Pocket; 3: Drummle; 4: Mrs. Coiler; 5: Pip; 6: Startop;<br />7: Herbert Pocket; 8: Jane Pocket; 9: Fanny Pocket; 10: Mathew Pocket, the father;<br />11: Pocket sisters, 12: Joe Pocket, 13: Dog sniffing Belinda's handkerchief; 14: Alick Pocket;<br />15: Flopson, Millers and the page boy.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"></span></div><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><br /><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">The scene shows a lot of characters: On the very right, sitting enthroned over a dog, Belinda Pocket (1), the mother of Herbert, two brothers, four sisters, one baby, and another one to come, looks absent-mindedly out of the picture. A dog (13) sniffs at the handkerchief she likes so much to let fall to the ground. Despite being such a productive mother, she doesn't really care about the well-being of her children - here, ignoring the baby (3) on her lap almost tumbling off, and putting its eyes out with a nutcracker. She rather spends time talking about her almost-noble ancestry with the almost-noble glutton Drummle (3), who sits to her right, and is <br />working himself through a glass of champagne, and a piece of cake.</span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">Next to Drummle, Mrs. Coiler (4), the toady neighbour, bores nonchalantly into Pip's (5) past, while he<br />tries to concentrate on the right company-manner on how to eat cake. </span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">Startop (6) is chewing on a piece of cake, while Herbert (7) pleasantly oversees the chaotic scene, as he's used to it. The seats between them are empty, for the children already got up.</span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">Jane (8) is worried about the careless way, in which her mother dismisses the baby, and tries to make it notice to her father, Mathew Pocket (10), whose arm she is clutching. Latter is split in his attention towards his one daughter, and his other, Fanny (9), whose hand he's inspecting, pointing out that she got<br />a whitlow. </span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">While the other Pocket sisters (11), whose names I didn't catch, are whispering to themselves (perhaps about the new subtenant, Pip?), Joe (12), "with the hole in the frill", is chasing after a cat, which is hiding under the bambus-bench. </span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">Alick (14) in an obstinate mood is dressed as a pirate. Staying in character, he tries to snatch away the remaining pieces of cake, the servants had left carelessly on the trolley. </span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">At the far left (15), Flopson and Millers, the head-servants, are scolding a "dissipated" page boy, who lost some buttons on the gaming table. Both servants were drawn away from the table in the heat of the action, because one has a cake knife in her left hand, and the other brandishes a tea pot on her right. </span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;"> </span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">For a long time I had some ideas on how to approach this chapter. It should have been a<br />slanted view from the top, in which every participant of the meal is seated regularly on <br />a long table, with Mathew Pocket, the Father on top, "lifting himself up" according to Pip, what<br />I understood as stretching himself. But I found the idea too boring, too overdone. Most of my illustrated scenes revolve around people sitting at tables, and after a while I had to come up<br />with something new, to make the image more interesting for the viewer, and for me to draw.<br /></span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">I reread the scene, and I noticed, that the children might not have been present at dinner. No illustration is perfect.</span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span face="Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke;"><br /></span></span></p>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-29242670318350470532019-11-06T18:36:00.002+01:002021-02-07T09:28:18.944+01:00Chapter XXXIX<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jEHl64isUMSqh9QiJkV31E8x4DqhBvqgTUPYS5dc_XUtiUn75HgFPWhQ5DMM3GpUH93327_eDup0jD91_U4gw8AmhCrLNjoq_soEdBiXjmy1Q89Pa0t1kzr1dw_db5QaY1UehQ0YoLPW/s5269/ge39v4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2953" data-original-width="5269" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jEHl64isUMSqh9QiJkV31E8x4DqhBvqgTUPYS5dc_XUtiUn75HgFPWhQ5DMM3GpUH93327_eDup0jD91_U4gw8AmhCrLNjoq_soEdBiXjmy1Q89Pa0t1kzr1dw_db5QaY1UehQ0YoLPW/w500-h280/ge39v4.png" width="500" /></a></div>Part 1: Magwitch in Australia.</div>
Magwitch's, Pip's convict and benefactor, stay in Australia. He is a shepherd and he is bothering the colonists.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXs03qCYBhJTRGblNnS_Z8Qck7JFSAR98lD73oEGwoq2Npbzb56QWFSPDG5xT2ht94INLOniftzWzAzBv1XhOt11X5gm7kmfqwEOfQcZnylWo7PWc_QdgnwUU7yhAuzax61HH0FXON1gj/s2048/ge39p2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1406" data-original-width="2048" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXXs03qCYBhJTRGblNnS_Z8Qck7JFSAR98lD73oEGwoq2Npbzb56QWFSPDG5xT2ht94INLOniftzWzAzBv1XhOt11X5gm7kmfqwEOfQcZnylWo7PWc_QdgnwUU7yhAuzax61HH0FXON1gj/w400-h275/ge39p2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part 2: Magwitch in London with Pip.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Size: 39 cm x 27 cm</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div>A 23-year-old Pip falls down on a sofa, after the secret identity of his benefactor had been revealed to him: It is the convict Provis, or Magwitch, who Pip helped as a little boy in the marshes. Up until that moment, he thought Miss Havisham to be his secret benefactor, and falsely drew the conclusion that she intended him to marry Estella. But the advent of Magwitch turned his world upside down!<br /><br /></div><div>As Magwitch is holding Pip's hands, and smiling at "his gentleman", images of Pip's past flash through his head, here envisioned as grey copies of other illustrations I've made, floating around the centrepiece. The upper ones show scenes involving Magwitch, while the lower ones show his encounters with Estella and Miss Havisham. Can you discern which one belongs to which chapter? </div><div><br /></div><div>The ex-convict Magwitch sneaked into Britain, despite having been exiled to Australia. Coming back means death! Instead of the aristocrat Miss Havisham, Pip had drawn unknowingly on the means of a lowly convict, who is exiled for a crime, Pip doesn't even want to imagine. And in the third volume, he has to protect him, with a fatal outcome...</div></div><div><b><br /></b></div>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-51428153150938986332019-11-06T18:32:00.013+01:002020-10-21T10:32:39.796+02:00Chapter XXXV<div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQiXLIrIvx4-QceSX5EnqqINBZP_mp4OdwEFWggP39ISb_IEPmSrTvOyH_sQb_Nwxm9xqDolbWtI2upfczwsfse_-LXgKrGmJUsnAee7_3dRrTq_m4rj4z_ZQ1YlJR7xg6TkfvqRhOKdD/s2048/ge35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQiXLIrIvx4-QceSX5EnqqINBZP_mp4OdwEFWggP39ISb_IEPmSrTvOyH_sQb_Nwxm9xqDolbWtI2upfczwsfse_-LXgKrGmJUsnAee7_3dRrTq_m4rj4z_ZQ1YlJR7xg6TkfvqRhOKdD/w400-h400/ge35.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></span><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">∅ 39,8 cm</b></div><div><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></b></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">The Last Journey: The funeral of Pip's Sister Mrs. Joe Gargery. The funeral execution is put on by Trabb, who isn't in this picture, and is depicted here in its starting-point, Pip's childhood house in the marshes. </span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">The centre of the picture is occupied by Mrs. Joe Gargery's coffin carried by six undertakers, who are, according to the book, "<i>stifled and blinded under a horrible black velvet housing with a white border</i> [...] <i>the whole</i> (looking) <i>like a blind monster with twelve human legs, shuffling and blundering along, under the guidance of two keepers.</i>"</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">The keepers help the bearers out of the front door to the left, by holding hands with the foremost undertakers. One of the keeper is close to the door, the other has his back to the stair on the right. The keepers wear tricornes, and hold mourning wands ("<i>crutch done up in a black bandage</i>"). </span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">On top of the velvet housing is a funeral wreath with a generous bush of meadowsweets on top.</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">Wrapped in mourning weeds, the funeral attendees hold their handkerchiefs to their face, and walk in pairs of two: Closest to the coffin are Joe and Pip, then come Mr Pumblechook and Biddy.</span></div><div><b style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></b></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">For this picture I chose to use a fisheye effect, concentrating therefore the view on Mrs.<br />Joe Gargery's coffin under the black velvet cloth. </span></div>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-76416617258337736062019-11-06T18:32:00.012+01:002020-06-23T10:45:46.084+02:00Chapter XXXVII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGR-1mGd4_xINSZxV_-7Nbxz5ulQ6lmgQUFaPTXyrjMWvzRJshXUDDLTGNxPe8E8GrqfbLLIWsLITsicxOM54szEaTwzhWDIeIZtj76_vUR4FpM1NdlMeZSVbCtPrbOEgEx4C1ZG1-ECkA/s3564/ge37_v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3564" data-original-width="3543" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGR-1mGd4_xINSZxV_-7Nbxz5ulQ6lmgQUFaPTXyrjMWvzRJshXUDDLTGNxPe8E8GrqfbLLIWsLITsicxOM54szEaTwzhWDIeIZtj76_vUR4FpM1NdlMeZSVbCtPrbOEgEx4C1ZG1-ECkA/w498-h500/ge37_v2.jpg" width="498" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Size: 42 x 42 cm</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In this chapter, Pip is invited by the
law firm clerk Mr. Wemmick to partake at his Sunday evening at his
house in Walworth, London. There he meets Mr. Wemmick's father and
Mr. Wemmick's lady friend Miss Skiffins. After dinner and tea, Mr.
Wemmick asks his father to read out loud the newspaper whilst the
other take a seat around him and listen closely.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Then, the picture captures following
moment:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;"><font color="#000000">„<font face="Times New Roman, serif"><font size="3"><i>As
Wemmick and Miss Skiffins sat side by side, and as I sat in a shadowy
corner, I observed a slow and gradual elongation of Mr. Wemmick’s
mouth, powerfully suggestive of his slowly and gradually stealing his
arm round Miss Skiffins’s waist. In course of time I saw his hand
appear on the other side of Miss Skiffins; but at that moment Miss
Skiffins neatly stopped him with the green glove, unwound his arm
again as if it were an article of dress, and with the greatest
deliberation laid it on the table before her. Miss Skiffins’s
composure while she did this was one of the most remarkable sights I
have ever seen, and if I could have thought the act consistent with
abstraction of mind, I should have deemed that Miss Skiffins
performed it mechanically.“</i></font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">While
the book focuses on describing the castle from the outside, having a
stinger gun, and resembling indeed a little castle made out of wood,
I tried to envision how the parlour would have looked like. The
banner on top, the castle on the chimney piece, as well as the crown
like chandeliers, and the weapons on the left wall hint at Mr
Wemmick's partiality towards the medieval times.</span><b> </b></div>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-43663229856457586392019-11-06T18:32:00.010+01:002020-02-21T16:12:19.009+01:00Chapter XXXVIII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX4jt_v-SNoWUgaDFONECyUIbVKoG04bmx4M3iqClNGLru6mCSU4tP_fT5q4JKpJdxP7YfhVMdKOpbKZ99BlF7FDk5IUscQxVFkBJeOpUC64ynV2i3DGVo0s85ybtkvA-y9KYXBBvBb5rT/s1600/ge38v3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1360" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX4jt_v-SNoWUgaDFONECyUIbVKoG04bmx4M3iqClNGLru6mCSU4tP_fT5q4JKpJdxP7YfhVMdKOpbKZ99BlF7FDk5IUscQxVFkBJeOpUC64ynV2i3DGVo0s85ybtkvA-y9KYXBBvBb5rT/s400/ge38v3.png" width="337" /></a></div>
Size: 27cm x 23cm<br />
At a reunion of <i>The Finches & Groves</i>, the club to which Pip and Herbert are, since their coming of age, members, Bentley Drummle is called to toast on a lady of his acquaintance.
After sneering at his adversary Pip, he calls the company to pledge him to <i>Estella</i>! This remark makes Pip seeth with anger and jealousy. Pip, who has his back to the viewer, rises in his place
and accuses Drummle of toasting to a lady whom he knew nothing of. Drummle immediately starts up and demands Pip to explain himself, whereas the other gives a flowery invitation to a duel!<br />
<br />
<figcaption> Would this have been Puschkin, Pip and Drummle would have without hindrance shot each other to death. Luckily it's Dickens, so both parties get calmed down by the club and Drummle has only
to present a paper verifying his acquaintance with Estella.</figcaption>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-22248473692640998982019-11-06T18:31:00.002+01:002023-07-20T14:14:14.766+02:00Chapter XXXIV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoeV_D6Vtd4ByUeFPfh3Mn-CqOhyphenhyphenoaoi5NqCww85InHrqzi1w-xaK7Je4cmFT3-S-CNlhvAqVJAUYRQV1N2ySOoCB0EWGSs3Pwx6XR80BPysclWBvG0WCA7FrZD6b0Zpb3WU4Wu-c5jzWH/s1600/ge34v2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1138" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoeV_D6Vtd4ByUeFPfh3Mn-CqOhyphenhyphenoaoi5NqCww85InHrqzi1w-xaK7Je4cmFT3-S-CNlhvAqVJAUYRQV1N2ySOoCB0EWGSs3Pwx6XR80BPysclWBvG0WCA7FrZD6b0Zpb3WU4Wu-c5jzWH/s400/ge34v2.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
Pip (sic!) receives the letter of his sister's departing.<br />
<br />
Inside myself there is always the quest to improve upon my drawings. The general viewer may remark, that I'm very good in my endeavours and that my technique is very fine. That's all good and fine, but there is always the impulse to strive for perfection.<br />
<br />
When I figured out how the style and format of the drawings were going to be, the act of illustrating became more and more an execution of specific strokes and techniques. The initial hesitancy in putting down a line on the paper to commence the drawing grew more faint and less powerful. After I'd done my few sketches and simulated a 3D-model of the scene on the computer, I would take a sheet of paper and draw a grid on it and then pen my way to the end.<br />
<br />
After a while I felt stuck with the same formulas and I wanted to explore something new. So, I tried to dilute ink with water to get a greyscale going. Unfortunately it ended in a messy job, and I had to correct the colouring in post.Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-18082160723255130182019-11-06T18:28:00.004+01:002020-02-21T16:14:15.881+01:00Chapter XXXIII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvTb8lQ43Ma_r6F1vpTR1eXae92rIIMt0RT29MUhp0caKz0hg3zrrgsCejxqJTGzYjecLTNtRSZhWmiDUBH-gpZDFh2OpXXUCLkX5gyLR5qU6oYxm_Jl3THIldbptAka_wQJHsYKhnETH/s1600/ge33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1600" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvTb8lQ43Ma_r6F1vpTR1eXae92rIIMt0RT29MUhp0caKz0hg3zrrgsCejxqJTGzYjecLTNtRSZhWmiDUBH-gpZDFh2OpXXUCLkX5gyLR5qU6oYxm_Jl3THIldbptAka_wQJHsYKhnETH/s400/ge33.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Pip makes Tea for Estella at King's Cross.Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-13043412587844158762019-11-06T18:25:00.002+01:002020-02-21T16:14:45.968+01:00Chapter XXXII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisr1VeDRuF80ifxCMQPyAWA8UpKE4t4lbbCb1NjPMIM_wrIHj9GyXneGbkMgfnEo3XGeU-Q6dZACujbLf0IeRz_3NoMgy4dIYjf-cFjXDtlp6oqV6Vp6lKJjwVzevUQ__UoRqmqgtULuzJ/s1600/ge32v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="1600" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisr1VeDRuF80ifxCMQPyAWA8UpKE4t4lbbCb1NjPMIM_wrIHj9GyXneGbkMgfnEo3XGeU-Q6dZACujbLf0IeRz_3NoMgy4dIYjf-cFjXDtlp6oqV6Vp6lKJjwVzevUQ__UoRqmqgtULuzJ/s400/ge32v2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Size: 27 x 42cm<br />
<br />
At Newgate Prison, Pip and Mr Wemmick visit the 'Colonel' a former client of Mr Jaggers's lawfirm who is imprisoned for counterfeit coining, and will soon be executed.<br />
<br />
In the center, Mr Wemmick is shaking hands with the 'Colonel'. Pip is standing to the left and overlooks the whole scenario with distaste. On the far left, a potman is giving out beer to a desperate prisoner clad in a Sack of the 'East India Company'. On the far right, a mad preacher is harangueing a convict with a wooden leg and a convict in a smock-frock with a visor on his head.<br />
<br />
The visitors and prisoners met in a yard and, according to 'A visit to Newgate' (1836) by Dickens, were separated by iron bars of about 5'10'' in height, which were roofed at the top. The description in GE mentions a 'yard' and an area behind 'bars' in which prisoners and visitors could meet. Dickens also writes that at that time, the 1820s-1830s, prisoners were not better lodged than ordinary soldiers. Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-79436136920502385862019-11-06T18:25:00.000+01:002020-02-21T16:14:58.071+01:00Chapter XXXI<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMWGXsKsw_elwgGaubl7NGv0rrwS2xsEL7pcLU7RUIF8_iPiBRQ2ODwjKcE2RkDsCALF6ipPZfHPLNVp_Sp_n2-igDpE4vygW61D-1494migAIdMzR6_xJrWhA1DQ1AaO0ENEBLhmuljP/s1600/ge31.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="1600" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMWGXsKsw_elwgGaubl7NGv0rrwS2xsEL7pcLU7RUIF8_iPiBRQ2ODwjKcE2RkDsCALF6ipPZfHPLNVp_Sp_n2-igDpE4vygW61D-1494migAIdMzR6_xJrWhA1DQ1AaO0ENEBLhmuljP/s400/ge31.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Size: 32 x 56cm<br />
<br />
Mr. Wopsle plays Hamlet in a small metropolitan theatre.<br />
This big picture took me three abundant weeks to nish and is lled with to the brim<br />
with little details. Starting from the stage a pitiful attempt of a graveyard is visible,<br />
which is reminiscent of Plan 9 from Outer Space. A boy, who makes faces and is stand-<br />
ing in an opening, where he hands Hamlet the skulls, plays the gravedigger. The scene<br />
is Act V, Scene I, in which Hamlet says the famous line: "Alas, poor Yorick!". Behind<br />
the scene you can see the director and some actors watching Mr.Wopsle, as well as some<br />
theatre operators elevated on a balcony. The stage<br />
oor is speckled with nuts thrown<br />
from annoyed members of the audience.<br />
Right next to the stage you can see a small excuse for an orchestra, where the players<br />
are chatting among themselves, because I couldn't really imagine any music that would<br />
t this scene. While the violoncello player is shaking his hand to signify the mediocre<br />
acting of Mr. Wopsle, the father violinist is reminding her daughter of some di cult<br />
passage in the score.<br />
The audience is anything but in harmony, consisting of members paying attention, other<br />
sleeping, like the two children on the mother's lap in the left bottom corner, other chat-<br />
ting between the rows and again other throwing nuts at the obnoxious gravedigger, as<br />
can also be seen in the left bottom corner. Herbert and Pip are seated in the second<br />
row, fourth and fth from left.<br />
The facade of the loge depicts different stellar constellations, but it didn't came out as<br />
well as I planned. This entire picture went through several stages of redesigning, includ-<br />
ing two vastly different 3D models, which begs the question, how much of the original<br />
idea and the rst depiction of the scene in my head were realised in the nal picture. I<br />
can say, that a lot less architectural frippery and more black, sombre walls would have<br />
occured, if I drew the scene straight out of my head. But I resolved to distance myself<br />
as much as possible from plain black parts in a picture, because they mainly destroy the<br />
overall harmony of the drawing.<br />
Originally I thought to draw something like Degas's L'Orchestre de l'Opera and Musi-<br />
ciens a l'orchestre, but then I had in mind to depict as many people as possible, and since<br />
the orchestra couldn't be very big for a small metropolitan theatre, I had to include the<br />
audience. This procedure sort of deadened the dynamic composition of the picture by<br />
putting the viewer into a central place in the room, as opposed to a very close position<br />
in the midst of the orchestre, watching the stage actors from a lowered position.Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-76690870077675071482019-11-06T18:22:00.002+01:002020-10-07T10:18:08.356+02:00Chapter XXX<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDlev9ESGw6RIIWUrYs1U6HJrXijEIBmKjjcNWRZ2b1Wrqs-kuhrm-0h_iXm_FWowSPpbln6RP0OkovSLfnc61rCmN-L66qiutzJNn0W0t0Nsgm2h-jkiVlXYNoWK-QLndOp3qBtFuCHW/s2048/ge30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1277" data-original-width="2048" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDlev9ESGw6RIIWUrYs1U6HJrXijEIBmKjjcNWRZ2b1Wrqs-kuhrm-0h_iXm_FWowSPpbln6RP0OkovSLfnc61rCmN-L66qiutzJNn0W0t0Nsgm2h-jkiVlXYNoWK-QLndOp3qBtFuCHW/w400-h250/ge30.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b>Size: 30 cm x 50 cm</b><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div>Pip walks through his home town displaying his new attire as a London gentleman. Most</div><div>villagers ogle him with curiousness, and Pip makes a pretence of ignoring being in the spotlight,</div><div>However, Trabb's boy (figure on the very left) is put off by Pip's stately demeanour. He knew Pip very</div><div>well as the poor blacksmith's son he used to be, and seeing him in this self-displayed lordliness just itches his funny bone. Trabb then behaves as if his seen the King himself by prostrating on the ground and</div><div>shouting to the people: "Hold me! I'm so frightened". Pip tries to escape him in vain. Eventually,</div><div>Trabb reaches Pip with an entourage of like-minded street children, who display a comical corruption of</div><div>Pip's behaviour: Trabb wears a blue bag in the manner Pip is donning his great-coat while saying to</div><div>his entourage: "Don't know yah, don't know yah! 'Pon my soul, don't know yah!". The street children</div><div>react with exaggerated gestures of veneration towards Pip, who is infinitely mortified by this scene.</div></div><div><br /></div>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-76765091353686791932019-11-06T18:12:00.001+01:002020-02-21T16:15:24.493+01:00Chapter XXIX<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjca-qVljBBB0b98fqYYKBFMdLiylAN8aijI1kLwsy7CeOlCHA-ojbyLj6ZH8vV5xxtjKC6KJpaOgl0joNLd05GTkJiXuxTnKkdaJ-1nmYPjcjvGFgLmzViDOrtBTyyhZeQ7DleolfSsla/s1600/ge29_part1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1312" data-original-width="1600" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjca-qVljBBB0b98fqYYKBFMdLiylAN8aijI1kLwsy7CeOlCHA-ojbyLj6ZH8vV5xxtjKC6KJpaOgl0joNLd05GTkJiXuxTnKkdaJ-1nmYPjcjvGFgLmzViDOrtBTyyhZeQ7DleolfSsla/s400/ge29_part1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Size: 29:5 x 35cm<br />
<br />
Pip and Estella revisit Miss Havishams abandoned warehouse, where the old beer casks<br />
are gathering dust for more than a quarter century. They also remember the past times,<br />
when Estella climbed the casks and Pip stood worried below (here depicted on the left<br />
side of the picture).<br />
The abandoned factory, with its debris and dilapidated windows, was an unusual topic<br />
to illustrate. I took inspiration from Dor e's illustration of a great storehouse in London,<br />
where they keep giant casks. Especially the brick in the walls are a testimate to Dor e's<br />
style used in his London series. The chiaro-scuro can be also credited to Dor e. In this<br />
picture I also wanted to push the background architecture as possible in the spotlight.<br />
Pip and Estella, though highlighted, are mere puppets in a giant building.<br />
The wood columns in the middle, which resemble ship-masts, divide the picture in two<br />
di erent places in time, the left depicting a bygone moment and the right depicting the<br />
present. Originally I wasn't sure if to adopt a completely di erent lighting on the left<br />
side, to emphasise the dislocation in time, hinting at a past summer, while the present<br />
plays in the winter time.<br />
Last and maybe least I want to hint at the irritating shadow on the bottom left, which<br />
belongs to the translucent spectre of Pip.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJsVHYjAeti5uUWUeHBUDYkcINJPgoRrZS322tX-oprhQQxplHC3IbLvka7Y7GXpP1PX-avGLnj8peSXjAz0ZEmwoTwuGX7pRrmwFfpwiHTS4qCQP6wzXqT3DQjvm0tf6d8ANDjb-OuhP/s1600/ge29_part2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1311" data-original-width="1600" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJsVHYjAeti5uUWUeHBUDYkcINJPgoRrZS322tX-oprhQQxplHC3IbLvka7Y7GXpP1PX-avGLnj8peSXjAz0ZEmwoTwuGX7pRrmwFfpwiHTS4qCQP6wzXqT3DQjvm0tf6d8ANDjb-OuhP/s400/ge29_part2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Size: 28 x 35cm<br />
<br />
Starting from the left and going clockwise: Pip, Estella, Miss Havisham and Mr. Jaggers<br />
have a party of Whist.<br />
Now this one is a funny picture full of unspoken (and partially stared) tension. Pip<br />
has a crush (calling it love seems to me a little bit ridiculous) on Estella and tries to<br />
act as gentlemanly and not-boyishly as possible, hence displaying an erect posture with<br />
his cards neither to far from him nor to near him. His head is only very slightly bent<br />
in Estella's direction. Furthermore he is under the terrible apprehension, that Miss<br />
Havisham is his secret benefactor, which he isn't allowed to seek out. And at last he<br />
fears Mr. Jaggers, like pretty much every one in this circle of cards.<br />
Estella, fresh from Paris and overhung with precious jewels belonging to her stepmother,<br />
doesn't care for anyone, except Mr. Jaggers. While following suit she leisurely waves<br />
her cards in her hand and xes here beautiful eyes on the bald forehead of Mr. Jaggers,<br />
wondering what he thinks and how much he knows. Her dress is inspired by the french<br />
fashion of the rst years after the restauration.<br />
Miss Havisham crazily leeres at Pip (almost copied from G ericault's depiction of a mad<br />
woman.), while clutching her cards in a mad disarray. That she's wearing her bridal<br />
dress can be added to the testimonies of her madness. Her game is to make Pip fall<br />
in love with Estella, just to be able to make Estella break his heart again. That's just<br />
wicked!<br />
Finally Mr. Jaggers sits how it pleases him and concentrates only on his cards, seemingly<br />
not minding the presence of the others. Why should he, being in posession of every little<br />
detail and secret of this three people.<br />
The game is located in Miss Havisham dressing room and the furniture is painstakingly<br />
copied from the illustration of chapter 8, where Pip enters this room for the rst time.<br />
For the nitpicker among you, the order in which the cards overlap in the trick is probably<br />
anti-clockwise, while the game is played clockwise.Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-54547142318411926712019-11-06T18:08:00.004+01:002020-07-17T15:00:49.733+02:00Chapter XXVIII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpN_UprTYn6t-Tts-NRzCVJSuZk6dJDR5vAEFajaLYYJxEIkFcAsEUfQ6yRflDUYaNTz9bG6SpFQshCVZOLx7mbxsCrZIb4SkuzCIBzqDZyor6USW_DKHKKBs05ZOya0DhXDiVIAdZ1zqT/s2048/ge28v3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="2048" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpN_UprTYn6t-Tts-NRzCVJSuZk6dJDR5vAEFajaLYYJxEIkFcAsEUfQ6yRflDUYaNTz9bG6SpFQshCVZOLx7mbxsCrZIb4SkuzCIBzqDZyor6USW_DKHKKBs05ZOya0DhXDiVIAdZ1zqT/w500-h323/ge28v3.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b> Size: 22,5 x 36 cm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><font face="CMU Serif Upright Italic, serif"><font face="CMU Serif, serif"><font size="3"><font face="CMU Serif Upright Italic, serif"><font size="3"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pip
takes the stagecoach to his home town. Unfortunately, one of the
passengers is the man who gave him two One Pound notes back in The
Jolly Bargemen. </span></span></font></font></font></font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><font face="CMU Serif Upright Italic, serif"><font face="CMU Serif, serif"><font size="3"><font face="CMU Serif Upright Italic, serif"><font size="3"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Now
he's being transported as a convict to the dockyards. And even more
unfortunate for Pip, the convict retells his friend the incident at
the pub on which he met him.</span></span></font></font></font></font></font></p><br /></div></b>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763136206653108544.post-14200243188163155402019-11-06T18:06:00.007+01:002020-07-06T10:06:04.133+02:00Chapter XXVI<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGof-huYlUgUEO-mEac9iahneRH5ElLMWPDJvlh9GBmdYM1SL7JPYW9loM3mVgEtR6mRIR_cq3akLKKrSIiOsjWkHcecfhuF1TmslgFu7Fe3C_O4eIDcq0MxXeRpHUzcS148GpEJtBZx9/s4427/ge26.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2530" data-original-width="4427" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGof-huYlUgUEO-mEac9iahneRH5ElLMWPDJvlh9GBmdYM1SL7JPYW9loM3mVgEtR6mRIR_cq3akLKKrSIiOsjWkHcecfhuF1TmslgFu7Fe3C_O4eIDcq0MxXeRpHUzcS148GpEJtBZx9/w500-h286/ge26.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Size: 42cm x 24 cm</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Pip, Drummle, Startop, and Herbert have dinner at Mr. Jagger's place. At some point they start to talk </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">about their rowing feats, and Drummle shows of his muscles. Soon the other boys retaliate by displaying</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">their own strength. Mr. Jaggers then gets hold of the housekeeper's hand, when she tried to clear the table, and exclaimed: "If you talk of strength, <i>I</i>'ll show you a wrist!"</div>Stefano Paggihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14443729555068048454noreply@blogger.com0